Up-and-down Bulls still hope to rise into postseason

If it's possible to get a root canal while skydiving, the Bulls have figured out how.

"That's been us all year -- the craziest roller coaster," seen-it-all center Brad Miller said. "Highs, you go win five in a row on a West Coast trip. Lows, this is it."

Carrying a nine-game losing streak into Friday night's visit by LeBron James and the Cavaliers, Chicago appears to be suffering from athletic ADD. A season that began with the momentum of an epic but somehow promising first-round loss to Boston has morphed into a series of fits and starts, leaving the Bulls scrambling to get back to the playoffs.

Vinny Del Negro somehow remains upbeat, though the rumors dogging the second-year coach aren't letting up. General manager Gar Forman has tweaked the roster, though his roster-squeeze in a trade-deadline frenzy centered on gaining cap space, not talent.

But those who are counted on to do little things -- like score and rebound -- can't seem to stay out of the training room lately.

The lineup qualifies for federal relief. The Bulls' were without their three leading scorers -- Derrick Rose, Luol Deng and Joakim Noah -- in Wednesday's setback at Dallas. Overall, more than 130 games have been lost to injury or illness. The team's best starting lineup -- Rose, Deng and Noah, plus Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson -- has been together only 18 games.

"There's still a lot of basketball to be played," Del Negro said with his usual optimism. "You can't get too far behind and the guys understand that, but injuries happen. We've definitely had our share."

Maybe that explains four winning streaks of at least four games, including a five-game January romp through the Western Conference, and three skids of at least four. The current slide is the longest since an 0-9 open to the 2004-05 season. The Bulls (31-36) were seven games under .500 on Dec. 22 and four over Feb. 26.

"We've had about three or four seasons in one, just with everything we've had to deal with. But, hey, it's a challenge. I love the challenge," Del Negro said. "We have good character guys, like I've said all year.

"Some things are out of your control, but let's keep fighting and battling and finding a way. We've struggled lately, we know that, but hopefully we can get guys healthy and back to the way we're capable of playing, and see if we can make a run here."

Del Negro said he feels like it's been a month since the full team has practiced together. Rose, Deng and Noah should be returning soon, so making the playoffs remains the goal. The Bulls can draw up a reasonable scenario for extending their season, too. They sit only 2 1/2 games behind eighth-place Toronto with 15 games remaining. None of the teams below the Bulls has a realistic postseason shot.

"You've just got to keep going," Miller said. "The same way crazy things have happened and we lost all these games, you can get hot and get a couple of bounces and win that many."

While the Bulls play 10 of their remaining games against teams with winning records, eight of those are at home, where the Bulls are 19-13. Chicago also has a game left against the equally reeling Raptors, losers of nine of their last 11.

"It's not like we have to chase down the Lakers," Miller reminded.

Even if they make it, the Cavs or the Magic are likely waiting in the playoffs. Pending a Kevin Garnett-level injury and a lot of those bounces going the right way, the smart money isn't on Chicago taking one of those title contenders to the limit as it did last postseason.

The front office is obviously already looking ahead, with or without Del Negro. Dealing away Tyrus Thomas and John Salmons, and loading up on expiring deals, leaves Chicago with nearly $18 million to gamble this summer.

So what exactly is gained by reaching the playoffs when the offseason is clearly the focus?

"It was all our expectations coming into the year," Hinrich said. "I feel going into the All-Star break, couple weeks out of All-Star break, we were sitting in good position. We kinda got away from what got us here."

Blame that crazy roller coaster.

Art Garcia has covered the NBA since 1999. You can e-mail him here and follow him on twitter.

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