The Bulls are pulling back slightly on their tanking efforts after drawing the attention of the NBA.
Chicago will put center Robin Lopez and guard Justin Holiday back on the floor after sitting them for mulitple games recently, Yahoo Sports reported Tuesday. The league warned the Bulls this week about resting healthy players, according to the report. The NBA
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The Chicago Tribune reported both players will play limited minutes under a plan that was devised after "cordial" and"cooperative" discussions between the team and the league. Lopez and Holiday have said they do not want to play reserve roles at this time, per the Tribune.
Lopez has been inactive for the past six games; Holiday has been inactive for five of those six. Both were inactive Monday when the Bulls were blown out at home by a Celtics team that was without Kyrie Irving. Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said after the game that the 105-89 loss was "embarrassing."
Chicago had the NBA's eighth-worst record (21-42) entering Tuesday's games. It is engaging in a race to the bottom with other teams trying to position themselves for the NBA Draft lottery.
One of those teams, the Mavericks, is openly engaged in tanking. The NBA fined the team $600,000 after owner Mark Cuban said that losing is more helpful to his team than winning at the moment.
Dallas veteran forward Dirk Nowitzki is not on board with the plan; he told reporters that tanking "sets the wrong tone for the future" and that young players should be competing hard at all times so they can improve.
