How long would Lauri Markkanen have to play like garbage before people actually started criticizing him? I’m talking about people other than Bulls fans/writers/media people, since they probably criticize him every time he misses a three. But in terms of the national media, he seems utterly immune. Nothing but positivity surrounding him.
I’m not saying that we should be criticizing him right now, but he hasn’t been all that great coming back from injury. The “injury” part means he gets a lot of leeway already for being not quite as good as last year. Would it take three months of this level of play before we saw an article with a title like “Maybe Lauri Isn’t The Bulls’ Unicorn After All”? Probably longer, that’s a pretty harsh title. Maybe the whole rest of the season.
Meanwhile, Jabari Parker has one (okay, a whole bunch) of bad games and people are ready to trade him to Taiwan for a bowl of spicy noodles.