If you read us, but don’t read Ball Don’t Lie — actually, there’s no chance of that, so I won’t even finish it by saying “you should be.” Because you probably do, you’re probably aware that one of the Internet’s foremost Bulls fans, Kelly Dwyer, writes daily at BDL, and when he talks Bulls there’s little in the world that could distract me.

For example, today’s wrap of last night’s games, in which he pleads with the Bulls to do something — anything — to prevent the current starting lineup from being reshuffled, reads like a more eloquent version of what I think when I watch Del Negro’s team play:

So don’t give them that chance, youngsters. Play hard from the outset, Tyrus and Joakim. I know it stinks to be dorked around by coach after coach after coach, but at some point you know you’re just going to have to take the mental contact (so to, poorly, speak) and finish your shot after the mental hit of being dragged out of the lineup for no reason at all. This coaching staff is just dying to put the pasty plucky ones (Nocioni, Hinrich, Aaron Gray) in your spots, and you can’t let that happen.

Actually, it might be too late. The Bulls turned things around in the first quarter against the Hawks when that triptych entered for Rose, Thomas, and Noah, and don’t be surprised to see at least two of the plucky ones starting the next time around. After all, the Bulls need that “intensity” and “energy” and “less talent” and “less effective players” more than anything. Because it makes the coaches “feel like [they're] doing something.”

In the offseason, I had a perhaps-too-optimistic hope that the Vinny Del Negro era, while rough around the edges and characterized by a clumsy learning curve, would end the petty lineup nonsense that plagued Scott Skiles in his latter years with the Bulls. I had hoped that Del Negro would see the young talent he has on this team, the way it can be harnessed and developed together, and how damaging and silly it is to screw around with roster changes every two days. Alas, that isn’t the case. So I’m resorting to the only hope that seems realistic regarding the Bulls: That they make a trade that causes something in Del Negro’s mind to click, to realize that he has a core and that he should be solidifying it, not constantly chipping at it.

Maybe Bobby Simmons is that trade. Maybe not. Either way, I had actually hoped to enjoy watching the Bulls this year. Not so much, eh?