Oy.

So not only is Joakim Noah on the shelf; it’s likely another Bulls starter — Luol Deng — will miss the team’s next two games against the Magic and Heat on Thursday and Friday due to a strained calf, according to the Trib.

Taj Gibson is struggling with plantar faciitis like Noah, and may sit as well come Thursday.

What’s really killing this team of late — last night’s loss marked their fifth straight — is their defense, something you can directly attribute to the loss of Noah, and maybe Tyrus Thomas as well.

As Hoopsdata notes on Twitter today: “Bulls have an average DefEff of 124.0 (!) in last four games. Their season average = 102.7. Unsurprisingly, they lost those games.”

This is not good. Not good at all.

As I noted Monday, their Playoff Odds were 52.9. Today? 41.0.

Gulp.

Have y’all heard of Logorama, the Oscar winner for Best Animated Short?

Nah? OK. (You can watch it here.)

A description: It’s a 16-minute film set in Los Angeles in which the landscape and its inhabits are all logos. The cops are Michelin Men. Ronald McDonald is the villain they are trying to apprehend. The mischievous kid is Big Boy. The MGM lion is in the zoo.

Some French bros made it. It’s a social critique about brands/consumerism engulfing our lives.

Do you get the drill? I think you get the drill.

So yes: Mixed in with the many brands, I happened to spy the Bulls’ logo popped onto the head of Michelin Man during the climax — that’s what she said — of the film.

Boom:

The end.

Now, of course, the Bulls would still be in the playoffs if the season ended today. And, of course, they’re battling it out with a bunch of other .500ish teams, and when you are battling mediocrity, there is always a chance for success.

But I’d say the Bulls’ playoff chances are now cloudy with a just missed the postseason.

Exhibit A: Last week, Joakim Noah was shut down for three weeks. There’s no guarantee he’s going to be playing again once that timetable is up. He’s going to be limited in his minutes even if he does comes back. Brad Miller is Brad Miller. Chris Richard brings the effort, but is a D-Leaguer. The Bulls are now clearly at a disadvantage at center.

Exhibit B: They’ve lost four straight, and their schedule does them no favors in the immediate future — games against the Jazz, Magic, Heat, Grizzlies, Mavericks and Cavs this week and next — and with the Bucks stepping up and grabbing hold of the fifth spot with an impressive run of late, that’s one less spot available for the Bulls in the top eight.

Exhibit C: John Hollinger’s Playoff Odds now gives the Bulls a 52.9 percent chance of making the playoffs. Better than 50 percent, yes. But the Bucks (98.1 percent), Heat (94.7 percent), Bobcats (81.9 percent) and Raptors (71.9 percent) have much better odds in comparison.

All things to keep in mind as the last month of the season rapidly approaches.

Starting tomorrow night, the Bulls embark on a rough eight-game stretch: home against Memphis, Dallas and Utah, onwards to Orlando, Miami, Memphis and Dallas, and then back home to take on LeBron James and His Merry Men.

Making matter worse? The team is the walking wounded right now. Joakim Noah, Brad Miller, Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich and Derrick Rose all missed practice yesterday. Noah is likely the only one that is going to miss any games (UPDATE: looks like he’ll be out three weeks), but it’s clear several of the Bulls’ key players have dings and dents whether they miss time or not, and this is about the worst time of the season for this to befall them.

It’s no one’s fault, of course. These things happen over the course of the season, and it’s not as if all hope is lost on the playoffs. This team is still the sixth seed in the East, and there’s no reason to hit the panic button yet.

But the Bulls are only up two games on No. 9-seed Charlotte. All it takes is a losing streak of a few games, and they could suddenly find themselves on the outside looking in.

There is no Super Mario Bros. 3 warp whistle for the Bulls to magically wind up in the playoffs; they’ll have to go through all comers the rest of the season and win enough games to make it to the postseason.

We’ll see where they stand in eight games.

This is why they should just stick to half-court shots for the fans during timeouts and the like:

Add a trampoline to the mix, and things get scary.

HT: Buster Sports

I was a bit surprised Michael Jordan stepped up to become principal owner for the Bobcats at the end of last week, namely because everything I’d read indicated the contrary. Jordan apparently didn’t want to put up all the money himself, and he was hard-pressed to find others who were willing to go in with him.

Factor in that when the Bobcats lost money — which is something they’ve been doing of late — it’s now Jordan losing the money. As the principal owner, he stands to lose more now than before.

So why is a guy that seems more interested in golf instead of focusing on the team as the head of basketball operations — this is the perception, and perhaps not the reality, mind you — going all in now?

Because this is Michael Jordan. And Michal Jordan, as we found out from his HOF speech, always has to prove the doubters wrong.

From Henry Abbott of TrueHoop:

Sources say that what Jordan wants more than anything is to prove once again to the doubters that he is the best in the business. Anyone who has seen him play basketball knows he’s allergic to losing. Yet, a decade into his time running NBA front offices, he still hasn’t had any significant success. Maligned for picking Kwame Brown first overall for the Wizards in 2001, he was then fired for his part in an underperforming Wizards front office, and laughed at again in Charlotte for picking Adam Morrison with the third pick in the 2006 draft.

The difference this time is if Jordan loses, if the team and revenues struggle, his pocket gets hit in a big way. This wasn’t the case when he was a competitor on the court.

So in that sense, it’s a risk. Perhaps a big risk. But this is Michael Jordan. And the challenge of proving everyone wrong trumps all.

This was known for quite so time, but the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports it’s officially official:

“I’ve done it,” James said. “I already sent it in. I’m going to be No. 6.”

The NBA does not have to fulfill the request, players who don’t change teams have to apply to change their number in March before the previous season. However, the wave of new jersey sales the switch promises to trigger would likely be too enticing for the league to turn down.

Of course there are great marketing, branding and money opportunities with such a change. LeBron’s No. 6 will likely ascend to the top of the jersey sales list, and Nike will probably have a nice little No. 6 shoe or campaign revolving around it. LBJ has said this is to honor Michael Jordan. He says that no one in the league should be wearing No. 23 out of respect.

Synergy.

But there’s also other implications here, if we want to read into such things. And of course we want to read into such things.

Is The Chosen One hedging his bets? Did he file the paperwork now so that he has the opportunity to wear it in Cleveland next season, something he needs to do if he’s staying with the same team?  Or is this simply a playing-it-safe move to cover both bases? Make it appear as if he’s staying by filing the paperwork the season before, but also leave the option open to bolt and wear No. 6 all the same? If he’s switching teams in the offseason, he doesn’t have to file paperwork; a player can wear a new number without as much fuss so   long as it’s not retired at his new home.

Some food for thought: both the Bulls and Heat have No. 23 retired. So, you know, if he happened to leave Cleveland, that No. 6 would fit in on either team quite nice.

Read into that however you’d like.