UPDATE: See comments. I forgot one very important thing here.

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Let’s face the facts: The Bulls, as it stands right now, are probably going to be the odd team out in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt.

They’ve lost eight straight. They’ve given up over 100 points in 11 consecutive games, something that hasn’t happened since 1986. I would have never thought this was possible before this season, but the loss of Joakim Noah in the middle has really hurt this team’s defense.

But here’s the positive spin on this downfall: a lottery pick. If the season ended today, the Bulls would have the 11th-worst record in the league, meaning if the odds fall where they should, the Bulls would have the 11th pick in the draft.

Wow.

The Bulls getting into the playoffs was supposed to be the sell to all the big-name free agents: “Look how good our team is and look at the cap space we have to sign you!” They were supposed to be the team that had the best on-court talent to couple with one of the superstars; this was a great selling point.

And, well, that’s still true: This team is better than the Knicks, Nets, Heat, Wizards and Clippers (arguably) on paper right now. But injuries have killed them down the stretch.

The situation is the Bulls won’t make the playoffs not because their talent couldn’t get it done, but because their talent got injured down the stretch. That’s a big difference.

If a free agent can realize this and see that the Bulls might be able to pick up someone with some promise with that early pick, the Bulls might actually be better positioned to attract a free agent than before, because they’re only adding to the talent base.

Does this make sense?

Stacey King may be a bit of a homer — or rather, a lot of a homer — but there’s no denying his little “OH STOP ITs” and “GET OUT THE WAYs” and “DID YOU NOT GET THE MEMOs”  are positively awesome.

And Derrick Rose has provided many moments for King to bust these out this year during broadcasts, none finer than Rose’s dunk over Goran Dragic.

So it’s only fitting that NewTone re-mixed all King’s vocal quirks from said dunk into this guy:

HT: BDL/CBC

Now. People. Do understand. I don’t think Dwight Howard intentionally tried to hurt Rose here. There’s no reason for him to do so. And no reason to even speculate that it could be possible.

But, please do watch the video:

Oh, and do read this quote from Howard:

As a big man, you never try to hurt anybody when they come down the lane. Me and Derrick are cool. I think he’s a great player. A great person. Never wanted to see him get hurt. But I always tell him, if you come down the lane, always come off two feet. That way you’ll be on balance. You come off one all it takes is for somebody’s body to hit you and you’re going to fall. I hope he gets better. I hope there’s nothing seriously wrong with him. But I never intended on hurting him. It’s just the way it happened.

Of course I could be biased. Of course I have last month in the back of my mind, when Dwight Howard stuck another hard foul on Rose, he tumbled to the floor in a similar fashion and suffered a bruised hip, which nearly kept him out of the All-Star Game. Of course, now that Rose has a sprained wrist with an MRI looming today and the Bulls season continues to slip away with their sixth straight loss last night, I have reasons to gripe.

But when Howard says Rose going up off one foot in the lane — essentially implying he’s being out of control and erratic — is the reason this foul happened? I’m sorry. Not buying it.

Is it true that Rose comes into the lane a lot, and this sort of stuff is just going to happen? Sure. Is it true that Howard’s advice makes logical sense? Sure.

But what I see on this specific play is Rose getting into the air before Howard did, and Howard jumping up and straight into him with no play on the ball.

I see arguably the best attacking point guard in the league having a beat on arguably the best center in the game, the center not timing his jump properly, and him literally shouldering Rose to the ground. It’s all body. And watching it back-to-back with last month’s foul — Howard has literally just chest-bumped Rose to the ground twice now.

Dirty foul? No. Hard, unnecessary foul? Yes. Yes indeed.

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.