Bulls schedule will continue to try and strangle them next few weeks

It’s not like the next week lightens up for the struggling Bulls.

Heck, the next two weeks are burdened with more schedule obstacles and landmines.

At 6-1 Philadelphia on Monday, in the Garden to play the defending champs on Wednesday, a return home just to be greeted again by the 76ers, then a few days to breathe only to watch 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama duck his head to get through the doors of the United Center.

A home game with Atlanta, a road trip to Minnesota and Cleveland … it goes on and on. No surprise because when the schedule was first released what stood out most was the brutal start of it for a team in rebuild mode. Not until Nov. 18 with a trip to Brooklyn do the Bulls get some sort of relief.

There’s a likely scenario that by the time the Bulls play the Nets it could be 1-12 vs 1-12. Not exactly must-see NBA League Pass viewing.

“It doesn’t get easier for us, and no one is feeling sorry for us,” Bulls guard Josh Giddey said of the upcoming schedule. “It’s up to us as a group to step up.”

That’s how 20-year-old rookie Caleb Wilson is handling it, as well. Yeah, it would be easy to flinch with the incoming traffic, but the No. 4 pick was anxious to see how this group was going to react, starting with himself.

“I just got to make sure my reaction is right, and that’s a big thing – lead by example,” Wilson said. “I can only focus on myself and try and talk my teammates into playing harder and playing with as much passion as me, but that’s all I can do.

“The NBA is a back-to-back league, so just got to go out there and get it done.”

There is a silver lining in all of this, however.

Yes, the Bulls have shown a few flashes, whether it’s been a quarter, a half or like in the Knicks loss, three solid quarters, but the bottom of the league so far this season is a dumpster fire. Did teams not get the memo that the days of Tanking 101 have ended?

The new 3-2-1 draft lottery system punishes the bottom three teams, while the sweet spot for the best odds is in that No. 4 through 10 zip code of worst records.

The Bulls are in the adage of not having to run faster than the grizzly bear chasing them, just be quicker than three other teams.

Thankfully, it feels like they are:

Milwaukee – Like the Bulls, the Bucks have started the season 1-5 with their only win coming against Indiana. Tyler Herro has done Tyler Herro things, leading them in scoring, but they remain a team of solid pieces that just don’t seem to fit together. Plus, the Bulls already played them and put up a W.

Utah – While there are a few teams that have been early-season surprises in a good way, the Jazz are not it. In fact, they fall under the category of early-season disappointment. Jaren Jackson Jr. is out until at least mid-December, Lauri Markkanen can’t stay healthy, and there is already talk that they could look to move guys and let youngsters Darryn Peterson and Ace Bailey try and lead the team into the future.

Brooklyn – The Nets were expected to be bad but still added Julius Randle to go along with veteran Michael Porter Jr. in hopes of staying out of bottom-three-bad. It hasn’t worked.

Sacramento – As long as the Kings exist, Bulls executive Bryson Graham can sleep well at night knowing there’s a far-worse product out there. The Kings have decided to let rookie Darius Acuff Jr. shoot often and then shoot again, as the No. 7 overall pick is launching a league-high 24 shots per game, including 9.8 threes (4th highest) per game.