Should Bulls favor draft lottery positioning over making play-in?

Should Bulls favor draft lottery odds over play-in? originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

Thanks to injuries to—deep breath here—DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso, Goran Dragic, Derrick Jones Jr. Javonte Green and Lonzo Ball, rookie Dalen Terry logged a season-high 27 minutes and scored a season-high 13 points in the Chicago Bulls’ 112-110 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks Thursday night.

The Bulls enter the All-Star break on a season-high, six-game losing streak. They sit in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, a half-game ahead of the Indiana Pacers and as close to the 13th-place Orlando Magic as the 10th-place Toronto Raptors.

With two games to make up over the final 23 games merely to make the play-in picture, coach Billy Donovan fielded a question on whether or not Terry will remain in the rotation moving forward.

“I’ve got to see what we look like health-wise,” Donovan said. “With our roster, somebody is going to have to sit. I’m not saying that Dalen is the one who is going to be sitting. But somebody is going to have to.”

This was a telling answer, particularly since it came shortly after Donovan also fielded a question on whether his focus remains on making the playoffs.

“Yeah, that’s the goal,” Donovan said. “The goal is for us to be playing better basketball.”

Couple Donovan’s answer with executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas doubling down on his preseason expectation that the Bulls win a playoff series by reiterating on the Feb. 9 NBA trade deadline day that his expectation is to make the playoffs. Then you have your answer on whether the Bulls plan to prioritize trying to improve their draft lottery positioning to keep a pick that conveys to Orlando unless it remains in the top-four selections or if they’ll gun for a playoff berth.

“This is our job. We’re not just throwing in the towel. I don’t think we have the type of team or personnel to do that,” Zach LaVine said. “Obviously, losing hurts and everybody is down and…