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Underachieving Bulls host young Sonics

Dec 11, 2007 - 2:27 PM Seattle (6-15) at Chicago (6-12) 8:30 pm EST

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- The Seattle Supersonics were expected to be this bad. The Chicago Bulls certainly were not.

The Bulls aim to bounce back from a poor performance when they host the young Supersonics on Tuesday.

Seattle finished 31-51 a season ago and selected Kevin Durant with the first pick of last June's draft. With a core group of players all under the age of 28, Seattle has struggled.

Meanwhile, Durant has been inconsistent at best. He is shooting just 33 percent (22-of-66) in his last four games, compared to 50 percent (39-of-77) in the previous four contests.

Still, he is averaging a rookie-best 20.3 points despite shooting just 39 percent on the season. Durant scored 23 points on just 7-of-22 from the floor in a 91-88 loss to New Orleans on Saturday.

While expectations were tempered in Seattle, things were different in Chicago. The Bulls advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals last season, and were a preseason favorite to win the conference.

However, the Bulls lost 10 of 13 games to open the season and have vastly underachieved. Chicago started to show life by winning three of five before a 92-81 loss to the Boston Celtics on Saturday.