Chandler Says He's 'Mentally Fatigued'

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Tyson Chandler was back home, where he usually presses and plays poorly. But the Bulls' $62 million man has been playing poorly most of the season, which has upset him as well as Bulls coach Scott Skiles.

"I've been, pretty much from the beginning of the season, really mentally fatigued," Chandler said before Sunday night's 96-93 victory over the Lakers. "I'm a real emotional person, and when things are not going well for the team and I don't feel I'm playing well or like I'm capable of playing, it kind of all adds up.

"The organization made a big promise to me, so I want to get out there and be successful and help my team win. I'm disappointed in myself."

Chandler, the Bulls' only 7-footer, had just five blocks in the first eight games and had gone five games without a block before getting one Friday night against Seattle. But he had 15 rebounds to go with six points Sunday night.

"It's very simple," Skiles said. "We need him to run the floor, defend his spot and protect the basket with some shot-blocking. He has not run the floor yet like he did last year. He appears to get fatigued quickly.

"We feel we're not asking too much. Hopefully he's not expecting too much and putting undue pressure on himself. I'd like to see 14- or 15-rebound games, three or four blocked shots out of him.

"We've seen him have 22 rebounds. He's having nights he's out there eight or nine minutes and gets one rebound. So we've chosen to go in another direction when that happens."</div>

<div align="center">Chicago Tribune</div>

I feel kind of bad for the guy he is always getting the most critics out of any of the Bulls players. Even more so now that Curry has left. However, he is a 60 million dollar player so we need him to play better than he has been playing so far this season. He has only averaged 6 points a game which is four points below his career average coming into the season. It hurts the team not having that inside presence getting easy buckets at center. To his credit though he is not a center he was just thrown into the situation with the exodus of Curry. I think he will step it up as the season progress though.

 

Chandler has been getting alot of pressure to step up, but he's getting 60mil, but it's only the beginning of the season and they're not doing terrible his scoring,boards, blocks are gonna go up i think

 

Yeah its not a huge suprise his lack of scoring, I think most Bulls fans have grasped the idea that he'll never become an offensive powerhouse, the only thing that worries me is he seems to be getting worse, last year he had that little jumper going, that hasn't been falling at all this year... but ya for the time being I'm content with Chandler being energy/defense/rebounding.

 

Well, I think Chandler has been playing very hard this year. Things may not be going right as planned for him, but it's 10 games into the season. I think Chandler will step it up, like last year.

 

Could this fatigue be from Eddy Curry's departure? I know Curry wasn't a rebounder but he created a presence in the post that might have made it easier for Chandler to dominate the glass and block all those shots.

 

Does anyone remember the article I posted during training camp in which Chandler admitted he was out of shape, and intended to play himself into basketball shape? Does anyone think he is still doing that? My memory was just jogged by Chutney’s post. Tyson Chandler did not play basketball all summer due to fear of injury so he is rusty still I guess that could be a reason why he is struggling more so than usual on the offensive end. However, one thing Chandler is doing that I don’t like is he thinks that because he owns up to being out of shape, being fatigued, etc that it makes it all right for him to be that way. He is the future of this franchise, and was always a hard worker before receiving his new 60 million dollars contract. I sure hope this is not another one of those cases where a guy stops working after he gets that big deal.

I also agree with Chutney that the departure of Curry has affected Chandler not only on the court, but off of it as well. Curry was Tyson’s best friend on the Bulls roster, and not being able to talk to someone you were close to on a regular bases has top affect Chandler some what mentally. Now as far as on the court goes Chandler was just tossed into a situation he did not ask to be a part of this season. Due to Curry’s departure it automatically forced Tyson to move to the center sport in which he is clearly uncomfortable in and struggling to adjust to. I will hold judgment on Chandler at least for now have to give him time only ten games into the year like Fatality said.