It took some trial and error, as well as some stinging losses, but Donovan feels pretty good about the rotation and roster combinations he’s been using in the wake of the trade deadline changes.
It won’t be tidy every game.
Matchups, foul trouble, or just a tired Bulls player that needs some extra minutes off could each factor into Billy Donovan changing his mind.
But as the coach explained on Friday, he’s finally settled on the roster combinations he’s comfortable with, narrowing his rotation down to nine players, with the flexibility to stretch it to 10.
“I think a lot of it will be how the game is flowing,’’ Donovan said. “What the game dictates, matchups, those kinds of things. I do feel comfortable with some guys that may have limited playing time, utilizing those guys if it’s necessary. But I think the other thing too is you do want to get the group somewhat comfortable playing with each other. I know that we don’t have a lot of games to do that. It’s not like it’s an experiment. I think we’ve made some progress and some strides.’’
Through some serious trial and error.
When Donovan was given five new players in the aftermath of the Mar. 25 trade deadline, it wasn’t an easy transition. Not only did he have to figure out how to make the roster work, but had to do so on the fly and at the start of a brutal West Coast swing.
Lumps were definitely taken as Donovan looked at Al-Farouq Aminu, Javonte Green, Troy Brown Jr, and Daniel Theis after immediately inserting Nikola Vucevic into the starting lineup.
Vucevic has obviously changed the entire look of that first unit, and as far as the other newly-acquired players, Theis and Brown have stuck in the rotation, working with mainstays Lauri Markkanen and Coby White off the bench.
So who is out for now that was getting regular minutes?
Denzel Valentine is the biggest loser of minutes, followed by Ryan Arcidiacono.
“I think it’s important that all those guys stay ready,’’ Donovan said. “But with the way we’ve kind of been mixing and matching lineups based on the size of our frontcourt, I just don’t want to get into night in and night out just constantly changing rotation, changing rotation.’’
Ankle biter
The only game Zach LaVine has missed this season is the Mar. 31 loss in Phoenix, after the sprained ankle pain he had been dealing with for days started hampering him on the court.
While the ankle wasn’t 100 percent healed, it remains something that he admittedly just has to deal with for the time being. It didn’t help that he rolled the ankle a bit in the win over Toronto on Thursday.
“As long as I can go out there and shoot and help, I’m going to try to play,’’ LaVine said. “I think you guys know that.’’
More than just words, considering LaVine has been one of the more durable Bulls the past two seasons, missing just six total games in that time.
Scared straight
The timetable on Garrett Temple’s return from a hamstring injury remained blurry, with the veteran still unable to make suitable strides to get back on the court.
“We tried to get him to do some straight-line sprinting,’’ Donovan said. “I think he still had some discomfort. We had to back off from there with that.
“I’ll probably have a better feel of what it looks like once he can do some straight-ahead sprinting and he’s not at that point right now.’’
Temple has now missed six games with the hamstring injury, and has only played in two of the last 15 games because of an ankle injury he was dealing with.
from Chicago Sun-Times - All https://ift.tt/3d57bnt
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