- Bulls swingman Denzel Valentine suffered a moderate ankle sprain during the first week of training camp, according to the team’s website. Valentine will be re-evaluated in 1-2 weeks, the release adds. The injury could put Valentine’s rotation spot in jeopardy. He’s fighting for playing time on the wing with Justin Holiday, Chandler Hutchison and JaKarr Sampson, among others, behind starters Zach LaVine and Jabari Parker.
- Shooting guard David Nwaba had a two-year offer from the Pacers but he opted for a one-year deal with the Cavaliers, he revealed to Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Nwaba became an unrestricted free agent after the Bulls rescinded his qualifying offer. “Indiana wanted me for two years, but Cleveland seemed like a better fit,” Nwaba told Fedor. “Young guys as well as veterans on this team, so I thought it was a perfect fit and knew I was going to get my opportunity here.”
Bulls power forward Lauri Markkanen will be out an estimated 6-to-8 weeks after suffering a high grade lateral elbow sprain, the team tweets.
Markkanen was injured during practice on Thursday and underwent an MRI on his right elbow on Friday.
The first major injury of the preseason could derail any hopes Chicago had of making the playoffs. Without their top player, the Bulls are dangerously thin at the forward spots.
Barring a trade, Chicago could thrust Bobby Portis into a starting role or move Jabari Parker from small forward to the four spot. Rookie training camp invitee Kaiser Gates is the team’s only other power forward, though it could try rookie Wendell Carter Jr. or Cristiano Felicio as a stopgap.
Markkanen had an outstanding rookie campaign, averaging 15.2 PPG and 7.5 RPG in 29.7 MPG while appearing in 68 contests. The 7-footer was the seventh overall pick in the 2017 draft.
- Speaking of rookie scale extension candidates, Bobby Portis is also eligible for a new contract up until October 15. The Bulls big man appears set to enter the 2018/19 season as the club’s sixth man, a role he’s comfortable with, as Vincent Goodwill of NBC Sports Chicago details.
- With the Bulls‘ still in the midst of their rebuilding process, top executive John Paxson declined to name a win total when asked about the team’s expectations earlier this week. However, head coach Fred Hoiberg knows he’ll be expected to show positive steps forward during the fourth season of his five-year contract with the franchise, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.
Some may look at the signing of Jabari Parker as a bit of a double-edged sword, writes K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, but Parker sees his addition to the Bulls as another weapon for head coach Fred Hoiberg to utilize as opposed to another body who may take shots away from the threesome of Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine, and Lauri Markkanen.
“Those days we had in the gym two weeks ago were very central for us and especially for me,” Parker said. “I got a chance to see those guys up front. It’s different playing with them than against them. I finally got a chance to know here I need to be on the floor and my strengths and things I need to work on.”
“It’s going to take time, like anything else. I can’t put a date on it. But once we figure out each other and start to jell, we’ll see results. Chemistry is key with those guys. The ball is going to be in their hands a lot. Hopefully I can feed off them.”
Luckily for the Bulls, Parker, Markkanen, and LaVine all shoot at roughly the same frequency. For his career, Parker has taken 12.6 shot attempts per game, while Markkanen attempted 12.7 shots per game as a rookie and LaVine has averaged 11.7 attempts in the NBA since being drafted in 2014. Meanwhile, Dunn will be tasked with making sure the ball gets distributed as needed.
“Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been playing with these guys, getting a feel of each player,” Dunn said. “I have great chemistry with Lauri. Zach, he’s easy to play with because he’s a knockdown shooter. Jabari, he’s an unselfish player, a slasher. And Wendell (Carter Jr.) is another unselfish player who doesn’t need the ball.”
Dunn, LaVine, Parker, and Markkanen will likely all start next to veteran Robin Lopez, but Carter’s minutes should increase as the season goes on, with sixth man Bobby Portis rounding out the team’s young core. Parker will also be able to slide to power forward and play alongside Portis or Carter when Markkanen is on the bench.
Having secured a $78MM payday in July, Zach LaVine will face extra scrutiny in 2018/19, but the 23-year-old guard isn’t feeling any added pressure to prove that he’s worth the Bulls‘ investment, as K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune details.
“I don’t have to validate anything,” LaVine said. “I feel I’ve earned everything I’ve gotten. … Added pressure? Man, I’m the hardest critic out of everybody on my own side. I’m just excited because I know I’ve had a really good summer. I know how good we can be.”
As LaVine observes, the current Bulls’ group hasn’t won anything yet, so the team will enter the season looking to defy prognosticators who view Chicago as a sub-.500 squad.
“We hear the outside expectations, but I think we use that as fuel,” LaVine said. “We’re going to get off to a hot start with training camp coming. We’ve all been here and it’s going to be fun. That’s why I think we’re all able to get a jump on the season because we’re all healthy now.”
Here’s more out of Chicago:
- The Bulls face an October 15 deadline to lock up Bobby Portis to a rookie scale extension, and it appears the team is making an effort to get something done. GM Gar Forman, who said the Bulls view Portis as “part of our core,” indicated on Monday that the club has met with Portis’ agent several times about a possible contract (Twitter link via K.C. Johnson). Portis would be eligible for restricted free agency in 2019 without a new deal in place.
- The Bulls invested heavily in offense this summer by matching LaVine’s offer sheet and signing Jabari Parker, but they’ll only go as far as their defense takes them in 2018/19, writes Mark Strotman of NBC Sports Chicago. “There’s no reason in the world we shouldn’t be able to go out and make things tough for the other team,” head coach Fred Hoiberg said of the Bulls’ defense. “It’s not about one individual. It’s about getting all five on the same page and building the habits.”
- In case you missed it over the weekend, Bulls center Omer Asik has been ruled out indefinitely due to inflammatory arthritis.
Robin Lopez is among several Bulls players reporting for training camp who may not be with the team all season, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun Times. The veteran center is an attractive trade chip with a $14.3MM expiring contract. First-rounder Wendell Carter seems destined to become the starting center at some point, and Lopez doesn’t fit in with Chicago’s rebuilding project at age 30.
Lopez was sent to the bench late last season as part of the Bulls’ tanking effort. Cowley relays that he was upset about the move, but refused to complain publicly about not playing.
“It was rough for me, but I get it, I understood it,’’ Lopez said. “I always want to be out there playing on the court. I want to be playing obviously, but we’ve got a great group of guys here. I think the future is bright and I think I can be a part of it in some way.’’
Cowley identifies free agent addition Jabari Parker as another player who could be moved by the trade deadline. With a $20MM team option for next season, Parker could be seen as a low-risk addition for a contending team.
There’s more today from the Central Division:
- The Bucks shouldn’t be overlooked as a possible destination for Jimmy Butler, tweets Darren Wolfson of Eyewitness 5 News in Minneapolis. Butler went to Marquette and still has ties to the Milwuakee area, Wolfson notes, plus the Bucks are moving into a new arena and would have a shot at winning the East with Butler on board.
- Christian Wood received a $100K guarantee in his training camp deal with the Bucks, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. Milwaukee already has 14 players with guaranteed contracts, so Wood will be competing for the final roster spot with Tyler Zeller, Shabazz Muhammad and Tim Frazier.
- At age 59, Stan Van Gundy doesn’t feel ready to retire, but his wife doesn’t want him to coach anymore, relays Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press. Van Gundy is without a job as training camp opens after the Pistons fired him as head coach and president of basketball operations in May. “I don’t care who you are, what job you are in, when you’ve worked at something for a long time and tried to become good at it and everything else, it’s not easy to walk away — particularly when it’s not on your own terms,” Van Gundy said. “Kim’s major thing is that I’m not happy [during seasons]. You don’t need to do it, so why are you going to do something that doesn’t make you happy.”
Bulls‘ center Omer Asik is out indefinitely with inflammatory arthritis, the team announced. Asik has been receiving medical treatment but his return to basketball activities is yet to be determined, the announcement noted.
Asik, 32, was re-acquired by Chicago in February as part of the deal that sent Nikola Mirotic to the Pelicans. The Turkish big man only appeared in four games with the Bulls, averaging 1.0 PPG. Asik — originally drafted by the Trail Blazers but immediately traded to the Bulls in 2008 — started his career in Chicago, playing for the Bulls in his first two NBA seasons.
In 152 career games with the Bulls, Asik has averages of 2.9 PPG and 4.4 RPG.
SEPTEMBER 18: Gates’ deal with the Bulls is now official, per RealGM’s NBA transactions log.
SEPTEMBER 14: Kaiser Gates has agreed to a training camp contract with the Bulls, tweets Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic.
Gates was part of the Bulls’ entry in the Las Vegas Summer League, scoring 6.7 PPG. He went undrafted out of Xavier, where he averaged 7.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game as a junior. He shot 37.8% from 3-point range last year.
The signing of Gates will bring the Bulls up to 19 players, one short of the roster limit for training camp. They have 14 guaranteed contracts.
SEPTEMBER 18: The Bulls have officially signed Sampson, according to RealGM’s transactions log.
SEPTEMBER 14: The Bulls will fill their final roster spot heading into training camp by signing JaKarr Sampson, tweets Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic.
Sampson is a three-year veteran who has spent time with three NBA teams. He played 22 games for the Kings last season, averaging 4.7 points and 3.5 rebounds per night. Sampson started his career with the Sixers, then joined the Nuggets after being waived in 2016.
The addition of Sampson comes on the heels of a reported deal with Kaiser Gates, a rookie out of Xavier.
- The Knicks’ desire to sign Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving could have a negative impact on the Bulls’ free agency plans next summer, according to an NBC Sports Chicago post. The Knicks have reportedly made Irving their No. 1 target in free agency and it’s been previously rumored that Irving and Jimmy Butler might join forces. If the Bulls wanted to bring back Butler after trading him away last summer, Irving’s potential interest in the Knicks could sidetrack that plan, the report adds.