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Central Notes: LaVine, Rose, Shumpert, R. Jackson

December 30th, 2017 at 9:51pm CST by Arthur Hill

When they stumbled their way to a 3-20 start, no team seemed less likely to have a seven-game winning streak than the Bulls. But that’s what happened, and their improbable play since December 8 has given them the league’s best record during that span at 10-2. With Zach LaVine due back soon, the only thing that could dampen spirits in Chicago is a rumored trade involving Nikola Mirotic or Robin Lopez, writes K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune.

Trade rumors began when the Bulls appeared headed for a high lottery pick and Mirotic was sidelined by facial fractures from a preseason fight with teammate Bobby Portis. Those two have resolved their differences enough to co-exist on the court, and Chicago has pulled to within five games of a playoff spot.

“We’re playing so well you don’t want to interfere with that,” LaVine said about the possibility of a deal. “But that’s not a decision for me or anybody on the team. We go out there to play and win and prove ourselves and impress. That’s what we’re going to do.”

There’s more tonight from the Central Division:

Today marked the first of six straight contact practices scheduled for LaVine as he works his way back from ACL surgery, Johnson adds in the same story. LaVine, who was averaging 18.9 points per game for the Timberwolves before the injury last season, said he feels “close” to returning. “I’ve actually picked things up pretty quickly,” he said of the Bulls’ offense. “The main thing is just doing a lot of conditioning. I like being one of the best in-shape dudes out there. I’m getting that down. The touch and feel comes back the more you play.”
There’s also positive health news regarding the Cavaliers, relays Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. In addition to the imminent debut of Isaiah Thomas, Cleveland expects to have Derrick Rose and Iman Shumpert back soon. Rose has been sidelined since December 7 with bone spurs and a sprained ankle, while Shumpert hasn’t played since having meniscus surgery December 1. “D Rose looked good the other day,” said coach Tyronn Lue. “First time I seen him run without a limp. He was going through some stuff. He was doing three-man weave with a lot of pace and speed. … You know Shump, he’s always healing faster than he’s supposed to, so he’s coming along well also.”
Pistons point guard Reggie Jackson can’t start his rehab process until the swelling goes down in his injured right foot, tweets Rod Beard of The Detroit News. That’s expected to happen in about two weeks.

Bulls Gauging Trade Value Of Mirotic, Lopez

December 12th, 2017 at 4:57pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA trade deadline is still almost two months away, but the Bulls have started doing their homework on the market. According to K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune, who cites one team executive from each conference, the Bulls have made “preliminary inquiries” to assess the trade value of veteran bigs Nikola Mirotic and Robin Lopez.

Despite their three-game winning streak, which includes a win over the conference-leading Celtics, the Bulls are still just 6-20, tied for the NBA’s worst record. As such, the club is expected to be a seller at the February 8 trade deadline, making Mirotic and Lopez logical trade candidates.

Lopez and Mirotic are the Bulls’ highest-paid players, though neither contract is onerous. Lopez is earning $13.79MM this season and has one more guaranteed year worth $14.36MM. Mirotic has a $12.5MM cap hit for this season and a $12.5MM team option for 2018/19, meaning Chicago could lose him for nothing in unrestricted free agency in July.

Of course, while Lopez’s contract situation and age (29) are enough to make him a trade candidate, there are a few other factors at play in Mirotic’s case. The 26-year-old missed the start of the 2017/18 season after suffering a concussion and facial fractures as a result of a Bobby Portis punch, and while the two power forwards appear to be coexisting now, Mirotic reportedly wouldn’t mind being moved.

With nearly 100 players set to become trade-eligible later this week, trade discussions around the NBA may start to heat up soon. However, most teams won’t finalize any deals until closer to the deadline. If the Bulls decide to move Mirotic, they’ll have no choice but to wait — his trade restrictions don’t lift until January 15.

Eastern Rumors: Embiid, Stauskas, Tatum, Bulls

December 11th, 2017 at 10:41pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Sixers center Joel Embiid feels personal responsibility that former executive Sam Hinkie lost his job, as he expressed to NBA.com’s David Aldridge during a wide-ranging interview. Embiid believes Hinkie would still be running the Sixers if not for the foot injuries that kept Embiid out of action for two seasons after Hinkie drafted him. “He made sure he put everything in place so I could get healthy. And I got healthy and I got back on the court,” Embiid said. “And I feel like he basically kind of lost his job because of me, because I missed two years. So I feel like I owe him a lot.”

In other news around the Eastern Conference:

Shooting guard Nik Stauskas, who was included in the deal that sent Jahlil Okafor to the Nets, is eager for a fresh start with Brooklyn, Nets website writer Tom Dowd relays. Stauskas appeared in 80 games, including 27 starts, with the Sixers last season but only saw action in six games this season after the off-season signing of J.J. Redick. “I’m just happy with the new change of scenery,” Stauskas said. “I feel like I get a chance to press the reset button.”
Pistons coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy revealed that he rated Celtics forward Jayson Tatum as the top player in the draft but Van Gundy is still surprised by the rookie’s 3-point shooting. Tatum, who played one season at Duke, led the league coming into Monday’s action with his 52.3% success rate from long range. “I thought he was the best prospect in the draft,” Van Gundy said Sunday in his pregame press conference. “He’s got all the tools. Anbody who says they’re not surprised by (his) three-point shooting, based on what he did in college, is lying. If there’s somebody who says I knew he’d knock down 50 percent of his threes even though he made 32 percent of them from the college line, they’re lying.”
Center Robin Lopez, power forward Nikola Mirotic and shooting guard Justin Holiday are three Bulls players that Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times views as trade bait. All three are rotation players whose contracts expire after next season, though there’s a team option on the final year of Mirotic’s deal, worth $12.5MM.

Bulls Rumors: Portis, Grant, Lopez, Markkanen

November 6th, 2017 at 10:54pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bobby Portis will jump into the Bulls’ rotation when his eight-game suspension ends on Tuesday, according to Sam Smith of Bulls.com. Portis, who was punished for punching and injuring teammate Nikola Mirotic during a scrimmage scuffle, will back up rookie Lauri Markkanen at power forward. “We do plan on Bobby being the backup four,” coach Fred Hoiberg told Smith and other media members. “We’ll see how the flow of the game is going and see if we can slide him down to the five and allow he and Lauri to play together for a stretch.” Hoiberg said the second unit needs the boost that Portis can provide. “Every time he steps on the floor and we need a jolt of energy, he can provide that for us,” he said. “He needs to continue to do those little things that have made him successful when he’s been on the floor his first couple years in the league.”

In other items concerning the Bulls:

Jerian Grant is looking more comfortable at point guard and has emerged as a true competitor to Kris Dunn for the starting job, as Smith examines in a separate piece. Grant posted a near triple-double against the Pelicans on Saturday with 13 points, eight rebounds and nine rebounds while Dunn played only 17 minutes and shot 2-for-9 from the field. “I was able to push the ball and find my teammates,” Grant told Smith and other reporters. “If I continue to do that we can win some games and be in a game with a team like that.”
Center Robin Lopez believes the team’s younger players shouldn’t simply be handed playing time, as he expressed to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “There’s something to be said for earning minutes,’’ Lopez said. “It kind of builds character. It’s just not going to work out perfectly all the time, but I’m a proponent of that.’’
Markkanen ranks second only to the Sixers’ Ben Simmons as a Rookie of the Year candidate, according to Mark Schanowski of NBC Sports Chicago.

Central Notes: Bulls, Pistons, Smith

October 12th, 2017 at 4:08pm CST by Austin Kent

The Bulls finally embraced a rebuild this offseason so there will be no shortage of attention paid to how they manage each and every asset from this point forward. Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that the club will be particularly patient with injuries to key young players considering that now more than ever the club can afford to lose ball games.

Between the lingering effects of Zach LaVine‘s 2016/17 ACL injury and preseason setbacks to both Lauri Markkanen and Kris Dunn, the new look Bulls are awfully banged up ahead of the 2017 season opener and may not even see the court together until as late as December.

“I think it’s just about being patient,” Dunn, acquired in the trade that sent Jimmy Butler from the Bulls to Minnesota, said. “Lauri, he was in Finland, so there was a lot of strain on his back from all the games they played [in the EuroBasket tournament]. Zach, with his injury, you try to take it slow with him because he’s a big piece to this team. And me, I’m just slowly trying to get back. So it’s just a slow thing.”

To that effect, Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg has said that his starting lineup when the season begins on Tuesday will consist of Jerian Grant, Justin Holiday, Nikola Mirotic, Paul Zipser and Robin Lopez.

There’s more from the Central Division:

When Derrick Rose signed a minimum contract with the Cavaliers, he did so as a bet on himself. “I get a chance to reintroduce myself back to the league. I get to bet on myself. That was one of the reasons I came here, I get to bet on myself. And I’m from Chicago, I’ve got that hustling side; it’s in me, man,” he told Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
While Pistons projects Luke Kennard and Henry Ellenson figure to make an impact on the team eventually, they’ll have to beat out defensive-minded veterans Reggie Bullock and Anthony Tolliver for minutes, Keith Langlois of the team’s official site writes. Both Tolliver and Bullock provide plenty of intangible skill that make life easier for the second unit.
The announcement that Dwyane Wade would be the Cavaliers‘ starting shooting guard didn’t go over well with J.R. Smith. “We talked about it,” Smith told Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. “It wasn’t the most positive conversation, but we talked about it and we’ll get through it together.“

Bulls Notes: Wade, Hoiberg, Forman, Dunn

September 17th, 2017 at 10:27am CST by Arthur Hill

Dwyane Wade hasn’t contacted the Bulls’ front office about his desire for a buyout and is hoping the team makes the first move, according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Wade made his feelings clear that he doesn’t want to be part of a rebuilding project after Chicago traded Jimmy Butler to Minnesota in June. However, he is reluctant to give up much of the $23.8MM salary for the upcoming season that he opted into and apparently believes he can get a better deal if Bulls management takes the initiative on buyout talks.

A recent report said Wade hasn’t been in contact with anyone from the front office since the Butler deal and that he felt misled because he was given assurances that the Bulls would try to remain competitive before he opted in. At 35, Wade is by far the oldest and most expensive player on Chicago’s roster and he clearly doesn’t fit the team’s youth movement. How far each side is willing to continue before buyout talks begin will be among the most interesting storylines of the new season.

Cowley shares more information out of Chicago:

Expectations will be different for coach Fred Hoiberg with the revamped roster, but he still has to show progress to keep his job. Hoiberg has been under fire from fans and the media since coming to Chicago two years ago and was publicly criticized by Butler early in his first season. Cowley calls it “sink-or-swim time” for Hoiberg, who has to turn a young roster into the type of team he envisioned when he was hired.
GM Gar Forman’s fate is probably tied to Hoiberg’s, Cowley adds. Forman, who made the decision to bring Hoiberg out of the college ranks, is already unpopular with Bulls’ fans, some of whom paid to put up a billboard in July calling for the firing of him and president of basketball operations John Paxson.
Kris Dunn, part of the package acquired in exchange for Butler, has an open path toward being the starting point guard. The fifth pick of the 2016 draft, Dunn had a disappointing rookie season in Minnesota, but the Bulls have no obvious successor to Rajon Rondo.
The Bulls are happy with what they have seen from first-round pick Lauri Markkanen during summer league and EuroBasket. The seventh overall selection will be “a key foundation piece” of the rebuild.
Robin Lopez is the team’s most valuable trade commodity and seems likely to be moved during the season. The 29-year-old center averaged 10.4 points and 6.4 rebounds in his first season with the Bulls after being acquired in a deal with the Knicks.

Central Notes: Bucks, Pacers, Lopez, James

March 25th, 2017 at 12:48pm CST by Milo Taibi

The Bucks are going to be without John Henson for the next few games, as Chris Haynes of ESPN reported Henson would be sidelined for a week with a left thumb sprain (article link). According to Haynes, Henson sustained the injury at some point during Milwaukee’s match-up against the Trail Blazers on Tuesday.

While Milwaukee will be short-handed for at least the next two games, Michael Beasley appears close to returning. Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Beasley could come back by next week, if not by the end of the season (Twitter link). Beasley has been out since February 27 with a hyperextended left knee.

Other goings-on around the Central…

Robin Lopez knew he was going to receive a suspension when he threw a punch at Serge Ibaka, Vincent Goodwill of CSN Chicago writes. Fortunately for the Bulls, Lopez received a light one-game suspension following a “pretty straight-forward” deliberation process from the league. “I mean, that’s what the league gave. I’m going to stick with it,” Lopez said, adding, “I didn’t change my story.” In his return from the suspension, Lopez went 0-for-6 from the field over 18 minutes.
The Pacers snapped their bizarre streak of 15 games alternating wins and defeats last night, taking a 125-117 loss to the Nuggets. Several players and coach Nate McMillan voiced frustration following the game, sensing a lack of urgency. “We’ve got to play like our life is on the line like it is,” Jeff Teague told Nate Taylor of Indy Star. “We’ve got to be aggressive and leave it all out there. Every game from now on is a must win for us. We’ve got to play like it. This was a bad loss at home and we didn’t come out to play. We just didn’t have the effort.” Despite falling to .500, the Pacers maintained their spot as the Eastern Conference’s seventh seed.
LeBron James suffered a corneal abrasion of his right eye during Friday’s match-up with Charlotte, Dave McMenamin of ESPN reports (article link). James, who is questionable to play tonight against the Wizards, told reporters his vision was blurry following the injury. “Just took a hard foul — a hard fall, I’m sorry. And I just got up and made my free throws, I think I made them,” said James. “I was just trying to put pressure on the rim, so, if coach decides to give me a game off, it’s not because I’m resting. It’s because I’m banged up.”

Serge Ibaka, Robin Lopez Get One-Game Suspensions

March 22nd, 2017 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has suspended Raptors forward Serge Ibaka and Bulls center Robin Lopez one game apiece for their roles in Tuesday night’s on-court incident in Toronto, per a press release. Lopez will miss Chicago’s game tonight against the Pistons, while Ibaka will sit out the Raptors’ game on Thursday night in Miami.

During the third quarter of Tuesday night’s game between the Raptors and Bulls, Lopez and Ibaka got into an altercation that escalated into a near-fistfight. Both players threw punches, though Lopez missed hitting Ibaka, and Ibaka’s blow just grazed Lopez.

Although the fight could have been worse, it’s still a bit of a surprise that both players received just one-game bans. There was speculation that Ibaka could get a two- or three-game suspension and that Lopez could get an extra game on top of taht for throwing the first punch. Instead, both players received relatively light punishments, though they’ll lose a game’s worth of pay as they serve their respective suspensions.

Raptors assistant Jamaal Magloire was also penalized as a result of the altercation, having been fined $15K for pushing Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic, the league announced.

Bulls Leaning Toward Keeping Jimmy Butler

February 20th, 2017 at 4:45pm CST by Milo Taibi

According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, there is a growing feeling around Jimmy Butler‘s camp that the three-time All-Star won’t be moved at this year’s deadline. Sources told Cowley that while the Bulls have taken multiple inquiries on Butler, they haven’t been pursuing trade talks.

Cowley observed that Butler trusts GM Gar Forman enough to believe he won’t be traded. The Celtics have consistently been connected with Butler in trade rumors- Isaiah Thomas cooed over Butler’s skill-set during the All-Star break- but the Bulls’ front office is hesitant to forfeit their chances at a playoff run.

The Bulls currently occupy the seven seed in the Eastern Conference with a 28-29 record. As Cowley points out, entering sell-mode this season would eliminate any chance of retaining Dwyane Wade over the offseason.

While the Bulls are unlikely to deal their most prized asset, other rotation pieces- Rajon Rondo, Nikola Mirotic, Taj Gibson– could still be on the move. Earlier this month, Doug McDermott and Robin Lopez were mentioned in trade talks as well.

Central Notes: Deadline Previews, Butler, Williams, Rubio, Caldwell-Pope

February 17th, 2017 at 11:04pm CST by Milo Taibi

The Bulls are at a “real crossroads” at this year’s trade deadline, Mark Strotman of CSN Chicago writes. With a 28-29 record, Chicago enters the All-Star break as the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. Given the top-heavy conference, Strotman notes, even the most optimistic fan wouldn’t have the Bulls projected to advance past the first round of the playoffs. Taj Gibson will be mentioned in trade rumors, as will Robin Lopez and Doug McDermott. While Jimmy Butler has “peak trade value,” the Bulls have incentives to keep the 27-year-old; particularly on his team-friendly contract.

For what it’s worth, Butler reportedly isn’t interested in being traded. Sources told Seerat Sohi of ESPN that Butler is “grounded in Chicago,” and feels loyalty to the franchise that took a chance on him in the 2011 draft.