Bulls guard Coby White could be cleared to return Monday if he responds well to a pair of weekend workouts, writes K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports. White, who underwent shoulder surgery in June, practiced with the Bulls on Saturday and took part in a five-on-five scrimmage afterward with a few players and coaches. He’s scheduled for another workout Sunday and will return to the lineup if that goes well.
Coach Billy Donovan plans to ease White back into the rotation slowly, which means rookie Ayo Dosunmu will still get regular minutes. Chicago wants to be sure that White’s shoulder can hold up under contact, which he just began this week.
“That’s the biggest thing right now,” Donovan said. “How much can we in those situations, whether it be the G League or some of these low-minute runs, get him contact? And he’s not shying away from it. He’s not avoiding it. He’s not afraid of it. It’s not that at all. It’s just a matter of he has to get back physically to where he was doing those things.”
There’s more from Chicago:
- The Bulls struggled Friday in their first game without center Nikola Vucevic, who is in health and safety protocols after testing positive for COVID-19. Vucevic didn’t travel with his teammates on their five-game road trip, and Donovan called on Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan to alter their playing style while he’s sidelined (video link from NBC Sports). “I think for Zach and DeMar, certainly with Vooch being a center and not here, they’re going to have to understand there’s going to have to be even more sacrifice in terms of moving and cutting and trusting the pass and moving the ball, and a lot of times it’s going to end up in someone else’s hands,” Donovan said.
- Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who served as an assistant with Team USA at the Summer Olympics, was impressed by the way LaVine handled his role on that team, per Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports. LaVine is one of the NBA’s top scorers, but he moved into a reserve role in the Olympics and provided energy and “pressure defense” when the team needed it. “I loved getting to know him. I thought his willingness to take on a role off the bench for us was huge,” Kerr said. “He just got it. He understood exactly what we needed.”
- Kerr also praised former Pacific Division rival Alex Caruso, who signed with the Bulls in free agency, according to Colin Ward-Henninger of CBS Sports. Kerr called Caruso a “great pickup” and said he’s glad to see him in the Eastern Conference.
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