The Bulls have been dealing with several injuries at power forward this season, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. In addition to starting forward Patrick Williams, Derrick Jones Jr., Javonte Green and Alex Caruso are all sidelined due to injuries or health and safety protocols.
Chicago has a starting core of Lonzo Ball, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic. At power forward, Williams started all five of his games, but the 20-year-old suffered a dislocated wrist in November and is expected to miss most or all of the season.
Jones is likely to miss two to four weeks due to a bone bruise in his knee, Green is sidelined with an adductor injury and Caruso is still in protocols. As for Williams, the Bulls have simply been working on getting his conditioning up this month.
‘‘We’re trying to get him just a conditioning piece; he can do some of that,’’ head coach Billy Donovan said. ‘‘He still has to be very, very careful with the [wrist] in terms of being around a lot of people. There is some form shooting they are allowing him to do. Just trying to get his movements back and trying to get him working on defense, cutting.
‘‘That’s kind of the focus for him right now. He’s been cleared to do a lot of the cardiovascular stuff.’’
There’s more from the Central Division tonight:
- Bulls executive VP Arturas Karnisovas received praise from president and COO Michael Reinsdorf for helping make the team relevant again, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com writes. “When we hired Arturas, I was confident that he would help turn things around, but I can’t say I thought it would be this quickly,” Reinsdorf said. “There are no issues. There’s no drama. Just everyone wanting to get to the next level. It’s a good feeling.”
- The Cavaliers would be interested in acquiring Nets sharpshooter Joe Harris ahead of the February 10 trade deadline, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (h/t HoopsHype). Harris played 14 games this season due to ankle surgery, but the 30-year-old averaged 14.1 points on 48% shooting from deep last season.
- Caruso could return on Wednesday against the Cavaliers, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports. As mentioned previously, Caruso is currently in the NBA’s health and safety protocols. He was also dealing with a foot sprain this month.
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