Derrick Jones Jr. spent most of his first match back on the court with the Chicago Bulls in varying degrees of pain.
When Jones broke his right index finger during practice on January 24, Bulls predicted that his recovery would take six to eight weeks. However, the small forward returned early Saturday night and wore the sprint when he defeated Oklahoma City Thunder 106-101 at the United Center.
The extra pad on his finger didn’t keep Jones off the court — or the rim he acrobatically shook off after smashing the dunk in the fourth quarter. Jones clasped his hand while jogging back to his court and winked while hugging his splinted fingers, but remained in the game.
“I’m not that painful,” Jones said. “When that happens, it’s a sharp pain. I’m going to get over it …. It’s eaten me alive. I’ve been waiting for this pain to subside a little, so go back there As soon as it disappeared a little, I was back there. “
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Jones was not the focus of the victorious Bulls. While Zach LaVine (left knee) and Javonte Green (right foot) were resting, the spotlight continued to focus firmly on DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic, who scored 69 points.
DeRozan scored 38 points, 35 points or more in five consecutive games, 30 points or more in the 19th round, and Vucevic added 31 points and 15 rebounds. Coby White finished 4 to 6 with 16 points from the 3 point range, and Ayo Dosunmu had 12 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists.
However, Jones was the first in the wave of injured Bulls, starting an important period for the team and expected to return in the next two months.
For Billy Donovan, reintroducing a player from a long valley of injury offers both relief and challenge.
“The big problem is how he feels when he gets back to the floor,” Donovan said. “It’s been a long time since he played the game. What’s his timing, what’s his rhythm — I don’t know any of that.”
Jones is one of four players, Lonzo Ball (left knee), Alex Caruso (right wrist) and Patrick Williams (left wrist), and was absent for more than a month in early 2022. When the Bulls regain their health, they also need to rebuild their chemistry, as they will reintroduce the player after they have adapted to their absence.
Executive Vice President Artūras Karnišovas cites chemistry as a key element of the front office’s decision to meet Thursday’s closing deadline and urged the team to focus on creating the current roster.
The Bulls did not assign the paradigm shift seen in the rest of the Eastern Conference, but Ravine said the team still feels relatively new. Only five months have passed since the team first met for a one-week voluntary practice period prior to the pre-season.
Donovan and his players say those weeks were the basis for helping the team get to know each other. But for the next five months, the Bulls have rarely seen the opportunity to play together as a complete team.
The result is a mixed team bag for full capacity operation. In the attack, the Bulls are clicking — the league’s top 10 in shooting efficiency and scoring, and 12th in assist. Defensively, it’s another story to provoke a 130-point performance against your opponent while the Bulls struggle to spin the off-ball.
As the All-Star Break approached, the Bulls began to hit the tone of admiration, given the future points of the season when all pieces were healthy.
“It’s like a dream,” DeRozan said. “I dream of it every night. Being on a beautiful sunny island-that’s how I paint it when we’re back in good health.”
Donovan said he wasn’t worried about the reintegration of players who could spend most of their recovery on the team as a whole.
Hand and arm injuries allow athletes such as Jones, Caruso, and Williams to stay around the team on a regular basis due to less physiotherapy involvement. Caruso is always active, even when he can’t play, throwing nerf football during practice and shouting defensive instructions in bystander signature sweatpants during road games. Williams goes to most road games and spends hours studying movies every week.
The ball hasn’t moved with the team yet — recovery from meniscal surgery doesn’t pair well with long plane rides — but he wants to start a low-intensity mobility drill in last week’s practice. I returned to the bystander.
But even if the injured players are still around their teammates, blending into the chemistry created in their absence is another feat. The Bulls have found a way to victory through new sources. Dosunmu executed the points and Vucevic used more touches to dominate the attack.
As the Bulls began to welcome the injured players, Donovan said growth pain was expected.
“There are periods when they have to adapt, but you also want to get them out and play to help them adapt,” Donovan said. “It can sometimes take a bit of time …. you expect them to be where they were interrupted, and that generally doesn’t happen.”
DeMar DeRozan is anxious for a healthy roster | Sports
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