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It is a 5-5 start for the Chicago Bulls with a back-to-back home-and-home against the Toronto Raptors on tap before their schedule slows down considerably. They will have played five games over the first seven days of November when all is said and done with Toronto.
That is big for a team that is once again trying to navigate murky injury waters with some of its key figures.
Most notable among them has been Zach LaVine whose workload is being managed.
But the Bulls have been without one of their key contributors off of the bench for several games now in big man Andre Drummond. He was one of their two veteran additions this offseason but has missed the past four games with a strained shoulder and it could be a while before he’s back in the fold.
Donovan on Drummond
“He’s still having difficulty raising his arm over his head,” said head coach Billy Donovan. “And as a big guy that rebounds like he does, they just want to be cautious of him ever getting yanked back and it turning out to be something more significant. We don’t think it’s a long, long-term thing. But these things can take a little bit of time to heal. (h/t K.C. Johnson/NBC Sports Chicago)
Drummond suffered the injury but played through it against the San Antonio Spurs and even saw his highest workload of the season in the contest.
The Bulls have gone 2-2 in his absence.
He has essentially produced at a lower-level starter’s pace without the floor time to match averaging 10.2 rebounds to go with 9.0 points and 1.0 steals per game. He is just shy of a full block per game but has been a net-positive in four of his six appearances.
Drummond currently leads all qualified Bulls players in efficiency differential at plus-15.8 and expected wins with 34, per Cleaning The Glass.
They need him back but Bulls head coach Billy Donovan was in the dark about when that will be.
“The biggest concern we had when he went down was: Did he have a labrum tear? We knew he didn’t dislocate his shoulder, but we were just worried about if he would have needed surgery, it would have been a significantly longer time. So we felt like we got lucky with the sprain. But sometimes based on how that sprain is, it could be a wide range of time. We certainly feel we’ll get him back, but we just don’t know when.”
Drummond Shouts Out DeRozan
Drummond’s impact hasn’t been solely on the court – he is making his mark as a supportive teammate as well. That is something the Bulls front office believes strongly in – hence their push for continuity this offseason.
During the Bulls’ loss to the Boston Celtics, Drummond took to social media to show love to teammate DeMar DeRozan.
DeRozan finished the game with 46 points and attempted a season-high 22 free throws.
That might be selling the five-time All-Star short considering he tallied such a lofty point total despite missing all three of his attempts from beyond the arc.
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