Perhaps more than any team in the NBA, the Chicago Bulls have been rocked by COVID-19 this season. In the last few weeks alone — going back to Coby White’s entry into health and safety protocols on December 1 — the team has seen 10 different players hit the Covid list.
As a result, two of Chicago’s games were postponed. And a third one was scrapped on Wednesday when the Raptors didn’t have enough players to participate in a game.
However, the Bulls finally look to have disembarked from their wild Covid ride. As relayed by NBC Sports Chicago’s Rob Schaefer, the last members of the club’s coronavirus crew — All-Star Zach LaVine, Devin Dotson, Alize Johnson, Ayo Dosunmu and Matt Thomas — have finally exited protocols.
They’ll now have multiple days to ramp up toward a return before the Bulls resume play against the Indiana Pacers on December 26.
Bulls Need to Rebuild Some Chemistry
Cancellations notwithstanding, the Bulls have actually acquitted themselves fairly well amid the recent outbreak. Since White hit protocols, the team has won five games in seven tries, a stretch that includes a key victory over the East-leading Brooklyn Nets on December 4.
However, the Bulls face a difficult task in keeping it rolling, and not just due to players being rusty or experiencing the lingering effects of Covid.
As a result of the sheer number of players who have been in and out of the lineup throughout the month, Chicago is essentially starting back at square one from a chemistry standpoint. According to Bulls coach Billy Donovan, getting his players reacclimated to one another has been a big challenge.
However, there was at least some progress made on Thursday.
“Today was productive. We need to make tomorrow productive,” Donovan said, via NBC. “The biggest thing for me is with Zach being out and [Nikola Vucevic] going through it and Coby [White] going through it, they need to get back to a rhythm and a continuity and a chemistry and we need some playing.”
He added, “It was hard to do that yesterday. Today we were able to do a little bit more.”
Caruso Back on the Injury Report
Although the Bulls look to be rounding back into form on the whole, it’s unlikely that they’ll be at full strength for their game against the Pacers. Alex Caruso, who has already missed multiple games due to injury this season, has hit the injury report once again.
On Wednesday, the team announced that Caruso would be re-evaluated in seven to 10 days after sustaining a left foot sprain during Monday’s bout with the Houston Rockets. He was limited to just six minutes of action in the contest before being sent back to the locker room.
Earlier this month, Caruso missed consecutive games due to a sore hamstring. In 26 appearances this season, the 27-year-old has put up 8.4 points, 4.0 assists, 3.7 boards and 2.0 steals per game.
Elsewhere on the roster, forward Derick Jones Jr. missed the Rockets game with a strained left hamstring.
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