CHICAGO – The Chicago Bulls season is already off to an inauspicious start when it comes to the injury report.
Despite optimism that Coby White (calf strain) would be ready to go for Wednesday’s season opener, the team now announces he will now remain out and be re-evaluated in two weeks.
White has been out since August when he initially strained his right calf during the team’s Miami mini camp in August. At the start of preseason, coach Billy Donovan expressed optimism about the possibility of playing in the team’s final preseason game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Last week, Donovan announced White would not play in the preseason finale due to the lack of time for him to ramp up into shape. Instead the Bulls would use the five days after the last exhibition game and before the season opener on Wednesday to get him conditioned.
After rejoining the team for practice on Saturday, White experienced some more tightness, leading the team to pull back on his return process.
“We had him in practice, which he did do, and he went through the majority of it on Saturday,” Donovan said. “But I think coming out of that practice, he felt tightness again back there.”
Donovan insists it wasn’t a setback so much as the inability to advance in the ramp up process.
“No, it just wasn’t a setback,” he said. “I think that I mentioned the ramp up period was the hurdle was on the treadmill running, and once he kind of got past that, he was able to get on the court and then start running and moving.”
“Until he can get past that hurdle on a consistent basis — because I think we had talked about the minute restriction for him was going to be, hopefully between 20 and 24 minutes — but we’re not even at that place right now until he can get on the court and at least play without any significant tightness in his calf.”
“Re-evaluated in two weeks,” as described on the press release, might suggest that White will be shut down for the next two weeks while the team allows his calf to calm down. However, Donovan clarified the nature of these next two weeks being more focused on building up strength than a full shut down.
“They’ll certainly shut him down from in terms of the running and the cutting, because that’s just going to aggravate the tightness more, but the loading part, in the weight room, and the treatment, and all that stuff, he’ll be very, very active,” he said.
The Bulls are right to be careful with White’s calf, especially in a contract year. Those can be extremely tricky to resolve, often lingering and turning into something worse. Eighty-two games is a long season, and it’s far better to have White miss a few games at the start instead of rushing him back to where the calf continually flares up and jeopardizes the full season.
Still, White has now been out with this injury for almost two months, and there’s certainly a hit to the excitement around the start of a new season with one of the team’s best players on the shelf.
“I was very, very optimistic with the way it was trending with Coby, that he was going to end up being available. And he’s not,” Donovan said. “So I think for us, it’s not even about the starting part, to me, as much as it more is, can we collectively play to an identity for 48 minutes?”
The Bulls now have to collectively make up for the scoring, three-point shooting and dynamic playmaking that White provides as they try to build on their momentum from the end of last season.
With stars like Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton likely to miss the entire season due to their respective achilles injuries, the East appears to be there for the taking. The Bulls didn’t accelerate things this offseason, instead opting to continue their building process without the expectations of progress looming.
Though Arturas Karnisovas refused to set any goals for the team at Media Day, there is a lot of stake for the Bulls this season. With seven contracts expiring at the end of the season, the Bulls can create upwards of $80 million in cap space. They have to get some answers on the quality, potential and direction of the young core around which they are now building.
“I understand it’s a totally result orientated, driven business. I totally get that,” Donovan said. “And you’re measured by the wins and losses in your record.”
Instead of setting outcome oriented goals, the Bulls are focused on how they will play, believing that will lead them to the results they seek. Without White for at least the first six games of the season, the winning every game becomes even more of a challenge.
“I’m not going to sit here and start to speculate over 82 games; what our record’s going to be, or where we’re going to be,” Donovan said. “We’ve got to play the games, and we’ve got to, obviously, earn it and prove it.”
