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The Bulls are continuing to take their time with guard Coby White\u2019s<\/b> recovery from a calf strain he suffered in August before training camp.<\/p>\n
Coach Billy Donovan<\/b> said Tuesday that White is now doing start-and-stop movements that had initially caused him discomfort, as well as running, sprinting, cutting and jumping. But after a flare-up of the injury in October, when the Bulls tried to ramp him up before the season, the training staff wants to see him doing these movements for an extended period of time without any setbacks.<\/p>\n
Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton<\/b> and Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard<\/b> are among the players who notably returned from calf injuries only to experience more severe injuries shortly thereafter. The Bulls want to make sure White\u2019s calf is healed entirely before he returns to game action \u2014 which they hope is within a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hope would be that by next week he\u2019s practicing with us,\u201d Donovan said.<\/p>\n
Without White, the Bulls (6-1) have been off to their best start since the Michael Jordan<\/b> era with a relentless up-and-down style. Donovan isn\u2019t concerned that White might disrupt what\u2019s working because he isn\u2019t a ball-dominant guard. However, his return will force several of the other guards to adjust their roles, and Donovan to reimagine his rotation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spoke to Coby last week about this very briefly,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cI think the mistake that he can make is, one, to come back tiptoeing in. That\u2019d be the first issue. And then the second thing, he\u2019s going to have to give himself some grace. Quite honestly, I don\u2019t think you can go a good portion of August and then all of September, October [and] training camp [without playing and] not have that. It\u2019s going to take him some time. And I think he needs to be patient with himself. He really holds himself to a very high standard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guard Ayo Dosunmu<\/b>, who\u2019s progressing but still day-to-day with a bruised left quadriceps, missed his second straight game Tuesday night against the 76ers. In their first loss of the season Sunday against the Knicks, the Bulls missed his ability to attack the rim and his propensity for creating turnovers. He\u2019s averaging 16.2 points, three rebounds and 3.2 assists.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the biggest concern is just him just being able to fire that quad in a way that\u2019s necessary,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cWe thought there\u2019d be an opportunity for him to go [Tuesday], but he\u2019s just not quite there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donovan wasn\u2019t pleased with the Bulls\u2019 ball movement against the Knicks, saying he didn\u2019t think they did a good enough job of getting back in transition or boxing out.<\/p>\n
Despite their early success this season, they don\u2019t have the margin for error to ignore the little details.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t like we didn\u2019t have bodies back [in transition] \u2014 I just thought that they drove through us,\u201d Donovan said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n