The Chicago Bulls have completely turned their season around. They began 5-14 on the year, but since then, they’ve gone 10-5 since, catapulting them up to 10th place in the Eastern Conference. Chicago went from a sure-fire lottery squad to a team looking to fight for a spot in the Play-In Tournament.
Coby White and DeMar DeRozan have been the biggest contributors in the Bulls’ surge up the standings. However, while they’ve been great, they’ve also been playing a ton of minutes this season. White leads the league in total minutes at 1,190, and DeRozan is fourth at 1,173 this season. Nikola Vucevic is the next-highest on the team in 28th in the NBA at 1,054.
With Zach LaVine out, White and DeRozan have been carrying a heavy burden. DeRozan recently spoke about how he deals with the minutes, describing some ways he’s learned to steal rest throughout the course of games.
“Me just knowing when a TV timeout is coming,” DeRozan said via NBC Sports Chicago. “Me knowing a foul is going to happen at some point. Me understanding if you need to tie your shoe, it’s a lot of little things that go into it. If you’re not in the penalty, you can take a foul. Playing so long, you kind of understand when a stoppage is going to come and take advantage of those moments. When a timeout comes, sit there until that 2 minutes, 30 seconds is up. Just take advantage of the little gaps when you can because you know you want to be out there.”
DeRozan is in the final year of his contract, so the Bulls could look to trade him (if they don’t extend him), but until then, he’ll continue to be one of the most valuable pieces in Chicago’s lineup.
