Forget the 20-39 record with just 23 regular season games left for the Bulls.
Ignore the fact that of those 20 wins, only three have come against potential playoff teams, and that included beating Memphis twice early on.
Those numbers are sad in itself.
But go ahead and try and wrap the brain around this: The Bulls currently have just as many rotation players in the training room as they have victories since Jan. 1. Seven bodies down, and just seven wins since the calendar flipped to 2020.
And it wasn’t like the news was getting a ton better on Thursday.
Before the practice ended, the team announced that the left ankle sprain to Luke Kornet was in fact also a broken bone in his left foot, putting him basically out for the year with a 6-8 week timetable. The 7-foot-2 stretch-five joins Kris Dunn (right MCL) as the two players likely on the shelf for the rest of the season, while Denzel Valentine (hamstring), Lauri Markkanen (right pelvis), Wendell Carter Jr. (right ankle), Otto Porter Jr. (left foot), and Chandler Hutchison (shoulder) were all expected back.
Expected being the key word there.
Valentine could play Saturday in New York, while Hutchison’s shoulder is an on-going issue, and seems to have one setback after another.
That leaves Carter, Porter and Markkanen, and huge questions surrounding all three as they near returns.
Wendell Carter Jr.
What he’s done this season: After only getting in 44 games last season as a rookie, Carter’s right ankle has limited him to just 37 games in his sophomore campaign. His scoring and rebounding went up a bit from last season, but he still dealt with way too much foul trouble, and against bigger centers, looked and played under-sized.
What he needs to show: Carter, like Valentine, could play Saturday against the Knicks and has to prove that his injury issues have been more fluke than a trait. It starts there. Very few offensive sets run through him, so it’s about Carter embracing a garbage man role and earning his meal at the rim. He is considered the second-best defender on the team to Dunn, and the Bulls could use some physicality in the frontcourt.
Otto Porter Jr.
What he’s done this season: Very little. Porter lasted just nine games before a foot bruise slowly turned into a fracture. It wasn’t like he impressed in those nine games, however, shooting just 41.7 from the field and all of a sudden looking very slow on the defensive end.
What he needs to show: The Porter situation is tricky because of the finances behind him. There has been little reason for Porter to rush back this season, especially since the product has been so disappointing and the veteran owns the $28.4 million player option for next season. The concern is Porter will be a free agent after 2020-21, so really only has to be good the final three months or so of next season. He’s basically a mercenary that the Bulls hope can put team above his next contract elsewhere.
Lauri Markkanen
What he’s done this season: The 7-foot enigma has completely taken steps back, as well as forcing the organization to rethink his standing as a foundation piece moving forward. He’s been dealing with injuries all season, but more concerning seems to be the first of the young core that is tired of the current organizational structure and could look for a way out if there are no changes.
What he needs to show: The player he was the previous two seasons, and if that means freelancing the offense and going outside the system, so be it.
