NBA fans aren’t used to the regular season starting this early, but I certainly will not complain about it.
Unfortunately for Bulls fans, however, we will be starting the new year watching the team compete without their best player for the first few weeks of the season.
According to Lauri Markkanen’s initial recovery timeline, he’ll miss at least the first 12 games of the season and could miss as many as 20.
Markkanen’s injury is terribly unfortunate but it’s reality, one that will force Fred Hoiberg to get a bit creative with his lineups. With that being said, the preseason showed us what the fourth-year head coach has in mind for his rotation heading into Thursday’s opener.
STARTING 5
- Kris Dunn
- Zach LaVine
- Justin Holiday
- Bobby Portis
- Wendell Carter Jr.
- The biggest surprise here is Jabari Parker, the highest paid Bull, won’t be in the starting lineup tomorrow. It appeared at the time of his signing that the plan was to start him at small forward, but that was a bad idea right out of the gate and I’m happy Hoiberg squashed it.
- Still, with Markkanen out it’s pretty surprising to see Hoiberg opt to start Bobby Portis over Parker.
Fred Hoiberg explains why he chose to stick with Portis, Dunn, Carter, LaVine and Holiday — not Parker — as his starting line up against Philadelphia: "In the preseason, I thought we played our best game against Indiana, or certainly our most complete… https://t.co/qRXZCs2yAH
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) October 17, 2018
- Another noteworthy development is the Bulls are wasting no time throwing Wendell Carter Jr. into the fire. It would be a disappointment if the team decided to play it slow with their lottery pick because the 19-year-old center, like all rookies, needs all the minutes and repetitions he can get to get acclimated to this level.
- This is a money year for the Bulls starting backcourt. For Zach LaVine, there will be pressure to prove that he’s worth every penny of his new 4-year, $78M contract. For Kris Dunn, the time is now to prove that he’s worth a LaVine-sized second contract, as he’s eligible for an extension at season’s end.
SECOND UNIT
- Cameron Payne
- Denzel Valentine
- Chandler Hutchison
- Jabari Parker
- Robin Lopez
- Parker is clearly the most talented player on this bench. He might not like his new role, but after two major knee injuries that sapped much of his athleticism and his inability (along with unwillingness) to play quality defense, maybe Parker’s future in this league is as a potent bench scorer.
- Denzel Valentine is questionable tomorrow after missing the entire preseason with a sprained ankle. The former lottery pick has been a disappointment over his first two years in the league and quite frankly I wouldn’t expect much to change in year three.
- I’ve been quite harsh on the decision to draft Chandler Hutchison, but here we are. Can’t undo the pick. Despite all of the question marks, the kid does have some NBA tools. Let’s hope he can put them to use
DON’T COUNT ON SEEING THESE GUYS
- Antonio Blakeney
- Ryan Arcidiacono
- Cristiano Felicio
- Omer Asik
- Blakeny could get some tick in the early going if Valentine needs to miss more time. Hopefully he can use that audition to win over the backup point guard spot to spare us from watching Cam Payne
- Arcidiacono’s contract won’t be fully guaranteed until January 10th, so with Tyler Ulis now in the fold on a two-way deal, the former Villanova star’s days may be numbered
- Omer Asik being back is fun, but I’d place the over/under on games he plays at, like, six.
WOUNDED WARRIORS
- Lauri Markkanen
- Best player on the team. Oh well.
There you have it. The Bulls are back baby.
