In one and a half seasons with the Chicago Bulls, DeMar DeRozan has missed just two games. One was due to health and safety protocols in December of 2021. The other was for rest in January of 2022. Unfortunately for the Bulls, who have won 8 of their last 12 games since the Minnesota incident, DeMar strained his right quad in the third quarter of a 107-99 loss to the Boston Celtics (Jan. 9, 2022) and it’s unclear when he’ll return.
When Coby White suffered a left quad contusion earlier this season, he was sidelined for 8 games. DeMar downplayed the seriousness of his injury during a postgame interview, but also admitted it must be “something serious” for him to leave a game.
With DeRozan possibly sidelined for an undetermined amount of games, other guys are going to have to step up, or the Bulls risk sliding out of the play-in.
While he didn’t shoot it well, Zach LaVine led the Bulls in scoring with 27 points in Monday’s loss. Alongside Nikola Vucevic, who scored 19 points, LaVine gave the Bulls a fighting chance to win this game in the final minutes. But Zach and Vuc cannot be expected to fully make up for DeMar’s absence while also maintaining their own shooting and defense. Caruso will likely start in DeMar’s place, which means he’ll need to be more aggressive on the offensive end. Likewise, Patrick Williams and Ayo Dosunmu will have to pull their weight.
Williams shot a disappointing 3-of-8 in the loss against the Celtics after stringing together a few great games, while Dosumnu scored just 6 points on 3-of-6 shooting in 28 minutes. And the bench? Just 22 points between 5 guys, with only 6 coming in the second half. Coby White, the man who broke North Carolina’s basketball freshman record for three point shooting, was a pitiful 1-of-7 from the field and 0-for-5 from behind the three point line. Goran Dragic was 1-of-4.
If the Bulls stand a chance of winning games without DeMar DeRozan (they were 2-0 in his absences last season), everyone needs to be held accountable. Due to team injuries limiting rotations, guys have been allowed to play loose with the ball on offense, and miss assignments on defense, without much penalty in terms of minutes. But it’s not on Zach and Vuc to carry the team until DeMar returns. It’s on everyone to contribute to wins.
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