Don't call it a setback, but Bulls guard Lonzo Ball not close to return

CLEVELAND — The Rockets don’t have to worry about having to prepare for Bulls guard Lonzo Ball’s return Sunday.

According to coach Billy Donovan, the Bulls’ four opponents after that — the Pistons, Bucks, Hawks and Grizzlies — safely can go ahead and remove Ball’s name from their scouting reports, too.

Ball put up some shots before the Bulls’ game Wednesday in New York and told Donovan he was hoping to return Sunday. By late Wednesday and into the Bulls’ off-day Thursday, however, he was hit by a harsh reality: The discomfort in his strained right wrist was still there.

‘‘Did a lot of shooting in New York,’’ Donovan said before the Bulls’ 144-126 loss Friday to the unbeaten Cavaliers. ‘‘Definitely struggled. I think the catching was a struggle. Just in my conversations in New York, I think he’s going to need at least the rest of next week again.

‘‘The dribbling is OK; it’s just the long-range shooting. And the hard part for him is that it’s the right hand. It’s his shooting hand, his dominant hand. And, again, when I say the next week, I’m not saying he’s playing next week. It’s where he needs another week here.’’

Donovan made sure to say Ball didn’t have a setback. It was more about pushing too hard and having to take a step back.

The unfortunate part for Ball, who returned this season after missing 2œ seasons because of three surgeries on his left knee, is that the longer he’s out, the tougher it will be for him to get back into condition. For a guy playing out the final year of his contract and trying to show teams he’s worth a financial commitment, adding time to that uphill climb isn’t ideal.

Ball suffered the wrist injury Oct. 28 against the Grizzlies. Donovan said the original prognosis called for him to miss anywhere from a couple of weeks to six weeks. It hasn’t even been three weeks yet, so he’s still well within the window.

‘‘It all depends on how quickly it heals and what he can necessarily tolerate,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘Because it’s his dominant hand, [and] he’s just not there right now.’’

Extra work

Forward Patrick Williams didn’t like where he was from a conditioning and reps standpoint during the early part of the regular season, so — to his credit — he did something about it.

Williams said Friday that because of the time it took him to get over his foot surgery in the summer and all the open five-on-five runs he missed, he has made sure to seek out player-development coaches whenever he has had any extra time to help him with shooting and drills.

The style of the day

Donovan was asked about whether most NBA teams playing similarly, as far as going to the rim or settling for three-pointers, could hurt the game in the long run and gave a well-thought-out response.

‘‘A lot of it is how you generate shots, right?’’ Donovan said. ‘‘Like, you’re not going to stop a team from shooting threes. Like, how efficient can you be?

‘‘The league has gotten younger, and a lot of these guys have not had a long college experience or anything like that, and there’s a learning curve for these guys to learn the league and also learn how to play. The hard part for some of these guys is there’s very limited practice time, so what you’re trying to do, in some ways, is keep things simple and efficient [as far as] how you’re trying to play.

‘‘Those are the things stylistically you need to do.’’