Bulls hope to have answers about guard Jaden Ivey sooner than later
PHOENIX – A lot of questions could be answered about Jaden Ivey the next nine days, as the guard has entered a crucial part of his knee strengthening program back in Chicago.
The obvious one? Will the Bulls see him on the court again this season?
Coach Billy Donovan is still holding out hope that the answer is yes, but reiterated that there will be frequent daily phone calls between the members of the Bulls medical staff with the team on this 10-day road trip and the ones working with Ivey at the Advocate Center.
“That’s going to be really, really critical,” Donovan said on Thursday of Ivey’s time away from the team. “He’s made strides and he’s gotten better, but I think the medical guys want to see some improvement in that strengthening. Two weeks passed a few days ago, now he’s got this third week, and he’s gotten stronger, but to make another jump there are certain things the medical guys are going to want to see and have him cross some thresholds.”
Ivey had a horrific setback to his career last season with Detroit, breaking his left fibula on Jan. 1. He attempted to come back this season with the Pistons, was in the rotation when the Bulls acquired him, but by all accounts was not nearly the same explosive player he was pre-injury.
It took Donovan four games into Ivey’s Bulls career to notice that.
So after he complained about knee soreness, medical decided to shut him down for a few weeks and work on strengthening the area around the knee. It’s now on Week 3 and the runway to returning this season is getting shorter.
Because Ivey is a restricted free agent the Bulls would love to get more eyes on him on the court, but there’s a wait and see to that. One thing Donovan was asked was if there were concerns that the guard is dealing with a mental aspect from the injury and just doesn’t trust the leg?
“I’ve never got that from him,” Donovan said. “He ended up going out and playing in Detroit. We could tell that in just the four games he was here he wasn’t moving great, and then he complained that his knee got sore, but I never got the impression that he was playing worried about it. I just felt like he wasn’t moving well.”
Street clothes
It was a crowded bench for the Bulls in Phoenix and unfortunately half the bodies were in street clothes.
Matas Buzelis (ankle), Josh Giddey (right ankle), Patrick Williams (quad), Jalen Smith (calf strain) and Anfernee Simons (left hand).
The good news was Donovan felt like help was coming when the team plays in Sacramento, as Giddey, Buzelis and Williams were all expected back.
Simons and Smith are still working through their injuries with no timetable.
Down under
Second-round pick Lachlan Olbrich played in his 21st game of the season against the Suns, and the key for the 6-foot-8 Aussie in his rookie campaign has been don’t have expectations.
“I didn’t know what to expect coming into it, obviously, but I feel like I built a really strong foundation,” Olbrich said. “I’ve been talking a lot about foundation and hopefully in the next couple seasons I can really build on it. That’s really been the focus. I’m not worried about the minutes or the games played, anything like that. It’s just been a massive learning experience for me in my first year, which I think has been good for me.”