If the starting power forward spot has been decided for the Bulls as of Friday, coach Billy Donovan is pulling off one heck of an acting job.
Throughout this week of practices, Donovan continued to insist that the competition would go on through the weekend and into the two team practices next week, before the Bulls fly down to South Beach and prepare to tip off the season against the Heat.
“Certainly the rest of this week and going into next week, we’ll do that,” Donovan said, when asked about experimenting with different looks and combinations.
However, the only combination that is really being looked at remained is Patrick Williams better suited to develop with the starting unit or with the reserves?
While Derrick Jones Jr. did get one of the preseason starts, that scenario remained the longshot. It’s basically down to either Williams or Javonte Green, and don’t expect Donovan to reveal his decision until as late as Wednesday, before tip-off.
Green did start twice against the Heat last season, and was not much of a factor in both losses. Donovan went small in the third and final meeting of the season with Miami, starting Alex Caruso, alongside Zach LaVine, Ayo Dosunmu, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic, but that was even less successful. Caruso went scoreless and the Bulls were blown out by 18.
What Donovan, however, has reiterated several times throughout the power forward competition is it will likely remain fluid. Whoever gets the nod in Miami might not necessarily be starting by the time the Bulls then travel to Washington.
Whether it will be performance based or matchup based remained unanswered.
‘Scary’ Terry
Dalen Terry has shown that he’s rarely short on confidence, but the rookie did admit that his 11-point outburst in just 18 minutes against New Orleans in the preseason opener was huge in justifying that he not only belonged at this level, but that his high-energy playstyle had a place.
“I got confidence after the first game, obviously,” Terry told reporters. “I’m a pretty confident person. I don’t really think there’s a lot of things I can’t do, so when it came to that first game and just how the energy picked up, I just tried to make sure that every time I came into the game [after that] I picked the energy up and just made the level of competitiveness jump every time.”
That showed, as Terry finished a combined plus-35 in plus/minus in the four preseason games.
Rough entry
There will be no easing into the season for this roster, and the schedule through the first 15 games can be thanked for that.
Not only do the Bulls open up in Miami – a team they have gone 1-7 against the last three seasons – but 12 of those first 15 games are against playoff or playoff-caliber teams.
The only chances to come up for air in that time? At Washington on Oct. 21, home against the Pacers on Oct. 26, and then down in San Antonio on Oct. 28.
After the game with the Spurs, the Bulls play Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Boston, Toronto twice, and New Orleans twice with a Denver game in between.
Addition
The Bulls announced they have signed Kostas Antetokounmpo to a two-way contract. Kostas is the younger brother of Milwaukee standout Giannis Antetokounmpo.
