Considering the number of bodies the Raptors were piling up in the NBA’s coronavirus health and safety protocol, it was probably smart for the league to postpone the Wednesday night game against the Bulls at the United Center.
Toronto landed in Chicago on Tuesday night with a skeleton lineup, as well as traveling party, having been decimated with positive tests, headlined by Precious Achiuwa, Scottie Barnes, Malachi Flynn, Pascal Siakim, Gary Trent Jr., and Fred VanVleet.
Suspending the game was the right move.
That might be a tough sell for Alfonzo McKinnie, however.
Then again, a player like McKinnie isn’t operating with the same mindset as most throughout the Association. The well-travelled forward isn’t guaranteed an opportunity tomorrow, let alone on Dec. 26, when the Bulls are scheduled to play their next game.
It’s about trying to take advantage of a situation that has a shelf life, and erasing a day from that calendar does him no good.
“Man, to be honest, it’s the biggest dream come true,” McKinnie said of playing for his hometown Bulls. “I’m a West Side kid. I grew up like 10, 15 minutes down the way. House was a Bulls house. Watched the Bulls growing up. So just being able to compete on the highest stage in my hometown, on my favorite side of the city, the West Side, it’s been surreal to be honest.
“Just putting that jersey on has been everything for me.”
But for how long?
The Bulls nabbed McKinnie — as well as Stanley Johnson — a few weeks back when they were granted hardship exemptions in the wake of eventually 10 players going into the protocol.
For a player like McKinnie, however, he couldn’t have asked for a better fit. Playing for Curie and then Marshall High School, McKinnie had spent time on four other NBA rosters, and was kicking it around with yet another G-League team, this time Mexico City.
When the Bulls reached out to him, not only was he headed back to the NBA, but for a homecoming.
“I remember being in the house with my grandmother and I always thought the Bulls had the dopest intro,” McKinnie said. “Standing out there on the court and hearing the intro, seeing the Bulls run through the other team’s bus, that’s something I remember being excited to see as a kid.”
He’s been playing like a guy excited to be living out his childhood dream, and while the sample size is small — just three games — putting in 25 minutes per game and averaging eight points for the Bulls in that time is huge for McKinnie.
That’s why a game postponed is a sort of gut-punch for the 6-foot-7, undrafted 29-year-old.
McKinnie wants to obviously stick with the Bulls, and if not at least have as many opportunities to put his game play on film for another team to notice. With how active the roster changes have been league-wide the last few weeks, bodies are needed.
But there’s another scenario that could play out. What if McKinnie has impressed enough where the Bulls want to keep him for the remainder of the season? He’s on his second 10-day contract, and has shown some versatility that maybe a Matt Thomas hasn’t.
“He’s a great guy, a team guy,” coach Billy Donovan said of McKinnie. “His learning of our system … just terminology, things we’re running, he’s done a good job of picking that up pretty quickly. And then he has shot the ball well. He can put it on the floor. He’s unselfish. And he gives you a lot of length on the perimeter defensively. He has fit in very, very well.”
For how long remains to be seen.
