MEMPHIS – Blame social media or just that time of the NBA season, but even a simple case of a sore right hip can be spun into heightened suspicion.
That was on full display Tuesday, just moments after Bulls coach Billy Donovan ruled star forward DeMar DeRozan out of the showdown with the Grizzlies.
Instantly, there was speculation that DeRozan was being held out of the contest because of trade talks heating up around the veteran.
It couldn’t have been further from the truth.
“Just his hip again,” Donovan said, referring to the hip soreness that cost DeRozan three games last month. “That’s come back on him a little bit. There’s been discomfort. I think the back-to-back is something to be a little cautious with him. Probably just the wear and tear type of thing, and the amount of minutes.”
The Sun-Times has been reporting for several weeks that the league-wide feeling around the Bulls is that they would be relatively quiet when the Thursday trade deadline comes and goes, likely making a small tweak to the roster, if any.
The idea of seriously moving on from any of the “Big Three” – DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic or Zach LaVine – has not presented itself yet, and likely wouldn’t be a scenario the front office would look to explore unless something unforeseen arises.
The reality of DeRozan’s situation was he played just under 34 minutes in the blow-out win over the Spurs on Monday, and was feeling it when he woke up in Memphis the following morning.
That’s it.
What Donovan would admit to on the trade front was he was scheduled to meet with executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley in New York on Wednesday, one day before the Bulls play the Nets in Brooklyn.
“We’re going to get together,” Donovan said. “We’re talking all the time, but I think going into [the deadline], I think there will be a conversation. We’ll sit down, and hey, maybe it’s, ‘Listen, there’s not a lot going on,’ or ‘Here’s some possibilities.’ But we’ll definitely get together.
“There’s been a partnership there where he’ll fill me in, want my feedback, and take my feedback, but I understand that there’s other parts of it other than, ‘Let’s go get this guy.’ Then it’s all of a sudden, ‘At what cost, and is it really making you better?’ ”
The King
Donovan enjoys telling stories of the highly-coveted high school recruits that got away from his days at Florida, but one such player that the former Gators coach knew he had no chance at from Day 1 of seeing him play was LeBron James.
“I was probably recruiting him a little bit, and then when I saw him play live, I stopped that immediately because I knew there was no chance [he would play college basketball],” Donovan said. “I saw him his sophomore year.”
Now all these years later, Donovan and the rest of the league were watching James become the NBA’s leading scorer of all time, surpassing Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
“When you watched him play even at a young age, he’s always been about playing the right way and making the right pass,” Donovan said. “I was always amazed, even watching him in AAU where clearly he was head and shoulders so much better than everyone else, but if a teammate was open he would throw him the ball. I had such great respect and admiration for that, and he’s stayed true to it. But also the fact that he scored at that same clip. It’s pretty impressive.”
