ORLANDO – It’s not like Billy Donovan enjoys playing the role of bearer of bad news, but the Bulls coach also believes in trying to be as honest as he can.
That’s exactly what he was on Saturday when asked about injured point guard Lonzo Ball and the possibility of the team just shutting his comeback attempt down for the remainder of the year.
It’s not there yet, but it’s moving in that direction, according to Donovan.
“My guess would be – there’s not been a specifically set date – my guess would be I think we get through the All-Star Break, I think there would probably be everybody sitting down to talk about length and time of the season, how realistic is it for him to get back, if he could get back what would the minutes look like, is it not worth having him back just because it’s too much?” Donovan said of Ball. “I think everything, at least in my conversations with medical about him, have always been geared towards helping him get back to playing. Certainly once you get out of the All-Star Break, with the amount of time that’s left, basically you’re at the end of February. You have all of March and not even two weeks in April, so you start to get to that point where I think there will be some conversations of, ‘OK, if he’s still not close to playing, what’s the plan moving forward?’
“As much as he’s made some progress, and some slow progress, I’d be the first one to tell you he’s nowhere near playing, he’s just not.”
Ball was initially injured over a year ago, eventually having a second surgery on the left knee. There was a push to try and get him back for the playoff series against Milwaukee, but he just wasn’t ready.
When the rehab on the knee continued hitting more valleys than peaks over the summer, a third procedure was done on Ball’s knee – the second within a year – with the hope he could be back for the second half of the season.
That came into doubt pretty quickly, however, the updates continually showing how slow the progress for Ball was going.
Ball did speak with the media last week in Paris, and wouldn’t rule himself out for the season.
“Obviously I want to play, that’s the goal,” Ball said. “Once I feel I’m comfortable enough playing, whether it’s 70, 80, 90, 100% then I’ll be out there.”
According to Donovan, while Ball is doing work on the treadmill, as well as everything else the guard posted on his Instagram page a few weeks ago, he’s still not consistently running, let alone cutting or jumping on the knee.
“If he can get to that place where he can do that consistently, and be able to come back the next day and do it again, do it again, and do it again, I think you would feel a little more optimistic about when he could return,” Donovan said. “Optimistic where we could say, ‘OK, here’s a date. We feel pretty secure about this.’ Until he can back to that it’s kind of hard to say here’s where he can get back.”
As far as how that affects the Bulls with the Feb. 9 trade deadline approaching, especially at the point guard position, Donovan wasn’t putting much stock into that.
With Ayo Dosunmu the starter and Goran Dragic coming off the bench, it’s been a point guard by committee, especially late in games.
“For me you’re always, every game, every day, looking at the hand you have and trying to figure out ways to help it,” Donovan said of his point guard position. “I think there’s been enough for us with the absence of Lonzo. Work with the group that we have and try to get better.”
