Bulls may need to consider resting stars during upcoming busy stretch
The time for rest is over.
After getting some extra days off for the holidays and omicron, the Bulls will have to face the music. This week's slate of four games in five nights kicks off a busy stretch heading into the all-star break.
To be precise, they are set to play 22 games in the next 37 days, which includes a couple of rescheduled contests from December, when the Bulls and Toronto had too many players in health and safety protocols.
Should the Bulls follow the NBA trend and start scheduling rest days for their star players? Coach Billy Donovan said it's possible, but prefers a reactive response to players getting worn down.
"Those discussions would be between the player and the medical," Donovan said. "I think the biggest thing we've got to see going into this stretch is how do these guys feel coming out of some of these games?
"I think we've got a really good group of guys that would be honest if they felt like they could not compete or play at the level they wanted to play to help the team and we may do that."
The practice of resting players to keep them fresh for the postseason was popularized by San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich. When the Spurs had success, other teams copied the practice to the point where the NBA wrote some resting guidelines into rule book. The league wasn't excited about teams showing up on national TV with three key players taking a break.
Former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau wasn't big on utilizing days off. In recent years, the Bulls were more concerned with getting a higher draft pick than preparing for the playoffs.
"I think going in, just penciling in, 'Hey, you're resting here and you're resting here,'" Donovan said. "I think that would be hard to do without everybody getting together to talk about some of those things.
"This is going to be going on for the next several weeks that we're going to keep a close eye on our guys and how they're doing and what may be best for them. But they've obviously got to participate in those conversations as well."
The Bulls are still a relatively young team. The only players older than 30 are DeMar DeRozan (32) and Nikola Vucevic (31). Keeping DeRozan fresh seems like a worthwhile strategy, but two of the Bulls' worst losses happened when he was in protocols.
The Bulls are already undersized, so it's debatable if they could afford to give Vucevic any days off when he's uninjured. They'd probably prefer to wait at least until Tyler Cook is back from a sprained ankle.
There probably won't be any practice days until the all-star break arrives on Feb. 17. Donovan talked about trying to limit activities in the meantime.
"There's going to have to be times, I think, where we don't do shootarounds, maybe just a breakfast meeting or we give them a day between the game and come back and do shootaround," he said. "I think we can try to find stretches of 24 hours where we can let them rest. That would be the best thing.
"I personally would rely a lot on the medical on that and the response from the players and how they're feeling. Then we'll try to all work together and manage it as best we can."
For Tuesday's rescheduled home game against Detroit, there are no changes in the Bulls' injury report. Alex Caruso (protocols), Javonte Green (adductor strain) and Cook (ankle) are out, while Mac McClung's second 10-day contract has ended.
There were no reports of the Bulls releasing Matt Thomas or Alfonzo McKinnie, so both players' contracts will be guaranteed for the full season as of Monday.
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports