Veteran forward Craig making strong preseason push for Bulls
One thing about having more depth on the Bulls roster is it allows coach Billy Donovan to utilize some teaching moments.
As they say in basketball, there's no greater teacher than the bench.
Patrick Williams was pulled from Tuesday's preseason game less than three minutes into the first quarter. Overall, Williams played less than veteran Torrey Craig.
The Bulls looked good at times, sloppy at others and lost to Toronto 106-102 at the United Center. Trailing by 1, Williams missed a driving bank with about 10 seconds left and the Raptors sealed the win at the foul line.
After the game, Donovan talked about the lessons he wants Williams to learn.
"I just thought there were a lot of opportunities for him to get to the backboard and offensive rebound," Donovan said of Williams. "We had kind of talked about it. I just didn't like the way we came out. It's not even about him making or missing shots or being aggressive. One of the first possessions, he could have really laid a good screen and he tried to slip out of it.
"We can't run away from physicality. We're going to have to lean into it. Not necessarily meet force with force, but you're going to have to screen and free each other up and help each other that way. I think as the game wore on and certainly in that fourth quarter, I thought he was way more aggressive."
Meanwhile, Craig delivered the preseason play of the year midway through the third quarter when he chased down Gary Trent Jr. and not only blocked a fast-break dunk attempt, but grabbed the defensive rebound and headed the other way. Craig ended the third quarter with putback basket after Vucevic kept an offensive rebound alive.
"Just making a play at the ball. That's the type of player I am," Craig said of his breakaway block. "I don't care who it is, it could be Giannis, LeBron. If somebody's on the break, I'm going to try to block it. I'm not just going to let him dunk it or lay it up. That's just the kind of player I am and I do it every time."
Craig played 27 minutes in Tuesday's contest, finishing with 4 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. He's one of those amazing success stories that usually result in unselfish, well-rounded NBA players. Undrafted out of USC-Upstate, Craig spent three years playing in Australia and New Zealand before catching on with the Denver Nuggets in 2017 and making his NBA debut at 27.
The Bulls extended the starters' minutes in this game, then finished the fourth quarter with a mostly young group of Ayo Dosunmu, Patrick Williams, Dalen Terry, rookie Julian Phillips and Andre Drummond. After Dosunmu and Williams hit 3-pointers to put the Bulls up by 1, Drummond stole a pass at midcourt, but started his jump too early and missed the fast-break dunk with about four minutes left.
"I thought we had good spurts, but we could be more consistent," Craig said. "I think that's who we've got to be defensively, one of those teams that no one wants to play against that's active, force a lot of turnovers, crowding the paint, blocking shots and making teams turn it over. That's who we've got to be on a nightly basis."
Coby White started walking gingerly after a third-quarter possession and signaled to the bench to take him out of the game. White immediately walked back to the locker room, but returned to action in the fourth quarter.
Alex Caruso did not play Tuesday after turning an ankle in a recent practice, according to Donovan. The hope is he'll play in Thursday's preseason finale, when Donovan is planning to play close to a regular-season rotation against Minnesota.
Donovan said before the game the expectation for veteran forward Derrick Favors, who signed with the Bulls on Monday, is he'll serve as a mentor for the G-League's Windy City Bulls. Favors is obviously hoping to land an NBA job in the process. He did not play in the league last year, though he did sign a 10-day contract with Atlanta at one point. Favors was not in uniform Tuesday.
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports