Dunn will miss opener, but Chicago Bulls like point guard depth
A dislocated finger can be one of the more gruesome sports injuries, and Kris Dunn's mangled left index finger was no exception.
"It was definitely bad," Dunn said Thursday at the Advocate Center. "The bone was popping out. I thought I broke my finger. The trainer (Jeff Tanaka), he told me to calm down. He thought it was bad, then he saw the bone and popped it back in for me. I'm just happy he did that."
Dunn was asked if had an estimate for the bend in his finger - 45 degrees, 90 degrees?
"I really can't remember, but I know it was ugly," Dunn said with a laugh.
The injury happened during the Bulls' preseason win over Milwaukee on Oct. 6. The timeline for his return is 2-4 weeks, so the Bulls are not expecting him to be ready when they open the regular season at Toronto on Oct. 19.
With Zach LaVine still recovering from a torn ACL, the Bulls will start the season without the two players they received from Minnesota in the Jimmy Butler trade. The Bulls are hoping LaVine will be ready to practice in mid-November, nine months after his knee surgery.
Dunn may not miss many regular-season games, though. He's able to do conditioning and basketball activities with his right hand.
"One-hand shooting for Kris is actually very good to help with his mechanics," Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. "So he's still be able to do a lot of things we were working on, and hopefully we'll get him back out there soon."
Change at the point:
With Kris Dunn out, the Bulls will begin the season with Jerian Grant starting at point guard and former Villanova star Ryan Arcidiacono backing up. Both players have looked good in preseason action.
Grant made himself a candidate to start at point guard by dishing out 9 assists in the preseason opener in New Orleans, so Dunn isn't a lock for the starting job when his finger heals.
"That's the great thing about this group is there is always going to be competition," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "Trying to go out and get rotation spots, starting spots, and most important, spots in the fourth quarter and down the stretch (of games)."
Arcidiacono was signed to a two-way contract, which means he'll spend most of the season in Hoffman Estates with the G-League's Windy City Bulls, but he appears comfortable running the offense.
"Arcidiacono was really, really good," Hoiberg said. "His pace was excellent, especially in that second half, so he's a guy that's going to be out there pushing those players as well. He's just a good solid, competitive point guard."
Bulls try to recognize:
Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg talked about the state of the offense during preseason, which seems to be a free-flowing, read-and-react style without many set plays.
"I'm not calling a lot (of plays)," Hoiberg said. "Again, there's a lot of reading and reacting, based on how teams are playing us. We're still not recognizing that a lot. Our execution at times, I thought that was very poor. But for the most part if we play hard, we cut hard, we set screens, good things will happen.
"But we're still missing some things as far as recognition. That's why we're not adding a lot as far as our playbook yet. We're running some things after timeouts that we'll incorporate into our offense, but we're still pretty basic."
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