Bulls ready to begin LaVine's personal training camp
Zach LaVine's training camp will begin Saturday.
He'll start by practicing with the Bulls at the Advocate Center, then try to get through four straight days of workouts with the Windy City Bulls, followed by another date with the NBA Bulls next Thursday.
If he feels good after getting six straight practices, well, no one is sure exactly what happens next. But LaVine's return to game action should be imminent.
"Obviously, it's a very important part of the process for Zach," Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said before Friday's game. "Hopefully, everything goes great and we'll take it from there.
"I know Zach is excited. We'll see how he's doing as far as his overall soreness and hopefully put a time frame together on when we think he can start playing."
Hoiberg said a decision has yet to be made on whether LaVine gets his first game action in the G-League. The Windy City Bulls have two games next weekend, playing at Fort Wayne on Friday, Jan. 5 before returning home to the Sears Centre the following day against Wisconsin.
LaVine tore the ACL in his left knee last Feb. 3 while playing for Minnesota. The two-time slam dunk contest champ started practicing in full with the Bulls on Nov. 21.
Sticking with the plan:
Zach LaVine has made it clear he wants to start playing as soon as possible. Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg was asked Friday if LaVine's anxiousness could alter the team's plan for his return.
"We'll stick to the plan, which is the next six days to hopefully have good hard workouts to where he has no setbacks, and then we'll sit down in a room and figure out exactly how we're going to proceed," Hoiberg said. "But I take the excitement, I take the lack of patience as a good thing.
"It means he wants to be out there in the worst way, but I think he also understands the element of making sure every last hurdle is cleared before he's back out there. He wants to be out there for his teammates. His teammates want him back. Obviously coaches and fans want to see Zach out there, and it will happen hopefully sooner rather than later, but this next week is the important stretch so far for Zach."
Felicio takes Charge:
Cristiano Felicio went all the way to Cleveland to get some game action with the Windy City Bulls on Thursday. Felicio produced 22 points and 14 rebounds as the WC Bulls beat the Canton Charge 117-87 in a game played at Quicken Loans Arena.
"Great gesture after the game, he took the staff and team out for a nice dinner and got back in time for shootaround this morning," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "He wanted to get down there and get his game right.
"Cris is such a good kid and will get his opportunity at some point. He had a very good game. I talked to (Windy City coach) Charlie (Henry) after and he said he was very good and played within himself, made winning plays. It was good for Cris to get those minutes."