Portis set to return Sunday; Parker's role unclear
The Bulls will be almost whole again Sunday. Bobby Portis is expected back on the floor after missing seven games with a sprained right ankle.
Between the ankle and a right knee sprain earlier this season, Portis has played in just nine of 29 games this season.
This puts the Bulls as close as they're going to get to full strength. Denzel Valentine is out for the season after having ankle surgery, but everyone else is healthy at the moment.
Bulls coach Jim Boylen wouldn't say if Jabari Parker would stay in the rotation. Parker saw his first action since Dec. 13 on Friday against Indiana, scoring 4 points in 14 minutes.
"We'll see. We'll see how Bobby responds," Boylen said. "If Bobby's back, Bobby's going to play and we'll figure it out as we go."
Parker played the backup minutes at power forward Friday, which figure to go to Portis now. Chandler Hutchison had been handling that role, but he's now the starting small forward after Justin Holiday was traded to Memphis.
Boylen has used a third guard, usually Antonio Blakeney, to fill in at backup small forward. Shaq Harrison played instead of Hutchison down the stretch against Indiana. It sounds like newcomer Wayne Selden will be inactive for a few games while he gets acclimated.
Bulls shoot for win:
For the second day in a row, the Bulls finished practice with a shooting contest. Coach Jim Boylen said it's something they've done to end shootarounds since he took over as head coach Dec. 3. They did it Saturday because there won't be a shootaround before Sunday's afternoon game.
It's the sort of drill used by middle school teams. Two groups of players at different baskets take turns launching the same shot, counting out their makes. By all appearances, the Bulls have fun with it.
"It's just to raise the competitive level, team against team, to get more shots in a competitive environment when they mean something," Boylen said. "I think that's important."
Boylen said sometimes they play for down-and-backs, at times for cash and sometimes there's no reward. Saturday's teams were the starters plus Cristiano Felicio vs. everyone else.
It ended in a tie, so the two sides picked someone from the other team to settle it with a 3-point shootout and Kris Dunn beat Shaq Harrison.
LaVine sounds off:
Zach LaVine knocked down 2 clutch 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter to send Friday's game against Indiana to overtime. Then he drained an unlikely 3-pointer that could have tied the score in overtime, but it left his hand after the buzzer.
After the game, LaVine was asked what he was yelling after the big 3-pointers.
"A lot of explicit words," he said with a laugh. "I say some things out there. I don't know what I said. It would have been 'Aye,' and then a whole bunch of beeps."