Coach Fred Hoiberg made it to the Advocate Center to watch practice Monday, less than 24 hours after missing the Bulls’ 113-94 victory against the Wizards because of illness.
His onetime starting backcourt wasn’t as fortunate. Kris Dunn (toe) and Zach LaVine (tendinitis in left knee) will miss the rest of the season because they won’t be able to regain game condition with only five games left.
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“I’m excited about next year with those two guys for the fact that when we were playing our best stretch of basketball this season, Zach had come back,’’ Hoiberg said. “He was playing about 20 minutes when he first got back. We won those first two games where we were playing some of our best ball. I wish we could’ve kept that going. As Zach’s minutes increased, we were playing so well and with so much confidence.
“That gives me a lot of hope for what’s to come. It’s going to take a lot of work in the offseason to get that chemistry right.’’
Dunn already said he planned to spend most of his summer in Chicago, working out at the Advocate Center, and rookie Lauri Markkanen, the other member of the Bulls’ Big 3, has only a short stint of international ball planned before he also puts in time at the facility.
LaVine will be the wild card, but he said he planned to spend a few stints in Chicago. He wanted to get Dunn and Markkanen to come to Los Angeles for some bonding and workouts.
There’s a coaching-staff to-do list for all three players, starting with LaVine and the defensive improvements he needs to make.
The Bulls’ defense is still searching for an identity under assistant Jim Boylen, but LaVine can help that cause by honing his defensive skills.
“It all starts with stance and position and fundamentals — the basics,’’ Boylen said of LaVine’s improvement. “I think when you’ve been out, you lose some of those basics. So he’s been focused on and we’ve been focused on helping him with the basics in our defense, just ball-you-man. It’s vision, it’s all the things you kind of start with in camp. He missed camp, and that’s hard on a player. We’re confident he can get better at it. He’s going to work at it, and he cares, and that really helps.’’
For the last five games, the Bulls will continue to mix and match and give more playing time to Ryan Arcidiacono, Cam Payne, Noah Vonleh and Sean Kilpatrick.
Markkanen is playing despite back and right-elbow issues, but he could miss the Celtics game Friday or the Nets game Saturday.
“I don’t think there was any point where Lauri, Zach and Kris were ever at their own peak when they were playing together,’’ center Robin Lopez said. “That’s a tantalizing aspect that we haven’t even seen yet.’’
