The Bulls’ Denzel Valentine a likely trade candidate as the ship sinks

Bulls coach Jim Boylen continues to envision Denzel Valentine earning his way back into some regular minutes — maybe even back into the rotation.

“He’s an unbelievable worker,” Boylen said Friday of the Bulls’ first-round draft pick (14th overall) from 2016. “Denzel is a great kid. He’s out of the rotation right now, and that happens in this league. He can be back in the rotation at any moment. One thing can trigger that. What his challenge is, is continue to work, stay locked in, and that’s part of the pro part.”

Sounds simple. But it’s far from it.

The last week in particular has shown that Valentine is closer to working his way into a trade than becoming a rotational contributor for the Bulls. Even with Otto Porter still out with a bone bruise in his left foot and Chandler Hutchison out with sore shins, Valentine has mostly stayed toasty in his warm-ups during Bulls games — an exception being Friday night’s 116-108 loss to the visiting Heat, when he played five minutes, scoring nine points. He not only has slid behind Porter and Hutchison at wing, but also behind Shaquille Harrison and Ryan Arcidiacono.

With the Bulls’ season shifting from playoff promise to embarrassment, there could very well be a decision to start throwing excess baggage overboard, and Valentine would be the perfect candidate. The Bulls have to make a financial decision on him after the season, and other teams are always willing to take a chance on former first-round picks who might simply need a change of scenery.

Valentine shot 38.6 percent from three-point range during the 2017-18 season. That percentage would rank him fourth on the Bulls this season.

Speaking last week about his mindset, Valentine said he wasn’t frustrated with the decisions being made with his playing time.

“I can only control what I can control,” he said.

The good news is he’s still practicing hard and doing whatever’s asked of him.

“I have not sensed any frustration with him at all,” Boylen said. “He’s been locked in.”

Bench mob II?

With the Bulls’ starters basically a no-show early against the Heat, Boylen went to the bench to try to stop the bleeding. Although it worked a bit, it was more speed bump than obstacle.

The second unit had been playing better before Friday, and the hope is it can become something special — “Bench Mob” — like, even.

“We just want to be tough, hard-playing dudes,” Arcidiacono said. “We have that with the guys we have out there. We share the ball. We don’t really care who scores. Try and bring energy to the game. Either extend the lead or get the lead back.”

Nothing to add

Boylen had little in the way of updates about his injured forwards, and that’s because not much has changed. Porter is still more than a week out from having his foot reassessed. Hutchison will travel to Charlotte on Saturday but likely won’t play.

The Bulls want to be particularly cautious with Hutchison’s shin issues, given how long a hamstring issue slowed him at the start of the season.