PORTLAND, Ore. — The Bulls were bad on the court when they were relatively healthy. On Friday, they were even more undermanned.
Coach Jim Boylen announced that second-year forward Chandler Hutchison would likely miss the rest of the Bulls’ road trip — including two practices scheduled in Portland and Monday’s game in Sacramento — as he deals with a bruised right shoulder.
Hutchison, who had been starting for injured Otto Porter (left foot), was hurt during Tuesday night’s loss to the Warriors and had an MRI exam Thursday. The plan is to re-evaluate him next week when the Bulls are back in Chicago.
Since the Bulls selected him 22nd overall in the 2018 draft, Hutchison has missed half of his rookie season with an injured toe, was slowed at the start of this season with a hamstring issue and now has the shoulder injury. So is he unlucky, soft, injury-prone, all of the above or none of the above?
“All that stuff is realistic, and it comes down to, do you want to feed it energy or not?” Hutchison said. “Those are things that cross your mind and things you have to continue to fight through. [Beyond] the noise about performance on the court, there’s even more noise as far as injury stuff that, as a professional, you’re going to have to deal with. You just have to continue to not listen to it and stay with the process.
“You can never say I’m never going to have an injury again, but just keep doing what I can to prevent them. It’s kind of something that has nothing to do with me on these injuries, but that’s just part of the game.”
What isn’t just part of the game is only playing in 53 games since the start of last season. But although that would seem to be a major obstacle in Hutchison’s development, he doesn’t see it that way.
“I never allow myself to fall behind,” he said. “I’m always paying attention and making sure I’m up to date, whether that’s game-day game plans, things like that, just as if I was playing. Especially this injury, it’s based on how I feel. There’s nothing that will be lingering long-term. Basically, it’s getting the inflammation and the soreness down. That’s the main thing. Just stay locked in like I was playing in the game. It’s not terribly hard.”
Meanwhile, the Bulls — down another forward — have to use more three-guard lineups than they would like.
“It’s heartbreaking when your guys get hurt, and it’s hard on the team,” Boylen said. “We got [Hutchison] back in the starting lineup and he gets hurt right away. Hey, he’s going to keep working. The one thing he does is he competes and he works. I think when the MRI comes back and says it’s a bruise, that makes you feel a little better.”
Welcome back, sir
Boylen doesn’t know Carmelo Anthony well, but he knows the newest Trail Blazer enough to know he’s glad he’s back in the NBA after missing almost a full season.
“I’m really happy for him,” Boylen said. “I always felt like he was one of the more physically dominant guys. Strong, tough. So I’m just happy for him.”
