Bulls’ core must learn toughness

The toughness of the Bulls’ core — or the lack thereof — is an issue that isn’t going away anytime soon.

Coach Billy Donovan has been open about how he’s trying to get his team to accept a more physical brand of basketball, and newcomers continued to address it Saturday.

‘‘You have to build that habit,’’ veteran guard Garrett Temple said, referring to toughness. ‘‘I don’t think we have soft guys here by any means, so it’s a matter of building the right habits. And that starts in practice.

‘‘But a lot of young teams do things in practice [and] don’t bring it over to the games. I think that’s what we’re in the transition of doing right now. We have to transition that stuff that we do in practice — when we have great, competitive, hard practices — to the game.’’

Even in the preseason games the Bulls won, they displayed a lack of physicality too often. And in the regular-season opener Wednesday against the Hawks, it was flat-out embarrassing.

The Hawks went wherever they wanted to go on the court, including attacking the rim, with little resistance. And while no one is asking the Bulls to be a defensive juggernaut, how about an elbow or two on an opponent’s dunk attempt to show that someone cares?

‘‘I think it’s a really good point, and that’s why we have to do it together,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘We’re not putting guys on an island to say: ‘You’ve got this guy; it’s on you. Just be physical and tough and handle this.’ . . .

‘‘I think that’s what ended up happening, having two 40-point quarters in the first and second quarters [against the Hawks]. It was just, like, guys were going right down the lane, transitioning. It was way too easy.

‘‘We’ve got to get physically in there to battle and compete. Are we great at it? No. Can we be a lot better than [we’ve been]? I think so.’’

More bodies

Veteran forward Thad Young continued to make progress from an infection in his left leg but was still unavailable for the game against the Pacers.

The good news for the Bulls was that Young was the only player of significance in street clothes. Temple made his Bulls debut in the first quarter, and backup guard Tomas Satoransky finally returned after he had to quarantine because of contact tracing. Satoransky said he never tested positive for the coronavirus, and that made the ordeal even more frustrating.

‘‘It was very tough for me being at home, not being able to work out or doing anything,’’ Satoransky said. ‘‘Just self-quarantine myself. . . . You only can control some of it, and you have to be mentally strong and be ready to come back and accept the role you will have after this. . . . It really tests you mentally and is another challenge you have to go through this season.’’

Donovan has yet to address how he will use Young when he gets him back, especially considering forward Otto Porter Jr. has been the first option off the bench in both regular-season games.