It’s not exactly a soft landing.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan took note of that as soon as the regular-season schedule was announced.
There are four back-to-backs scheduled through the first 14 games, and, as Donovan pointed out Thursday, location is everything.
The back halves of the first three back-to-backs are all on the road — Detroit, Denver, Milwaukee — and the one home game is against the Heat.
That’s one up-and-comer, the defending NBA champs, the favorite to win the Eastern Conference this season, then the East champs from last season.
“We can’t just try to ease into things,’’ Donovan said with the preseason schedule over.
That’s why he has made it a point since the beginning of training camp to try to get in as many five-on-five scrimmages as possible.
“Our back-to-backs are really challenging and really tough with what we’ve got to do, and it starts early,’’ Donovan said. “The one thing I wanted to do when we started training camp — and I thought it was important — was to play a lot of five-on-five.
“Our conditioning is very good, but our guys have not played a lot of five-on-five — the veteran guys. And that takes a little bit of time.’’
The Bulls begin the regular season at the United Center on Wednesday against the Thunder, so that will give Donovan and his players that extra scrimmage time they need.
Might as well jump
It’s not like rookie Julian Phillips and his vertical leap have come as a surprise.
The former Tennessee standout had the best vertical jump (43 inches) and the best standing vertical (35 inches) at the scouting combine.
Phillips isn’t shy about making that known, either, especially when asked if there’s anyone on the Bulls who can jump with him.
“Out-dunks me? Nah, nobody . . . nobody,’’ Phillips said with a laugh. “There’s jokes here and there, but I think I’m jumping the highest right now.’’
Good to go
Guard Alex Caruso (ankle) was back in the rotation against the Timberwolves after missing the game against the Raptors on Tuesday. Donovan said Caruso could’ve played against Toronto if it was the regular season, but they wanted to play it cautiously.
