With serious issues at power forward, Bulls hope guard Alex Caruso can be the cure

NEW ORLEANS — Bulls guard Alex Caruso might want to start loading up on the protein bars.

On Sunday, he was matched against Pelicans forward Zion Williamson — all 6-6 and 284 pounds of him. And that’s with a forgiving scale.

On Wednesday, he might be going against 6-11 Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley unless coach Billy Donovan wants to roll out his jumbo lineup.

And then Friday, it might be Caruso against Bucks 6-11 superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.

With forward Patrick Williams out for the season because of surgery on his left foot, this is life for the Bulls until forward Torrey Craig recovers from a sprained right knee. Power forward is going to be an issue, leaving Caruso to be asked to pick up a lot of the slack.

Donovan could go with the jumbo package of Nikola Vucevic and Andre Drummond, but that alignment doesn’t work against more athletic power forwards. That was the case Thursday against the Celtics, who dissected that matchup in a 129-112 victory.

That’s why Donovan has to pick a poison.

‘‘Zion is unique,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘One of the challenges when you go a little bit bigger is those [power forwards] could be challenging matchups because they’re playing off the dribble or playing in transition or can really iso and put the ball on the floor and get around you.

‘‘It is challenging because we’re going to have to do it with five people. You’re going to have to provide really good support and help, and I think when a guy gets into a difficult situation, you’ve got to be able to bring a double-team to relieve and make sure you’re not being overwhelmed athletically and sizewise.’’

Terry Taylor has a stockier build and played a few possessions against Williamson, but there’s a real lack of experience there.

‘‘Alex can’t just always do it by himself,’’ Donovan said.

Just don’t let Caruso know that.

‘‘I can makeshift for the majority of games,’’ Caruso said. ‘‘We’re going to have to do a better job covering up for each other. Maybe throw some more wrinkles into the game plan of coverages and giving different looks, a little more gimmicky stuff to buy us minutes here and there.’’

Fixing Vooch

Vucevic is no stranger to shooting slumps, but he hasn’t been in many like the one he’s in right now.

He shot a dismal 24.6% from three-point range in January, and February hasn’t exactly seen a turnaround. He entered the game against the Pelicans at 28.1% from behind the arc for the month.

Donovan, however, wants Vucevic to keep shooting and is confident he will figure it out.

‘‘I know it bothers him, just because he prides himself on being an elite offensive player,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘He has not shot the ball particularly well. But when you’re dealing with a player like Vooch, who has been in the league for a long time, he knows his shot and he’ll put the work in to solve it. We do need him taking them. Those are good shots for us.’’

Body count

The Bulls continued to solidify the end of their roster by converting forward Onuralp Bitim to a standard NBA contract, then reportedly signing shooter Andrew Funk to a two-way contract.