Zach LaVine about to enter ‘important stretch’ in his return from ACL rehab

All eyes will be on Zach LaVine during the next six days.

“This next week is the important stretch so far for Zach,’’ coach Fred Hoiberg said Friday.

And the Bulls coach wasn’t overstating it.

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Beginning on Saturday, LaVine is scheduled to participate in six consecutive full-contact practices, and if the fourth-year player can come out of those without any setbacks, it will hasten his return to the court.

“I know Zach is excited,’’ Hoiberg said. “He had a really good two-plus hour practice with Windy City last week before that team went on the road. He’ll be with us [Saturday afternoon] and then four straight days of good hard practices with Windy City. And then he’ll be with us that sixth practice, and then we’ll see.

“We’ll see how he’s doing as far as his overall soreness and hopefully put a time frame together on when we think he can start playing.’’

There is a good chance that LaVine could play in a game with the Windy City Bulls of the G League before returning, but that hasn’t been determined yet. Windy City has several road games during the period when LaVine might play there, but that wouldn’t be a factor.

“If that’s the decision that’s made, for Zach to play a couple games with Windy City, we wouldn’t have a problem [sending him on the road],’’ Hoiberg said.

LaVine had season-ending surgery last February to repair a tear in the left anterior cruciate ligament, and the original timetable was nine months. The Bulls don’t feel the need to rush, considering how highly they value him as part of the rebuild.

LaVine joked the other day that he had run out of patience and was ready to play, but the front office has remained very protective of their two-guard.

“I take the excitement, I take the lack of patience as a good thing,’’ Hoiberg said. “I mean he wants to be out there in the worst way, but I think he also understands the element of making sure every last hurdle is cleared before he’s back out there.

“He wants to be out there for his teammates. His teammates want him back. Obviously, coaches and fans want to see Zach out there, and it will happen hopefully sooner rather than later.’’

The other guy

While Nikola Mirotic has received a lot of credit for the Bulls’ turnaround, Mirotic’s return coincided with David Nwaba coming back from an ankle injury, sparking the second unit.

“I’ve said all along with David that his best strength is effort, his energy, to go out there and play consistently hard 100 percent of the time that he’s on the floor, so that’s the great thing about David,’’ Hoiberg said. “His attack to get us easy baskets when we’re struggling is a big part of our success when he’s on the floor.’’

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Email: jcowley@suntimes.com