Post-surgery, Ball plan unchanged
The big news on the Lonzo Ball front Thursday was that there was no real news.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan told reporters that surgery Wednesday on Ball’s left knee went well and that Ball was optimistic afterward, leaving the Bulls feeling they’ll have him back at some point this coming season. That’s essentially the same view they had when the surgery was first announced.
“I’m always a positive guy, so we’re going to see him on the floor when? It’s just going to depend on how he feels during recovery,’’ Arturas Karnisovas, executive vice president of basketball operations, said earlier in the week.
Depending on how the knee responds in rehab, Ball will be reevaluated in four to six weeks — the same estimate given before the surgery — with a more definitive timetable coming out of that.
Ball has now had three surgeries on the knee — two since January, including one Jan. 28 to repair a torn meniscus — and has made it clear he’ll take his time to completely heal before returning.
Besides developing into a corner three-point specialist and being the Bulls’ best two-way starter, Ball has a sneaky ability to pressure defenses with how quickly he moves the ball up the floor. Donovan used the first three days of training-camp practice to get the Bulls’ other guards to think that way — and to identify who, exactly, is good at it. With Ball sidelined until at least November, someone has to step up.
“That’s where [Ball] was elite, like he could snap the ball across the floor and create advantages,” Donovan said. “It’s something we’re working on with Ayo [Dosunmu], Coby [White] and those guys, where we’ve got to be able to get down the floor.”
Three-point blues
Center Nikola Vucevic was searching for his long-range shot most of last season, hitting a dismal 31.4% from three-point range, his worst since he started making the three a regular part of his arsenal in 2019.
What went wrong? According to Vucevic, what didn’t go wrong?
“Early on in the season, I think I was a little too passive and trying to play in a way that was within the team, trying to help everyone get involved,” he said. “I felt like I was too much out on the perimeter and settling a little bit. And I think the shots didn’t start falling for me and I didn’t get in a rhythm, and then it took me awhile to get out of it. Then I wanted to make it happen overnight, and I started forcing things a little bit.”
Vucevic isn’t dwelling on it and considers it a blip, not a trend.
“I know I’m a good shooter,” he said.