2. Chicago Bulls that could see their minutes decline
One Bulls player that already seems to have a decline in his role early in this preseason slate is the sizable 6-foot-10 and 270 pound Brazilian 28-year-old big man Cristiano Felicio. As likely the most overpaid and inefficient big man on the Bulls current cap sheet, Felicio is someone that even saw a dip in his playing time last season under Boylen, until the injuries really started piling up.
It’s very likely that newly hired executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley are just waiting this period out until Felicio’s contract is up next offseason. Even the previous front office regime of John Paxson and Gar Forman would’ve had to pay a lot of money to stretch and waive Felicio in past seasons.
During the shortened 2019-20 regular season, Felicio played in 22 games for the Bulls (none of which he started in). Felicio actually hasn’t started in a single regular season game for the Bulls since the 2017-18 campaign. And last season, he averaged 3.9 points per game, 4.6 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.1 blocks. Felicio shot 63.0 percent from the field and 78.3 percent from the free-throw line.
Although Felicio didn’t even get to play in two dozen games last season, he did get a decent amount of time on the floor per game when he was in the regular rotation. Felicio averaged 17.5 minutes per game last season, which would be way too much this time around. Just riding out the rest of Felicio’s contract, or buying him out prior to the arrival of next offseason, feels like the best move for Donovan this season.