Chicago Bulls: Nikola Vucevic progressing toward his return

While it looks like it could still be a couple of games before the Chicago Bulls get star center Nikola Vucevic back in the mix, it also looks like he is getting closer and closer to his return. The Bulls are now going on more than a week without Vucevic in the lineup due to the league’s health and safety protocol.

A report from Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago on Nov. 19 indicated that Vucevic is “progressing in the right direction” but that he wasn’t out of the cardio testing portion of the COVID-19 protocol as of that date. We don’t know where he’s at as of the night of Nov. 20, but it’s good to hear that Vucevic is moving in the right direction.

Vucevic has now missed the last five games for the Bulls as he remains in quarantine to get back from the league’s health and safety protocol. The hope is that Vucevic will be available for the Bulls at least by early next week.

Chicago Bulls could soon get back star Nikola Vucevic

But the first step for Vucevic will be to get into the cardio testing portion of the health and safety protocol. Once that happens, second-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Bulls can figure out what’s next for the two-time All-Star and former Orlando Magic big man.

During the five-game Western Conference road trip for the Bulls, two things really became clear. The first is the fact that the Bulls do have a very important role for Vucevic in this starting unit. In the first few games without Vucevic in the starting five, the Bulls had an apparent lack of off-ball movement and effective screens from the bigs.

The other thing that we learned during Vucevic’s absence during the Western Conference road trip was that the Bulls can succeed running small-ball lineups. The Bulls really found something running with the former Portland Trail Blazers and Miami Heat small forward Derrick Jones Jr. at the five.

But if there’s a time when an opponent figures out what to do against the Bulls’ small-ball lineups, that’s where having Vucevic comes in handy. With the star duo of shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan and shooting guard Zach LaVine firing on all cylinders right now, the return of Vucevic could be very potent for this team.

Prior to entering the league’s health and safety protocol, Vucevic was averaging around 14 points per game, 11 rebounds, four assists, one steal, and one block. And the Bulls are now sporting a record of 11-5 ahead of a key meeting against the longtime rival New York Knicks on Nov. 21.