On the night of Nov. 22, second-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls were thoroughly dominated by the former Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle and the Central Division foe Indiana Pacers at home at the United Center. The Bulls getting behind early in this game led to some of the younger players deeper down the bench getting playing time in the latter stages, including rookie big man Marko Simonovic.
Around the halfway point of the fourth quarter, Donovan elected to give Simonovic and second-year point guard Devon Dotson minutes in garbage time. This was the first minutes of the season for both young Bulls players. And for Simonovic, these were the first regular season minutes of his NBA career.
Simonovic did get minutes during the preseason for the Bulls this year, but this was his first exposure for him in any regular season slate. As he was recalled from the G-League affiliate Windy City Bulls on Nov. 22 with star center Nikola Vucevic and two-way point guard Alex Caruso out for the Bulls, this was a key chance for Simonovic to get valuable minutes during the regular season.
Chicago Bulls’ rookie center Marko Simonovic gets his first NBA point vs. Pacers
While Simonovic didn’t do anything too noteworthy in the first regular season action of his NBA career in terms of what will show up in the box score, he did get his first career points. Or, I should say his first career point.
Simononvic got his first career point on a free throw late in the fourth quarter. He was fouled going up for a shot around the rim. He missed the first of two free-throw attempts but drained the second for the first point of his NBA career.
In this game, Simonovic would get seven minutes of playing time. And he registered that one aforementioned point, one rebound, and one turnover while going 0-of-1 from the field, 0-of-1 from beyond the arc, and 1-of-2 from the free-throw line.
Following this convincing double-digit loss to the Pacers at home at the United Center on Nov. 22, the Bulls are now sporting a record of 12-6. Next up for the Bulls after this loss to the Pacers is a meeting with the lowly Houston Rockets on the road on Nov. 24.