CLEVELAND – Lonzo Ball can’t catch a break.
Eyeing the possibility of playing in an NBA basketball game on Tuesday – his first one since Jan. 14, 2022 – the Bulls medical staff and Ball decided to sit the preseason opener out, and no, not because of the left knee.
It seems that right before fall camp started, Ball fought through a nasty bout of Covid, which left him missing a week of workouts, while also losing some strength and weight.
As if attempting to come back from an experimental left knee surgery in which no professional athlete has done successfully wasn’t enough for the veteran point guard.
“I think in talking to medical and even my conversations with him, I think there’s still a period of him getting his strength back,” coach Billy Donovan said. “Probably lost out on working out for more than a week (with Covid). Lost some weight, lost some strength. We’re going to be cautious with the buildup.
“I fully anticipate him playing at some point in the preseason games, but I think it’s going to be based on more practices, load (management), where he’s at physically. Right now, the best decision with where he’s at is just continue to try and build him up.”
The good news for Ball is he has practiced with his teammates since late last week and had no setback with the knee.
Heck, according to Coby White, Ball has looked like the guy he remembered before the three knee surgeries.
“He’s been aggressive, he’s not shying away from contact or anything like that,” White said. “It’s amazing to see him on the court with everything he’s fought through.”
So when will the rest of the world get to see him?
The Bulls host Memphis Saturday at the United Center, but Donovan wasn’t promising anything just yet. What Donovan did promise is that when Ball is ready to go it will be the team’s responsibility to keep him healthy but also show the rest of the league that he can still play moving forward.
Ball is in the final year of his contract with the Bulls.
“I think he’s very realistic about where he is physically,” Donovan said. “We’ve got to find a way for him to prolong his career where he can show in these amounts of minutes, he can be a productive player. I also think he understands too, that from a minutes standpoint this is not going to be what it was for him in New Orleans or even what it was for him his first year in Chicago. He’s got to find a way to try and carve out a really good niche for himself. He’s going to have to show that he can do it over the course of the season, but some of that maybe he doesn’t play 82 games. Maybe he plays 65.”
Getting defensive
The sample size was obviously miniscule on Tuesday, but all the camp concerns about the Bulls having issues on defense this season without Alex Caruso was, and could remain, a serious problem.
It wasn’t that Cleveland put up 31 points and shot 45% from the field in the opening quarter of the preseason tip-off. It was the ease in which they got baskets whenever they wanted.
“AC used to make up for a lot of our mistakes individually,” White admitted. “Now we all have to hone in and take it as pride, take it as a challenge.”
Giddey up
Josh Giddey (ankle) did start the preseason opener after missing the early portion of fall camp and was expected to get normal minutes during exhibition play. Giddey was acquired from the Thunder in the Caruso trade over the summer and injured the ankle in the Olympics.