MILWAUKEE – Billy Donovan doesn’t know what he’s going to see from Lonzo Ball in Wednesday’s preseason game against Minnesota.
The Bulls coach does know he is going to see him, however, and that’s a start.
Ball hasn’t played in an NBA game since Jan. 14, 2022, undergoing three left knee surgeries, including the last one which was basically described as a cartilage transplant. Now, the Bulls start to find out exactly what they have with Ball in the final year of his deal, and what exactly he can do for them this season.
Ball’s return this fall was slowed because of Covid before camp started, but as Donovan revealed on Monday, also because of the knee experiencing some soreness as he’s jumped back in to full-contact scrimmages.
“The other part was him getting in practice and at least having periods of practice where he had contact where he could play, see how he responded after that,” Donovan said. “There were consecutive days where he did have some soreness where we kind of backed up a little bit. We’re still trying to find that spot of where the soreness occurs, how many minutes and stuff, but I think he’s got a good base right now.
“Him playing (the Wednesday) preseason game was what we kind of targeted. Like we wanted to try and get him to play two games before the regular season.”
A point both Donovan and Ball made last week, which is why the delay of his debut came as no surprise.
Ball of course will be on a minutes restriction with the plan to keep him on one indefinitely to start the season. He also will not appear in back-to-back games.
What Donovan, and likely the entire organization, is anxious to see is what Ball now looks like. Ball admitted on media day two weeks ago that he had lost some athleticism, and Donovan didn’t sugarcoat that.
“I think defensively, blowing up screens, those types of things, it’s not there right now,” Donovan said. “One of the things he felt like, him running down plays or if he gets beat off the dribble and being able to recover towards the basket into the rim, he felt like he’s lost some of that a little bit. How much of that he can get back I don’t know.
“But the way he plays, he doesn’t necessarily need to be the same athlete that he was because his IQ is so good, and so much of his game is based on passing. So a lot of times he gets it and there’s a four-on-four situation or a three-on-three and he advances and it becomes a three-on-two situation. There’s things he sees vision-wise that’s got nothing to do with where he is athletically, that he can still impact.”
Wrist shot
Patrick Williams jammed his wrist during the loss to the Grizzlies on Saturday, and despite x-rays being negative he sat against the Bucks. Donovan didn’t seem overly concerned with the injury.
“Probably being a little cautionary with the wrist,” Donovan said. “They did X-ray him after the game and everything was negative and fine, but I do think they’ll keep monitoring him to make sure everything is going to be fine.”
Not that Williams was exactly lighting the world up in his two preseason games, going a combined 3-for-15 from the field.
Street clothes
While the Bucks gave the Bulls the star treatment, starting the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and Brook Lopez, the Bulls sat Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, and Williams.
The main reason according to Donovan, was it was a scheduled rest game, as well as some bumps and bruises that needed to heal.