The Bulls game this Wednesday against the Charlotte Hornets has been postponed. The Hornets saw a couple games meet this fate due to contact tracing fallout after their opponents on the San Antonio Spurs generated several positive COVID test results.
So now the Bulls have a couple days off at home before traveling to Philadelphia to face the Sixers on Friday.
It’s good timing, though really any time in the grueling NBA schedule is a good time for some kind of relief.
It was nearly a week ago that some asshole declared the season’s upcoming period as ‘trash’. The Bulls have gone 2-1 since then and the victories have been entertaining and maybe a bit informative (it’s evaluation season, if you recall). A record setting shooting performance took down the Pelicans, then last night it took so many Domantas Sabonis misses that looked like point-shaving gone awry (just asking questions???) to keep the Bulls close and they actually followed through on a clutch victory this season.
But just as important is that a key contributor returned. Wendell Carter Jr. returned a bit early from the initial prognosis against Indiana. That card, Wendell, announcing his return by immediately committing a foul and giving stank-face to the officials. But while he didn’t have the most clean return, he looked fine physically and it was a stark difference to even have an average Carter performance versus a Daniel Gafford start.
This cancellation means Carter doesn’t have to turn around so quickly after his first game back, plus Thaddeus Young can rest a bit. Lauri Markkanen’s injury timeline means at least another two games out, but he hasn’t shown to be as causal to good team performance as Carter was. Otto Porter and Chandler Hutchison have no timelines on their return.
So the frontcourt is still pretty decimated, but getting Carter back is huge. It does mean seeing Billy Donovan resort to some janky tactics like playing 4 guards, having Denzel Valentine shoot a bunch, giving Arcidiacono minutes, and the carousel of crap at backup center: Luke Kornet got the spin yesterday and couldn’t do the one thing he should be able to, going 0-5 from three.
But it’s not total trash to where all we had to look forward to was the trade deadline (and be inevitably disappointed), which is a welcome surprise.
Read More: Bulls vs. Hornets postponed, good timing to get the roster healthy again