Vuc in Health and Safety Protocol (Shams: Will be out 10 days/6 games)

[#1TKfan]

Bulls were winning when he wasn't playing well. This hurts, yeah, but next man up. Still got 4 wins on the WC trip.

[chicago paxsons]

And if Bradley twists an ankle or caught it from Vuc....

AKME better go sign another big just in case of it all falling apart. If the Bulls want to make the playoffs in the hyper competitive east, blowing 3-4 games due to inadequate depth at any one spot is a really bad idea.

Matt Thomas is expendable given everyone else. Guys out there include Biyombo, Meyers Leonard, Okafor, Cousins (don't want), Giles, Henson, Aaron Baynes (but he's likely still hurt), Johnny O'bryant, Thon Maker, Skal Labissiere, Tarik Black, Oturu, Henry Ellenson, Marquese Chriss, Mahimni, Miles Plumlee, and, if he's back from Brazil... good old Felicio....

Oof, that list...

Hopefully, if they call up marko, then he's further along enough to have a positive impact. I assume bradley is guaranteed to start. Of that list, there's no one without major deficiencies, but i wouldn't be against biyombo since he's a solid rebounder and good interior defender. The rest of the guys are either one or the other and maybe have a bit more offense, but not enough that it would really help us.

[BullChit]

Get well and get back soon Vuc...

This is not the worst thing, better than an injury but it also gives us a look at who we really are.

I want to see Lonzo step up on offense.
Zach and DeMar continue to build.
Coby come back.
Play faster maybe?
Alize at PF please.

If we are going to lose games early season is the best time to do it. Look at the Hawks last year or even the Wizards. Don't want to peak to soon and also more time for AKME to evaluate the roster under the stress of no Vuc against play-off quality teams will only help to improve our team in the future.

Or we win win win and that shows us something too...

Again get well soon Vuc!!

[sco]

I saw an ESPN ticker that said, OR test negative twice in 24hrs.

Here's what it said:

Adrian Wojnarowski

Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic tested positive for COVID-19 and entered the NBA's health and safety protocols on Thursday, sources told ESPN.

The Bulls listed Vucevic in the protocols, but the positive test means the two-time All-Star selection will be sidelined for 10 days or until he has two negative PCR tests in a 24-hour period.

Chicago (8-3) begins a five-game West Coast road trip on Friday against the league-leading Golden State Warriors (TV: ESPN, 10 p.m. ET).

Vucevic guarded Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid in successive games prior to Embiid testing positive last week. NBC Sports Chicago has reported that the Bulls are fully vaccinated.

Vucevic, 31, has had five double-doubles over his last six games, including an 18-point, 10-rebound performance in Wednesday's 117-107 win over the Dallas Mavericks.

In 11 games this season, Vucevic has averaged 13.6 points, 10.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists for the Bulls, who are tied with the Washington Wizards for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

Tony Bradley will likely start at center for the Bulls in Vucevic's absence.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32607773/chicago-bulls-nikola-vucevic-expected-miss-multiple-games-nba-health-safety-protocol-sources-say

[Jcool0]

Bulls were winning when he wasn't playing well. This hurts, yeah, but next man up. Still got 4 wins on the WC trip.

No. He was playing well. He wasn't shooting well. This is going to hurt. Bulls dont have any kind of replacement for him.

[bulls_troy]

Bulls were winning when he wasn't playing well. This hurts, yeah, but next man up. Still got 4 wins on the WC trip.

No. He was playing well. He wasn't shooting well. This is going to hurt. Bulls dont have any kind of replacement for him.

Exactly. Vooch was still being who Vooch is. Only he wasn't making shots. While I don't expect Marko to see a single minute unless it's like garbage time, but I don't see why Marko can't play a Vooch type role. PNR, PNP, hit open 3's, and then defensively just fill space and grab boards

[sljdaddy]

To be clear, the NBA COVID protocol states:

"• Anyone who tests positive will have two routes to return to work: go 10 days or more after the first positive test or onset of symptoms, or test negative twice at least 24 hours apart via PCR testing."

So, it's possible that he can be back sooner if he tests negative twice within at least 24 hours.

https://www.nba.com/news/nba-establishes-health-and-safety-protocol-for-2020-21-season

[FriedRise]

Hope this isn’t turning into an outbreak like what the Sixers are going through. They had Tobias out first, then a few more guys in the protocol days later. It could really spread to the teams that we play (Nets, Mavs, Warriors tomorrow).

[Jimako10]

READY THE BAT SIGNAL!

[Muzbar]

READY THE BAT SIGNAL!

Someone ban this man!

[Muzbar]

Jahlil Okafor is also available. He's probably a safer option than Cousins, and at this point in his career is probably the better scorer. Without Vuc, we might find our lack of offensive depth catch up with us. Okafor would at least provide an additional offensive option.

I would much rather sign Okafor over Cousins, give him a non-guaranteed deal and see how he plays in a bench role.

Cousins is broken, mentally and physically.

I'd rather have Bagley over Cousins.

[ImSlower]

Thanks, Jimako. Your pic of Felicio made my head jerk back and I winced like someone linked a traumatic car wreck photograph.

Gross. I'd rather see an immobile arhritic retired Omer Asik out there if we're bringing in plodding ex-Bull centers.

[Risk Addict]

So if Tony Bradley (?jr) gets the nod at center, you think they still rock with green at PF? I’d assume they’d trade him out for someone who is more of an offensive threat.

[NecessaryEvil]

READY THE BAT SIGNAL!

Alright, it sucks but it’s not the worst thing in the world. Tony Bradley is more than capable of playing a bigger role and Alize gets some time on the floor. Besides, Coby will be back soon so we have reinforcements.

We do have some depth. Hopefully we don’t miss a beat.

[AKfanatic]

The NBA's Covid rules make no sense. Why 10 days? That seems completely arbitrary. Why not just a negative test?

I suspect—though I could be wrong—that somebody who is vaccinated will recover quicker than somebody who is unvaccinated. If he tests negative before the 10 days, then he should be allowed to play.

Its just rolled down from the CDC, which is compiled from analysis on infected people on how long they are infectious for. Of course, no one did this analysis on vaccinated people.

Just in general, why can't we have nice things?

Yeah, it seems like that would be important to know. I think the NFL's policy allows for vaccinated players to return after two consecutive negative tests, which makes more sense. I'm not sure why that isn't the default rule for everyone.

“According to Thursday's memo, vaccinated players or staff who test positive and are asymptomatic can return to duty after two negative tests 24 hours apart. For non-vaccinated persons who test positive, the 2020 protocols remain in place, requiring a 10-day isolation”

For the NFL It all comes down to whether someone is vaccinated or not AND whether or not they are showing symptoms. If a player is running a high temperature for 8 days, vaccinated or not, they would need to wait for their temp to be “normal” before being able to take those consecutive tests to try to return.

[kodo]

Bulls were winning when he wasn't playing well. This hurts, yeah, but next man up. Still got 4 wins on the WC trip.

No. He was playing well. He wasn't shooting well. This is going to hurt. Bulls dont have any kind of replacement for him.

Nope we don't. On offense neither Bradley or Alize replace Vuc because on the P&R they will just hard trap Lavine while ignoring the center.

They'll have to play differently with Vuc off the floor, probably more hero-ball stuff we saw last year from Zach or the Derozan led 2nd grit & grind unit.

I do think Bradley is a better traditional center than Vuc, in that he's a better rim protector and offensive rebounder. But after 24 minutes of Bradley, we're going to have 24 minutes who-knows-what at center. Alize has nice energy but no length and still did some dumb rookie things like causing a TO un an uncontested rebound because he tried to take the rebound away from Lonzo, who should always get the rebound because of the full court plays he can make.

[Michael Jackson]

Bulls were winning when he wasn't playing well. This hurts, yeah, but next man up. Still got 4 wins on the WC trip.

No. He was playing well. He wasn't shooting well. This is going to hurt. Bulls dont have any kind of replacement for him.

Vuc has been playing good defense and sees the floor well. This is going to have impact even when Vuc is sucking he has gravity and keeps the defense honest. It is big for opening the floor up. They will trap, but we did see Bradley pass nicely to Ayo out of the trap.. if he does stuff like that and is just competent scoring and making passes when they cheat off of him, then we should be ok for a stretch. This is the stretch where Pat will be missed. If healed up from his other injuries it’s likely he would have been playing better each game and he would have had a chance to impact more without Vuc out there.

All that being said, the Bulls are pretty versatile and can do a few different looks. Absolutely imperative for Lonzo to keep his offensive production up though. Still Vuc being out can give some other guys time to learn and get better. Even if we suffer losses because of it, let’s just hope for growth.

[GoBlue72391]

READY THE BAT SIGNAL!

Fat signal*

[biggestbullsfan]

The thing is, we need size because now we only have one center on the roster. If Bradley comes down then we have none. I’m not counting Marko. We have to bring in someone. I don’t wanna lose these next 5 trying to prove a point.

[HomoSapien]

Centers we're facing over the next 6 games:

Kevon Looney/Nemanja Bjelica
Ivicia Zubac/Isaiah Hartenstein
DeAndre Jordan/Dwight Howard/Anthony Davis
Jusuf Nurkic/Cody Zeller
Nikola Jokic/Jeff Green
Mitchell Robinson/Taj Gibson/Nerlens Noel

Half those matchups aren't too bad, but as someone else pointed out, if Bradley gets hurt or in foul trouble we have absolutely no size to put in. It might be worth waiving Matt Thomas and bringing in some help.

Okafor, Cousins, Bell, Vonleh, Harry Giles all are solid depth options. We also have Otura in the G-League. I'd probably rather give him a shot than Simonovic personally.

Edit: Just saw we recalled Simonovic.