Billy Donovan was just hopeful to have Andre Drummond on the team flight Thursday, when the Bulls head to Charlotte.
Whether Drummond plays or not didn’t matter a bit to Donovan. The coach just wants to make sure that the back-up center is getting the help he needs and finding his way.
On Tuesday, Drummond went to his Twitter account and announced that he would be deleting all of his social apps, as well as changing his number because it was “Time to focus on my mental health.’’
He then wrote, “If you too are struggling with your mental health, you are not alone … it’s okay to ask for help.’’
Before the Lakers game, the Bulls announced that Drummond would be out for “personal reasons.’’
“Your heart goes out for anybody [dealing with that],’’ Donovan said. “I think a lot of times as we come here and play games, there’s also a human side, a personal side to all these guys. You feel bad whenever anybody is going through something like that. You try and give as much support as you can.
“We have the resources inside the organization to help. For him, the feeling is there’s hope and optimism that he would travel with us [to Charlotte]. That’s the hope. I texted with him a little bit just to let him know I’m here, we’re all here to try and help him. He’s trying to work through it right now. It’s personal reasons and I haven’t pressed any of those things.’’
Drummond is not the only Bull to step out on that mental health platform and make what he was going through public.
All-Star DeMar DeRozan talked about what he was going through back in 2018, saying in an interview, “Not feeling like you’re behind the curtain, it gives you a sense of freedom because so many people don’t know how to let that out.’’
Donovan found out first-hand how powerful DeRozan’s honesty was earlier this season, when the coach was working out in the fitness center while the team was in Toronto, and a man approached him about meeting DeRozan because of how much the forward’s honesty had helped him.
Sure enough, DeRozan met with the man later in the day down in the lobby.
“These guys have platforms, and sometimes when people look at these guys and they see them play, and they see these NBA players, stars, all this other stuff,’’ Donovan said. “All the stuff that comes with it where, ‘Gosh, their lives must be absolutely perfect.’ And they’re not. We’re all flawed, we all have issues and challenges that we all have to deal with. Sometimes there’s a level of inspiration and hope that he can give somebody.’’
As far as the basketball side of what Drummond’s absence means, the Bulls lose some serious size off the bench.
They also lose a big that had been playing really well lately.
Drummond was a factor in the four previous games, including the win over the Lakers in Los Angeles, where he filled in for Nikola Vucevic after the starting center was ejected, and went on to score 12 points and grab eight rebounds.
Derrick Jones Jr. has played the back-up center role when the Bulls go with their small lineup, but the second unit definitely loses some physicality in Drummond’s absence.
“Whatever Andre can do to help himself and help others, that’s always a positive,’’ Donovan added.
Caru-Show
Alex Caruso was back in the lineup on Wednesday, after the guard missed the game against the Clippers with that mid-foot sprain.
Donovan said that Caruso hasn’t been practicing much with the team because of the foot, and that light workload will stay that way the remainder of the season.
