Lonzo Ball is still in the plans for the Bulls.
As eye-opening and surprising as that sounded on Saturday, it was made very clear that the point guard still had a spot waiting for him.
“I have confidence that he’s going to come back,’’ Bulls executive vice president of basketball Arturas Karnisovas said. “In terms of timeline, I don’t have that timeline right now because he just had his [left knee procedure] procedure.’’
Wishful thinking my Karnisovas?
Maybe, especially because Ball underwent his latest surgery in March – his third in less than a year – and no NBA player has ever come back from a procedure like the one he had done.
What Karnisovas won’t do, however, is ignore the point guard position this offseason in hopes of Ball returning. There’s a good chance that Ball misses all of next year, and not adding to the position last summer ended up being a major issue.
“I don’t have regrets because I had to wait for clarity,’’ Karnisovas said of that decision. “We were going with hopes he was going to play with us and that didn’t happen and I had to adjust afterwards. That’s how we’re going to look at it. I don’t know his timeline, but we’re going to make adjustments and tweaks to the roster to address that.’’
They need to.
Patrick Beverley was a nice rental after the All-Star break, but the Bulls need a point guard that can also be a threat from three-point range.
Could that come in-house from Coby White? Maybe, but either way it needs to be addressed.
“You saw how good we were in the beginning of the season last year and how easy it was for us,’’ guard Zach LaVine said. “And then obviously with [Ball] going down and us trying to scramble a little bit, it makes everybody play a different role than we were supposed to.
“I think everybody stepped up in a certain way [this season]. But I think it was just tough for us to have a setback like that. Pat came in to play, a veteran point guard, an elite guard that’s been in big games and big situations. And we thrived.’’
