The Bulls have 23 regular-season games left.
And guard Zach LaVine made no bones about it: Every player in the rotation will be important, but a lot of it still falls on the shoulders of DeMar DeRozan.
Not just on the court, where DeRozan has emerged as a top five MVP candidate, but maybe more importantly off the court.
“I’m glad to have another guy that’s been in these situations, these big-time games, where we haven’t been in that before,’’ LaVine said, when discussing the DeRozan influence. “You know he’s been to the Eastern Conference finals a couple of times, and been in big moments. His calmness is something that’s always been impressive to me.’’
A calmness that will be needed.
Of those 23 remaining games, 18 of them will come against teams currently sitting in at least a spot for the play-in game or higher. The hope is the Bulls could be fully healthy by the third week of March, which could leave them about 12 games to get reacquainted before it becomes win the series or go home.
Considering some of the other health issues teams with contending hopes are going through, the Bulls might actually be in a good situation. That’s why on the Concern Scale for the playoffs — with 10 being the biggest concern — the Bulls are at a solid four.
They do need a lot to go right for Alex Caruso (wrist surgery), Lonzo Ball (knee surgery) and Patrick Williams (wrist surgery) to all fully recover and be back in a rhythm, but the three of them have had no setbacks yet, so there’s no reason to believe they won’t be ready.
How the other Eastern Conference contending teams rate on the Concern Scale:
Miami Heat
Concern Scale: 2 — Markieff Morris is still dealing with the bad neck, while guard Victor Oladipo (knee) was finally playing five-on-five with the G-League team, and could be back in the next few weeks. After dealing with some early-season injuries, Miami could be getting as healthy as any team in the league.
They haven’t really needed Morris since he felt the wrath of Nikola Jokic, and Oladipo hasn’t been ready to play all season, so both are actually luxuries for the postseason.
Philadelphia 76ers
Concern Scale: 2 — With Ben Simmons now a Brooklyn problem, all eyes shift to James Harden and his trick hamstring. “The Beard’’ made it pretty clear over the All-Star Weekend that the Harden-Joel Embiid debut would be coming right out of the break, Friday at Minnesota.
As long as Harden’s left hamstring holds up, the new-look 76ers will have 24 games to figure each other out.
Milwaukee Bucks
Concern Scale: 5 — Brook Lopez’s back surgery has taken a huge piece from the defending champions, but there remains optimism that he will be returning at some point. That’s a big if. There’s a reason Milwaukee acquired Serge Ibaka at the deadline, because there was enough of a concern with Lopez that they knew they needed another big to throw at Embiid and Miami’s Bam Adebayo.
Pat Connaughton had surgery on a hand fracture and was projected to be back in mid-March. Another role player, but also an important one.
Brooklyn Nets
Concern Scale: 9 — The Kevin Durant knee injury was on the mend coming out of the break, and while the timetable is vague, it did sound like it would be sooner than later. That will immediately change Brooklyn’s fortunes.
But there is still the mask mandate in New York that sidelines Kyrie Irving for home games, as well as the mental health concerns hovering over Simmons. Both Irving and Simmons have a history of disappearing in key playoff moments — whether it was injury or seemingly being disinterested in being a factor — so those reputations can only be changed through action.
Joe Harris’ ankle injury could need a second procedure, so don’t count on him returning.
