The bearded Chupacabra has returned! Missing for what seems like forever, today at the Advocate Center Nikola Mirotic finally practiced with his Bulls teammates for the first time since getting the structural integrity of his face lessened last month by Bobby Portis.
Mirotic practices with Bulls
Getting back into the swing of things with teammates, going through five-on-zero drills, running through the offense; locker mate Robin Lopez made his excitement known to reporters now the stretch forward is back practicing and the Bulls are closer to full strength,
“This is great. I think we’re a step closer to being at full strength,” Lopez said. “I’ve had a locker next to Niko. I love being next to the guy. I love having him with us right now.”
However, we all know the elephant in the room, and it still hasn’t been addressed. One thing’s for certain though– Niko needs to speak to Bobby soon, especially considering Lauri Markkanen is the starting power forward now and the two estranged teammates will be playing primarily on the same unit.
“There will have to be some interaction at some point obviously now that they’re out there playing together,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. “They’ll be on the same team and playing against each other. So it is important to get those guys communicating, which I think we’re all confident will happen. The important thing is getting Niko back on the floor and with the team.”
But hey! Things could be looking up even if Mirotic never speaks to Portis again– hear me out.
Perhaps they really can’t squash the beef, negativity continues to grow and fester, discord runs rampant through the Bulls clubhouse at an even more exponential rate, they continue to lose, lose, lose– and we just slide right into the number one overall pick like a scrub athlete into Mia Khalifa’s DM’s.
Wouldn’t that be nice…
Despite all this, Niko still has a few more hurdles to clear before he is cleared for game action anyways.
“The big thing is how he feels. I just talked to him about the practice schedule,” Hoiberg said. “I told him just to have communication. If he has pain, take a little bit of a break. We’ll get through all the non-contact portion of practice with him. The plan is for him to do some contact today and see how he responds and then put a plan together from there.”
Vice-President John Paxson made it known a few weeks ago the Bulls would only go so far in regards to acquiescing to Mirotic’s needs so who knows… Maybe he gets traded and we never have to concern ourselves with this tired song again. Anything is possible, and all bets are off when it comes to this ever so exciting Bulls squad.
