Over the past week, news came down that Lonzo Ball was going to need knee surgery. It will be his second procedure of the year, and his second since he last played in January. Chicago Bulls fans panicked, with worst case scenarios including the possibility that Ball would never be the same player, his career perhaps fizzling out early, á la Brandon Roy.
Ball wasn’t the only thing missing from the team during their dismal homestretch performance, though. Alex Caruso, his partner in bulldog ball-hounding, missed all of February, and wasn’t nearly the same player when he returned to the floor.
It will also mean a boost in comfort for Nikola Vucevic in his offensive role; a greater adjustment to the third act of his career as he inches deepers into his thirties, ceding way to the more athletic players around him and gracefully handling a big dip in usage as his job continues to be primarily a lot of screening, passing, and three-point shooting as opposed to the more heliocentric, low-post action he most thrived in as the central piece for a number of mediocre Orlando Magic teams.
Regardless of how his offensive role shakes out, Chicago will need Williams to plug a lot of holes on defense. Vucevic lacks lateral foot speed, and is often yanked out beyond the paint because of bad screen defense from his guards , so a secondary presence down low is crucial to a defense that’s lacking the full force of its Caruso/Ball blitzkriegs.
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