The developing Bulls wanted to show some punch this season but not the kind thrown by Bobby Portis into the face of teammate Nikola Mirotic during practice a few days ago. Portis received an eight-game suspension while Mirotic is out perhaps until the holidays.

Portis apologized to his teammates during Friday’s practice and began the process of moving on from the episode, although that won’t be so simple for the Bulls, with two important players out of the lineup.

Nick Friedell of ESPN took stock of the situation:

Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg acknowledged that Portis’ apology took place during a team meeting but did not want to go into specific details about his message.

“I’ll keep that between the team,” Hoiberg said, “as far as exactly what was said in that meeting.”

Portis, who has declined to speak to the media for now, practiced Friday for the first time since Tuesday’s incident. He was suspended eight games for punching Mirotic.

“It was good to have him back in here,” Hoiberg said of Portis.

“Obviously everybody’s looking forward to getting Niko back in here as well, hopefully soon.”

Mirotic, who was not in the building, is expected to miss at least four weeks because of his injuries.

It remains unclear when Mirotic will be on the floor again.