This season may mark the first in a series of steps for the Chicago Bulls as they try to rebuild their team into a contender. Chicago remains winless after last night’s 119-112 road loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but there is perhaps a bright spot on the horizon for the Bulls.

* Recap: Cavaliers 119, Bulls 112

Rookie forward Lauri Markkanen had another solid outing, posting 19 points (including 5 3-pointers), eight rebounds and a block in what was his best game so far in the NBA. Afterward, he garnered praise from two future Hall of Famers, writes K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune:

Markkanen set an NBA record when he made 10 3-pointers in his first three career games, and he sank five of those by halftime against the Cavs when he scored 17 of his 19 points. But Markkanen, who also had eight rebounds, took just four second-half shots.

“I thought our guys did an excellent job of finding him,” coach Fred Hoiberg said. “We got him in transition several times out of our flow offense. The third quarter, they really made it a point of switching out to deny him. When we tried to take him down to the block, he just lost it a couple of times. That will come with strength. He’s going to be a heckuva player, man.”

LeBron James agreed. And given that James’ dominant night of 34 points and 13 assists as the starting point guard featured several matchups with the rookie, it wasn’t faint or disingenuous praise.

“Very confident,” James said, repeating that twice. “Watched him a lot at Arizona. He wore my shoes a couple of times. He actually did. He wore my retros. I liked that. Had to stay up very late to watch those Arizona games. But can shoot the heck out of the ball. He’s going to continue to get better.

“The best thing about it is he’s getting an opportunity. So you can make mistakes and learn on the fly. He’s going to play a lot because he’s learning. He’s a good player.”

He also earned praise from Dwyane Wade.

“You can see if a guy knows how to play basketball when you first see him, right away,” Wade said. “In the preseason, we all said he can play. No matter his age he can play. He’s aggressive. He understands they need him to score.”

…

“That’s a dream come true for me because he was my favorite player when I was growing up,” Markkanen said of guarding James. “He’s a pretty tough guy to guard.”

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