No ballin’ yet for Lonzo.
Which was the latest Billy Donovan update Friday on the condition/progress/hopes regarding Bulls injured point guard Lonzo Ball, who tries to recover from his second knee surgery of 2022. Just about every two weeks before a game, Donovan is asked about Ball. And just about every two weeks he offers a variation of what he said before, that there’s progress, Lonzo is doing some activities on the basketball floor, but nothing that really resembles playing basketball.
And did he mention that the process remains really slow?
“Regularly on the court shooting,” Donovan said in the uncomfortable position of trying to present a bedside manner without Xs and Os. “Which has been good. Actually jumping a little bit while he is shooting. He’s been doing some light jogging and I think working through some of that stuff. Like we last talked (Dec. 18), it is progressing. It’s just really slow. But there has definitely been some improvement. He’s actually doing more physically than the last time we spoke.”
And so it sadly goes for the Bulls and especially Ball, the latter who tries to fight through both the knee pain and especially the frustration.
It’s two weeks short of a year since the incandescent Ball last played for the Bulls, the Bulls then challenging for first place in the Eastern Conference. Ball then had what was believed to be a relatively routine surgery with a team timeline set at six to eight weeks. He never did return to play, and the pain apparently never ceased. He stunned everyone in a preseason media conference call when he said he still couldn’t walk up steps.
And even though there are no steps on the basketball court, everyone got the point of no point guard.
So Ball had another type of surgery in September, and even now no one is saying he’s without pain. Ball isn’t running, and being out now for close to a year without playing basketball, it’s coming close to wondering even if the pain subsides if Ball can get up to speed with the team in time.
Just before Christmas at a Bulls charity event, Ball told NBC Sports Chicago, “Last couple weeks, I'm finally seeing some improvement, which is nice to see. It’s still not obviously where I want to be. But it's definitely positive light at the end of the tunnel. Finally got to touch the ball. Now it's just about getting the legs right."
“It's still a ways out, unfortunately,” he said. “I am touching a ball finally, I am on the court doing some things, things I haven't done this year (but) trying to work through the pain. The pain is there; pretty sure it's gonna be there. Just figuring out how we can get through it to a point I can produce on the court.”
It’s obviously a delicate situation for both the Bulls and Ball, especially with Ball just 25 years old and having now had three knee surgeries, and still two years remaining on his Bulls contract. But also being a vital part of the hopes the Bulls have to building a high level, elite team. Push him back to help save this season? After all, he’s said frequently he’s anxious to play. Remain cautious with a long term view? How does anyone ever really know?
It’s just two weeks to the 41-game, halfway mark of the 2022-23 NBA season, and at some point the Bulls will have to make a decision about their point guard.
With Ayo Dosunmu starting lately and being relieved by Goran Dragić, and Alex Caruso back from injury and closing, the Bulls seem to be reaching an inflection point in their jagged season with five wins in the last six games after Friday. While Donovan seems to be settling into the rotation he has.
"I feel like there's enough there that we can manage that position with what we have," Donovan said. “Ayo’s kind of been a combo guy, Coby’s [White] been a combo guy. I would put Lonzo in that (category) of a true pure point guard. Alex has played there some. Is Ayo a pure point guard? Can he get better? Absolutely. He needs to. Coby, I think, was there. Is he better suited off the ball? He can kind of do both. But I feel comfortable enough that whoever is back there can orchestrate and organize us.’’
Still, like the first one said to the second one there, the way it’s been lately they seem to be having fun. Call it a band on the run for now.
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