Injuries have a way of finding the Chicago Bulls.
If it’s not Derrick Rose, it’s Joakim Noah. Or Taj Gibson. Or Kirk Hinrich. Now, it’s Jimmy Butler.
According to Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, Butler is expected to miss between two and four weeks with turf toe:
Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler is expected to miss two to three weeks with turf toe, a league source told Yahoo Sports.
The Bulls issued a statement calling Butler’s status “week to week” on Wednesday.
Butler, 24, wanted to join the Bulls on an upcoming six-game road trip, but will stay back to get treatment on the injury to his big right toe.
Butler was hurt in the Bulls’ Monday night victory over the Charlotte Bobcats and had an MRI exam on Tuesday.
Losing Butler comes as a blow to the 6-3 Bulls. They already rank 24th in points per game and Butler’s 11.2 were the fourth most on the team. Not to mention they’re heading into a potentially brutal six-game road trip.
Over the next six contests, Chicago will play the Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Clippers, Utah Jazz, Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons. Utah figures to be a pushover, but that three-game stretch, where the Bulls play the Nuggets, surging Blazers and fast-paced Clippers, could be debilitating.
Chicago has only just started to get its groove back, too. After beginning the season 1-3, they’ve won their last five games, including a blowout over the then-undefeated Indiana Pacers. To be down who is perhaps their best perimeter defender doesn’t bode well for a team so reliant on defense.
That “week-to-week” condition is also daunting, suggesting that he could be out even longer than the projected timetable. Assuming he misses three weeks, though, that would put Butler back around December 11 against the New York Knicks or December 13 against the Milwaukee Bucks. On the high end, he could miss up to 11 or 12 games, or more.
The Bulls are thankfully no stranger to navigating labyrinths of injuries. From Rose to Noah to cotton candy vendors, they’ve been forced to play shorthanded plenty of times before. They managed to register 45 victories only last season, when they were playing without their best player in Rose. Plowing through an injury to Butler shouldn’t prove even half as difficult.
But that’s only if Rose can be Rose, which he hasn’t been. Barely, anyway. The former MVP is averaging just 15 points on 34.4 percent shooting for the season. Though he’s hit some big shots down the stretch in games, his return has not gone as smoothly as hoped. If he cannot elevate his play and increase his production, Butler’s presence will be sorely missed more than it should be.
One saving grace is the poor play of surrounding teams. The Eastern Conference is a hot mess at the moment. Only the Miami Heat and Pacers have asserted themselves as truly dominant opponents. Then there’s the Bulls. After them, it’s anyone’s guess as to which team is the biggest threat.
Both the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks are playing like they’re tanking for Andrew Wiggins, even though neither of them own the rights to their 2014 first-round pick. The Cavaliers, Pistons and Atlanta Hawks have been maddeningly inconsistent. And the Washington Wizards, once thought to be a legitimate threat, haven’t played up to snuff at all.
All signs, then, point to this being a less-than-earth-shattering hiccup for the Bulls. More likely than not, they’ll persevere like they always do. By the time Butler comes back, they’ll still have their heads above water.
The bigger problem is, and has always been, getting Derrick Rose to be Derrick Rose again.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com. Follow @danfavale on Twitter for his latest posts and all things NBA.
