It has been hunting season in Chicago in the last week.
The target? A 6-4 second-year player built like a stocky guard who chooses to moonlight as an NBA center.
And the Bulls’ Terry Taylor welcomes all comers.
‘‘I’ve actually played it my whole life, so I’m kind of used to it,’’ Taylor said when he was asked about being an undersized center. ‘‘I’m used to people not being sure about me playing center just because of my size. But I’ve got the heart and the will to go out there and compete against anybody.
‘‘They’re gonna be hunting me and trying to get me to foul and make mistakes and just trying to get me off my rocker.’’
That’s not easy to do, as the Bulls’ last three opponents have found out.
With Nikola Vucevic (groin) likely sidelined for at least another week and Andre Drummond putting in serious work as the starter, Taylor has been coming off the bench for valuable minutes in the middle. He also has given coach Billy Donovan a small-ball look the Bulls have been searching for this season.
In the Bulls’ victory Tuesday against the Hawks, Taylor scored four points and was a plus-4 in eight minutes. In their loss to the Pacers two days later, he was a plus-1 in 14 minutes. Then in their victory Saturday against the 76ers, he had six points and six rebounds and was a plus-1 in 17 minutes. He even guarded 7-foot 76ers reserve Mo Bamba.
The method behind this madness?
First, Taylor might be undersized in terms of height, but he’s listed at 230 pounds — and that’s closer to his high school weight. Good luck trying to muscle him.
Second, he has the feet of a guard, so teams trying to get him switched on to a guard in pick-and-roll are finding out it’s not quite the mismatch they were hoping for.
Finally, he messes with opponents’ minds just from the standpoint of hesitating to test the mismatch.
Taylor has seen that the last three games.
‘‘I think it just gets offenses stagnant,’’ Taylor said of the Bulls’ small-ball look on defense. ‘‘Everybody wants to try to find the mismatch and post everybody up, and that just slows everybody down. [And] it’s a little faster lineup and whatnot.’’
Donovan has tried putting lethal small-ball lineups together since he became the Bulls’ coach. He has used Javonte Green, Derrick Jones Jr. and, more recently, Patrick Williams in that look. But Taylor? Few would have seen that coming.
If the casual Bulls fan would have been told that Taylor would be getting double-digit minutes off the bench a few weeks ago, they would have guessed something had gone very wrong with the season.
In fact, things have been going very right lately. The Bulls are 10-5 in their last 15 games, the defense is starting to become the elite unit it was last season and Donovan now has a change-of-pace lineup to give opposing coaches something to think about.
‘‘What I believe is not always, ‘Hey, we have to match what [the opposition is] doing,’ ’’ Donovan said. ‘‘Sometimes it’s good to throw the lineup out there. When you do that and the other team is big and you’re small or you’re big and they’re small, the ebbs and flows in the game . . . it can change quickly. But sometimes taking the chance to do that to see what happens is not a bad thing. And I’m not opposed to that.’’
Neither is Taylor.
‘‘I can be used anywhere,’’ Taylor said. ‘‘I feel like I’m just willing to help the team in any way. Whether it’s at [power forward, center, small forward], whatever it is, I’d be willing to help.’’
