Injured guard Zach LaVine is expected to stay in Chicago when the Bulls leave for a two-day road trip to take on the 76ers on Tuesday and the Knicks on Wednesday.
Don’t expect him to have a lot of downtime, however.
According to coach Billy Donovan, LaVine has gotten through the cutting and running portions of his rehabilitation from a sore right foot. The next step will be for him to take contact in simulated practices with members of the player-development staff.
‘‘It’s not necessarily that he can’t get into the weight room [on the road]; it’s more about the fact of the availability of the gym and the running,’’ Donovan said before the Bulls’ game Saturday against the 76ers. ‘‘[We’re] keeping some player-development people back and giving him more and more extended workouts where he’ll get a chance to do a little more contact, running, sprinting, those types of things.
‘‘I think they’ve ramped him up pretty good as far as the conditioning part. He’s responded well. The next phase to this would be him starting to do some contact. I would envision him staying behind and working.’’
Then what?
As long as LaVine isn’t traded, which seems more and more likely for at least another month, he might be ready to return by late in the week if everything goes well.
In fact, it sounded as though LaVine might be on track to return before center Nikola Vucevic, who missed his third consecutive game with a groin injury.
Donovan even went as far as to rule Vucevic out already for the game Tuesday in Philadelphia.
‘‘I would say it’s definitely not in the realm of possibility, no,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘That’s my guess right now. [Vucevic] hasn’t even done anything as far as running or sprinting as of now. There will be a ramp-up period.
‘‘I know that when guys have been out for a period of time, the first thing the medical guys worry about is getting the guy back healthy. But [they also think about] what kind of ramp-up period they need, based on what they’ve lost physically in terms of the conditioning piece.’’
Mid-range maestro II
No player in the NBA has mastered the mid-range shot like Bulls veteran DeMar DeRozan.
Teammate Patrick Williams knows DeRozan is one of a kind, but he’s at least making sure that shot stays in his bag by continuing to showcase it more and more this season.
‘‘I’ve always felt most comfortable in the mid-range area, working on getting all the way to the rim and getting fouled that way,’’ Williams said. ‘‘Never want to settle for that shot because a lot of teams want you to shoot that, but always knowing it’s a spot I can get to [and] create for myself and others.’’
December has been one of the best months of Williams’ career. He entered the game Saturday having scored 20 or more points three times and was shooting 51.9% for the month.
Minute men
Donovan acknowledged he was concerned about the high minutes he has been playing DeRozan lately, but there’s not a lot he can do about it until the roster gets back to full strength — especially with DeRozan telling him he feels fine.
DeRozan, 34, entered the game Saturday second in the league in minutes played at 1,136.1. Teammate Coby White was first at 1,150.9.
The other player Donovan is concerned about is guard Alex Caruso, specifically because the Bulls entered the season wanting to keep him around 26 minutes a game. In the last six games, however, Caruso was averaging 29 minutes.
