The Latest Breaking News from Billy Donovan

With the 112-99 loss to the Heat, the Bulls dropped to 1-11 against teams with a .600 winning percentage or higher. Coach Billy Donovan was not only squashing excuses on Monday, but hoping his players were learning some tough lessons.

Both players continued testing their surgically-repaired wrists on Monday, getting in some extra work after the morning shootaround. Coach Billy Donovan said they both will be re-evaluated in about two weeks, and then he expects to have a better timetable for a return.

CHICAGO — It has been nearly 15 years since Billy Donovan first tried to get Tristan Thompson on his team — a fact the new Chicago Bulls center wasted no time teasing his coach about Wednesday.

Like a lot of highly-recruited high school players that were dominating when Donovan was coaching at Florida, Tristan Thompson was on the Gators’ radar before choosing Texas. It’s taken a long time, but the two were finally reunited, as Thompson joined the Bulls over the weekend.

CHICAGO — After the stars exited Cleveland, the dunk contest controversy died down and NBA All-Star Weekend officially drew to a close, plenty of questions remain about the final stretch of the Chicago Bulls season.

The sacrifices have been many for the Bulls, as the league pauses for All-Star Weekend. Don’t expect the asking price for winning to change after the break, either. Coach Billy Donovan won’t allow it, and veteran DeMar DeRozan won’t stand for it.

On the same day that the Bulls found out Zach LaVine was ready to resume playing basketball and veteran big man Tristan Thompson was on the way, DeRozan broke Wilt Chamberlain’s record with seven straight games of at least 35 points while shooting 50% or better from the field.

It looks like the Bulls and LaVine dodged a bullet.

Caruso had surgery to fix a fractured right wrist almost three weeks ago, and was given a vague timetable of six-to-eight weeks before he would be re-evaluated. But according to coach Billy Donovan, the defensive specialist in Caruso can start dribbling and shooting sooner than later.