The Chicago Bulls says starting small forward Mike Dunleavy has undergone back surgery and will miss eight to 10 weeks, including training camp. “Conservative measures failed to satisfactorily resolve his symptoms”.
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But after getting 24 minutes in an opening-night blowout of the Knicks, McDermott topped 20 minutes only twice more all season and took the dreaded DNP-Coach’s Decision 18 times as a rookie.
He is expected to be out 8-10 weeks. In his absence, Tony Snell and Nikola Mirotic figure to be the primary beneficiaries, from a playing time standpoint.
He averaged 9.4 points in 63 games last season for the Bulls and shot 41 percent from 3-point range. The Bulls, as they’re accustomed to doing, will just have to wait awhile. He owns decent averages from the field (40.2%) and from three-point territory (31.7%) last season, making him the likely replacement while Dunleavy recuperates from his recent back surgery.
With Dunleavy sidelined, the Bulls will be forced to turn to second-year man Doug McDermott for contributions on the wing.
“I have a good sense of his style”, McDermott said.
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His presence last season benefitted players like Jimmy Butler, Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol who were able to operate with a bit more space since opposing teams had to extend their defense. It’s bad that this is happening right as training camp is about to begin, though – both Dunleavy and the team must wish this had been done earlier in the offseason. This is why Dunleavy is so important to the team, as he was the one player who was spacing and stretching the floor for the Bulls to allow others guys to do their thing.
