It’s much more than a sprained right ankle that’s keeping Mike Dunleavy out of the lineup for the Chicago Bulls. He didn’t practice today and is out for the game at Houston tomorrow night. So that will be 17 straight games he’s missed.
Officially, he is day-to-day, but it’s very likely he could miss the Bulls next three games (at New Orleans, Orlando), which comprise the second portion of the current road trip. Then the Bulls have two home dates (versus Cleveland and Sacramento) leading into the All-Star Break in New York February 13th-15th.
“I’m not a doctor, so without getting into all the specifics and technicalities, it’s worse than a sprained ankle obviously,” Mike Dunleavy told the media this afternoon.
There’s a lot of components to this injury- a bone bruise, jammed ligaments.
“It turned out to be worse than anybody imagined and just dealing with it. It’s kind of got a mind of it’s own…I don’t really see it as something I could do more damage to. I just can’t play on it. I can do a lot of stuff, but I can’t run. When I ultimately have to start running, that’s a problem.”
Dunleavy has seen some progress with this injury; only to then suffer a setback to two. He practiced in full last week, but he’s not playing tomorrow and could miss the rest of the current road trip.
“I hate not being out there. I feel very guilty about it,” Dunleavy explained.
“I was able to walk, so I told some people maybe I could play in the next game. But I came in the next day and they had me in a boot. I was up and around for the last month. It’s been every three or four days, ‘I think I might be able to play soon.’ That continues to be the issue.”
Here’s the Tom Thibodeau podcast
If he does indeed rest through the All-Star break, it would give him and his team a lot of convalescing time. Not only do you have the three days off for the All-Star break, but the Bulls are off for four days following the break, meaning February 20th (at the Detroit Pistons) is the day Mike Dunleavy returns?
In the words of Coach Thibs “we’ll see.”
Nothing is ruled out as of now, the extremely optimistic viewpoint would have Dunleavy returning versus the Pelicans on Saturday night.
Coach Tom Thibodeau articulated the importance of Dunleavy, especially now with Doug McDermott for a prolonged period of time. (Here’s an update on that):
“When you look at overall how the team functions when he’s on the floor, he makes it go well. His plus-minus per-48 (minutes) is at the top of the list for our team. That says something. And it’s over a long period of time. It’s not a small sample size.”
“He does a little bit of everything and he does it well. He can shoot, pass. His team defense is excellent. He’s got a good understanding of the game. But we have a lot of other guys who are more than capable.”
“I feel like my foot’s going to have frostbite soon, I’ve been icing it so much. Time heals and that’s the mentality, so it’s a matter of patience and letting the calendar play out. I’ve done everything possible to keep my conditioning up, a lot of biking,” Dunleavy continued.
In the 33 games he’s played this season, Mike Dunleavy is averaging just under double figures in scoring, and shooting about 45% while averaging about 30 minutes a game.
Here’s the podcast of the Mike Dunleavy media availability from today below:
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive Inc.
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