The Chicago Bulls are off to a 2-0 start to the season and everything seems to be pretty good with them so far under new head coach Fred Hoiberg. Despite having a nearly identical roster to last season Hoiberg has made some lineup changes and they seem to be working well in the small sample size. The one surprise from their season so far though is the lack of playing time for Bobby Portis who was extremely impressive in the preseason. Despite not playing in the first two games Hoiberg still thinks he will have a big role this season, according to Dan Cahill of the Chicago Sun-Times.
The Bulls are extremely deep in the frontcourt with Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic starting and Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah coming off the bench so it doesn't seem like there are minutes to be had for Portis unless somebody gets hurt but Hoiberg is still confident he will find him time.
"I had a really good talk with Bobby two days ago, heading into the opener, he was awesome, he's great. He handled everything like a pro, and he's going to continue to work hard. And again, he's going to go out and play key minutes for us a lot this season," said Hoiberg.
While Hoiberg says that, it is kind of hard to believe as Portis hasn't even played a single minute yet this season. It seems as though, right now, he is just injury insurance and he likely won't get a real chance at minutes until next season.
Portis played very well in the preseason and many people thought he had earned himself a spot in the rotation when the regular season opened up. Instead the 22nd overall pick has picked up two DNP- coaches decisions while Noah and Gibson have struggled offensively in the first two games. Gibson has just eight points and 11 rebounds through two games while Noah has yet to score and has 15 rebounds. Both Gibson and Noah play very good defense though so that is likely the problem here but at some point they might need scoring off the bench from a big man and that is when Portis would come into play.
The former Arkansas Razorback seems to just be the victim of a numbers game. It's not like he hasn't earned a spot, it's just that Hoiberg isn't going to not play either Gibson or Noah so Portis will just have to be patient and wait until his number is called. The good news for Portis, although it could just be empty words, is that Hoiberg continues to say that he will find him minutes at some point. We will just have to wait and see if that's the case.
