Over the weekend we learned that Bulls rookie Chandler Hutchison will be out for the foreseeable future with a broken bone in his foot.
Hard for the Bulls two first-round draft picks to develop during a tank year while they're hurt. At least Hutchison, unlike Wendell Carter Jr, has a chance to return this season. Even though Hutchison isn't as important a piece as Carter Jr, and his injury doesn't appear as serious, the way his injury reached this point is 100X more infuriating. Hutchison apparently injured himself initially in last week's loss to Atlanta trying to block a dunk in the final seconds.... down 18 points. That's the second time a Bulls player has injured themselves on a meaningless play at the end of a loss, Zach LaVine sprained his ankle on a meaningless last-second layup earlier in the year that cost him five games, but that's not even the most aggravating part of this story. It's that they knew about the discomfort, didn't run any tests because Hutchison said he thought he would be fine, and proceeded to play him 41 minutes the next night.
"This guy wants to play, man," Jim Boylen said. "He's a starter in the NBA. It's his dream. Obviously, he could function with it. I give him credit the toughness to fight through."Wait, you're telling me that Jim Boylen's main takeaway from his first-round rookie getting injured was that the kid is tough, not that he and the medical staff made another major mistake? Color me shocked. Here's to hoping Hutchison doesn't miss the rest of this season because of this blunder.
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