Jim Boylen is big into player development.
Unfortunately for Chandler Hutchison, he’s been big into staying underdeveloped.
Not that it’s necessarily his fault, especially considering how injured the former first-round pick (22nd overall) from the 2018 NBA Draft has been.
A toe, a hamstring, and now a right shoulder.
But the numbers are the numbers, and the amount of missed games for Hutchison is alarming. Through Monday’s game with Milwaukee, the Boise State product has missed 25 games this season. During his rookie campaign he missed 38 games. That’s 116 games played since Hutchison joined the Bulls roster, and he’s missed 63 of them.
“First of all my heart breaks for him,’’ Boylen said of Hutchison. “He’s a great kid, a great worker. So it’s frustrating for him and his family, and it’s frustrating for us. I’m encouraged though. He’s going to practice [Tuesday] with the G-League team. He’ll have full contact with the G-League team at 4 o’clock in our building, so I’ll get a chance to watch him play a little bit and practice with them.
“We’ll keep working at it. I’m not going to get discouraged. He’s a piece to what we’re building like all of our guys and we’d love to have him back.’’
If Hutchison can continue to get through full-contact practices and the shoulder holds up, the hope is he could be active by next week.
With Hutchison, however, it’s always a big if.
Hutchison has spoken about the setbacks frequently this season, and has always maintained that while he has missed playing time, he was staying engaged by watching film and studying practices. That’s great, but NBA minutes can’t be duplicated from the sideline.
“You need reps,’’ Boylen said. “You need to be out there and live it, breathe it, so hopefully between using our G-League team and our big team getting him back, hopefully we can get him back. Positional size is important in our league, his size is something we can use. We’ll just keep hoping.’’
What Hutchison has working in his favor is because it’s a shoulder injury, he has been able to run and stay relatively in condition.
“That’s the one thing he’s been able to do,’’ Boylen said. “He hasn’t been able to take blows on his shoulder in contact until just recently, but he does a lot of running.’’
Minute man
Rookie Daniel Gafford saw his minutes per game climb to 12.4 in the month of December. Considering he was a DNP [Did Not Play] Coach’s Decision early on in the season on most nights, the second-round pick out of Arkansas will take it.
“I’m right where I want to be right now,’’ Gafford said. “If my minutes are increased I’ll be grateful for that, but other than that I’m grateful for what I’m given right now, the chance I have to come out and produce and show Coach what I’m able to do so maybe he can increase my minutes.’’
What will be interesting to see is what happens to Gafford when Hutchison returns to the rotation, and then again when Otto Porter Jr. (left foot fracture) someday finds his way back into action?
Neither play Gafford’s spot, but they are rotation players that could push Gafford back to full-time bench duties.
“I’m just going to go out and do what Coach needs me to do,’’ Gafford maintained. “Come out and play basketball.’’
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December 31, 2019 at 08:54AM
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Missed playing time continues piling up for Bulls’ Chandler Hutchison - Chicago Sun-Times
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