Bulls’ Lauri Markkanen makes an impact in reserve role

After the Bulls’ morning shooting on Thursday, Billy Donovan approached Coby White and Lauri Markkanen.

“I basically told both of them how much I appreciated it,” Donovan said.

This is because in Donovan’s words, they have moved from ‘starters and focal points’ to ‘core men’. But – not in Donovan’s words – the reserve is retained, so the coach basically thanks them for accepting the role.

“I still believe these are extremely important pieces for our team,” Donovan said. ‘But I give them a lot of credit. A lot of things changed and a lot of guys had to make sacrifices … I appreciate not only the way those guys handled it, but also the way they worked and tried to get to games that were ready to play and ‘ to make a contribution. ‘

Markkanen is not going to be a minute on average – just as he gave 18 points for the Bulls’ 122-113 victory over the Raptors on Thursday night.

If he does, someone will be a very rich man, but limited time to free time.

But for the second consecutive game, he and White, who added 15 points in 27 minutes, had a major win in their new reserve roles.

No one could have predicted that Markkanen would come off the bench in the fourth season. But here we are.

“I appreciate that he appreciates what we do,” Markkanen said of Donovan’s meeting. “We all have to make sacrifices – not just me, Coby. I think everyone is sacrificed with the new guys coming in and the way we play.

As a competitive man, you want to play as much as possible. But I can not control it, so I’m going to take my role and do everything I can in the minutes I get. ”

In five reserve appearances, Donovan lifted the idea to start Markkanen with Nikola VucevicMarkkanen averaged 11.8 points and 4.6 rebounds on 62.1 percent shooting, including 53.3 percent from the three-point range.

That’s all in just 21.6 minutes per game, and that includes Markkanen scoring a few minutes at small forward. This caused him to take smaller players into the paint more frequently. Against the Raptors, he finishes 6-for-6 from that series and shoots an effective 8-for-10 overall.

“It’s a little different than just reading the games,” Markkanen said. ‘If I have a smaller guy with me, I think I’m posting more now, and it’s partly just the emphasis on just being physical. I’m just trying to be aggressive, whoever it is. ”

Raptors coach Nick Nurse acknowledged the impact of the Bulls’ new appearance with Markkanen.

‘I just think, man, these are three very good players, you need to find a few minutes for them. “I mean Markkanen was incredible and he played 18 minutes,” said Nurse. “Every time he touched the ball, something good happened. And every time we made a mistake, he made us pay and he was only out there for 18 minutes. I think that’s part of why they had to play him there. All three of those guys are worthy of big minutes.”

Markkanen will definitely prefer big minutes. Instead, he will take control of what he can control and accept three consecutive victories, two of which have had a positive effect.

Click here to subscribe to the Bulls Talk Podcast for free.