PHILADELPHIA – Help is on the way … finally.
And the Bulls could use it. Then again, who couldn’t use a 6-foot-11 athletic big who protects the basket and is an elite rim runner?
Coach Tiago Splitter said Monday that offseason acquisition Nic Claxton went through a full practice Sunday — his first since he injured his hamstring just before the start of training camp.
“He’s working with the team,” Splitter said. “We had a good practice — not long, but short and intense, and he was able to be in the entire practice with the guys, and that’s a good sign. He’s progressing with the plan, and we’ll figure out the best game for him to come back.”
The Bulls face the Knicks on Wednesday in New York, then have a three-game homestand against the 76ers, Spurs and Hawks. Splitter was leaning toward a return sometime in that span as long as there are no setbacks.
“It could be, yeah,” he said.
What will Claxton add? Initially, he’s likely to play on restricted minutes and come off the bench. But if the Bulls get the apex version of Claxton from his days as a starting center for the Nets, they’ll instantly have a much better defense just from a rim-protection standpoint. Claxton averaged 2.5 blocks per game in the 2022-23 season in Brooklyn and 2.1 the next season.
He’ll also give the Bulls another long athlete in transition, creating another lob-threat option for guards such as Josh Giddey and Tre Jones.
The only unknown is who would be bumped out of the rotation. Splitter has been using a second unit of Zach Collins, Isaac Okoro, Jones, Noa Essengue and Leonard Miller. If Claxton is used as a starter, Jalen Smith drops down to a second-unit spot, and Splitter already has said he leans on a 10-man rotation at most. That means Miller and Essengue likely would compete to keep the final spot.
As the Bulls continue to help Essengue find a path to keeping a rotation role, his job for now is simple: Play defense and more defense and worry about the other stuff later. He’s being put on opposing perimeter players and picking up some guards full-court.
“He can slide in front of people, he’s long, [and] he and Isaac are the best on our team at doing that,” Splitter said. “He can pick up guys at full-court. Just his ability to move his feet — it’s elite, to be honest.
“He still makes mistakes. He’s a 19-year-old kid that is learning to compete at the highest level. [But] I think he can be a tremendous defensive player one day in
this league.”
There’s a reason individual Bulls players haven’t had many days off. Splitter and his coaching staff believe there’s simply too much work to do — too many pieces of his installation they’re still working to learn.
It helps that this team is made up of mostly young players who don’t need days off in the early part of the season like older players might.
“I think it’s a young team, [and] they have the legs to do that,” Splitter said. “A vet is different, a vet team. We’ve got to work, we’ve got to get better, and I’d rather have them a little bit sore in a game than not putting in the work.”
