Center of attention for shrinking Bulls as they fall in Denver 133-128

One glance around the Advocate Center a few weeks ago and it was almost like Matas Buzelis was re-invigorated. The Bulls forward had spent most of September running in open gyms with his teammates and now that camp was underway and the Tiago Splitter playbook was being installed, Buzelis was reminded of his new-look roster. “I remember walking in (the other day), and I was just looking around like, ‘Man, we’re pretty big.’ “ Buzelis said. “We’ve got a lot of fours, guys that can make plays, athleticism. That just makes you more comfortable defensively.” The NBA can be cruel at times. The Bulls went into their third preseason game in Denver on Sunday night not big at all. They came out on the other side of the 133-128 loss begging for some size to return, especially in the middle. Nic Claxton was still working through a hamstring issue that could cost him a few regular-season games out of the gate, Zach Collins has been dealing with a sore quadriceps, and then Jalen Smith aggravated his foot before the loss to Memphis on Friday, missed the game, but returned against the Nuggets. The problem in this game of musical chairs, however, is while Smith was back, impressive rookie rebounding machine Tobe Awaka was now out, dealing with a sore knee that was considered day-to-day. That’s the Bulls missing just under 21 feet of bodies to protect the rim. That’s a problem. “It is a concern,” Splitter said of his bigs already spending more time in the training room than on the court for preseason action. Especially because the coach has one underlying philosophy in common with former coach Billy Donovan and that’s run, run and run some more on the offensive side of the ball. “We’ve got to be careful with their minutes throughout the season,” Splitter said of the centers. “We’ll probably have to have every night a three-man rotation at the five position. It’s a little bit also what the league is now playing physical, fast. Seven footers can’t play for 35 minutes so you have to divide those minutes with three big men running up and down.” That means having Claxton, Collins and Smith up and running as soon as possible, with Awaka waiting in the wings as the insurance policy. Another option, however, could be rookie Caleb Wilson who played the five at North Carolina and is versatile enough to guard smaller fives. “The game is really transitioning right now so I don’t want to box myself into a role,” Wilson said when asked if he could was more of a three, four or a five. He did eventually settle on being more of a three right now at the NBA level but was open to do whatever was asked. The ask was large for not only Wilson but all the Bulls starters against Denver, especially with the Nuggets starting perennial league-MVP finalist Nikola Jokic (6-foot-11) and ultra-athletic forward Aaron Gordon. All Jokic did in his first seven-plus minutes of work in that opening quarter was score 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting, finishing with a triple-double with 22 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, while Gordon chipped in 25 points. The visiting team did hang in there on the scoreboard most of the night, including in the opening stanza against most of Denver’s starters. It was obvious from the jump, however, where the Nuggets wanted to attack, outscoring the Bulls 16-8 in the paint in the first stanza. The Bulls’ second unit did smooth those numbers out a bit, especially in using an up-tempo approach to try and negate the size. That meant more solid showings by the frontcourt players, led by Leonard Miller’s 26 points, while Wilson had 17 and Buzelis 13. The good news for the Bulls is Collins continued getting closer to a return with two preseason games left and the early indications were Awaka would also be back by the Wednesday game in Milwaukee.