There’s some optimism with Alex Caruso injury, and the Bulls need him

ATLANTA – The report from back in Chicago was optimistic.

Then again, when discussing an injury and how quickly his return to the lineup will be, veteran guard Alex Caruso has been known to sell his coach some early false hope.

The Bulls’ Billy Donovan, however, spoke to Caruso about the sore tailbone suffered in Saturday’s win over the Mavericks, and was looking forward to having the do-it-all guard back sooner than later, especially with what’s on the schedule heading into Christmas.

Over the next six games, the Bulls play the New York Knicks three times, as well as a game in Miami. Two teams that thrive on physicality, but also pride themselves on paying attention to the details. Not exactly the overall strength of this Bulls roster, especially when Caruso’s not in it.

“There’s the perfect example of a guy that doesn’t need to score a lot of points to impact a stat sheet or impact a game,” Donovan said of Caruso and his importance. “It reminds me – obviously they’re different players – but when I had Andre Roberson in OKC, he was a great complement to Serge Ibaka, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, because he just never really scored, was an opportunistic cutter, occasionally took a couple corner threes, lockdown defender, impact a game with his activity, his offensive rebounds, his steals, covering up for guys, putting his body in plays.”

Basically, the daily job description that Caruso carries around for this Bulls team.

While Caruso entered Sunday 10th in team scoring with 5.2 points per game, he was the clear leader in plus/minus (plus-88), and wasn’t being pushed by anyone, with Goran Dragic second at a plus-59.

And it’s not like Caruso has built that plus/minus with the same group. He’s been a starter, played the role of sixth man, and has often been used to close games.

That’s why the hope was that the treatment he received at the Advocate Center on Sunday will lead to a quick recovery. According to Donovan, Tuesday will tell them a lot, with the team expected to have a full practice that day.

“[Caruso’s] an elite defender, he’s not afraid to put his body in plays,” Donovan said. “So yeah, he’s as good as anybody I’ve been around when you look at stat sheets and you look at points, shot attempts, and say, ‘Geez, this guy’s fingerprints are all over the game with the way he played.’

“And I think Alex is smart enough that when he looks at the group, he always looks at it through the lens of, ‘How can I help the group function well, and what can I do to impact the group positively?’ ”

Work in the lab

While some may have been surprised that Patrick Williams entered Sunday as one of the better three-point shooters on the roster so far this season, Williams wasn’t.

“Reps, reps,” Williams said of his 45.3% from beyond the three-point line this season. “I can’t say that I changed my shot too much. Just more so being ready [to shoot]. When you’ve got guys like Zach [LaVine] and DeMar [DeRozan], pick-and-roll genius like Goran [Dragic], and just the guys that can get downhill and create their own shot, you get a lot of closeouts where a shot-fake can go or just a catch-and-shoot. So just be poised in those situations to make the right decision.”

Then again, it’s easy to forget that while it was a small sample size last season – just nine games – Williams did shoot 51.7% from three.

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