I'm writing this during my class break, so I'll keep it short.
Only a couple hours after I wrote about Nikola Mirotic's selection to the Rising Stars Challenge, it all went up in smoke. It turns out he had acute appendicitis and had surgery Wednesday at Rush Medical Center to correct it. The bad news is he'll be out until after the All-Star break. That means no Disney on Ice trip (at least not in the Bulls' sense) and no All-Star festivities.
The timing could not have been worse for him. More than not being able to compete with the best first and second-year players in Toronto, he can't contribute to the Bulls during their longest road stretch of the season. I documented his struggles in my earlier post, but he was still needed to help weather this 3-7 stretch the team is in. Now, he'll be watching the games on TV instead.
This certainly means more playing time for Bobby Portis, but will Cameron Bairstow and Cristiano Felicio reap those some same benefits? While we won't know until the games are played, what can't be debated is none of them can fully make up what Mirotic brings. Say all you want about Mirotic's year, but prepare to find out just how much the Bulls miss him. Pretty soon, you'll be missing him too if you're not already.
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