Vincent Goodwill: Don’t expect Justin Holiday to play tonight. Bulls will give extended look to Antonio Blakeney. Robin Lopez will start and go through first quarter
Position: G
Born: 04/05/89
Height: 6-6 / 1.98
Weight:185 lbs. / 84 kg.
Salary: $4,500,000
Born: 04/05/89
Height: 6-6 / 1.98
Weight:185 lbs. / 84 kg.
Salary: $4,500,000
KC Johnson: This situation stems from league’s new rest rules. Dialogue between Bulls and league office cordial and cooperative throughout. Roles for Lopez, Holiday will be limited. And rest rules allow for 1 to still sit at home games, though unknown if Bulls will choose that route.
The NBA and commissioner Adam Silver formally informed team owners about resting healthy players – perhaps an effort to diminish the league-wide verbiage of “tanking” – after the league moved up the start of this season to spread games out for coaches and players. The Bulls changed course on their plans to continue sitting Lopez and Holiday in the past day, league sources said.
KC Johnson: Bulls indeed had dialogue with league office over Lopez, Holiday, who both are on record as opting not to play reserve roles for now. Cooperative talks led to plans for limited roles for Lopez, Holiday down stretch.
Shams Charania: Sources: The NBA issued a warning to the Chicago Bulls this week on resting healthy players, and the team now plans to play veteran starters Robin Lopez and Justin Holiday again more extensively to close the season.
NBA executives describe two types of tanking tactics: active and passive. Passive tanking is often done under the guise of player development. One classic method is putting healthy veterans on the inactive list, as the Bulls have done with center Robin Lopez and small forward Justin Holiday since the All-Star break, inserting Cristiano Felicio and David Nwaba into the starting lineup. It’s sitting core players for key stretches in games, as the Mavs have recently made routine.
