A day after it was announced that rookie forward Chandler Hutchison will be sidelined at least through the All-Star break with a right toe fracture, the Bulls on Sunday explained he suffered the injury contesting a dunk attempt by Hawks guard Justin Anderson with 11 seconds left in Atlanta’s 121-101 win at the United Center on Wednesday night.
"Kind of that bozo play," Hutchison said of Anderson attempting a dunk in the waning seconds of a blowout.
Adding another layer of wonder to the most recent case of the Bulls’ injury woes, Hutchison played through the ailment Friday in logging a career-high 41 minutes in a loss to the Clippers. It was after that contest that Hutchison underwent an X-ray and then an MRI the following morning, tests that revealed he has an acute injury to a sesamoid bone in his right foot.
After assessing everything, Bulls coach Jim Boylen defended the medical and training staff’s handling of the situation, explaining they acted properly at every step given the information they had. In the aftermath of Wednesday, Hutchison raised little fuss, likening his toe soreness to a jammed finger and believing some Advil would take care of the issue.
He then practiced in full Thursday and logged his first career double-double Friday, looking like his usual self before telling the training staff late Friday that he was experiencing increased discomfort.
The Bulls have come under scrutiny for a series of medical mishaps in the past decade or so, including their handling of injuries to Luol Deng, Omer Asik and Nikola Mirotic. In this case, multiple Bulls officials stressed the training and medical staff acted appropriately and quickly at every step of the way, given the details that Hutchison had relayed them.
"We want to understand what's going on with our guys, and we do," Boylen said. "And this is a unique injury in a unique place that obviously didn't affect his play but after his play was sore. I kind of equate it to if you ever had Osgood-Schlatter as a kid. When you were playing, it didn't bother you. When you got done playing, it hurt. We all live that. I'm proud of Hutch."
Hutchison said he didn’t believe he worsened the injury by playing Friday.
"When it initially happened, it was painful, but it wasn’t like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s no way I can play the next game,'" Hutchison said. "I practiced the whole time and I got through it, I just kind of powered through it. Everyone, you’re going to get dinged up over the course of the season. You just ice it, and you get ready to go. It’s not until maybe you get a scan on it and you notice something’s really up, you’ve got to take care of it."
Beyond that, Hutchison’s mindset was on giving his team everything he had, Boylen said. Hutchison took over as the starting small forward shortly after the Bulls traded Justin Holiday to the Grizzlies on Jan. 3.
Hutchison, 22, is averaging 5.2 points and 4.2 rebounds overall. Those numbers have increased to 8.2 points and 6.4 rebounds in 29.4 minutes since Holiday was traded.
"This guy wants to play, man," Boylen said. "He's a starter in the NBA. It's his dream. Obviously, he could function with it. I give him credit the toughness to fight through. Again, he had a double-double, played his most minutes of the season, jumping over the rim grabbing rebounds. Obviously, during the game is wasn't bothering him. And then afterward, it's sore. We X-ray'd it, and we move on."
Known for his old-school, hard-driving ways, Boylen acknowledged he appreciated Hutchison playing through pain. Asked if there was any regret in letting Hutchison play Friday, Boylen responded, "No, no -- he had a double-double, no regret there."
"There's part of me that likes that," Boylen said. "You understand what I'm saying? I grew up in the old (days). I can't get into all the stories, because they're not for public (record), where guys, they're going to play hurt, they're going to play. Now, we want to understand what's going on with our guys, and we do. And this is a unique injury in a unique place that obviously didn't affect his play but after his play was sore. I kind of equate it to if you ever had Osgood-Schlatter as a kid. When you were playing, it didn't bother you. When you got done playing, it hurt. We all live that. I'm proud of Hutch."
Hutchison will be in a walking boot for two to four weeks and re-evaluated just after the All-Star break. The All-Star Game is on Feb. 17. Wayne Selden started in his place as the Bulls hosted the Cavaliers on Sunday afternoon.
Hutchison remains unsure of when he’ll return, though he was quick to note this isn’t a season-ending injury.
"It’s just a matter of resting it to make it feel better," Hutchison said.