The Bernstein Brief: Bobby Portis Gets A Big Chance
By Dan Bernstein--
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) Anybody participating in the #FreeBobbyPortis movement has to be looking forward to the Bulls' seven-game road trip that begins Thursday night against the Lakers in Los Angeles.
The mostly tongue-in-cheek observation of the rookie forward's lack of early season playing time diminished as he worked his way into the rotation, but now his role takes on new prominence with the absence of Nikola Mirotic, out three weeks after an emergency appendectomy Wednesday. The loss of big man Joakim Noah was already a chance for Portis to just be the try-hard guy in his stead, and this further clears his path.
Portis now must perform as a necessity and not a luxury.
In a season that has seen the rest of the Bulls young players stagnate or regress -- Mirotic himself has been inconsistent, while Doug McDermott and Tony Snell have largely struggled -- it would be nice if this one started to trend in the other direction.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. You can follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.