Bulls’ Leonard Miller continues showing he’s more than just a throw-in

Leonard Miller seemed to be the throw-in.

He sure hasn’t played like one.

As the Feb. 5 trade deadline was winding down, the Bulls announced a deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves that sent popular guard Ayo Dosunmu and Julian Phillips up north in exchange for former first-round pick Rob Dillingham, four future second-round picks, and Miller.

“I think he played six total minutes before he came to us and then with the Ignite team (in the G League before that),” Billy Donovan said. “I didn’t get a chance to see him a whole lot, so I didn’t really know a lot about him before he got here.”

The coach is definitely learning.

Miller has now scored in double figures in seven straight games after putting up 15 points in the 127-103 loss to Orlando on Friday, and entered the night averaging 16.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game in the month of April. That included his career-high 26 point night Thursday against the Wizards.

While Dillingham has shown some flashes, Miller might be the gem of that deal, especially because the Bulls have the $2.4 million option on him next season. As a comparison, they will owe Patrick Williams $18 million next season, and Miller has been outplaying the former No. 4 overall pick by a lot.

“He’s a live body, he competes, he’s really long,” Donovan said of Miller. “He kind of has this instinctive way about him on the glass and chasing balls, and even defensively he’s multi-dimensional. I think the biggest thing with him is he plays so instinctively that he catches up to the league, and really understands digging in on film and personnel, guarding, game plans. I think he’s only going to get better because he’s got a really good motor.”

As far as the loss for the Bulls (31-50), there was good news to come out of it thanks to a Milwaukee win. That moved the Bulls a game in front of the Bucks in the lottery standings.

Shutdown time

Not only did the Bulls announce that Giddey (hamstring) was done for the year on Friday, but Donovan said Giddey wouldn’t be alone in the street clothes department.

Nick Richards (elbow sprain), Anfernee Simons (left wrist), Jalen Smith (calf) and Guerschon Yabusele (shoulder sprain) will also miss the finale in Dallas on Sunday.

As for Giddey, he just wants to attack the hamstring issues that crept up several times this season and put them in the past.

“This is something you don’t want to play around with, soft tissue injuries,” Giddey said. “Yeah, as I said this is the second time this season it’s popped up and I’ve never dealt with a soft tissue injury before. This is new for me. Continue to strengthen it. Not overdo it too soon. Get back into it slowly before I ramp it up.”

With all those bodies out, Donovan started Matas Buzelis, Miller, Lachlan Olbrich, Collin Sexton and Tre Jones.

Happy return

Buzelis missed the two-game series in Washington because of illness but felt good enough to return and play against the Magic. Unfortunately, he was forced to leave the game with 10:10 left, appearing to twist his right ankle and head to the training room.

If the second-year forward can play against the Mavericks, he will have started 77 games this season, leading the team. The next closest for starts was Isaac Okoro at 62 starts and 63 games played, while Patrick Williams played in 71 games.