Ben Sheppard wasn’t the outlier as much as just the latest victim.
With 2:27 left in the first quarter of Wednesday’s game with the Pacers, Alex Caruso took Sheppard right, crossed the ball to his left and hit the brakes. It was at that moment that the Indiana defender found out how gravity worked, as Sheppard lost his balance trying to contest the move, fell backwards to the floor, while Caruso hit the pull-up jumper.
Not bad for a defense-only guard.
Also the very point Bulls coach Billy Donovan has been stressing to Caruso since last summer, that while being named First-Team All-Defense last year was a great accomplishment, his offensive skills shouldn’t just lurk in the shadows.
“To his credit, we talked to him a lot just about going into this season, we felt like he bypassed a lot of shots (in previous years),” Donovan said of Caruso. “He’s done a really good job of shooting the ball and shooting with confidence. Generally, when someone is really good at something it overshadows other things that they are good at. He’s obviously incredible defensively and what he does, hustle plays, loose balls, and deflections. It’s incredible, those things really stand out.
“But you know what? He’s a good pick-and-roll player (on the offensive end), good pace and tempo, he’s got good vision, he’s smart, he knows how to manipulate matchups, how to get in and out of screens, you can use him as a screener. I think some of that stuff goes unnoticed with him in a lot of ways. He’s always been a guy, even being a guard he’s not like, ‘I need the ball in my hands.’ He’ll do whatever it is that he needs to do in order to help the team.”
That’s why Caruso found himself going into the matchup with the Pacers averaging a career-high 10 points per game and taking a career-high 4.6 three-point attempts per game.
He’s worked on his game on the offensive side of the ball and the coaching staff is willing to let him showcase those improvements.
“I do think he’s done a really good job offensively,” Donovan added. “He’s put a lot of work into it. For him it’s been he really didn’t get drafted, he had to go to the G-League for a while. Then he gets to the Lakers and he plays this (defensive) role for some time, so for an older player, his game continues to evolve. And there are more opportunities for it to evolve.”
No April Fools
Donovan said that the plan was to still have injured players Lonzo Ball (knee), Zach LaVine (right foot), Patrick Williams (left foot) all on bench on April 1, when the Bulls host the Atlanta Hawks.
Ball and LaVine have been rehabbing with their own medical people out in Los Angeles, but do keep an open line of communication with the Bulls’ medical staff, including check-ins.
Both were at the Clippers game earlier this month when the Bulls were in Los Angeles.
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