Chicago Bulls swingman Chandler Hutchison missed all of the preseason after suffering a hamstring injury in September. However, Bulls head coach Jim Boylen said that Hutchison is active ahead of Sunday afternoon's game against the Indiana Pacers:
Jim Boylen said Chandler Hutchison is active vs. Pacers.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) November 3, 2019
Boylen had just recently said that the team had no timetable for his return (via Johnson):
“Hutch is still working his way through. Don’t have anything new to report on that. We’ll see how that plays out,” Boylen said following Friday's morning shootaround. “Hopefully, he can practice (Saturday) with us. Hopefully we can move forward with it. Obviously, it’s a long process and it’s frustrating for him and for us. But we have hope.”
Asked if Hutchison had suffered a setback, Boylen said: “I don’t want to say setback. We slowed him down a little bit. And we’ll see where he’s at (Saturday).”
However, Hutchison himself seemed to have plenty of optimism about his recovery:
“If everything goes good, what I’ve communicated with our training staff is that we’re going to give it a shot on Friday,” Hutchison said.
Hutchison has not had the most ideal start to his NBA career. He played in just 44 games as a rookie before suffering a season-ending foot injury.
However, the former Boise State product will provide much-needed depth. The Bulls have been playing small lineups consisting of Kris Dunn, Coby White and Ryan Arcidiacono in the second unit, but they do not have many wing players to replace Otto Porter or Thaddeus Young.
Hutchison is a terrific rebounder and a rangy defender. If he can improve on a woeful perimeter shooting performance (28 percent from deep as a rookie), he could be an invaluable member of the rotation.
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