The Chicago Bulls have already encountered their first obstacle of the 2017-18 campaign before even playing a single game. Here are the main observations from the recent altercation between Nikola Mirotic and Bobby Portis.
In spite of the lack of experience on the roster, the Chicago Bulls felt good going into the first year of their rebuild.
With the youth movement in full swing and players vowing to play hard for each other, the culture within the organization was supposed to be one of the few bright spots about this team heading into the 2017-18 campaign.
However, this sentiment has quickly dissipated following an altercation between Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic – the third- and fourth-year players who were vying for minutes at the starting power forward position during training camp.
Following a shoving match, Portis punched Mirotic in the face, and as a result, Mirotic will be out for at least a few weeks. Meanwhile, Portis was served with an eight-game suspension for the role he played in the unfortunate exchange.
Bobby Portis suspended eight games by the Bulls
— Vincent Goodwill (@VinceGoodwill) October 18, 2017
Needless to say, this isn’t what the Bulls needed as they embark on a season that was supposed to be relatively drama-free. Now, with this incident, the Bulls are faced with their first obstacle before the season even begins.
That being said, here are the main takeaways from this recent development.