Chicago Bulls: 5 most memorable moments from 2017

2. Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic get into preseason scuffle

The first year of the Bulls’ rebuild got off to an interesting start even before the team played its first game. Two days before they opened the regular season with a road game against the Toronto Raptors, forwards Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic were involved in a heated exchange that resulted in Mirotic suffering a concussion and multiple facial fractures.

The aftermath was 31 games being missed between the two players. That was the bad news. The good news is Mirotic has played noticeably different since returning to the lineup.

During that 12-game stretch, the fourth-year forward is averaging 18.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per contest. On top of that, Mirotic is shooting 50.3 percent from the field and an efficient 48 percent from long distance.

Meanwhile, Portis is also putting together a solid season, with averages of 12.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per contest on 47.9 percent shooting overall and a 36 percent conversion rate from 3-point range.

Fortunately for the Bulls, what started out as an unnecessary fallout between teammates has transformed into a scenario in which both players are producing at a high level — a big reason why Chicago has won 10 of its last 12 games following a dismal 3-20 start.