MIAMI – Dalen Terry has a very realistic view of his predicament.
He’s a former first-round pick but has never earned starting minutes. He’s been in what’s basically become a contract year for him but hasn’t convinced his own team of making a financial commitment. He could use a change of scenery but knows the only way that would happen by next Thursday’s trade deadline would be as part of a package.
So Terry does what he’s done the past few seasons: Stays ready and waits.
“The human in me would say it’s tough but you just have to understand that this is what you get called upon for, so I’m just doing my best to try and stay ready every time I get a chance to play and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that,” Terry said on Saturday, when asked about his limited minutes in such an important season for him. “If you would have asked me this when I was a rookie it would have been hard, but me being four years in I know what it is. I don’t take anything personal and my mindset is every time I get a chance to be on an NBA court I’m going to show why.”
Like he has the last few games against the Heat.
Because of injuries to Tre Jones and Josh Giddey, as well as Coby White getting a rest day on Saturday, Terry has been getting a bump in minutes.
He played 15 minutes Thursday, scoring eight points, and he was one of the first players off the bench in the rematch. Before that, however, he was averaging just over eight minutes a game for the month of January.
“I try to look at it from that place and be positive,” Terry said. “And I look at it as God is putting me through this for a reason. There’s going to be a time where it’s going to all change, and I’m going to look back at this time as the reason why.”
A mindset that Billy Donovan has always respected when it comes to Terry. The coach was asked about Terry’s playing time on Saturday and again reiterated how he always stays ready to play.
That’s why Terry’s not the type of player to be hoping he gets moved next week. In his world, if it happens, it happens, and he’ll be ready.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Terry said when asked if he would welcome a new team. “I don’t put too much into it. The trade deadline is what it is. You get traded, you get traded. Hopefully it’s to a good place if you do, or hopefully if you don’t and they make a trade a good player comes in.”
Baby steps
Josh Giddey (left hamstring) missed 11 games when he first strained his hamstring and now two straight since he felt some tightness in the area, but the hope is he was days away from returning rather than weeks away.
“I think he’s feeling better, but I think it’s going to be, at least in talking to the medical guys, they’re not going to put him out there until they see the tightness is gone,” Donovan said.
Resting the Vooch
If there was a Bulls player that really needed a rest day it was veteran Nikolka Vucevic.
At age 35, he’s piled up the minutes in January, averaging a team-high 33.1 per game, and has six games in which he’s played 35 minutes or more, including 37 on Thursday.
“He’s been a complete pro in terms of being ready, but he’s endured a lot,” Donovan said of giving his center a night off. “I think with Zach (Collins) being absent (with injuries this season), trying to play big, I’ve mentioned a couple times that his minutes have gotten up there.”