Chicago Bulls: It’s time to trade Bobby Portis
After his altercation with Nikola Mirotic, it’s time for the Chicago Bulls to trade Bobby Portis
Nikola Mirotic’s camp has reportedly asked Chicago Bulls management to choose between him and Bobby Portis if the forward is to come back and play for the team, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The decision should be a no-brainer.
The energetic and game-face attitude of Bobby Portis when he first played for the Bulls may actually be a sign of a problem situation going forward, as we saw during last year’s playoffs when the Boston Celtics resorted to trash talking Portis out of his game.
It was a simple trick that a smarter player should have been able to brush off and let his play do the talking, like say Michael Jordan. Jordan can dish it as well as take it, during his entire career; and he never let the enemy get into his head. Portis is either too raw, or not really as polished as the Bulls hoped he was.
A hardworking player can be commended for his ethic, but a brash upstart who can’t control himself at the highest level of the NBA is a liability. Mirotic always lets his game do the talking.
Portis clenches after every shot, postures like he’s looking for a fight, and gets his NBA game thrown off by yacking off with another player on the opposing team doing the same thing to him.
In the press conference where he was supposed to talk to Chicago reporters about how he was dealing with the Mirotic fight incident, he looked like a teenager coached to say all the right things, and just saying them so he won’t get into trouble.
He is still essentially a kid, and handling responsibility of what happened as a very dangerous and even life or career threatening fight situation, may not hit him until he is way older and more mature.
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The Chicago Bulls may not have time nor the patience with someone who can’t deal with adversity in a more zen attitude – letting your play do the talking instead of letting the opponent mess with your head. Jimmy Butler let his game do most of the talking, until Hollywood got to him and he thought the team owed him shots and playing time.
Portis can’t even get his game together.
After his suspension is lifted, it might be time to reassess his value to the team. If his game has upside for the future and he plays well with other people, then it should be time to shop him for assets that may include a first-round pick or a young player.
Nikola Mirotic may still prove to be a stabilizing cornerstone as a veteran for the team, and a more productive one at that. Portis goes the other way, he gets into a shouting match and his game goes south.
Mirotic is the more valuable player to keep, even as an older and more stable veteran in the offensive system of the Chicago Bulls.
If the Chicago Bulls must choose between Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic, the chose is rather easy. Mirotic has won an MVP in the Spanish League, is more of a team player and the better player at the moment.
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Rather have Mirotic keeping it together, than Portis potentially popping off at any moment.