CLEVELAND – The first few seasons for Zach Collins were touch and go.
Not if the 6-foot-10 center could play at the NBA level, but how much of a chance he would even get.
When the 10th overall selection from the 2017 class was drafted, the Golden State Warriors were the it team, featuring their small-ball “lineup of death.” It was death for opposing teams to defend but also death for many of the NBA bigs who were supposedly headed toward extinction because of it.
“It’s good to see that bigs are still a part of the game,” Collins said on Friday. “The position is still evolving where you have to do a lot on the floor, but I grew up a big so it’s good to see how relevant they are and actually being in the game when it’s time to win. I remember when I got to the league, late-game situations, rarely the bigs would stay in. There’s still some teams like that now, but it’s good to see. You have to have high-IQ guys to pull it off, high-IQ point guards, and we have that. Personnel helps.”
What he’s “pulling off” is coach Billy Donovan using Collins and Jalen Smith at the same time, going with the two-big lineup that a lot of teams are unleashing. And while the sample size is a handful of games, so far, so good.
Collins and Smith were great together in last week’s win in Charlotte, and were good in the first half of Wednesday’s win over Cleveland. They flashed again against the Cavs on Friday.
So why does Collins feel like it works with him and Smith?
“I think the coaches have done a better job of kind of making it so when we’re out there we know what our roles are, both of us,” Collins said. “Him to space more and me to be more around the rim, and then just constant conversation between me and ‘Sticks’ (Smith). Those are the roles we want to stick to, but there are opportunities where if he’s ahead of the ball he can run and I can space, and we’ve just tried to keep the communication. That’s the biggest difference.”
Donovan has tried a two-big look at times in previous seasons, but it’s been ugly at best in most cases. The next iteration, which saw another chance at it on Friday, was getting starting center Nikola Vucevic minutes with Smith and Collins at different times.
The Bulls were expected to get two practices in on this current road trip so stay tuned.
Shrinking Matas
Rookie Matas Buzelis is again getting tested, seeing playing time at the small forward spot more and more.
According to Donovan, when the Bulls go with the two-big look, Buzelis can slide to the three and face smaller opponents.
If he can grasp that on a consistent basis, it will allow Donovan to also play him alongside Patrick Williams. There are still some physical power forwards that Buzelis just doesn’t matchup with well, so Donovan can throw Williams on them and still keep Buzelis on the floor.
Full tank?
The Bulls were a Frenchman shy of being fully healthy on Friday, maybe for the first time this season.
Ayo Dosunmu and Tre Jones were both questionable but answered the bell with minutes restrictions attached.
Rookie Noa Essengue had season-ending shoulder surgery earlier this month, so will remain a non-factor the rest of the 2025-26 campaign.