MILWAUKEE — Guard Kevin Huerter leads the Bulls in plus/minus since coming over in the three-team deal that sent Zach LaVine to the Kings at the trade deadline in February.
That’s not Huerter’s only plus, either.
At age 27 and on his third team in the last five seasons, he finally feels as though he has found a home.
Where it gets tricky, however, is whether the Bulls feel the same way. Considering the way head coach Billy Donovan talks about Huerter, it would seem so. But Huerter will be eligible to become a free agent at the end of the season, and on a roster with at least six expiring contracts — including those of Coby White and Nikola Vucevic — feelings take a backseat to business.
Huerter knows that more than most players on the roster, but he also knows where his best fit might be. Hint: It’s right where he is.
‘‘I just want to be a part of winning basketball at this point of my career,’’ Huerter said Friday. ‘‘Whether fans have liked it or not, Billy has preached that since I got here. He’s trying to win. Even when that [LaVine] trade happened, he was like, ‘I know who left the building. Are we going to be a team that folds, or are we going to try and make a push to the playoffs, get a little taste of that?’
‘‘The energy since I’ve gotten here hasn’t been, ‘Hey, we’re looking to take a step back.’ It’s been, ‘We’re going to retool and keep going.’ I want to be in an organization that wants to do that, and we as players all have a piece in that.
‘‘I love the way we play here. It’s a fun brand and good energy to be a part of, and I feel like I’ll have a piece in that success and I’ll have a piece in the failure if it goes that way at this point.’’
That’s quite the change from when he first was dealt to the Bulls. Because there was still almost a week until the trade deadline, Huerter, Tre Jones and Zach Collins didn’t dress for games or practices with the team in case another deal came along.
They were in a holding pattern but still were able to get a sense of the makeup of the organization.
‘‘I think for me, that little holding period last year, that was as much about figuring out what the organization is looking to do here,’’ Huerter said. ‘‘For me, I’m 27. I feel like I’m right at the start of my prime, so I feel like I have a lot of good years and my best are ahead of me. So it was more about making sure the fit was right. We always really liked the fit. I had heard really good things about Billy as far as him being the head coach, and it’s obviously been great since I got here.’’
Minute man
Guard Ayo Dosunmu returned from an injured left quadriceps that had kept him out the last two games, but he also came back on a minutes restriction.
Donovan said the plan was to keep Dosunmu at 24 minutes, hope he also could play in the second game of the back-to-back Saturday in Cleveland, then reevaluate him from there.
Robbing ’em blind
Jones kept his steal numbers going against the Bucks, grabbing No. 17 on the season in the first quarter.
He entered the game in a group with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Ennis Whatley and Alex Caruso as the only Bulls players with 16 or more steals in the first seven games of a season.