![\"5](\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_fill,w_1200,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/24\/01hk59m59nkje97nd7ry.jpg\")
<\/p>\nATLANTA \u2013 It could have been a laugh for no particular reason.<\/p>\n
That likely wasn\u2019t the case for Jevon Carter, however.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Not considering his last few seasons as a Bull.<\/p>\n
So as he sat by his locker late Thursday night, a bag of ice taped around each knee, he was asked if he was hoping that his 26-point performance would resonate into more minutes or a different standing in the rotation.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo I hope?\u201d Carter repeated the question. \u201cI hope for a lot of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then came the laugh, and that said it all. Better than the alternative.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s why Carter is so respected by his teammates and coaches. He\u2019s had every reason to complain about how his short career as a Bull has gone. Carter could be skipping workouts, counting down the days until he\u2019s possibly included in a trade package or his contract expires next season if he opts back in.<\/p>\n
Instead, he works.<\/p>\n
Want to know where to find Carter on most days? Just check the training facility because he\u2019s either shooting or dribbling a basketball.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean it\u2019s my job, you know what I\u2019m saying,\u201d Carter said, when asked why he hasn\u2019t let go of the rope or at least loosened his grip. \u201cYou either get better or you get worse in this business. I would rather get better, so I continue to keep working.\u201d<\/p>\n
Work that paid off against the Hawks.<\/p>\n
Less than four minutes into the game, coach Billy Donovan watched his short-handed team fall behind 9-2 and do so without a sign of life.<\/p>\n
Enter Carter.<\/p>\n
All he did over the next eight-plus minutes was hit six straight threes, and score 19 points, putting the Bulls up as much as 15.<\/p>\n
\u201cI give him a lot of credit for doing what he did,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cWe were kind of dead in the water starting the game the way we did. We weren\u2019t playing well, and he kind of came in and gave us a huge boost in that first quarter. That was huge for us. It gave us some breathing room.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy for him personally, just because all of the time he puts in. The opportunities have been limited, but the ability and the maturity competitively just to keep himself ready at all times is really impressive to me. To see him rewarded for the work he puts in was great.\u201d<\/p>\n
And rather shocking.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not that Carter can\u2019t get hot from long range. As a Buck in 2022, Carter had a 7-for-13 three-point barrage against the Celtics. It\u2019s just been a while, made even more difficult by the fact that Carter rarely plays, appearing in just 14 games this season and averaging under seven minutes per game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ball was just finding me and I was taking the right shots,\u201d Carter said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t like I was just coming down, (isolation) on my man and trying to kill. I was just taking the shots that were there, and they just went in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fourth-quarter meltdown in the loss proved to be a downer on the night overall, but didn\u2019t change the fact that it was Carter\u2019s best performance as a Bull, as he also finished with five assists and four rebounds.<\/p>\n
Where it will get interesting is on Saturday when the Bulls could get some players like Lonzo Ball (illness) and Josh Giddey (ankle) back into the backcourt mix. Does Carter get a chance for an encore or is it back to spending the game in warmups?<\/p>\n
Either way, don\u2019t expect him to complain. A laugh will do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m in the NBA. It\u2019s a blessing,\u201d Carter said, when asked if it\u2019s hard not to become negative about his standing. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t get no better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Carter had one of his best performances in years on Thursday, definitely his best showing as a Bull, and he knows it likely won’t change much. That doesn’t mean he can’t hope that his professionalism will lead to more minutes moving forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":21594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n