Bulls forward Leonard Miller continues showing he's more than just a throw-in

Forward Leonard Miller seemed to be a throw-in.

He sure hasn’t played like one.

As the trade deadline was winding down Feb. 5, the Bulls announced a deal that sent popular guard Ayo Dosunmu and forward Julian Phillips to the Timberwolves for guard Rob Dillingham, four future second-round picks and Miller.

‘‘I think he played six total minutes before he came to us and then with the Ignite team [in the G League before that],’’ coach Billy Donovan said. ‘‘I didn’t get a chance to see him a whole lot, so I didn’t really know a lot about him before he got here.’’

Donovan definitely has learned something.

Miller has scored in double figures in seven consecutive games after notching 15 points in the Bulls’ 127-103 loss Friday to the Magic and entered the night averaging 16.2 points and 8.2 rebounds in April. That included a career-high 26-point effort Thursday against the Wizards.

While Dillingham has shown some flashes of strong play, Miller might be the gem of that deal, especially because the Bulls have a $2.4 million option on him next season. By comparison, they will owe forward Patrick Williams — the No. 4 overall pick in 2020 — $18 million next season, and Miller has been outplaying him by a lot.

‘‘He’s a live body, he competes [and] he’s really long,’’ Donovan said of Miller. ‘‘He kind of has this instinctive way about him on the glass and chasing balls. Even defensively, he’s multidimensional.

‘‘I think the biggest thing with him is he plays so instinctively that he catches up to the league and really understands digging in on film and personnel, guarding, game plans. I think he’s only going to get better because he’s got a really good motor.’’

The Bulls’ loss moved them a game ‘‘ahead’’ of the Bucks in the battle for the No. 9 spot in the lottery standings. The Bucks beat the Nets 125-108.

Shutdown time

Not only did the Bulls announce that guard Josh Giddey (hamstring) was done for the season, but Donovan said he wouldn’t be alone.

Center Nick Richards (elbow), guard Anfernee Simons (left wrist), forward Jalen Smith (calf) and forward Guerschon Yabusele (shoulder) also will miss the season finale Sunday in Dallas.

As for Giddey, he just wants to attack the hamstring issues that crept up several times this season and put them in the past.

‘‘This is something you don’t want to play around with, soft-tissue injuries,’’ Giddey said. ‘‘Yeah, this is the second time this season it’s popped up, and I’ve never dealt with a soft-tissue injury before. This is new for me. Continue to strengthen it. Not overdo it too soon. Get back into it slowly before I ramp it up.’’

With all those players out, Donovan started Matas Buzelis, Miller, Lachlan Olbrich, Collin Sexton and Tre Jones against the Magic.

Happy return

Buzelis missed the Bulls’ two games Tuesday and Thursday against the Wizards in Washington because of illness but felt good enough to return and play against the Magic. Unfortunately for him, he was forced to leave the game with 10:10 left after appearing to twist his right ankle.

If he plays Sunday against the Mavericks, he will have started a team-high 77 games this season. The closest teammate in terms of starts is forward Isaac Okoro with 62.