said Monday as he talked about Portis. “He’s continued to work in practice and that’s why we put him back in the lineup, because we felt he would give us a chance to win games, and he did that.”

Last season Felicio didn’t play much and Portis took advantage when Joakim Noah was sidelined by a shoulder injury. This time, a clear opportunity never presented itself until the Gibson trade.

“One thing I always strive off of is being humble and hungry,” Portis said of his low playing time this season. “That kept me sane. My mom, I talked to her a lot. She kept me grounded.”

As the Bulls move onward, it appears Portis will start, Mirotic will come off the bench, and whichever forward has the hot hand will play down the stretch.

It will be interesting to see how Portis plays with the starters. Gibson was more of a power player who could score in the post and hit midrange jumpers. Portis can extend his range to the 3-point line, which could give Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade more space to attack the basket.

“The one thing it does allow us to do is our first and second groups are playing very similar,” Hoiberg said. “Before that, that first unit really had its own package. We ran a lot of ball screens with one of those two bigs coming in short and trying to roll into the pocket and play that way.

“That second group had more of a spacing dynamic to it with Niko and Bobby. Now, we have a similar style with that first and second unit.”

Lopez has been very good lately, averaging 12.9 points in February, so there wasn’t as much need for a second post scorer. The biggest reason the Bulls traded Gibson, of course, was that he will be a free agent this summer and they didn’t expect him to return.

Gibson was a well-respected teammate in his eight seasons with the Bulls, and he made an impact on Portis.

“With Taj, he was always saying, ‘Always stay ready BP, because around this league crazy things happen,’ ” Portis said. “You know, crazy things happened for real, so it was just a crazy moment a couple days ago.”