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LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Cameron Bairstow played, and started, all 34 games of the UNM Lobos’ 2013-14 season.

He played 33 minutes per game that season, averaging 20.4 points and 7.4 rebounds.

The basketball life of the hard-working, 6-foot-10 Australian power forward was good, culminating in his being drafted in the second round, No. 49 overall, by the Chicago Bulls in the 2014 NBA Draft.

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Then came a rookie season of camping out at the end of the Bulls bench, playing in just 18 games.

“It was hard,” said Bairstow, who seemed rejuvenated this week as a Bulls starter under first-year head coach Fred Hoiberg at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

“Coming from my senior year, where I was playing every night and getting 30 minutes per game, to go to not playing … that was the toughest thing for me, just not playing. It wasn’t worrying about my future job or anything. It was just the fact that I wasn’t playing. So now, I’m just really enjoying playing basketball.”

Bairstow started each of Chicago’s three pool-play games heading into Wednesday night’s late Summer League tournament showdown with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

In those three games, he averaged 10.0 points, a team-high 8.0 rebounds and 2.3 blocks while playing more than 25 minutes per game.

His play has caught the attention of his new head coach, as well as Gar Forman, the Bulls’ general manager and former New Mexico State assistant coach.

“He’s been doing everything we want to see him do right now,” Forman told the Journal . “We’ve been really happy with him.”

Forman added he was very pleased with how ready Bairstow, and former Lobo Tony Snell the season prior, were for the NBA workload when they arrived from UNM.

“I really like Cam,” Hoiberg told reporters after the Bulls’ first game of the Summer League. “I think he makes winning plays. The first game I think he took four shots, but the two guys who got all the points and rebounds were Doug (McDermott) and Bobby (Portis), and Cam was the one out there doing all the dirty work. A lot of things that don’t show up in the box score. That’s the type of kid he is – goes out there and makes those winning plays.”

He’s also doing something seldom seen in his UNM days. Bairstow is chucking up a bunch of 3-pointers. In those first three Summer League games, Bairstow was 4-of-10 from 3-point range. He took just three 3s his entire senior season with the Lobos, hitting only one on Senior Night in his final collegiate game in the Pit.

“It’s something I’ve been working on, and that’s kind of the way the NBA has been going – stretching the floor out,” Bairstow said. “It’s something I’m getting comfortable with, just letting it fly.”

Within the next month, the Bulls have a decision to make on Bairstow. He has a partially guaranteed contract heading into this coming season, meaning even if cut, he will get paid at least half a season’s salary. (Last season’s salary was $507,000.). And when the Bulls used their first-round draft pick last month on Portis, a highly regarded power forward like Bairstow, the Aussie could have taken that as a bad omen for his future with the team.

Tuesday, when asked about that draft selection while standing just a few feet away from Portis, Bairstow took a rather long pause to choose his words.

“That’s part of the league,” Bairstow said. “You see guys coming in every year. Usually a team has two draft picks … guys are going to get drafted. You just have to continue to show what you can do night in and night out and just try to make a name for yourself.

“… It’s totally out of my hands. I think I’m in a good spot regardless.”