Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010
11:00 PM
By Aggrey Sam
CSNChicago.com
TORONTO -- Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeaus familiarity with Brian Scalabrine certainly doesnt hurt the veterans cause, but with Joakim Noah sidelined with flu-like symptoms and foul trouble ailing starters Taj Gibson and Omer Asik, the veteran stepped up and proved his worth.
Hes a solid veteran. He gives you veteran leadership. Hes been in a lot of situations like that and tonight, were short-handed and thats why I like him, said Thibodeau. He stays ready to play, you put him out there and he can guard people and his team defense is very good and offensively, hes smart. He keeps the ball moving, he knows where the matchups are, he knows whos hot, he knows how the plays being defended, so you can count on him.
Derrick Rose is already a big believer in his new teammates influence. Scal, hes the other coach on the floor. When Thibs doesnt know what to run, Scal is always in his ear. If we dont know what to run, Scal is helping me and the other point guards, telling people where to go and thats what we need, just everybody talking on the floor, said Rose. It makes my job a lot easier, where when I come down and Scal knows something, hes coming to me. Weve got great veterans on this team, like Kurt ThomasK.T.when he sees something, hes telling everybody, so were all communicating out there and thats the reason why we came back tonight.
--Rose also had high praise for James Johnsons performance, explaining how the second-year forward has taken strides and improved.
Hes not thinking too muchbasic move, get to the basket, pull-up shotand thats all he needs. He doesnt need to dribble that much, he just needs to create space a little bit; hes playing with a lot of confidence right now, said Rose.
NBA
Added Thibodeau: Johnson was very good. I thought defensively, he was moving his feet, he was down in a defensive stance and offensively, I thought he made great decisions. As for Johnson himself, he attributes his successful evening to his teammates and the teams new system. I like how spread out our offense isWere moving the ball, which just makes my game a lot easier I do anything I have to do. I come off screens when I have to, cut, my man finds me and Im just happy they did today, said Johnson. My team provided offense for me. They spread it out and it was just easy for me to go to work when I got the ball. Once my guy had to help or stunt, then I got the ball and it was easy for me to drive the lane.
--Thibodeau believes swingman Ronnie Brewer is progressing well in his return from a pulled hamstring. Brewer played just under 25 minutes Wednesdayhis high this preseasonand although he didnt put up gaudy statistics (five points, two assists), his coach feels hes starting to get back to his old self.
I really liked the way Ronnie moved tonight. I thought he looked comfortable. He made a lot of great cuts, where he didnt necessarily get the pass for the layup, but his cuts loosened up the defense and created open shots for us, so I thought he was very efficient and it looked like he was moving with a lot of confidence tonight, said Thibodeau. Each game, were trying to give him more and more, and just see how he handles it. In practice, hes doing everything now. Well keep increasing it to see how it goes. Its more precautionary. We could have finished it out, but we wanted to keep his minutes around 25 and then well go from there.
--At the Raptors Wednesday morning shootaround, Toronto point guard Jarrett Jack opined on the NBAs controversial new technical-foul policy.
Ive tried the best I can. I think Ive gotten two technicals so far. But the NBA has the right to upgrade their product, as far as our image is concerned, but in the same sense, we dont want to take away the emotions of the game. Were still human at the end of the day, said Jack. If something happens in a split-second and we have a reaction to it that may not be demonstrative to where were not showing the ref, but allow us to react.
"Nobodys going to sit there expressionless, emotionless. Thats a robot and none of us are that. I think if they just give us some leeway, Im sure that as the season goes along, there will kind of be some leniency with the technical fouls, but as of right now, they kind of have to crack the whip and let everybody fall in line.
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