Bulls GM Gar Forman addresses minutes restrictions

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With all the season long talk about how the Bulls managed their bodies all season, with limit restrictions to Joakim Noah and a careful approach all around, Bulls GM Gar Forman addressed the team’s approach.

Forman appeared on “Bulls Pregame Live” with Mark Schanowski and Will Perdue on Comcast SportsNet Chicago before the playoff opener against the Milwaukee Bucks.

“We meet with our medical staff headed by Brian Cole, Jeff Tanaka, Jennifer Swanson, and again if you look historically there’s not an exact number you can put on it, but there have been enough studies that have shown when you became fatigued you become more susceptible to injuries,” Forman said. “And we wanted to do that with guys who were coming off surgeries.”

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There was plenty of speculation after Derrick Rose’s first serious injury three years ago, after a lockout-shortened 66-game season that the compressed nature contributed to the injury that changed the course of the Bulls’ franchise.

So clearly, Forman and Co—whether operating off that careful train of thought or perhaps believing Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau ran his players too hard in seasons’ past, put safeguards in place.

“Derrick was coming off one (surgery), Joakim was coming off one, and Kirk (Hinrich) who’s been banged up off-and-on the last couple years,” Forman said. “Again, the reason for it, our players health is what’s most important and we want to look at our players health as you go through a 6, 7-month season, both short-term and long-term to try and put them and us in the best possible position to succeed.”

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