- First off, some strange ideas from Tuesday's Sun-Times:
the Bulls should showcase a new-look backcourt at times that has 6-9 Luol Deng playing the two-guard and Ben Gordon getting even more minutes playing point.
''We feel like Lu's ball-handling has improved to the point that he's close to being ready to play a few minutes at the two [shooting guard],'' Skiles said. ''He can guard twos. That would allow us to put a big lineup on the floor. Ben Gordon, each year, he's got a few more point-guard minutes. Each year he's been a little bit better. So having him at the point guard spot for parts of the game is a very viable option for us.''
With Thabo Sefolosha and Chris Duhon also in the backcourt mix, Skiles will watch training camp, which begins with two practices today, to see which players earn the extra minutes behind Kirk Hinrich and Gordon.
''There's a battle for backup backcourt minutes, there's no question about it,'' Skiles said. ''But, other than just a couple minor things like that, the good thing is we feel like we have to tinker a whole lot or experiment this year. Hopefully, that will be the case.''
On the one hand, I'm liking the possibility that Skiles is looking to find more ways for his best players to stay on the court. However, I saw Luol as one of the potential post-up options for this team in the future, not moving his game farther away from the basket. And from what I remember it's not like his 3-point shooting showed improvement while playing internationally this summer (even with the shortened line). Thank You Isiah has more.
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SBNation has a new NBA blog just in time for training camp: Third Quarter Collapse, blogging the Orlando Magic. See, this place is like Pax, drafting winners. Or something like that.
- And speaking of new blogs, thanks to commenter Sue, who (between cutting out magazine ads depicting Kirk Hinrich) noticed that the Trib is running a Bulls/NBA blog this season. Right now it's just (the excellent) beat writer K.C. Johnson, but there's talk of 'we'. So unless K.C. is using the over-played royal 'we' of sportsblogging, might we be seeing posts from Sam Smith? I know he hates blogs, but he also once remarked at getting his material squeezed last winter due to Bears coverage in the Trib's sports section. Sam...the internet has a limitless capacity for trade speculation....think about it...
- A former Bulls draftee had his number retired. In Spain. I'm sure that's they way Krause always envisioned it. (at least before pawning off those valuable rights).
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Brandon Roy got hurt in the Blazers' first practice. He also played only 57 games last season. And he has a growth in his heel that will only go away with (yet undone) surgery. It's only a year so I won't do the draft hindsight game. But, as I recall, one of the knocks on him coming out was that he was potentially injury-prone. Sure, his skillset would've likely solved the Bulls backcourt rotation, but not from the trainers table.
- And in another reference to Bulls hindsight: Etan Thomas takes 'bleeding heart' a bit to the extreme. Here's hoping the test results are more like Malik Allen and not like Eddy Curry. Remember that these heart scares are not created equal. Just a message to those who vilify Paxson as someone who sadistically tried to keep Eddy from earning a living.
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