Skiles has high praise for Gordon
Bulls coach Scott Skiles didn't waste time making a bold declaration about Ben Gordon.
On the opening day of training camp, Skiles suggested the fourth-year shooting guard had one of the greatest summers of work he'd ever seen.
That's quite a statement, considering Gordon was already known as an extremely hard worker.
"To just come in the gym and individually work out gets old - no matter how much you love the game," Skiles said Wednesday at the Berto Center. "I had no problem doing it. I loved to be in the gym by myself. But it's hard to stay with that.
"I wouldn't even attempt to guess how many balls he shot this summer. Ben comes in here and he's running. He's got a couple guys who put him through drill work. Our guys work with him. He's always getting his lifts in. He's doing everything he can possibly do to make himself a better player. It's impressive."
Gordon decided to cut back on weightlifting this summer and work twice a day on basketball skills. He usually brought along personal assistant/workout partner Imran John, a friend from Mt. Vernon, N.Y., to help out.
"In that aspect, I got a lot more done than any other summer, probably," said Gordon, who also found time to make appearances on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and CNBC's "Power Lunch."
Skiles also recalled looking out his office window this summer and watching Gordon practice "degree-of-difficulty" shots. Gordon prides himself in being able to score when a game's on the line, but it can be a challenge because he's relatively small at 6-feet-2.
"Ultimately what you want to have is guys who don't leave anything on the table," Skiles said. "They are doing everything they can do to be a better player. He's certainly doing that."
Foot moves forward: Andres Nocioni has not had any issues with plantar fascitis in his right foot, which kept him out of 28 games last season. Nocioni dropped weight during the summer to help with his recovery.
"He's in good shape, probably better shape than he's been in at the start of camp," coach Scott Skiles said. "So far, so good with his foot. His weight or conditioning, those type of issues with him I don't really think about. If he feels comfortable with it, I'm fine with it."
Camp starts right: Training camp is only two days old, but coach Scott Skiles likes what he has seen during the first few practices.
"It's gone well so far," he said. "We've got so many guys back, we're already ahead of where we were last year. We feel that is going to allow us to not only do a little bit more, but when we do slow down and get into the finer points of things, guys will be ready to do that."