Preseason finale painful one for Bulls
Did anyone hang onto Jared Homan's phone number?
The Bulls released the free-agent power forward this week but may need front-line reinforcements after watching three big men suffer injuries in Thursday's 97-81 preseason victory over Milwaukee at the United Center.
First, center Ben Wallace turned his left ankle in the final moments of the first half. Then, Tyrus Thomas left the court with a right foot injury, and rookie Joakim Noah sprained his right ankle before the night was over.
For now, the Bulls (4-3) don't believe any of the injuries are serious, but there is not yet a timetable for anyone's recovery. The Bulls have five days off before opening the regular season at New Jersey on Wednesday.
"We've got some days, but we need to get some work done in those days," Wallace said. "It hurt, but I don't think it's going to cause me any serious time."
Said Noah: "It's hard to walk right now, but I think there have been a lot worse, let's put it that way. You've just got to wait until it heals. That's the hard part, just waiting."
The preseason has featured an endless string of nagging injuries for the Bulls, with Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Joe Smith, Thabo Sefolosha and Adrian Griffin all missing time. Andres Nocioni sat out against the Bucks because of a calf strain, but he doesn't expect to miss any practice.
Thursday's contest was the first time this month all five of the Bulls' projected starters have been ready to play. Skiles was expecting to decide this morning whether to keep Thomas as the starting power forward for the season opener. By the time this contest ended, Smith and rookie Aaron Gray were the team's only healthy big men.
"We'll make a determination and hope that sometime (today) we hear that somebody's going to be two days or day to day," Skiles said. "Obviously if we find out tomorrow that somebody's going to be longer than that, then yeah, that will have an effect on it for sure."
Wallace was injured when he jumped for a rebound and landed on the foot of Bucks center Dan Gadzuric. Noah tried to contest a David Noel drive, and his ankle buckled when it hit the ground.
Thomas' injury was more mysterious. The second-year forward went to the locker room during last week's game against Indiana and declined to specify the reason.
The good news was Smith, who may be pressed into the starting lineup, played well against Milwaukee, finishing with 12 points in 21 minutes.
Kirk Hinrich led the Bulls with 20 points after knocking down an impressive 5 of 7 attempts from 3-point range.
"I don't think it will be that hard (to prepare for the Nets)," Hinrich said. "A lot of guys who haven't been playing, we've been playing together for two or three years. I think everybody's just excited to get going. It's been a long presesason."
The Bucks played without starters Michael Redd, Mo Williams and Andrew Bogut. Charlie Villanueva led the visitors with 19 points and 8 rebounds.