Gasol not thinking about Bulls anymore
MEMPHIS -- A year ago at this time, trade rumors sending Memphis forward Pau Gasol to the Bulls were rampant. This time, Gasol isn't getting his hopes up about leaving the 12-29 Grizzlies.
"I thought about (playing for the Bulls) a lot last year," Gasol said in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal. "I don't think about it anymore because I know where it got me, which was nowhere. I want to focus on my game and help my team win."
Gasol was relatively quiet Monday against the Bulls but finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Bulls coach Jim Boylan expects to have some input on any trade discussions before the Feb. 21 deadline strikes and said he speaks to general manager John Paxson frequently about personnel issues.
"As of right now, it's been kind of quiet," Boylan said. "I'm sure John's working behind the scenes to see if there's anything that he can do to improve our team, just like every other GM in the league is doing."
Injury update: Point guard Chris Duhon showed up at the airport for Sunday's flight to Memphis, but he wasn't moving well and was told to stay home. Duhon suffered a bruised left knee in Saturday's win over Detroit and his status is still listed as day-to-day.
Forward Luol Deng was back on the court after missing the Pistons game with a recurrence of left Achilles tendinitis. He played 26 minutes and scored 13 points.
Guard Kirk Hinrich, meanwhile, said his sore back felt much better Monday. This was the second game Hinrich played after missing three with the back injury. He scored 9 points in the first quarter, then missed 7 of 8 shots the rest of the way.
Bulls tour museum: Coach Jim Boylan on his decision to take the Bulls on a guided tour of the National Civil Rights Museum after arriving in Memphis on Sunday:
"I had some ideas for some other things we wanted to try and get done on the road, but we have a couple of other distractions recently," he said. "I'd like to go back again. We spent about and hour and 45 minutes there, but you could certainly spend three hours walking through there."
Thomas misses cut: Not surprisingly, Bulls forward Tyrus Thomas was not invited back to the NBA's slam dunk contest. This year's participants will be defending champ Gerald Green of Minnesota, Orlando's Dwight Howard, Memphis' Rudy Gay and Toronto's Jamario Moon.
Bull horns: Joe Smith has hit just 10 of 28 shots since going 9-for-10 from the field in Miami last Wednesday. ... The Grizzlies had been giving up 105.5 points on the season and 112.2 in their last seven games, yet the Bulls didn't cross the 50-point barrier until the 3:48 mark of the third quarter. ... Four Grizzlies collected double-doubles against the Bulls on Monday. The last time they did that, the team played in Vancouver, and Jim Boylan was an assistant coach.