Former NBA center Brown joins staff to coach big men
The Bulls followed through on their plan to add a big-man coach. Prior to Tuesday's contest, Jim Boylan announced that long-time NBA center Mike Brown will join the coaching staff.
Brown, 44, lives in Las Vegas and is expected to officially join the team later this week in Sacramento. His primary duties will be to assist in the development of Joakim Noah, Aaron Gray and Tyrus Thomas.
"You can be 5-foot-2 and be a great big-man coach," head coach Jim Boylan said. "(But) I think that there's something to having a guy out there who's been in the low post and experienced the physical play and has learned some of the tricks of the trade the hard way."
The 6-foot-10 Brown, a native of Newark, N.J., played in college at George Washington and was a third-round draft pick of the Bulls in 1985.
After spending a year in Italy, Brown played two seasons with the Bulls from 1986-88, where he was a teammate of general manager John Paxson.
Brown went on to log 11 years in the NBA with five different teams, mostly as a reserve. His best season was 1991-92 when he averaged 7.7 points and 5.8 rebounds for Utah. More recently, Brown was a head coach and an assistant in the D-League.
Boylan said years ago, he and Brown used to share the same agent, Rich Kaner.
"He used to talk to me about Mike all the time, what a great guy he was," Boylan said. "I just know Mike from around. You're in the league 15 years, you get to know everybody. I'm sure he's going to do a great job, and I'm looking forward to having him on the staff."
BG tries switch-shooting: Ben Gordon spent more than an hour on the court before Tuesday's game working on both jump shots and drives with his left hand.
The right-handed Gordon missed his fourth game with a sprained right wrist and doesn't seem likely to play in tonight's rematch with the Timberwolves.
"He actually shoots it well left-handed," coach Jim Boylan said. "But I don't want to throw him out there and have him doing that. I don't think that's the right thing to do. We'll just wait, and hopefully, get him back as soon as we can."
Before Tuesday's win over Minnesota, Boylan was asked if he'd consider letting Gordon play left-handed if the Bulls scored 77 points for the third consecutive game.
"I don't know," Boylan said with a laugh. "If the other team scores 76, no. We'll see what happens."
Bull horns: Minnesota's Randy Foye made his season debut Tuesday and scored 11 points. The second-year guard missed the first 43 games with a knee injury. … When Tyrus Thomas finished with 11 rebounds and 10 points Sunday against Phoenix, it was his first double-double since Nov. 8 against Detroit.
Tonight's tipoff
Bulls vs. Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center, 7 p.m.
TV: Channel 26
Radio: WMVP 1000-AM
Update: The Bulls are playing the same opponent on consecutive days for the first time since January 2003 when they split a pair against the New York Knicks. Minnesota is 6-14 at home this season.
Player to watch: Second-year guard Randy Foye made his season debut on Tuesday at the United Center after missing 43 games with a knee injury. Last year, when these teams met in Minnesota, Foye hit a runner with 1.8 seconds left to give the Timberwolves a 100-98 win after the Bulls had erased a 25-point deficit.
Next: Sacramento Kings, 9 p.m. Saturday at Arco Arena.
-- Mike McGraw