Noc hits the boiling point
The level of frustration has grown so high among the Bulls, even Andres Nocioni, the ultimate low-maintenance player, finally snapped.
Nocioni's playing time has been low in recent games. When he was pulled at the 10-minute mark of the second quarter after a brief run of 2:44, Nocioni had an angry exchange with coach Jim Boylan as he returned to the bench.
Nocioni was eventually sent to the locker room, where he stayed for the entire second half. When the game was over, Nocioni delivered an apology.
"I want to say my apology to my coach," Nocioni said. "I think I did a really bad thing today. My attitude was terrible. My apologies to the organization, to (general manager) John Paxson, to my teammates and to everybody, because my reaction was really bad. Right now, I'm calm and I was really frustrated. My reaction was really bad."
Boylan didn't make any comment about the incident beyond saying that it will be handled internally.
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Bulls understand behavior: The rest of the Bulls seemed quick to forgive teammate Andres Nocioni for his outburst on the bench and subsequent benching for the second half.
"We're all human," said Luol Deng, Nocioni's closest friend on the team. "Sometimes you get frustrated. Noc is a professional; he's set a great example for me since I've been here. Noc, he just lost his temper. Knowing Noc, I really know that he's going to punch himself for that."
"Every player in every sport has been through those dog days," added Drew Gooden. "Noc had his day today. We can't blame him. We know he's a competitor and he wants to play. So we'll see him back out there next game. He made up for his mistake by apologizing."
Kirk Hinrich admitted that Nocioni's actions were simply a sign of the times.
"It's one of those things you don't want to happen, but with the way things have been going, frustration's at an all-time high," he said. "We know what kind of guy Noc is."
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Find a seat: The NCAA Tournament is a great time for basketball fans, but a headache for NBA scouts.
For the past several years, the NCAA has refused to provide NBA teams with any seats, leaving them on their own to get inside the arena.
For the Bulls' scouts, that often means buying tickets on StubHub or even standing outside the stadiums with a wad of cash in their pocket.
A team source said schools such as North Carolina, Duke and California provide NBA scouts with good seats. But at the ACC Tournament in Charlotte, the tickets made available to NBA teams were in the second level behind the basket, which sent some scouts back outside scrambling for a better seat.