Veterans round out Del Negro's Bulls staff
The Bulls succeeded in their quest to surround first-time coach Vinny Del Negro with experienced assistants.
As expected, the Bulls announced the hiring of Del Harris and Bernie Bickerstaff as Del Negro's top assistants on Thursday. Between them, Harris and Bickerstaff have spent 27 seasons as NBA head coaches and recorded a combined 971 wins.
Bob Ociepka, who carries 19 years of experience as an NBA assistant with seven different teams, was also named to the coaching staff.
Pete Myers and Mike Wilhelm will retain their previous roles as assistant coaches. Del Negro also has plans to hire a couple of development coaches to work with the players away from practice.
Harris, 71, owns the most impressive résumé, having coached Houston (1979-83), Milwaukee (1987-91) and the Los Angeles Lakers (1994-99). In 1981, Harris took a 40-42 Rockets teams to the NBA Finals, where they lost in six games to Boston.
The Indiana native, whose coaching career began at Earlham College, spent the past eight seasons as an assistant with the Dallas Mavericks. One league insider described Harris' specialty as coaching coaches and he figures to help Del Negro with game planning and strategy.
Bickerstaff, 64, most recently spent three seasons as head coach and general manager of the expansion Charlotte Bobcats, before relinquishing the coaching chair to Sam Vincent a year ago. He has also coached Seattle (1985-90), Denver (1994-97) and Washington (1996-99). His best success was reaching the Western Conference finals with the Sonics in 1987.
Ociepka, 69, jumped straight from York High School in Elmhurst to take his first NBA job in 1989 as an assistant to Dick Versace in Indiana. He's been in the NBA ever since and spent the past two seasons as an assistant in Minnesota.
The Bulls interviewed two other former head coaches, Paul Westphal and Bob Hill.
Summer camp begins: The Bulls held their first summer league practice Thursday evening at the Berto Center. Workouts continue for two more days before the Bulls' summer squad plays the first of five games at the Orlando league on Monday against Miami.
Of course, all eyes will be on No. 1 draft pick Derrick Rose. He'll have some veterans to work with, as Joakim Noah, Aaron Gray, Cedric Simmons, Demetris Nichols and JamesOn Curry are on the summer roster. Third-year forward Tyrus Thomas is also expected to play in at least a couple of games.
There are few household names among the other 10 players invited to camp with the Bulls. Guard Keith Langford played at Kansas with Kirk Hinrich, while 6-7 forward Justin Bowen from UIC is a local participant.
Free-agent update: Bulls guard Chris Duhon, an unrestricted free agent, visited New York and Orlando this week and may decide between those two teams. Orlando is reportedly offering a three-year deal, while New York, with an eye on creating cap room in 2010, is sticking to two years. ...
Assuming Elton Brand stays with the Clippers and Gilbert Arenas re-signs with Washington, the most coveted free agents left on the market are Chicago native Corey Maggette and Boston swingman James Posey. San Antonio is believed to have the inside track on Maggette, but Philadelphia has cap space and could offer more money.
The great unknown is what Golden State will do next now that Baron Davis agreed to jump to the Clippers. The Warriors have about $25 million in cap room, but also have a couple of restricted free agents to re-sign, guard Monta Ellis and center Andris Biedrins.