Del Negro excited by Rose's performance against Olympic team
Derrick Rose played just two summer league games with the Bulls due to a sore right knee.
The No. 1 draft pick received a much more valuable education last week playing with the U.S. Select Team, which scrimmaged against the Olympians.
Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro traveled to Las Vegas to watch some of the Olympic practices and provided this description:
"I thought he did great. I thought the Select Team, the first day, kind of got back on their heels a little bit, obviously because the Olympic team has been together for a long time. They only had a few days to practice together, so it was a little difficult. I thought Derrick every day got a little bit better, a little more comfortable."
Rose went head to head against three of the NBA's elite point guards - Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Jason Kidd.
"It was a great experience, not only for Derrick, but all the young players in the league," Del Negro said. "I thought Derrick continually got more comfortable and as every day went on. He just kept getting better and better, which is really exciting. I know he was happy with the way he played."
Deals on hold: Bulls general manager John Paxson didn't rule out making a trade soon, but he still plans to wait for the outcome of Ben Gordon's contract negotiations before reshaping the roster.
"You can't do certain things until you have some certainty," Paxson said. "I'm not saying we couldn't make a deal. But the ability to address certain things, in many ways, is based upon what happens with Ben.
"If he can't be signed, we're not going to do certain things, because we don't want to get stuck with a roster that's deficient in one area. Honestly, we got one thing done (re-signing Luol Deng) in one month and there's still a couple of months left in the off-season to do some things."
Paxson said the Bulls have not had any discussions about acquiring Sacramento center Brad Miller. But it's obvious at some point before next season begins, the team will try to balance the roster by trading a guard or wing player for a big man.
Curry let go: The Bulls on Thursday released second-year guard JamesOn Curry. The 6-foot-2 guard was a second-round pick, chosen No. 51 overall in 2007, but never played for the Bulls in the regular season.
During a D-League assignment, Curry was arrested and charged with public urination and resisting arrest, then had season-ending thumb surgery.
By releasing Curry, the Bulls had to pay $100,000 of next year's contract. The guarantee would have grown to $250,000 if he stayed on the roster beyond July 31.