Heated emotions could be good for Bulls

All the talk Saturday evening concerned the very public sniping between Andres Nocioni and Joakim Noah during Friday's blowout loss in Cleveland.

And a lot of the chatter from the Bulls' perspective was that it might not have been such a bad thing.

"I like when guys get on each other and show some intensity and show some will to win and kind of want to get after it a little bit. I like that," said Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro.

"I think we should be annoyed," guard Larry Hughes said. "We're not playing good basketball.

"This is heated game and emotions do tend to take over and you want to channel that energy in the right direction - helping your teammate out rather than putting your teammate down.

"Between those lines, everything is more amped up and animated as far as teammates talking to each other. You have to look more at how guys interact with each other in the locker room and off the court to really cause problems.

Gooden baddens: A day after saying he thought forward Drew Gooden (ankle) just might be back in the lineup for Saturday's game against Minnesota, Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro's prognosis worsened.

"Not as far along as I had hoped or as he had hoped," Del Negro reported. "He's still got some swelling in there, some discomfort. He'll get an MRI on Monday and see if there's something more there."

The coach is hoping there isn't.

"We need him," he said. "We need him out there."

Learning curve: Not usually at a loss for words, Minnesota coach Kevin McHale was a bit hesitant Saturday when asked how it's been going since he moved down from the front office to the bench to replace the fired Randy Wittman in early December.

"It has had its moments," McHale said while seated outside Minnesota's locker room. "It's been difficult just getting yourself up to speed with what the players know and trying not to confuse them. It's been, um, it's been an interesting three weeks."

He said it: Kevin McHale on Bulls rookie guard Derrick Rose: "He's going to be a special player in this league for a long time because he has the unbelievably rare combination of speed, power and ball-handling skills. He's like a miniature LeBron James."