Bulls continue to get healthy
The Bulls' health plan is starting to show some progress.
Forward Drew Gooden returned to the court Tuesday after missing eight games with a sprained ankle.
Luol Deng, out since Dec. 26 with an ankle injury, practiced Wednesday and could be ready to play Friday when the Bulls host Washington.
"We'll see how it feels," Deng said Wednesday at the Berto Center. "I hope I'm back. It looks like I'm going to be back, but you never know."
Coach Vinny Del Negro said Deng and Gooden both participated in about 75 percent of Wednesday's workout. Guard Kirk Hinrich, on the mend from thumb surgery, joined the noncontact portions of practice.
"I think we're just going to monitor and see how his strength comes back, just be cautious," Del Negro said of Hinrich. "He's been doing a lot of running, but it's important for him to go through the 5-on-0 stuff and the skeleton stuff and the drills we're doing. He was fine with that."
Gooden produced 18 points and 10 rebounds in Tuesday's win over Sacramento. Deng scored his season high of 26 points when the Bulls beat the Wizards on Dec. 6.
Chapu keeps shooting: Maybe Bulls management will fine Andres Nocioni the next time he gets a haircut. Nocioni hit just 1 of 11 shots against Sacramento, playing with his hair shorter than it has been in at least a year.
"It's a new Noc," he joked. "It's the rookie-year Noc."
Nocioni wasn't laughing about his shooting performance, but he chalked it up to a bad night.
"Those were wide-open shots every time," he said. "So I took my shots. They didn't guard me well. I just missed some shots. On normal days, I make 5 or 6 for sure. My job is when I'm wide open, take my shot and that's it. Simple as that. It wasn't my day. But we won."
Free-throw milestones: The Bulls knocked down their first 29 free-throw attempts against Sacramento on Tuesday, which would have been a franchise record for a single game if they hadn't missed 3 in the final 1:01.
The NBA record for most free throws without a miss is 39, set by Utah in 1982. As a team, the Bulls rank seventh in the league in free-throw percentage at .799.
In a related topic, Toronto guard Jose Calderon hasn't missed a free throw all season. He was a perfect 72-for-72 through Tuesday.