Gibson expects to play in Boston despite sore foot
Taj Gibson skipped practice for the second straight day with a sore left foot but still expects to play in Thursday night's game at Boston.
The rookie power forward hadn't said a word about suffering from plantar fasciitis this season, but it actually has been going on since last summer.
"In college, coaches always told me to play through it, don't ever complain," Gibson said Wednesday at the Berto Center. "Just go out there and do your job and try to help your team win.
"It started in summer league. As soon as I started summer league, I took a couple days off. But then this flared up from time to time."
The latest flareup occurred Saturday against Minnesota when Gibson went up for a jump shot. Overall this season Gibson has been averaging 24 minutes and hasn't skipped a game. He's the NBA's leading rookie rebounder at 6.2 per contest.
"The last MRI just showed that I stretched it," Gibson said. "I'm happy I didn't tear it. Just like Danny Granger in Indiana. Once you tear it, you're going to be out at least two months. I'm fortunate just to have a little slight stretch. Right now, just a lot of treatment."
The treatment involves ice, stretching and trying to use sound waves to break up the scar tissue.
"Getting up in the morning, you can't even put your foot down," Gibson said when asked to describe his condition. "It's just tough to walk. Imagine when you're jumping around in basketball all day long.
"Coach Vinny (Del Negro) had it most of his career and he told me for a lot of guys, that's a career-ending injury. So it's best to get on top of it right away and just take care of it."
No news on T-Mac: A rumor regarding Tracy McGrady received far more airplay than it deserved Tuesday.
McGrady is on leave from the Houston Rockets and working out in Chicago with trainer Tim Grover, hoping for a trade. The Bulls have some interest, but only if they can increase their cap space for next summer. McGrady has an expiring contract worth $23 million.
Any Houston trade would most likely wait until the Feb. 18 trade deadline with all NBA teams exploring their options in the meantime. There is no chance the Bulls would give up Joakim Noah in such a deal. A more likely package would be John Salmons, Brad Miller and Jerome James for McGrady and some filler.
No sympathy here: After the Bulls handed Detroit its 13th straight loss Monday, Kirk Hinrich was asked if he felt badly for the Pistons and former teammate Ben Gordon.
"It's a tough league," Hinrich said. "You've got to go out here and compete. Nobody's going to feel sorry for you. Right now I haven't really thought about it. I didn't even know they'd lost that many in a row until an hour before the game."
The Pistons finally snapped their skid Tuesday night with a win at Washington.