Valentine happy to welcome Parker to Chicago Bulls
Late last season, Denzel Valentine said his goal was to be a starter.
Unless there are more injuries, he doesn't seem likely to get there, but he didn't complain about the situation when he spoke to reporters Tuesday.
"Everything is up for competition, but I was really excited when they signed Jabari (Parker)," Valentine said. "Actually I know him for a little minute. We recruited him at Michigan State. He's going to be a great player for us, so I mean as many good players as you can have to help your team win is good.
"I don't see it as bad for me or whatever. I just see it as he's a key addition to our team to help us win, and I'm excited to have him."
At the moment, Valentine is sidelined with an ankle injury. It happened in the opening practice of camp and the plan is to evaluate his progress next week.
"I turned it during training camp a little bit, and it swelled up on me," he said. "I could have probably pursued it, but the smart thing was to take my time, let it heal up 100 percent. It's a long season, so just come back ready to go."
Bulls ready for Game 2:
The Bulls will play the second of five preseason games Wednesday at Milwaukee. Since there are only five games, coach Fred Hoiberg will continue to give the starters a decent amount of playing time.
He said they'll start the same way against the Bucks as they did in Sunday's opener: Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine, Justin Holiday, Jabari Parker and Zach LaVine.
"We've got a lot of combinations we still need to see," Hoiberg said. "We tried to get Wendell (Carter) out there with the starters. That's how we started the second quarter the other night. We may play Jabari some at the 3 tomorrow just to get him some game reps at that spot.
"When Lauri (Markkanen) comes back, Jabari will still have to know that small-forward position. We'll shift things around, but I think it will be pretty similar tomorrow as it was in Game 1."
This will be the first NBA game at Milwaukee's new Fiserv Forum.
Praise for Parker:
Coach Fred Hoiberg praised Jabari Parker's performance in Sunday's preseason opener. Parker shifted back to power forward after Lauri Markkanen injured his elbow last Thursday.
"I was really impressed with Jabari the way he adjusted as quickly as he did," Hoiberg said. "He was great (Monday). We had our first clean up, noncontact day. But we came in here and got game-speed reps, and Jabari was the catalyst as far as hearing his voice and getting on guys and making sure we were going hard, even though it wasn't a contact practice.
"I've been really impressed with Jabari. He's picking things up and he's learning two positions, which isn't easy to do when you're in a new system."