Del Negro focused on practicing well next week
Given the choice between a strong showing in Friday's preseason finale against Washington and some solid practices leading up to the Oct. 29 season opener against San Antonio, Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro will take the latter.
Point guard Derrick Rose continued to show improvement with his injured right ankle but will almost certainly skip Friday's game.
Maybe the Bulls should invite some fans to play against the Wizards. Rose has been out since Oct. 2, guard Jannero Pargo missed Wednesday's practice with a hip injury, guard Kirk Hinrich is still bothered by a hyperextended elbow, and free agent Derrick Byars is out with a hyperextended left knee.
"I didn't want to practice Kirk (on Wednesday), but we're short on bodies with Derrick Byars out and the things we're having to deal with," Del Negro said. "We'll see how it goes tomorrow, then I'll make a decision on Friday who's going to play, who I'd like to rest.
"I think next week, getting ready for opening night are very important practices. Not that these aren't, but the exhibition game Friday is not my focus. Practice and getting our team together for the following week is my focus."
The Bulls held an early morning practice Wednesday before heading downtown for their tip-off luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Rose worked out on the side and did some cutting drills for the first time in his rehab.
"Today was my first time doing cuts," Rose said. "It felt good. So hopefully I'll be all right. Every day it's improving."
"He was moving pretty good today in his drills and some of the things we were having him do - the cutting and the stopping and the turning and all that," Del Negro said. "We'll monitor that but push him maybe a little bit more tomorrow."
Rose's flight time down: Obviously, there is no need to push Derrick Rose back into practice since there is another week before the games begin to matter. Rose understands the team's philosophy and also described how he's still limited by the ankle injury.
"(The medical staff) just tells me if I'm not 100 percent, don't waste my time out there because I might get re-injured," Rose said. "Right now, I'm just listening to them because they've been in the league way more years than I have.
"It hurts. I can't push off right. I'm not that explosive. I can't jump that high now. Layups, it kind of hurts when I come down. I've just got to take my time and let it heal right before I go out there and hurt it again."
Watching and learning: Derrick Rose mentioned during Wednesday's luncheon that he's spending his time on the bench trying to watch what teammate Kirk Hinrich does on defense. Hinrich was voted to the second-team, all-defensive squad in 2007.
"I always kid him during the game. I say, 'What are you learning?' " coach Vinny Del Negro said. "We talk about, 'What would you run here?' Just try to make him always think and try to learn something every day."
Rose sees winners: Besides providing the usual injury update Wednesday, Derrick Rose offered a season forecast:
"Our biggest thing is playing hard this year," he said. "We don't care about who's scoring or what's going on. We just want to win. We've got a whole bunch of winners and a whole bunch of good guys on the team, so success if going to come our way."