Bickerstaff, Harris bring experience
When hiring a staff to surround new coach Vinny Del Negro, it might not have been possible for the Bulls to find more experienced assistants than Bernie Bickerstaff and Del Harris.
Not only have both won NBA coach of the year awards, they've recorded more than 900 victories combined as head coaches.
But while Harris spent the past eight seasons helping Avery Johnson and Don Nelson in Dallas, Bickerstaff is serving as an assistant for the first time in 23 years.
His previous job was building the expansion Charlotte Bobcats, working as both head coach and vice president of basketball operations for three years. He handed the coaching reins to San Vincent and stuck with front-office duties last season.
"Over the last several years, I've been doing contracts, I've been doing personnel," Bickerstaff said following Saturday's summer-league practice at the Berto Center. "To me, this is the fun part. You just come in with a young coach, a young team and you get a chance to focus on basketball.
"When I came in and talked to Vinny, the one thing that I understood was he knows what he wants. He's very organized and he's going to have some success. I don't have any reservations about that."
Bickerstaff, 64, has plenty of experience as an assistant coach. He held the role for 12 years with the Washington Bullets beginning in 1973, working under K.C. Jones, Dick Motta and Gene Shue. He was also general manager of the Denver Nuggets for a stretch.
"In the NBA, I've done everything else - president, general manager, head coach, assistant coach," Bickerstaff said. "The one thing (Del Negro) knows and we all know, I'm not looking for anything else. I haven't applied for any head-coaching jobs.
"It's our job to help him teach and implement his ideas. Because it's Vinny's show. We understand that. Our job is to support him, be loyal to him, help cover his back and help him implement his system."
Harris was not at Saturday's practices. He left to attend some personal business and will meet the team in Orlando for the start of summer league.
No. 2 pick injured: Monday's summer-league opener between the Bulls and Miami Heat might not feature the first battle of top draft picks Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley after all.
Beasley was diagnosed with a slight fracture of his sternum after taking an elbow to the chest in his first summer practice. The injury is thought to be minor, but he will be kept away from contact for 3-5 days.
After Miami, the Bulls will face Indiana, Orlando, New Jersey and Seattle at the Orlando summer league the rest of the week.
Bull horns: Joakim Noah said he thought about joining the French national team for European championship qualifying this summer but decided he could use more of a break after participating in the summer league. ... Both Luol Deng and Ben Gordon are planning to play for the Great Britain team, which has six qualifying games scheduled between Sept. 3 and 20.