Bulls ride out a slippery situation
The Bulls had to cut Thursday’s practice short because of slippery conditions on the floor of the Berto Center. Instead of scrimmaging, they rode exercise bikes while watching video.
Humid conditions outdoors seemed to be a likely cause, but Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau refused to assign blame.
“Whatever’s thrown at us, we’ve got to handle,” Thibodeau said. “We got most of what we wanted to get done on the floor; probably a half-hour short. So we jumped on the bikes. We watched film and the guys got some extra shooting. We didn’t want to take a chance with the floor.”
Of course, the severity of the problem depended on who was asked.
“We went as hard as we can. Thibs, he doesn’t care,” Derrick Rose said with a laugh. “He wasn’t going to stop practice or anything. He switched ends four or five times and we got on the bikes.”
The slippery floor was also given as a reason that Kirk Hinrich and Joakim Noah got another day off to rest unspecified injuries. Their participation in Saturday’s preseason opener at Indiana is unclear.
“The way we look at it is training camp is the whole month, so I want to make sure they’re completely healthy,” Thibodeau said. “We’ll see where they are tomorrow. They’re a lot better today, but the floor was real slippery, so I didn’t want them to go because of that.”
Rose still sells:Even though he didn#146;t play last season while recovering from knee surgery, Derrick Rose had the No. 2 selling NBA jersey worldwide, according to the league.LeBron James topped the list, while the rest of the top five included Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and Dwyane Wade.#147;That#146;s my first time hearing it,#148; Rose said Thursday. #147;It#146;s a blessing and an honor at the same time. My fans, they stuck with mre from the beginning and they#146;re faithful. I do everything for them. I am them and they are me.#148;Tickets on sale:Individual game tickets for the 2013-14 season go on sale Friday at noon. Tickets can be purchased at the United Center box office, TicketMaster outlets, online at bulls.com or by phone at 1-800-4NBA-TIX.