Rose takes contact in Bulls practice
Derrick Rose got knocked around on a basketball court Tuesday morning, but that doesn't mean he's ready to play in a game.
Chicago Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg was encouraged by Rose's latest step in his recovery from a fractured left orbital bone.
"He came in and got a great workout," Hoiberg said before Tuesday's preseason game at the United Center. "Got a good lift, a tempo run, then he got a very good basketball workout where we hit him with some contact, hit him with the pad, put him through the offense with the coaches that were there."
According to Hoiberg, the contact part consisted of assistant coach Randy Brown hitting Rose with a hand-held pad. That's a good start, but it's too soon to tell if Rose will be ready for full practice this week. The regular-season opener is next Tuesday against Cleveland.
"He's still got some double vision," Hoiberg said. "The (left) eye still isn't all the way open, and I think until he gets that full vision, he still will not be full, 100 percent contact. But the good thing is we're starting to hit him a little bit, so full contact hopefully isn't too far away."
Vogel plugs Bulls assistant:
Before Tuesday's game, Indiana coach Frank Vogel paid homage to Bulls lead assistant Jim Boylen, who worked with Vogel on the Pacers bench from 2011-13.
"He's a terrific basketball coach," Vogel said. "He really helped us with our defense and establishing our defensive identity the last couple of years and the scheme that we have in place. He really understands offensive spacing, screening angles and how to use the pass."
Boylen has had a wide variety of mentors, including Gregg Popovich, Jud Heathcote and Tom Izzo. The longest job of his career was working for the Houston Rockets from 1992-2003.
"I think one of the things he was strongest in is post offense, from his days with Hakeem Olajuwon and Rudy Tomjanovich," Vogel said. "It really kind of defined how post spacing should look and he helped us with that. I'm sure he'll help here as well."
Bulls stop running:
On Monday at Charlotte, the Bulls scored 33 points in the first quarter, then averaged 17.6 points in the last three. The fourth quarter was especially bad, with the visitors going 7-for-20 from the field with just 1 free throw attempt.
Hoiberg didn't take it as a sign the Bulls are struggling with the new offensive system.
"We've been good in that area," he said. "We spent a lot of time on the (defensive) end in the three days leading up to that game. But we quit running and that was the thing. We got a little stagnant. We had some good shots, some good open shots, that just didn't fall. Hopefully we'll get that pace back to where we want it, to where I think we're a more effective basketball team."