Bulls will be shorthanded for preseason finale
While Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg plans to treat Thursday's preseason finale as a regular-season type of game, his team won't be at full strength.
Hoiberg said Nikola Mirotic (lower back strain) will not make the trip, and rookie Denzel Valentine (sprained left ankle) will travel but won't play. Valentine has been out since the first preseason game, but is close to returning.
Another possible concession is adding Doug McDermott to the starting lineup. Thursday's game against the Atlanta Hawks was set up as a matchup of two popular Creighton grads - McDermott and Atlanta's Kyle Korver. Maybe they'll jump center to start the contest.
Hoiberg is hoping Mirotic will be ready to practice Saturday and he believes Valentine has a chance to be in the rotation on opening night despite missing so much camp.
"He had a great summer, he had a really good early portion of camp," Hoiberg said. "I thought he did some good things in that first game after he shook a little bit of rust off and some of the jitters I guess. But yeah, it's hard when you have to sit on the sidelines and you're as competitive a kid as Denzel is."
Hoiberg feels good vibe:
Asked if the Bulls are a playoff team this season, coach Fred Hoiberg wisely stuck to a vague answer about trying to get better every day.
"I love the vibe of this group, I love the competitiveness," he said. "Hopefully we'll get off to a good start and gain some confidence. This is a confidence league and we've got a good mix, I think, of veteran players and younger players. The goal is to continue to get better and hopefully put ourselves in a position to win a lot of games."
MCW set to debut:
Michael Carter-Williams practiced with the Bulls for the first time Wednesday and is expected to play in Thursday's preseason finale.
"He's got great vision. Obviously he's got very good positional size (at 6-foot-6)," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "He's a guy that can get into the paint and make plays. He's a very willing defender in picking up 94 feet. He had a very good practice and I'm looking forward to seeing him in the game."
"I was familiar with some of the offense," Carter-Williams said. "I've ran some of it with past teams I've played for. I think it went well. We competed hard."