After one game, Bulls back to drawing board on defense
The prevailing question after the Bulls' season-opening loss at Philadelphia was, "Where was the defense?"
Coach Fred Hoiberg talked about how they have to play defense even when their shots aren't falling. But the Bulls didn't play much defense when the shots were falling. They led the Sixers 41-38 after one quarter, which turned out to be Philadelphia's highest-scoring quarter.
"It starts with commitment to each other on that end and especially doing it when times get tough," Hoiberg said Friday at the United Center. "It's got to be a mindset every night that we're getting back and making a team play in the half-court. They just had too many easy opportunities in transition, plays at the rim, open 3s because we hung our heads or didn't get a call and that affected getting back in transition.
"We're watching a lot of film. We're going to have a good film session today on it, come out and work on it in practice and hopefully take a step in the right direction (Saturday) night."
The Bulls weren't very good defensively in preseason, but they had a nice effort in a win over Indiana that seemed to show they could hold their own if focused on defense at the start of the game. Maybe they were too focused on offense in Philadelphia.
"I mean if that's the case you can say both teams were all about the offense," Bobby Portis said. "They weren't getting no stops the first half either. I think we shot 60 percent, they shot 70-some percent, so it just wasn't us, it was them too. It was just in the second half they locked in more than we did.'"
Valentine doesn't practice:
Denzel Valentine did not practice Friday and coach Fred Hoiberg said the plan was for him to get his ankle injury evaluated. Valentine missed all of preseason with a left ankle sprain and it looks like he'll be out against Saturday.
Meanwhile, coach Fred Hoiberg said it's possible new point guard Tyler Ulis could see more playing time.
"He's ready. He's done a good job in practice," Hoiberg said. "We've gone through the system with him as far as what we expect and if there's a point in the game where he can go out there and we feel he can help us, I'm confident that he'll give us good effort."
Announcers announced:
The Bulls released the first round of guest announcers who will fill in for television play-by-play Neil Funk, who is cutting back on his travel schedule this season.
The list for November includes two games each for Adam Amin and Andy Demetra, with one for Kyle Draper. Amin is an Addison native, who has worked regularly for ESPN and did Bears preseason games this year. Demetra is an Oak Brook native and the voice of Georgia Tech basketball and football. Draper works for NBC Sports Boston.