Remember what Deng said earlier this season: “Last year when I was sitting, I made a commitment to play all 82 games this season. Even though it wasn’t my fault last year, I didn’t want anyone to say anything about me being soft anymore. That’s why I don’t want to take any game off all year. I just want to do my job.”

The Bulls do not heart Indiana:
The Pacers (18-33) aren’t a very good team. In fact, they haven’t been a very good team since The Malice at the Place. Not that Indy’s descent into mediocrity and worse has benefitted the Bulls at all. Since it opened in 1999, Chicago is 3-17 at Conseco Fieldhouse…and the Pacers’ winning percentage in these games (.850) is its best over any East opponent at home during that stretch.

Last February, Derrick Rose had one of his worst-ever games as a Bull, scoring only 3 points on 1-for-9 shooting.

Joakim Noah starring in remake of “Das Boot”:
Okay, that’s a bad joke from my freshman year German class. At any rate, the Bulls medical staff is trying to speed up Joakim’s recovery from plantar fasciitis by having him wear a protective boot and undergo both massage and electric stimulation. He also had blood was taken from his arm and injected into the foot.

I swear that last part isn’t a witch doctor cure.

According to John Jackson of the Chicago Sun-Times: “Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy — used in plastic surgery since the 1990s — has gotten more popular among athletes, getting a push when Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward credited the treatment with getting him on the field in time for last year’s Super Bowl, said Martin Leland, an orthopedic sports medicine surgeon at the University of Chicago Medical Center who is not working with the Bulls.”

Vinny tepid on Tyrus Thomas’ return:
Regarding “Tirade” Thomas’ return to Bulls practice, Vinny said: “What happened, happened. It’s over with. Hopefully, Tyrus learns from it and gets better. But, it’s not the first thing that’s happened with Tyrus. He’s got to be smarter and he’s got to be committed to the team. Today was a good practice — not for him, but for everybody and now we’ve got to move on.”

On how Tyrus can earn more playing time (emphasis mine): “Tyrus has got to run the court. Play hard. Execute the game plan. Hit open 15-foot jumpers. Be committed to the team. Same thing everyone else does. Everyone has a job on this team. Certain guys do different things better than others. Everyone knows their role, knows what they need to do and now they have to go out and do it. And the guys that go out on a consistent basis and are coachable and want to buy into the team and give us the best chance to win — those are the guys that are going to be out there. It’s a very simple process.”

Well, I guess VDN actually wants Ty chucking up jumpers…

Barkley high on Del Negro, low on Thomas:
Even though Vinny has apparently given Thomas a green light to shoot, Charles Barkley is still campaigning for Del Negro. Said Sir Charles: “If he gets the Bulls back to the playoffs, Vinny Del Negro should be NBA Coach of the Year. Derrick Rose was hurt. Tyrus Thomas was hurt a lot and crazy a lot. If he gets that team back to the playoffs after losing Ben Gordon, I think that’s a hell of a year.”

Regarding what to do with Thomas after his blowup at Vinny: “What I would say to him? Uh, listen, say it just didn’t work out here. ‘You’ve been traded to, uh … (laughs).”

Bulls earn C+ last week:
From Pippin Ain’t Easy: “The win against Miami was big, but the 3 straight losses just helps to emphasize the Bulls inconsistencies coming off a 5-game road winning streak.”

Memo the the Bulls — Crash the boards:
According to Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald, from December 11 through February 2, the Bulls beat their opponents on the boards in 21 of 26 games. Now — with Joakim Noah first limited and then sidelined by plantar fasciitis — they’ve lost the rebound battle in three straight games. Enter Chris Richard.

The post Bulls news and notes: February 9, 2010 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Said Sir Charles: “Vinny has done a good job. I couldn’t understand why they were trying to [throw] him under the bus. The truth of the matter was Derrick Rose was not playing well [early in the season]. They say he was injured, so I give him a pass on that, but the reason the Bulls weren’t playing well was Derrick Rose wasn’t playing well. I don’t think it was fair they were thinking about firing Vinny. Let me preface this by saying Vinny is a friend of mine, so I’m a little biased, but Vinny did not deserve to get fired.”

Seriously? Seriously.

Added Barkley: “Give Vinny some credit. I mean, they’ve done a good job. They could have cracked under pressure, because I tell you, I’ve been around teams when there are a bunch of trade rumors and thinking about the coach [getting fired], and the team packs it in and folds. So give Vinny some credit. He’s done a good job.”

You know what? As usual, Chuck has a point. Although I’m not ready to start campaigning for Del Negro as Coach of the Year, and I won’t scribbling “Vinny and the Bulls 4 Ever” on my Trapper Keeper any time soon, the reality is this: Vinny really has done a pretty good job all things considered.

Remember, Del Negro had his head on the block last season when Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf declared Chicago’s season “a disaster” and “embarrassing.” The Bulls responded with a late-season push into playoffs, where they nearly dethroned the defending champion Boston Celtics in one of the greatest first-round postseason series of all time. The Bulls endured another slow start this season, thanks to the loss of leading scorer Ben Gordon, injuries to key players (Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich and Tyrus Thomas), and, of course, a schedule that was front-loaded with difficult road games.

But, as I’ve noted in some of my game recaps, Vinny has made some key adjustments that turned things around, the biggest of which has been starting Kirk Hinrich at shooting guard. That gives the starting lineup two playmakers and shifts Kirk onto the opposing team’s best backcourt player…which frees up Derrick Rose to expend most of his energy on the offensive end. And considering Rose has been playing All-Star basketball lately, it’s hard to argue with the results.

But more impressive has been the Chicago’s transition to a defense-first team. Last season, the team was 18th in Defensive Rating. In December of 2008, they gave up 105.5 PPG, and they surrendered about 104 PPG between February and March of 2009. The Bulls were basically beating teams by outscoring them, which is a double-edged sword in team sports. Especially for teams like the Bulls, who lack an inside scoring threat and therefore live and die by the jump shot.

Vinny preached defense to the press all summer, and it looks like he meant it. The Bulls currently rank 1st in Blocks Per Game (6.5), 2nd in Opponents Field Goal Percentage (.436), 4th in Opponents At-The-Rim Field Goal Percentage (.564), 7th in Opponents Turnovers (13.5), 7th in Defensive Efficiency and 8th in Opponents Three-point Percentage (.341). Believe it or not, the Bulls are an elite defensive unit.

That’s a pretty major defensive transformation.

And remember: the Bulls recently became the first team in NBA history to ever beat five straight winning teams on a single road trip. Not even the great Chicago teams of the Michael Jordan era accomplished that feat. If Del Negro was the bumbling, incompetent boob many people have made him out to be, that simply could not have happened.

All that being said, I’m still not 100 percent sold on Vinny as Chicago’s Coach of the Future. But Barkley is correct. After all the bashing that’s been done, Del Negro deserves a little credit for the Bulls’ success.

Speaking of credit for the Bulls success, Charles also thinks Joakim Noah should be getting some. Like, in the form of an All-Star nod.

Said Chuckles: “I was a little disappointed that Noah did not make the All-Star team. Me and Doug Collins were pushing for Noah. Noah’s become one of my favorite players to watch, and I was really pulling for him to make the All-Star team. Because he’s been the most consistent player all season long for the Bulls. Derrick Rose is clearly their best player and plays well, but Noah’s been their most consistent player all year, and I wanted him to make the All-Star team.”

I couldn’t agree more.

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