Not Again!

This has been a very strange two days for Derrick Rose, forcing me to constant shift the focus of this post.  First, he created waves during Monday's media day when he, unprovoked, said he was looking forward to his next big contract during 2017 free agency.  On Tuesday, we learned the relations between him and the woman in his civil suit were consensual and she was upset over not being reimbursed over something the two of them used.  Then, the same old injury narrative played out once more.

Halfway through Fred Hoiberg's first practice, Rose was accidentally elbowed and subsequent tests revealed a left orbital fracture.  He will have surgery Wednesday at nearby Rush University Medical Center.  There is hope he'll be ready for the Oct. 27 season opener against Cleveland, but no timetable will be set until after the surgery.

Taj Gibson, recovering from his ankle injury, admitted he might have been the player who delivered the big blow.  He couldn't definitively say so, but he described the moment as a play "where everybody going so hard and it's real physical out there."  Obviously, players want to show on day one they'll be ready to impress over the next few weeks.  Although nobody on the court wanted it to happen, it was a result of the intensity that must have been displayed.

Hoiberg didn't seem too concerned about it and said Rose "looked great" while on the floor.  But with Mike Dunleavy out eight to 10 weeks, he's already down two starters.  The good news about point guard is he has Aaron Brooks, E'Twaun Moore and Kirk Hinrich to fill in.  Unfortunately, they have less talent collectively than Rose by himself.

As for Rose, he has yet another physical and mental obstacle to overcome.  It may not be another serious knee injury, but he could miss a good chunk of action, likely the entire preseason.  Players who have had orbital surgery typically returned after missing between five and 28 games.  That's not to say Rose will be out as long as Dunleavy, but the mere possibility of it is cause for everyone to shake their heads and wonder what else could go wrong for him.

Meanwhile, the Bulls have to learn to play without him yet again, although this virtually identical group did it for 28 games last year.  It's probably better this happened during the preseason.  They can learn how to play when he's not available while the games don't matter.  It's still better than other years when he went out under the notion he'd be available all season.

No matter the situation, the fact remains Rose just cannot stay healthy.  Time and again, he's had to get back in physical and mental shape.  If he never becomes what he was supposed to, it can be blamed on all the time he spent trying to get back on the floor as well as the injuries.  They're not his fault, but it's easy to see why people are losing confidence in him if they haven't already.

The more time passes, the more I see Rose going from a "what could be" to a "what could have been."  The case for him being worst MVP in league history will only grow if he keeps suffering these setbacks.  Maybe he'll be ready for Opening Night and people will forget about this.  Still, there will always be that notion in the back of everyone's mind that he's another bad move away from more extended time away.

Forget the media day comments and civil suit.  From a basketball perspective, those mean nothing.  If you want to focus on the dumb things he says and the trouble he's gotten himself into, that's your prerogative.  But whether you do it or not, you can't deny the reality that the Bulls sink and swim with him.

Amazing how we're not even in October yet and we already have to deal with this.  With luck, this will be the worst Hoiberg has the injury bug in his first season.  But that's likely wishful thinking in a season that lasts until at least mid-April.  Just hope for minimal damage and the team will be just fine.

Rounding Out Training Camp Roster

While the familiar Bulls met with the media at the Advocate Center on Monday, the organization brought in three players to round out their training camp roster.  It's unlikely most of these additions will make the final cut, but at least Fred Hoiberg can keep his options open.  Jordan Crawford was one of them, which is no surprise considering he already signed a non-guaranteed deal a week-and-a-half ago.  In the meantime, meet the two others who have a shot.

Marcus Simmons played with Fort Wayne of the D-League last year.  Over 41 games, the USC product averaged four points, 2.7 rebounds and 16.7 minutes per game.  The season before that, he was in the Japan BJ League with Yokohama BC.  He achieved averages of 12 points, five rebounds, and 1.20 steals over 24.9 minutes.

Justin Anderson, not to be confused with the Mavericks rookie, spent his first three college seasons at Northern Illinois before joining Hoiberg at Iowa State for his final season.  In 119 games, he posted the following averages:  13.1 points, six rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.18 steals and 30.7 minutes.  That he knows Hoiberg's strategy has to give him an advantage over the other guys trying to break camp.  Of course, it takes more than that to make an NBA roster.

I always admire players who might not make the team or even get to the NBA.  Their journeys never end because they're always on somebody's radar this time of year.  After that, if they're cut, they're left to ponder where their lives will go next.  It would be nice to see one of these players earn one more season of getting to do what they love more than anything.

Mike's Microdiscectomy

Try saying that title three times fast.  You might as well try because it's what Mike Dunleavy just went through.  Experiencing progressively worse back pain this summer, Dunleavy underwent a lower back microdiscectomy procedure Friday.  The Bulls said the 35-year-old will be out eight to 10 weeks, meaning he'll miss the first month of the regular season.

Dunleavy, whose only missed games with the Bulls thus far (19) came last year while recovering from an ankle injury, signed a three-year, $14.4 million contract this summer to remain in Chicago after Cleveland targeted him for a period.  That interest came after he averaged 9.4 points per game and shooting 41 percent from beyond the 3-point line last season.  Those numbers increased to 10.9 and 48 respectively.  He's started at small forward every game he's been available for the Bulls since Luol Deng was traded.

Although Dunleavy should regain his starting spot when he returns, the competition to replace him for the interim could be a fierce one.  Tony Snell, Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic are all candidates to win the temporary job, maybe even usurp that position permanently.  No matter how long they hold down the fort, this is the first real challenge for Fred Hoiberg in creating his lineup.  Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah are coming off their own injury troubles, but both should be ready by Opening Night, thus making the small forward hole the top priority.

Dunleavy was seen as valuable to keep around because of his 3-point shooting, which Hoiberg is expected to greatly emphasize.  While he isn't lights out like Ray Allen, he's consistent enough that the Bulls turn to him most when they need a long shot.  He knows his limitations and won't force himself to doing something he's not accustomed to.  Hopefully, whoever replaces him for the time being will have at least some of that ingrained.

Mirotic would be a good player to fill in, but he more has the build and skill set of a power forward.  Plus, the Bulls might not want to go too big with their frontcourt.  You need that right balance of size when filling out your starting five so everyone can play to their strengths.  Unless Mirotic morphed into Dirk Nowitzki over the summer, I can't see him starting for Dunleavy.

McDermott is in a prime position to show his rookie year was merely a combination of injuries, loss of trust from Tom Thibodeau and lowered confidence.  He had too successful of a college career to just flame out in the NBA this quickly.  With his luck, Hoiberg's college experience will help him hit the right notes and rediscover what it was that made him so special at Creighton.  Until that time, I would play him off the bench.

Snell is my frontrunner to take the job for that first month.  Although he's a natural shooting guard, he showed last year he could slide into the three if he had to.  He has more quickness than is needed of a small forward and his shooting has greatly improved.  Both these elements would make him valuable for any team in the league and Hoiberg could really bring out the best in his offense, which I don't think we've seen yet.

Although I've made my reservations about Hoiberg as an NBA coach clear, I and every other Bulls fan have to trust him to make the right call here.  He can't just insert one of these guys into the starting lineup as filler and then ignore them like Thiobdeau was prone to do.  He needs to develop these young players while having to throw them into the line of fire just as the team is learning its new strategy.  It'll be up to his experience with younger players to pull that off successfully.

Bulls in Their New Court

Since the United Center opened in 1994, the Bulls had never changed their court design.  Sure, there were markings changed to conform to new NBA rules, the lettering on the side was sometimes altered and the wood was often replaced.  But for 21 seasons, you could watch a Bulls home game without recognizing a complete overhaul to the floor.  All that has changed.

Starting with the Oct. 6 preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks, the court design that saw the Bulls' second 3-peat will be no more.  The new design features a center-court Bulls logo 75 percent larger than the previous one and the basketball in its background has been removed.  The lines have gone from red and white to all black and the "Chicago Bulls" text at the endlines now matches the font used in the official team logo.  Added to the court's south apron are the four stars on the Chicago flag.

I've often heard people criticize the Bulls' game day presentation for being stuck in the 90s.  They need to dump Sirius as their opening song, they say.  Others might say Rock and Roll Part 2 shouldn't be played anymore or some in-play sound effects are outdated.  But those elements and the never-changing court design never bothered me, partly because I associated them with my childhood.

Still, the Bulls have tried their best to stay modern while holding to more cherished traditions.  The Running of the Bulls video has been remade numerous times, one of them being paired with the Sirius remix we've heard since the 2006-07 season.   Newer music cues during game action usually take precedence over older ones.  Modern music in general is heard throughout games and especially during pregame warmups.

This latest change was arguably overdue and the result is terrific.  I'll miss the old court design greatly, but at some point, the Bulls had to move on from it.  Every team has to change it up once in awhile to go with new times, new brands, new marketing and new ideas.  Here, the Bulls decided to go for a bolder, more Chicago-branded look.

Perhaps the emphasis will give future NBA stars from Chicago a greater sense of civic or even state pride.  Derrick Rose is around, but even he played his college ball at Memphis.  Anthony Davis, Jabari Parker, Evan Turner and Jahlil Okafor also took rides elsewhere before jumping to the pros.  Maybe this tiny touch to the court can tell these kids they can make Chicago basketball proud from a college basketball standpoint again by staying local instead of going to the Dukes and Kentuckys of the world.

Even if that doesn't work, the Bulls still did a fine job redoing their court to how they saw fit.  Hopefully, this will be part of a new era in which the team gets to an even higher level than we've seen for most of this decade.  Given how close they've often come to breaking through the ice, that says a lot.  A different coach, different game strategy and slightly different look at the United Center could got a long way in helping this organization both on and off the court.

Crawford's Time

As it turns out, the Bulls are not quite finished making offseason moves.  They proved this Thursday by signing Jordan Crawford to a non-guaranteed training camp contract.  It could be a sign that Fred Hoiberg is looking for any potential offense he can look at.  That happens when you're considering someone who's averaging 12.2 points per game and shot 40.5 percent over four NBA seasons.

Crawford will have to readjust to playing NBA basketball as he didn't do that at all last year.  He played five games with a team in China and six games with Fort Wayne in the D-League.  This summer, he was on Dallas' roster during Summer League play, averaging 10.2 points and three rebounds.  Of course, he did that against lower-tier roster guys and players who'll never sniff the NBA.

From 2010-14, Crawford spent time with Atlanta, Washington, Boston and Golden State in that order.  Wherever he went, he would always leave by being packaged in trades involving more than one player.  Apart from such impressive instances as 23.3 points per game over a week in December 2013 and 41 points in an April 2014 game, nothing too impressive seems to stand out.  He fits the definition of basketball journeyman.

The 2010 draft pick will be happy to show the Bulls' new coaching regime what he can do, starting with the first day of training camp on Sept. 30.  Even if he can't make the final roster, it's still something he can do for himself.  He could always end up somewhere else to continue his career.  It would sure be nice though if he could remain in Chicago in a productive fashion.