Doug Padilla, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

With opener near, defense not finished product

CHICAGO -- While Chicago Bulls players might be happy that the preseason schedule is complete, the coaching staff would not mind more opportunities to fine tune the squad.

After a full collection of practice games when Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah were on minutes restrictions, and Jimmy Butler sat out the tail end with a thumb injury, the Bulls never did get to put together a finished product in advance of Wednesday’s season opener at New York against the Knicks.

Butler was putting his thumb injury to the test with jump shots after practice Sunday, but head coach Tom Thibodeau said the guard ultimately could be a game-time decision for the first game of the season.

It leaves the defense in flux, but Thibodeau refuses to hinge the team’s success without the ball on one person. It did seem clear, though, that opposing offenses had an easier time of it in the final two preseason games that Butler missed.

“Well, (Butler) is important, they’re all important,” Thibodeau said. “In this league, you can’t guard individually. It’s very difficult. You guard collectively. We need him, and we need everybody. We can’t rely on Jimmy to do everything for everybody. We can’t rely on Jo, we can’t rely on Taj (Gibson). It’s got to be everybody tied together, and so we can’t leave it to chance.”

In the final preseason game Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Bulls’ defensive weaknesses were exposed.

“There were a lot of good things offensively in the Minnesota game, a lot of bad things defensively, and so that needs to be corrected,” Thibodeau said. “When you look at the numbers from the preseason, you know, we played like a .500 team. So if we want more than that we have to put more into it.’’

That 4-4 preseason record gets thrown out the window now as the regular season begins this week.

“I feel we have done some pretty good things on both sides of the floor, we just have to be more consistent with it and sustain those good efforts for a longer period of time,” big man Pau Gasol said. “But we’re about to open things up and understand that we have a tough schedule to start off with -- seven games in 10 days, if I’m not mistaken. There are a lot of back-to-backs, and a lot of games on the road next month so it should be challenging, but it will tell us exactly where we’re at and it will force us to be on top of our game.”

Gasol might have as much to prove to Thibodeau as anybody since he only has had eight preseasons games to show what he can do defensively, as well as daily practices. Gasol said earlier in training camp that he wants to be on the floor at the end of games, but that will happen only if his defense measures up.

“Well, more or less he told us that he is going to try and get a feel for the game,” Gasol said of Thibodeau. “We have three really good interior players that he feels comfortable that can finish off games. He said he’s going to put the guys out there he feels more confident and comfortable to win that particular game. We have to trust his abilities and judgment, and work hard to deserve to be out there.”

That’s a far cry from earlier in camp when Gasol said that if he isn’t seeing playing time late in games then he doesn’t have the trust of his coach.

“Nah, I don’t pay any attention to that stuff,” Thibodeau said. “I’m always going to do what’s best for the team. It’s going to be based on performance, so that’s the way it is here.’’

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