When Kirk Hinrich tweaked his groin during last night's game against the Thunder, it shone a spotlight on the reality of the Bulls' situation, according to Nick Friedell in a piece for ESPNChicago.com. With Derrick Rose out and the bench having been overhauled in the offseason, it's not clear yet whether Chicago has the depth to withstand another injury or two, opines Friedell. While we wait to hear if Hinrich's injury is any more than a minor issue, here's the rest of this morning's Bulls-related updates:
- Nate Robinson is confident that he can step up and man the point if Hinrich's injury results in missed time, writes Scott Powell of ESPNChicago.com. If he wasn't a lock to make the team already, Robinson certainly appears to be now — due to the Bulls' hard cap, that means camp invitees Marko Jaric and Ryan Allen have no chance to be on the opening night roster unless the club makes a trade to clear salary.
- Another Bulls camp invitee who was recently waived, Kyrylo Fesenko may be drawing interest from Spanish team Caja Laboral, according to a report passed along by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. As Mark Deeks of ShamSports tweeted after Fesenko was cut, the Bulls could consider circling back around to Fesenko later this season, when they can afford to re-sign him.
- With one week remaining to work out a long-term extension with the Bulls, Taj Gibson continues to not let his contract situation affect his play, as he tells Aggrey Sam of CSN Chicago. "When you’re in this situation, a lot of people are more focused on it than you," Gibson said. "You just have to let it slide off your shoulders. Joakim [Noah] was talking about to me about it a couple of days ago, but I always just shrug it off…. You really can’t do anything about it, except worry about what you can take care of and that’s the court work. Your agent and the GM has to worry about that."