Sports Radio Interviews

Vinny Del Negro: “We’re far ahead of where we were last year”

In 2008, the Bulls had a 1.9% chance of winning the rights to the #1 overall pick and they did. They selected  Memphis point guard and Chicago high school hoops legend, Derrick Rose. In his first season in the NBA, Rose proved that he is going to be a superstar in this league no matter if he was the guy deemed to have cheated on his SAT’s. With Ben Gordon now in Detroit, the Bulls are going to need Deng to be the Luol Deng of old if they want to make it back to the playoffs. The Bulls are no longer the “Baby Bulls” that they were once referred to as. They do have a young point guard in Rose but other than that, they are surrounded by veterans. The Bulls kind of remind me of the Atlanta Hawks in how they gutted the team and stocked up on young talent. Like the Hawks, this could be the year they can win their division and make some noise in the playoffs.

Vinny Del Negro joined ESPN Radio Chicago to talk about whether Derrick Rose’s injury is going to linger throughout the season, if he will limit Rose’s minutes early, what he is most concerned with regarding about with the basketball team, and whether he is approaching things differently from last year or going to do anything different this year.

Whether Derrick Rose’s injury is going to linger throughout the season:

“Ah, we don’t know that. It’s kind of a unique injury on where it is on his ankle. He’s practiced the last couple of days, a little bit sore, it takes him a little while to loosen it up a little bit. But still has some inflammation in there. It’s getting better everyday but with the scheduling and the pounding that he takes for games and practice we’re just going to have to monitor this and be smart about it and look at big picture other than just the first couple of games.”

Whether he will limit Rose’s minutes early:

“Well, I want to see where he’s at in practice and luckily we have a couple more days of practice and I want to see how he’s feeling this morning and tomorrow morning and go from there. It will really depend on how he feels and the flow of the game and how things are going from that aspect. You know he missed a lot of time so he’s a little rusty out there and trying to pick up some things that were put it while he was out. You know he’ll be fine eventually it’s just going to take a little time.” 

On what he is most concerned with regarding about with the basketball team:

“I don’t know if there’s one thing.  I think in general we need to continue to improve defensively and rebound the basketball.  We should be able to rebound the basketball better just from a size standpoint.  We have more depth this year.  So I would think our focus so far has been defense and rebounding and I see some improvement there.  We’re still not where we need to be.  And ball movement on the offensive end.  So if we can get better defensively and rebound the ball and then we can share the basketball and move the ball from strong to weak we have enough players and scorers to be effective on both ends.”

On how the defense improves this year and whether it is a want thing or a system thing:

“Probably a little bit of both.  A little bit of a want thing, a little bit of a system thing, a little bit of a player personal thing.  I don’t know if you can pinpoint one area but we were obviously built more to score last year.  I think this year we have a little bit more balance and a little bit more size.  I think we’re focusing in on certain things that we can be a little bit better at and I think that’s what we’ve done.  Probably a little bit of everything there.”

Whether he is approaching things differently from last year or going to do anything different this year?

“Well, it’s different from the standpoint of the players know what’s expected.  I know the players and and the personalities and what works and what doesn’t and what works a little bit better.  So there’s a familiarity and some type of continuity coming into camp and we didn’t make that many changes.  Obviously we’re trying to add two rookies and another veteran guy in Pargo.  But other than that the core of our team basically stayed together.  We have Brad Miller and John Salmons from day one instead of add them at the trade deadline.  So that’s been a positive.  I think from that standpoint we’re far ahead of where we were last year and now it’s a matter of putting the work in on a daily basis in practice  and getting results and taking what we do in practice to games and getting good results.”

On the importance of a quick start:

“I think its way overblown to be completely honest with you.  Of course you want to win every game but I was most pleased last year with handling the adversity, handling the injuries, handling all the things that we had to do.  We came together at the right time and ended up having a solid year and we’re trying to build on that from last year.  The mentality is to try to go in and win every game but that doesn’t happen.  Other teams are trying to win games too and we do have a difficult schedule.  Would we like to start off strong?  Of course every team would like to start off strong.  I’m more concerned with us getting better on a daily basis so when our schedule does break or we get on a little bit of a roll and we get into some type of rhythm then we can get our wins there. So it’s not an easy process.  There is no easy answer to it.  Of course you’d like to get off to a great start.  If we get off to a great start and not improving and we struggle at the end of the season, I think that’s far worse then not building and getting better as the season goes on with a young team trying to develop a second-year point guard, trying to get these big guys better, trying to incorporate a rookie or two.  I look at the big picture other than just a game at a time.  That old cliché I look at the big picture and how we can improve overall.”

Vinny Del Negro on ESPN Radio Chicago with Waddle & Silvy

Tags: Ben Gordon gone to the Pistons, Chicago Bulls, Derrick Rose, John Salmons, NBA, SAT's and Derrick Rose, Vinny Del Negro