Bulls-Jazz Tonight

The Bulls will square off with the Jazz tonight at the United Center in their fourth preseason game.  Chicago is yet to win a game this preseason, though these games are more of an opportunity for coaches to assess how certain backcourt combinations work together, how their frontcourt rotation will shape up, etc.   Head coach Vinny Del Negro might want to give rookie Derrick Rose 30-plus minutes in this contest if he feels that he has an idea of what the rotation will look like.  Rose would benefit from any extra playing time he can get before the regular season begins.

At this point, this blogger would expect the opening night starting lineup to include Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng and Drew Gooden.  Beyond that, it still remains to be seen.  The starting shooting guard spot could go to either Ben Gordon or Larry Hughes.  Hughes is a good defender, though he does take a lot of chances, and has good size for the position.  But his penchant for bad shots could earn him a spot on the bench.  Now, Gordon also has the tendency to heave up some questionable jumpers, but he makes a lot of them.  As far as the center position in concerned, we could see Joakim Noah or Aaron Gray starting, but we could also see the team go small, sticking Gooden in the middle and Tyrus Thomas at the four spot.

Get all your Chicago Bulls tickets at Stubhub.com.