Posts tagged AaronGray at FanHouse

Is Bulls interim coach Jim Boylan trying to turn his team against him? If so, he's been a rousing success! Aaron Gray -- a player who would be getting zero minutes on 20-25 other NBA teams -- is the latest defector, according to the Chicago Tribune's K.C. Johnson (via TYI).

As Aaron Gray walked to the bench after Drew Gooden replaced him following a brief second-quarter stint on Tuesday, the rookie center, according to several witnesses, snapped at interim coach Jim Boylan.

"That's what I get for working hard?" Gray said.

A shocked Boylan snapped back and Gray, a second-round pick, played only the final 1:21 of a blowout victory over Memphis the rest of the night.

No, Aaron. That's what you get playing for a franchise with no direction, a coach completely over his head, and a team which altogether does not seem to really like each other. Has nothing to do with you working hard.

At this point, Bulls fan have gotta hope this season just doesn't do any permanent damage to its host of prospects, like Luol Deng (who has regressed as much anyone in the league) and Tyrus Thomas (who is about a week from reenacting the Z-Bo-Patterson fight with Boylan).

Rookie hazing is a fact of life in the NBA, and it takes many forms. Some veterans make the rookies pay for a lavish dinner on the road, while others, like Gilbert Arenas, go so far as to steal a rookie's car and paint it pink. So considering the alternatives, making a rookie get a certain brand of donuts before practice doesn't seem like that big of a deal. As it happens, though, that's when Ben Gordon crossed the line. From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Speaking of Gordon, he paid penance Wednesday for taking a sponsor's name in vain. Seems the Bulls' marketing department was none too pleased that Gordon went public with his complaint that Joakim Noah brought the team doughnuts from Dunkin' Donuts each day, instead of from Krispy Kreme, as part of Noah's rookie initiation.

Dunkin' Donuts is a Bulls sponsor -- which is why Gordon found himself serving up pastries and coffee at a Dunkin' Donuts near the Berto Center after practice.

Call it karma, if you will, but I'm not sure that's accurate: if anything, Gordon has all the more reason to step up his hazing game, which can only mean bad things for Chicago rookies Noah, Aaron Gray and JamesOn Curry.

You know what we haven't had enough of yet this pre-season: Position battles. And I'm not talking "this logjam has been here forever" discussion--I want seemingly random, unnecessarily clever coaching tweaks that get us all buzzing.

Like how about this daring duo of moves that, well, almost seem like veiled threats. First, you have Scott Skiles telling the Chicago Tribune that rookie Aaron Gray might start:

"We have to decide, balancing both units, do we want a couple of defensive players in the starting lineup or do we want more offense. Aaron has shown-and I think he will in the regular season-that he can score. Do we want to use that to start a game? It's something we have to think about."

That would mean that Gray--a second-rounder--has leapfrogged lotto guys Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas. Which does make a certain amount of sense, since pairing Gray with Ben Wallace at least gives them an outside shot at offense in the post.

Over at The Knicks Fix, word is that Brian Scalabrine might take Kedrick Perkins's starting spot on the Celtics. This is nothing against Perk, just that "Scalabrine's ability to hit the deep ball and pull one big out of the paint opens up room for Garnett to work on the post." Hmmm. Seems like addition by subtraction to me, when Perkins actually adds something to the team.

The Bulls kicked off their Fan Appreciation Scrimmage at the United Center with a little karaoke competition, pitting three rookies against each other while singing (what else?) Sweet Home Chicago. Thanks to Only the Bulls, we can see that Aaron Gray and JamesOn Curry held their own, but (surprise, surprise) no one got into it as much as Joakim Noah, who somehow managed to exude hustle and energy even while singing a song.
Sorry, No Photos