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Thumbs Down for Kirk

by

Nov 8

The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or their Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Bulls and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.

Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro has been saying he might change the starting lineup again. This probably wasn’t what he had in mind.

The Bulls announced Saturday before the game that Kirk Hinrich will have surgery Tuesday after suffering a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb Friday against Phoenix.

The preliminary estimate is Hinrich will be lost from the team for about three months.

I’ll have more on this later after Del Negro meets with the media about an hour before the game and Hinrich speaks to reporters.

Ouch, this one hurts.

Hinrich was back in the starting Friday along with Aaron Gray as the Bulls played their best game of the season in blowing out the Phoenix Suns 100-83. Hinrich played a key early role with five steals and five assists before leaving in the third quarter.

With Larry Hughes still recovering from a shoulder injury, but possibly able to play next week, the Bulls suddenly are somewhat shorthanded in the backcourt. We’ll see whether Del Negro will go back to Thabo Sefolosha or use Ben Gordon. I’d look at this as a chance to play Luol Deng at shooting guard.

Hinrich was at the game and wearing a soft cast on his right thumb.

Also, Drew Gooden, who sprained his ankle in Friday’s game, didn’t practice with the team when they showed up for their pregame shootaround at the United Center just before the game instead of earlier in the day at the Berto Center. Gooden also wasn’t expected to play Saturday against the Cavs.

The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or their Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors.

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