Thunder’s Donovan has some close allies among Bulls
It’s obvious who has Joakim Noah’s vote for best coach ever.
‘‘I love coach [Billy] Donovan,’’ the Bulls center said of the former Florida coach, now in charge of the Oklahoma City Thunder. ‘‘He’s the best coach I ever had. He’s somebody I learned a lot from. It was always more than just basketball with coach Donovan. It was the best times of my life.
‘‘I’ll never forget my time at University of Florida. He was my mentor, my other father. I feel like at Florida it wasn’t just about winning games, even though we did a lot of that. I grew a lot as a man.’’
Noah isn’t the only connection the Bulls have with Donovan. Like the Thunder, they dipped into the college ranks for a new coach this offseason, making Fred Hoiberg the successor to Tom Thibodeau. NBA coaches have a certain brotherhood as it is, but Hoiberg — squaring off with Donovan for the first time Thursday night — said his connection with Donovan always will be a bit different.
‘‘We talked this summer after both of us took the jobs,’’ Hoiberg said. ‘‘Billy’s a good friend. I’ve been on a few trips with Billy, a couple of coaches’ trips, and spent a lot of time with him. Been on the recruiting trail with him. Never beat him on a recruit. But, yeah, we’re the two guys from college this year, with [Boston Celtics coach] Brad Stevens recently making the jump.
‘‘We talk. We’ll always be there to support each other. In this business, you have to have that support group.’’
Wilting Rose?
Point guard Derrick Rose continued to play with double vision Thursday. While Rose has struggled to score, Hoiberg will keep marching him out there.
‘‘No. 1, he wants to be out there,’’ Hoiberg said. ‘‘And he has been cleared to be out there. I truly believe we’re a much better team with Derrick Rose on the floor. If there was danger to him being out there, he wouldn’t be playing. It’s not with everything, but at times, he still has a little bit of blurry vision.’’
Hoiberg and Rose continued to talk about his progress, specifically his rhythm. The thought is that Rose is close.
‘‘He said it’s coming,’’ Hoiberg said. ‘‘And I agree with that. You can see he’s getting his rhythm back. That’s great. You can tell he’s starting to feel confident. Now it’s a matter of getting it done out there.
‘‘It’s hard enough to shoot with two eyes. It’s just a matter of time, in my opinion, before he takes that lid off the basket. And then he’s
going to take off from there.’’
The infirmary
Guard Kirk Hinrich sat out for the third consecutive game with an injured toe. He likely will miss the game Saturday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
‘‘He actually had an injection in his toe [Wednesday],’’ Hoiberg said. ‘‘We’ll let that calm down. It’s going to take two days of staying off it completely. And hopefully we’ll get him back for a little practice.’’
Mike Dunleavy (back surgery) was sitting on the bench again, though his return is still weeks away at best.