Doug Padilla, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Final dress rehearsal looms for Bulls

CHICAGO -- If he has even the slightest spare minute of time, the sense is that Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau will use it to figure out a way to make his team better.

So if there is court time available and another NBA team sitting at the bench on the opposite side of the arena, you can bet that Thibodeau will take advantage of it.

With the Bulls’ final preseason game approaching Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves at St. Louis, Thibodeau isn’t looking at it as an opportunity to take it easy on his starters and see what his bench can give him for 30-plus minutes.

“In general, you don’t want to skip any steps; this is your final test,” Thibodeau said after practice Thursday. “You can use it, and as you do with every game, analyze the things you’re doing well, the areas you need to lock into to improve and clean up.

“I don’t want us to get wrapped up in 'This is the last preseason game' or 'The start of the season.' Just concentrate on exactly what is in front of you, what are we trying to get accomplished today and lock into that. If we do the right things and put the right amount of work in, things will take care of themselves.”

That being said, perhaps Thibodeau’s hand will be dictated by how his players feel. Derrick Rose has played in just 10 NBA games over the past two seasons and Joakim Noah is coming off offseason knee surgery, so the coach was asked if there was an alternate plan for both in Friday’s game.

“I’m not sure yet,” Thibodeau said.

Will they even play Friday?

“As far as I know, yeah,” he said.

Noah isn’t looking for any breaks. Despite a recent report that said Noah’s knee could end up giving him problems all season, he wasn’t looking for either downtime or sympathy. He was asked if he knew how many minutes he might play against the Timberwolves.

“I wish I could tell you that; I’m not the coach, but I feel good,” Noah said. “I feel better every day. I’m working hard and I’m excited.”

Thibodeau is never one to be content with how his team is playing and preparing, so it wasn’t as if he was going to say his team was right where it needed to be heading into the final tuneup before the Oct. 29 season opener at New York against the Knicks.

“We’re going to find out,” he said. “You can’t have a good day and then a day when you don’t put the work in. You have to put the work in every day. You’re making your deposits now and building the foundation and establishing your habits. It’s a never-ending process. You have to continue to do it. You have to do it on the days where you may not be feeling your best. That’s important. You have to build your discipline and mental toughness. And you have to do that collectively.”

Where Thibodeau’s biggest concern earlier in camp was with how the defense was playing, he wasn’t ready to say whether offense or defense was his best asset right now.

“Probably neither area right now; I think we’re capable of doing a lot better in both areas,” Thibodeau said. “That’s the challenge of getting everybody on the same page and having a good understanding of what everyone’s strengths and weaknesses are. You always ask yourself: Are we doing it hard enough and are we executing it properly? You measure everything from that standpoint.”

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