THE BEANTOWN BLOG - NBA EUROPE LIVE
10/07/2009

MONDAY, October 5th and it's a quiet day at the o2. The crowd for the game won't be here for another 30 hours and I walk into an almost deserted arena to see the last half-hour of the Bulls training session.

Of course, by the time the media are allowed in all the good stuff has already taken place, but we still get to see the team being put through their paces and most eyes were on Luol Deng, who had a heavily strapped leg, but had no problems getting up and down the court.

Alas, there was no Derek Rose, who sat out the session, and fellow hacks were under the impression he would not be playing the following night (which turned out to be true). Sadly, there were no great plays to take back for my local league team to copy, but watching the session was still an enjoyable way to pass the time!

Afterwards there were the official photos and then the media session started. Naturally, Luol Deng had the biggest crowd of reporters and the French media were all over Joakim Noah.

I headed over to see Kirk Hinrich and of course, being a Celtics fan I had to ask him about the play-off series with Boston! I began by asking if he'd been reminded about it over the summer.

"That's all anybody asks us about!" he replied. "For myself, hanging about in the summer, media day, practice, here, that's all anybody wants to talk about is the Boston series.

"It was a great series and unfortunately we were on the wrong end of it but I think our team's probably better for the experience."

Despite losing, Hinrich felt the Bulls could take something from that that epic series as those situations will bode them well next time they get in the play-offs.

"I think with a young team you carry that on and it's a learning experience that is invaluable."

What's it been like since Ben Gordon left for Detroit and how will the team adjust?

"Ben was an explosive scorer, there's no question about that," replied Hinrich. "He played great for us for five years and we've just got to make up for it in other ways, I think we've got a lot of guys who can score.

"I think we've got a lot of guys capable [of filling Gordon's shoes]."

Final question for Hinrich before I moved on and I asked how the Bulls could improve further next season.

"If we want to make the jump up to being one of the better teams in the East, we got play defence a lot better, rebound, do all the little things better and pay attention to detail more.

"We need to be better defensively [and] play with a lot of energy every night if we want to make that step up from seventh, eighth spot, to possibly getting home court."

I always love talking to coaches and after chatting with Hinrich, I headed over see Bulls' coach Vinny Del Negro, and you guessed it, he was asked about the Boston series first.

"It was a good experience for the team," he replied. "A very difficult series and a very exciting series. I wasn't pleased with the outcome but I felt our team made strides and it is invaluable experience.

"For our young team it was good to get us that experience early on."

As a rookie coach in his first play-off series, I asked Del Negro if he found the series against Boston more demanding than the regular season.

"Being an NBA coach is always demanding, just with everything that's thrown at you, but I enjoy the competition," he replied. "I have a very veteran staff around me who have been very helpful."

Del Negro was asked by one of the US media if he felt coming over to Europe was a needless distraction and to his credit, replied with a very diplomatic answer.

"It's what scheduled so that's a little bit out of our hands but this is early on in our training camp and exhibition season, so it's a good bonding experience for a young team."

He added: "Think it's a good experience; the NBA game is such a global game now and teams are going all over the world to do these exhibitions, so I think it's great for the game."

Finally, when the Bulls had cleared the court it was time for the Jazz to take over. While the Media concentrated on Carlos Boozer, I wanted to chat with one of the legends of the game, Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan.

This will be Sloan's 22nd season as Jazz coach and I began by asking him what is it that keeps him coming back year after year.

"I enjoy coaching and I enjoyed playing," replied Sloan, "and after playing in this league I wanted to coach, and I've just been lucky to have been here so long."

"We've had great ownership and they've stuck with us through tough times," he added. "We lost 56 games and they kept us around, and not many people can say that."

How does this year's Jazz team stack up?

"This is a pretty talented team if we can get them to play together, and work together.

"We've a few little problems but hopefully we get to see this as a start and try to stay together, and work together, and see what we come up with."

I then asked Sloan who on the team would have to improve their game if the Jazz are to contend at all in the West.

"All of them are going to have to stand up," he replied. "We can't depend on one guy to step up and make a big difference, although if someone plays at that level it's fine.

"I just hope that everybody steps it up, that's what makes a good team when everybody plays well.

"Our bench players have always been important to us and will have to be again this year."

Having enjoyed an exclusive chat for a few minutes, and as other media arrived to get their quotes, I got one last question in and asked Sloan if he remembered his first season in Utah.

He laughed and then replied: "I can't remember that far back!"

After that it was a brief chat with a couple of other players before I retreated to the stands to watch the opening half-hour of the Jazz practice. And this time I got plenty of training tips for my local league team!