Bulls Improve to 1-0 Since Butler Elbow Injury

Midweek musings: With Jimmy Butler sidelined by an elbow injury for the next few weeks, the Chicago Bulls turned to Tony Snell to take his place in the starting lineup Tuesday at home against Washington. Snell filled Butler’s role of playing the most minutes (40), provided some defense and had 11 points. Not bad. Most impressive? Zero turnovers.

Video below of Playboy Plus’ Anita Serena for your viewing pleasure.

* Pau Gasol had 20 points (8-of-11 from the field) and 10 rebounds in the 97-92 Bulls victory. And he still didn’t look like he was fully recovered from a recent illness. It’s redundant to say what an excellent offseason acquisition he was. But it’s worth saying — or typing — again.

* Starting in place of injured Derrick Rose, Bulls guard Aaron Brooks had 22 points on 8-of-23 shooting. Better than Rose in a fair number of games this season. He also had two turnovers and eight assists. Also better than Rose in a fair number of games this season. Which is not to say Brooks is another Rose, the former MVP. But on nights like Tuesday, he can be good enough to help the team win. Which is all coach Tom Thibodeau really cares about, as he awaits his sidelined players to return.

* Nikola Mirotic may not win rookie of the year honors this season. Oh, the humanity. If he continues to play as he did Tuesday, he could make a late run at the Sixth Man Award. Mirotic had 23 of the Bulls’ 25 points off the bench. Someone tell the Bulls to let Taj Gibson’s injured ankle heal before letting him play again. Not only will it benefit Gibson in the long run, it will benefit the Bulls. Not to mention Mirotic.

* Speaking of Thibodeau, he told media after the game: “It’s going to be the collective effort. You don’t replace a Derrick or a Jimmy or Taj individually. We have to do it as a team. They’re going to keep coming, they’re all tough. We’re going to need a lot of resiliency and a lot of fight.”

* Speaking of the Bulls bench, it appears Doug McDermott needs to go to finishing school. And not the type where they show you which utensils to use at a formal dinner. The rookie from Creighton University was 0-for-5 from the field but could have had a couple of baskets if he had been able to finish on drives to the basket. At some point, he will show he is capable of scoring points from long range and otherwise. At this point, it appears that might not occur till next season.

* Speaking of futility from the field, Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich went 0-for-2 shooting. Which was an improvement over Sunday’s 0-for-7. At this rate, he might actually make a basket before mid-March. His next opportunity comes Thursday at home against Oklahoma City.

* If today is Wednesday (which seems likely because that’s what The Wife says, and she’s rarely — OK, never — wrong), then the next edition of “Sports & Torts” co-hosted by David Spada and Elliott Harris at noon Central time on Talkzone.com is only a day away. The guests on the March 5, 2015, show are Playboy Playmate Chelsie Aryn and soon-to-be inductees to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Charles Haley and Tim Brown. The highly acclaimed interview program (well, it certainly is held in such high regard in the Spada and Harris households as well as reportedly elsewhere) will be podcast later in the day Thursday (and presumably close to forever, if not longer) on the Talkzone.com web site.

Here is where to go for a daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the efforts of the editorial and video departments at ElliottHarris.com):