DEERFIELD, Ill. -- With so many injuries, the Chicago Bulls can't be picky these days when it comes to a starting lineup, although it appears they have eliminated one guard combination.
After using a starting guard combination of Nate Robinson and Kirk Hinrich in Sunday's defeat at Detroit, coach Tom Thibodeau was asked if he liked what he saw from the duo. Thibodeau paused.
"Uh … no; no I didn't," he said. "Because it changed what we did when we subbed. Actually they started fine. The first quarter was pretty good until we broke the lineup. But then that's when everything changed. That's what I didn't like.
"I thought we had a pretty good rhythm the way we were before that. Because Nate, the way it was structured before, we took advantage of Nate's scoring. When Kirk came back in Nate could go to the 2 (guard). It's something we'll look at."
Marco Belinelli only returned Sunday from his abdominal strain and will have limited minutes moving forward. He played just 20 minutes Sunday night. His limited availability could eliminate him as a possible starter.
The limited options could even open the door for Daequan Cook to start at a guard spot Tuesday at home against the Toronto Raptors. Cook, who was signed in January after he was waived by the Houston Rockets, has not started a game for the Bulls this season.
"We made a lot of changes (against the Pistons), probably too many changes in terms of units together," Thibodeau said. "So it wasn't very smooth and I probably could have minimized it doing something different, so we'll see as we go forward. We had two guys coming in and one going out and then I changed both units.
"It's hard to get your rhythm, although whatever the unit is, we have to find that rhythm. When you're dealing with change it's how quickly you can adapt to that change that really matters. I'm expecting us to do a lot better (Tuesday)."
