Inside the Bulls

X-rays taken of Tyrus Thomas' left arm taken on Friday revealed the Bulls' worst fears. The 6-9 forward suffered a fracture radius of the left forearm during a weight training session earlier in the day at the Berto Center.

Thomas will undergo surgery on Saturday and is expected to be sidelined four to six weeks.

This is not a good week to be Tyrus Thomas.

The forward missed two days with a nasty case of the flu earlier in the week before returning in a limited role Thursday at Cleveland. Then on Friday, Thomas suffered an injury to his left arm in a weight lifting accident during practice at the Berto Center.

The severity of the injury is not known yet, but Thomas was taken to a local hospital for x-rays. The results of those x-rays and his status for Saturday night's game against the Charlotte Bobcats is unclear at this point.

"It's pretty sore," coach Vinny Del Negro said. "I don't know how bad it is. He went to get an x-ray. Let's see how it is. I want to see how he is, what the doctor says.

"I think he was doing some type of pull up or something and kind of injured his arm. It's just unfortunate."

Tyrus Thomas was on the court shooting about two hours before tip-off of the Bulls-Cavaliers game tonight in Cleveland and is preparing to play. But whether or not he does will be a game-time decision.

"I want to see him warm up before deciding," Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said.

Thomas said he was much better today, but said was as sick as he's ever been a couple of days ago. He said he decided to fly to Cleveland after being examined by a Bulls physician.

"I went to see Dr. [Kathy] Weber," Thomas said. "She released me. She told me I was cool."

If Thomas does play, he'll come off the bench. Rookie Taj Gibson will start at power forward.

"I'm here to support the team, however it is," Thomas said. "Cheer, play, whatever. That's what I'm here for."

Not sure yet if he'll play, but I do know Tyrus Thomas is in Cleveland because he was on my flight.

I have to say I was surprised when I boarded the aircraft and saw Thomas sitting in first class.

He indicated he was feeling better and it appears he will try to play tonight when the Bulls play the Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena.

Our flight landed at 3:30 p.m., so he won't have much time to rest at the team hotel before heading to the arena.

Tyrus Thomas showed up at the Berto Center before this morning's practice session, but was still sick and was sent home for a second straight day.

He won't accompany the team when it departs for Cleveland this afternoon. Although it seems highly unlikely, there's a remote chance he could travel on his own on Thursday and join the team in time for the game with the Cavaliers.

"He's at home," coach Vinny Del Negro said of Thomas. "He'll see the doctor today and tomorrow and then we'll reevaluate and see if he can fly to Cleveland. But he's pretty sick still. He's got the flu, sore throat, the whole thing."

Besides allowing him to get rest, Thomas was sent home both days so he wouldn't infect anyone else on the team.

"Exactly," Del Negro said. "That's why he's not here."

Tyrus Thomas is out for tonight's game against the Milwaukee Bucks because of the flu.

Thomas was sent home before the morning shootaround at the Berto Center after seeing trainer Fred Tedeschi and was examined by a team doctor in the afternoon. He remained at home resting and didn't make the trip to the United Center.

Rookie Taj Gibson will start at power forward.

Guard Jannero Pargo will suit up, but he's still bothered by a sore back and coach Vinny Del Negro may try to avoid using him.

Tyrus Thomas missed this morning's shootaround with the flu.

Although there is still a chance Thomas could play tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks at the United Center, coach Vinny Del Negro said rookie Taj Gibson will start at power forward regardless.

Thomas wasn't at the Berto Center when the Bulls' shootaround ended, but Del Negro said Thomas saw trainer Fred Tedeschi when he arrived before the shootaround began and was sent home.

"[Thomas] wasn't feeling very well this morning, Fred said," Del Negro said. "We'll see how he feels tonight."

Heading into Sunday night's game with the Miami Heat, coach Vinny Del Negro wanted to see his team attack more on the fast break. In the first two games, the Bulls had a total of 10 fast-break points.

"You have to get stops, you have to get boards, you have to get it out quicker even if they do score and Derrick [Rose] has to play with more thrust and pace," Del Negro said. "Kirk [Hinrich] does that a little bit better.

"We've talked about. We want to be smart, but we also want to push it up, see what we can get and use Derrick's athletic ability."

Rose is working his way back from an ankle injury that caused him to miss much of the preseason and has been somewhat cautious in the first two games.

"I think it's early in the year, he missed a lot of training camp and he's not in great condition right now, so I think he's just feeling his way through a little bit," Del Negro said of Rose. "We've had two tough opponents the first two games. This one's not an easy one by any stretch. We're gonna have to play well [and] Derrick's gonna have to pick his game up like everyone."

The Bulls began practice Saturday with a film session. Friday night's loss in Boston didn't look any better the second time around.

"It's early in the season," coach Vinny Del Negro said. "We were on our heels, we weren't physical enough -- the same thing I said last night after the game. We just need to continually improve every day.

"Playing San Antonio and Boston back to back, you're hard pressed to start off any tougher than that. We're 1-1 going into tomorrow against Miami. We have to get back to where we were defensively - we slipped a little last night - and we have to start making some shots."

Once the film session ended, Del Negro led the players through a like workout at a local college in Boston before the team departed for Miami, where they face the Heat Sunday night.

The coach's message to the players was simple: Don't make too much of the game, but don't repeat that effort.

It seems like only a short time the Bulls and Celtics were playing a very entertaining seven-game playoff series, but the teams were back at it in a new season Friday night at TD Garden in Boston.

Derrick Rose was no worse for wear after playing 33 minutes Thursday night and coach Vinny Del Negro planned to use him in a similar manner against the Celtics.

"Let's see how he feels," Del Negro said. "I wanted to keep him around 30 minutes [Thursday] and he got 33. I'd like keep him around 30, but let's see how the flow of the game goes and see how he feels.

"As he gets loose, he feels good. He got a little fatigued at the end I thought, but after not playing for a while he had a solid game for us."

Del Negro on the Celtics:

"They've got their enforcer back in Kevin Garnett, and they added Rasheed [Wallace] and Marquis Daniels, two veteran pros. They cause a lot of problems.
It's a good test for us. It's early in the season - only our second game - but it'll a good test for us, a good barometer. I expect their guys to come out and play hard and get after it."