Bulls coach Phil Jackson said Toni Kukoc’s preseason shooting woes have more to do with his conditioning than a sore foot. Kukoc says the foot is “about 95 percent” healed and he won’t need surgery.
“Physically, he’s just got to get in shape,” Jackson said. “His legs aren’t in shape and his shot is short. When he gets in condition he’ll be fine. Toni’s last report to me was 95 percent. That’s great.”
While Kukoc was shooting just 2 of 15 from the field in two games of the McDonald’s tournament in Paris, an NBC report said he was prepared to have season-ending surgery. Jackson said the report came from talk before training camp that Kukoc was considering an operation.
“As far as I can tell, there hasn’t been any reconsideration of that since training camp has begun,” Jackson said. “He’s never said it’s bothering him, that it’s been worse or anything else. This is all pre-training camp possibility.”
A little help: With Michael Jordan out for the remainder of the exhibition season, the Bulls’ scoring burden falls to Kukoc, Luc Longley and Jason Caffey.
“We talked a little bit about Luc stepping up and playing more of a major role and Jason contributing in his inside game,” Jackson said. “But we’re a team that relies on 50 percent of our scoring from Jordan and (Scottie) Pippen, and when that’s gone it’s going to be much more difficult. But some way we’ll overcome it.”
Jackson says some good will come out of Jordan’s absence if the rest of the team can wean itself from being too dependent on him.
“It’s going to be fine for us,” Jackson said. “We’ll get guys playing and we’ll get to do three or four options in our offense rather than dumping the ball in his lap and letting him do what he does best, which is score. We’re going to have to play better team basketball and that’s always good early in the season because it makes a team execute better.”
Reflections of France: Bill Wennington’s lasting impression of the team’s Paris trip?
“The traffic was pretty bad . . . the way the bus driver moved that bus through the traffic with the police escort was pretty cool,” he said.
A week in Paris got a little tedious.
“I don’t think you’ll find too many guys who are unhappy to be back here right now,” Wennington said.
