If the scoreboard lights up as much as Ron Mercer’s eyes do when the subject of a screening game is broached, Bulls coach Tim Floyd will be a happy man.
“I love to shoot coming off screens,” Mercer said, barely suppressing a smile.
Floyd has maintained that the Bulls will continue to use the triangle offense this season as its staple. But in a nod to his personnel’s strengths, not to mention 10 new faces, Floyd is introducing a screening-game offense aimed at freeing up shooters and utilizing agile post players.
Assistant coach Norm Ellenberger led an extensive session on it Thursday in the first of two practice sessions.
“When you have a new team that has not run the triangle and you have guys who have not played in anything but screening games, it’s my responsibility to try to give them an opportunity to have some level of success,” Floyd said. “You have to play to whatever your strengths are. And right now, while we’re learning the triangle, that’s not a strength.”
Free-agent signee Mercer, draft pick A.J. Guyton and trade acquisition Bryce Drew are shooters who have thrived in screening games. Returnee Fred Hoiberg also is a jump shooter who is familiar with such an offense.
“I’m excited about it,” Hoiberg said. “You incorporate a lot of reads into it, and I’ve played it before so you develop a knack for which way to go. It’s a great offense that is going to make the defense think a little bit.”
It’s also an offense that will allow Floyd to use Elton Brand and Marcus Fizer at the same time, an issue since draft day when the Bulls piled up on power forwards. In the offense the post players can work into high-low post situations where skills are more paramount than positions.
“They both have the ability to shoot 15-footers,” Floyd said. “They can both pass the ball and put the ball on the floor. Both have the girth and width to screen. So we look at the offense as an opportunity to play them together.”
Let it go: The Bulls play back-to-back exhibition games against Denver next week, the team Mercer began last season with before being traded to Orlando. It’s the team that still employs George McCloud. After the trade, McCloud criticized Mercer for his shot output and the two eventually had a physical altercation in a hallway following a game in which Mercer didn’t even suit up. Both received one-game suspensions from the league.
“That situation is over with,” Mercer said. “I’m just ready to play.”
Free Wolf? The NBA has set Oct. 16 as the date for arbitrator Kenneth Dahm to hear arguments in the case of Timberwolves forward Joe Smith. Minnesota owner Glen Taylor might have violated salary-cap rules in the league’s collective-bargaining agreement by signing Smith to a deal promising him a large contract next summer. Dahm’s ruling, expected shortly after the hearing, could result in a termination of Smith’s contract, making the forward a free agent.
Bulls General Manager Jerry Krause said the league issued a memo to all teams reminding them of tampering ramifications until a ruling is issued. The fact remains that if Smith’s contract is voided, the Bulls are one of the teams with ample salary-cap room.
Layups: Fizer, visibly favoring his right ankle, participated in both practice sessions. Floyd said he expects the first-round pick to play Tuesday in the exhibition opener at New York. Fizer has bone spurs, causing flare-ups of tendinitis. … The Bulls have their first intrasquad scrimmage Friday morning. . . . Former Bull Bill Wennington visited to watch practice.
