Dragan Tarlac and Dalibor Bagaric were the center of attention at Bulls training camp Friday, even though neither player has assumed his position of center.
General Manager Jerry Krause had hoped Tarlac, who played for Yugoslavia in the Sydney Olympics, would be reporting to camp Friday or Saturday. But visa problems have delayed the 1995 second-round draft pick in Athens, and Krause said Tarlac isn’t expected until Tuesday. The Bulls play their exhibition opener Tuesday night at New York.
Bagaric, attempting to extract himself from a messy contract situation with his Croatian team Benston Zagreb, has yet to have his hearing with FIBA, basketball’s international governing body. Krause said no date had been set for the hearing.
“The lawyers are working overtime on that one,” Krause said. “If I sat here and tried to explain [the delay], I couldn’t.”
What is clear are the ramifications of their absence. Tarlac and Bagaric will be two of the many rookies on this year’s Bulls team, and they are missing valuable teaching time in double sessions.
Another rookie center, Jake Voskuhl, has yet to sign a contract because he is recovering from off-season surgery on a broken bone in his foot. That leaves Brad Miller and Lorenzo Coleman as the only true centers in camp. Coleman isn’t expected to make the regular-season roster.
“They’re missing out on so much,” coach Tim Floyd said. “The real problem is you have to go back and reteach, which takes away from the other guys. … The other problem is they’re going to come back in stages.”
Floyd said Tarlac watched tape of the Bulls’ triangle offense when he came to the Berto Center this summer to sign his one-year, $2.5 million contract. But watching and participating are two different things. Just ask Elton Brand, who after one season with the triangle is on the other side of the learning curve.
“Sometimes I feel the anguish that Toni Kukoc and those [veterans] felt last year,” Brand said. “I remember them getting mad and saying, `It’s easy. Don’t you get it?’ Ron Artest and I were just lost. Now [rookies] are in our shoes, so I try to be patient with them.”
Brand may be exhibiting patience, but he didn’t show much mercy in leading his Red team to a 30-point trouncing of the White team in the first intrasquad scrimmage. Floyd called for the scrimmage Friday after three straight days of double sessions. Floyd said A.J. Guyton and Ron Mercer also played impressively in the victory.
“It felt good to go up and down the floor,” Brand said. “We’ve been just going through plays. I think we’re ahead of where we were last year offensively.”
Layups: A limited number of free tickets for an Oct. 22 open practice and scrimmage at the United Center will be available at 9 a.m. Saturday. Interested fans, who will be limited to six tickets per person, should go to the United Center box office. … The Bulls return to double sessions over the weekend.
