Chris Duhon stood in a downtown office building and smiled, looking not unlike the happy Duke fan he had been Saturday in Durham, N.C.
That night was one missed shootaround, 30 seconds of flip comments, two fines and two benchings ago.
That’s why Duhon agreed to his first print interview Thursday night. Tired of the fuss his decisions had caused, Duhon vowed to put his palpable frustration over not playing behind his hope to contribute to a Bulls playoff run in any way possible.
“I was frustrated, and I let that get the best of me,” Duhon said. “I just wanted to go to an environment that would lift my spirits. I wanted to talk to [Duke] coaches who have helped me with my mind-set throughout my whole career.
“No matter my opinion of whether I’m getting screwed or not, Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) said I couldn’t let that affect the type of person I am and the way I come to practice and present myself to my team and coaches.”
Bulls management had less of a problem with Duhon chartering the jet and flying to Durham than his sleeping through Sunday’s morning shootaround and then scoffing at his benching because he “wasn’t playing much anyway.”
The situation escalated because it came on the heels of Tyrus Thomas intentionally missing a practice.
“I just made a wrong decision of trying to go to an environment that I thought that I needed to help me get out of my funk,” Duhon said. “I regret it because it has caused a lot of unnecessary attention for this team while we should be focusing on getting into the playoffs.
“I told my teammates I was sorry. A lot of them knew I was going and understood my frustration. But I have to be a better teammate and a better professional. In hindsight, I should have let (general manager John Paxson or interim coach) Jim Boylan know I was going in the first place instead of them having to be shocked while seeing me on TV.”
Duhon confirmed it bothered him that he played through a painful bone bruise on his left knee in January, only to be dropped from the rotation when the Bulls acquired guard Larry Hughes on Feb. 21.
“If I can walk, I can play, and that’s how I’ve always been and how I will always be,” Duhon said. “So to go from playing through an injury to not playing at all was hard to take.
“What frustrates me the most is not getting playing time. My minutes have been cut it seems like every year. I’m available, and I’m not playing. As a competitor, that’s frustrating. And no one has come and told me anything, which also is frustrating.”
Paxson and Boylan have said they understand Duhon’s frustration. But with the fourth-year guard an unrestricted free agent who isn’t in the team’s plans, Hughes, Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich and Thabo Sefolosha consume the backcourt minutes.
Boylan clearly is tiring of the subject. After saying Duhon would be active for Friday’s home game against the 76ers, he cut short a question about Duhon’s role.
“I’m not going to talk about that,” Boylan said.
Duhon did, and admitted not playing still would sting but it would be lessened somewhat if someone merely spelled out the obvious for him.
“Just looking at it from a player’s standpoint, I knew there were more guards,” Duhon said. “At first, I thought Jim was trying to get a feel for the new guys. He apologized after the [Feb. 24 Houston] game for not getting me in. So from there, I just thought, ‘OK, this is something new for him. I have to sit here and be ready.’
“After the next game I didn’t play, I saw John after the game and he said he felt for me. We didn’t get into depth about it. John has always been straightforward to me. He and I have a great relationship. But nobody came up to me and told me anything definite.”
Duhon contemplated a question regarding whether this string of off-the-court distractions is indicative of individual agendas that have manifested in selfish on-court play.
“We can’t find the connection that we used to have,” he finally said. “I know going into the season guys were excited. We were thinking championship. When things started going bad, guys got frustrated.
“When things start to go bad, guys try to do it on their own instead of trying to do it together. That may make us look selfish. But none of our guys are selfish.”
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kcjohnson@tribune.com
