AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Ben Wallace didn’t have the greatest experience in Chicago, but that didn’t stop him from encouraging teammate Rip Hamilton to join his former team.
The one-time Bulls and longtime Detroit Pistons center spoke favorably about the Bulls before Hamilton signed a free-agent contract before the season.
‘‘When I was there, they took good care of me, and I was pretty sure they would do the same for him,” Wallace said. ‘‘I told him that would be a nice spot for him and a nice fit. They have a point guard in Derrick Rose that demands a lot of attention and [will] allow him to run around and do what he [does].”
Wallace said he doesn’t consider his season-and-a-half in Chicago the disaster many Bulls fans do.
‘‘I had fun there,” he said. ‘‘I enjoyed being there. I enjoyed the team we had. The first year I was there [2006-07], we had a lot of success as far as basketball-wise. The second year, a couple guys got hurt, injuries hit us and things kind of fell apart, but I enjoyed my time there.”
When told Hamilton gets to wear his headband with the Bulls when Wallace wasn’t during his first season here, Wallace replied: ‘‘Good for Rip.”
Déjá vu for Watson
C.J. Watson saw the slow-motion footage of himself diving for a loose ball against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday night. He saw his left elbow bend a way it shouldn’t bend and had the same reaction many viewers did.
‘‘I watched it a couple times, and it hurt me to just look at it, and it happened to me,” he said. “It was pretty bad.”
Watson was still wearing a sling before Wednesday night’s game against the Pistons. While coach Tom Thibodeau considers his backup point guard day-to-day, Watson said he could be out as long as a week-and-a-half with what he described as “a sprain and a tear in my ligament.”
He would know. He suffered a similar injury to his right elbow when he dove over the bench and fell on the concrete floor while playing for the Golden State Warriors in 2009. In both cases, he was trying to secure a loose ball. Against the Grizzlies, it was in the fourth quarter of a game the Bulls would win 104-64.
‘‘I know how it feels and how it’s going to heal,” he said. ‘‘I didn’t miss much time with [that] elbow, so hopefully I won’t with this one, either.”
Historic low
The 42 points the Bulls scored through the first three quarters of Tuesday’s win over the Hawks were the lowest by a winning team during the shot-clock era.
