In truth, the Chicago Bulls usually rotate 10-11 players, but tonight's Christmas game is against a direct competitor. Skiles wanted to try using playoff strategies to go all out. Yao Ming played 37 minutes, Hinrich and Luol Deng both clocked 40 minutes...yet in the end, they were still taken down by the opponent's Double Guns.
The Bulls still have Aaron Gray, a sophomore center whose progress has been disappointing, with fringe players Cedric Simmons and Anthony Roberson available for use.
Aaron Gray is a player from the '07 class, a mature center who graduated after four years. In his rookie year, he looked quite promising, serving as Yao Ming's backup, appearing in 66 games, starting 5, and averaging 12 minutes with 4.8 points, 4 rebounds, and 0.8 blocks...but in his sophomore year, he regressed, performing even worse than his rookie season.
Joe Smith was moved to the center position; aside from his declining speed, Yao Ming having no capable backup is also a reason.
