Chicago Bulls SG Rip Hamilton hopes to stay on court in 2012-13

Richard Hamilton played just 28 regular season games for the Chicago Bulls last year, the lowest total of his 13-year NBA career. Hamilton believes he'll be healthier in his second season with the Bulls, and talked about his injury plagued 2011-12 season, via CSN Chicago:

"I couldn’t get on the floor. Then, when I did get on the floor, Derrick went out. It was crazy. I said it from the beginning of the year, with all those games in a short amount of time … I’m just happy that it’s a regular season again."

Hamilton has been impressing his teammates thus far in training camp, and feels that having a full camp this year will help him form a better understanding with them. He noted that the lockout-shortened camp may have led to some of his struggles during his first season with the Bulls:

"Last year I didn’t even get to play in training camp, so everything was learned on the fly with no practices. So it’s fun for me now because I get an opportunity to really learn Thibs, learn the system, learn everything. Offensively, I’ve always been a player to study the offense and knowing where to get shots, knowing where things are open. Last year it was on the fly, like, 'How do I use Carlos Boozer to my advantage? How do I use Joakim Noah to my advantage?'"

Hamilton averaged just 11.6 ppg last season, his lowest figure since his rookie season and down from his 17.5 ppg career mark. 2011-12 was also the first time since his rookie season that Hamilton averaged under 25 minutes per game, and only the third time in his career he's averaged under 32.