Bulls reaction: Focus still on Tom Thibodeau's management of minutes

On Saturday, the Chicago Bulls lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the overwhelming reaction thus far as been this: very, very ugly game. There was approximately one penalty called every 45 seconds, as noted by SB Nation's Blog A Bull in their postgame recap. Well, to call it a recap is a little bit of a misnomer, given that they mercifully missed the ugly game.

Still, they had a lot to say regarding coach Tom Thibodeau and the time he gives to some of his top players. Thibodeau had Jimmy Butler in on all 48 minutes of play, and it's been a trend of his for as long as he's been coach. The general feeling is that he has his guys in there for too long and it leads to injuries and a totally gassed team by the end of the season.

By the end of the year the franchise is temporarily crippled due to injures, including until the last week of last year's campaign where Joakim Noah was put back into the game after bending his ankle 90 degrees, and it's still just jokes and shrugs when Thibs continues this nonsense.

The minutes for top players will continue to be a point of focus throughout the preseason, much more so given the fact that Derrick Rose is out for the first half of the season with an injury. Chicago can't afford to lose more players due to injuries, and less time in the preseason might be a smart move to keep the players fresh.

The post goes on to note that there's no direct proof of more minutes leading to more injuries, but it's a general feeling that the players need more time to rest, and just about everyone has pointed that out.