Former Bulls’ center and now commentator Will Perdue said, “The Bulls are oozing confidence” after their first day of practice at the Advocate Center.  Perdue noted that Bulls management has been pleased with guard Derrick Rose’s progress toward returning to the court.  “He’s practiced against the best players in the U.S.” Perdue said.  Now it’s a question of him shaking off the remainder of the rust.

Doug McDermott admitted he was a bundle of nerves before Tuesday and barely had any sleep Monday night.  But once he got on the court, he felt better.  “I want to be a better defender and team defender,” McDermott said. The issue head coach Tom Thibodeau will have is finding him minutes, which he plans to do in the pre-season games.

Rose joked that McDermott forgot to bring in the donuts for the first practice, apparently, a rookies’ responsibility.  Who knows, one day, he might pop for lunch?

Joakim Noah’s first thought upon the chances of landing free-agent Pau Gasol were slim. “It gets freezing here, that Polar Vortex thing.”  Gasol said a big reason he came was the players were hungry to win.  Gasol is 34 but he still has some good years left in him.  He played well in the FIBA World Cup.

Now that Gasol is in Bulls camp, Noah is psyched.  “It’s really exciting to have a player of his caliber here that we can learn from and a guy who is really going to affect the game,” Noah said.

Now the work begins on what could be a memorable season for Chicago Bulls’ fans.  A rampage could be impending.