Chicago ? Kirk Hinrich won’t be expected to carry the Chicago Bulls as a rookie, but he’ll have to tote their bags.
Hinrich, a Kansas University product, was drafted with the seventh pick overall by the Bulls, who see him as an unselfish and skilled role player who can feed the ball to promising big men Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry.
As a rookie, he also can expect to deliver their bags to them.
“I’ll do it. They’ve been here,” a grinning Hinrich said of the razzing he would face as an NBA rookie. “They’ve put in their time. I respect them, even though I’m probably older than they are.”
He is, by nearly two years. That’s one of the things Bulls general manager John Paxson liked about the 22-year-old Hinrich.
The Bulls have one of the youngest lineups in the league with the preps-to-pros duo of Curry and Chandler and third-year guard Jamal Crawford, who played just one year at Michigan.
“When I took the job back in April, I told all of you I’m looking for people who will play the game the right way. Play unselfishly, work hard,” Paxson said Tuesday after Hinrich arrived in Chicago. “Kirk is that type of guy.”
A 6-foot-3, 190-pound guard from Sioux City, Iowa, Hinrich played all four years at KU and led the Jayhawks to two Final Fours, losing in the title game this past season.
He was a third-team All-American and first-team All-Big 12 Conference selection as a senior and averaged 17.3 points. He also was the team’s toughest defender and its sharpest outside shooter, averaging 43 percent from three-point range during his career.
“I see myself fitting in really well. I know it’s a really young team, on the way up,” Hinrich said. “The number one thing is I’m going to come in here and earn the respect of my teammates.”
Hinrich is stepping into a delicate situation in Chicago.
The Bulls took Hinrich only after guard Jay Williams slammed his new motorcycle into a pole June 19, a week before the draft.
The former Duke player remains hospitalized because of a fractured leg, pelvis and torn knee ligaments. The team hasn’t commented about the extent of his injuries, nor have the doctors or the Williams family. Sources close to Williams have said the injuries were severe enough to jeopardize his career.
Hinrich said when he was able, he would like to visit Williams in the hospital. The two played each other in college, and were in the same high school recruiting class.
“That’s something I’ve been thinking about. It’s very unfortunate,” Hinrich said. “I know Jay. I consider him a friend.”
Hinrich joins a Bulls team that finished 30-52, an improvement over previous seasons. Chicago has missed the playoffs five straight years, though things could finally be turning around for the franchise that dominated the NBA in the 1990s.
Chandler, Curry and Crawford seemed to mature on and off the court last season, giving fans a glimpse of what’s yet to come.
Curry averaged 16.1 points in the second half and reached double figures in his last 13 games, and Chandler averaged 11.7 points and 9.7 points after the break.
With Hinrich on board, Paxson expects more improvement.
“He’s the type of guard that can … make our big players better basketball players,” Paxson said. “Being able to initiate an offense, being able to make passes to the post, being able to run a team and make decisions down the stretch.
“We were a team that didn’t not win a lot of close games last year, with our youth.”
Since the draft, Hinrich took some time for himself, making a weekend trip to Las Vegas with some high school buddies. It seems he’s a better basketball player than he is a gambler.
When asked how he fared, Hinrich said: “Not very good.”
It didn’t take long for Hinrich’s mop-top hair to come up at Tuesday’s news conference. It was the first thing he was asked.
A reporter questioned Hinrich about his basketball skills, then said, “as a follow-up, would you describe your hairstyle.”
“As far as my hairstyle, I really don’t care I guess,” he said, drawing laughter. Asked about it later, Hinrich rolled his eyes and said, “I might change it if you guys keep bothering me.”