Bulls match best preseason mark of last 16 years

The Bulls’ injury-plagued preseason came to a merciful end Friday with the team’s three primary point guards – Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich and Jannero Pargo – all sidelined with injuries.

Still, the Bulls (6-2) hammered the Washington Wizards 93-70 to equal their best preseason record of the past 16 years. They also finished 6-2 during the 2006 preseason, which preceded a 49-win regular season and the only playoff victory this decade. The Bulls haven’t beaten that mark since 1992-1993 when they were 9-0.

--With center Brendan Haywood back from a year off due to injury, the Wizards have a ton of size and the Bulls used to have a real hard time matching up.

Now with Joakim Noah, Brad Miller, Tyrus Thomas and Taj Gibson, the Bulls seem to be well-equipped to at least hold their own with teams inside. Noah (10.3 points, 8.5 rebounds) played well in preseason, while Gibson was an absolute revelation.

The No. 26 pick in the draft averaged 12.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and shot 55 percent from the field during preseason. Best of all, he seems to have a good understanding of what he needs to do on the court and should be ready to play significant minutes every night.

--There were a couple of good Thomas leftovers from Friday’s game. Thomas, Noah and Miller played together at times, which meant Thomas was the small forward, a role he seems to enjoy.

He also finished a couple of nice alley-oop passes from Miller, easily the best at throwing lobs on this team.

“Using Tyrus around the rim is where you want to use him as much as you can,” coach Vinny Del Negro cautioned. “I did like his activity, but he played a lot of three tonight. He’s going to have to get in there and play more four.”

In the locker room, Thomas downplayed the difference between the three and four spots.

“It doesn’t make a difference if you’re a ballplayer,” Thomas said. “Four or three is just a number.”