National Basketball Association

Taj Gibson Named Starting PF for Bulls on Opening Night

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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After some speculation throughout all of training camp and the preseason, Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg announced on Tuesday that Taj Gibson will be the starting power forward on Opening Night.

It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Fred Hoiberg named Taj Gibson as the fifth starter for the Chicago Bulls heading into their season opener on Thursday night against the Boston Celtics.

Hoiberg made the announcement to the media after practice on Tuesday and confirmed the Bulls’ starting five on Thursday night will be Rajon Rondo, Dwyane Wade, Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson and Robin Lopez.

We feel like he has played excellent basketball throughout the preseason,” Hoiberg said to the media contingency after practice, via Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago.

“He’s been good in practices. We’ve talked to our guys about that. Niko [Mirotic] has had a couple good practices in a row now. You try to get him in a good rhythm coming out of the gate. But that’s the way we’re going to start.”

Hoiberg isn’t wrong when he said Gibson had played some excellent preseason basketball. He did. Gibson lead the Bulls in points (13.8) and rebounds (7.7) per game in the seven-game preseason schedule and was his usual hard-working self.

Nikola Mirotic may become the better fit as the season goes along, but right now, Hoiberg is making the right call by starting Gibson off the bat.

Also, the Bulls are going to be at full strength to start the year?

The Bulls may be a player short of a full roster, but it appears they’ll be at full strength to kick off the 2016-17 season.

Cristiano Felicio (throat) and Denzel Valentine (ankle) both practice on Tuesday, so the Bulls should be all set and ready to go on Thursday night.

It’ll be curious to see how much Hoiberg utilizes Valentine in the opener, being that outside of some action in the preseason opener, he hasn’t played in any real-game action.

Hoiberg’s not shy on opening up the rotation, so it’ll be interesting to see how he uses the Bulls’ first-round pick on Thursday night, plus Felicio behind starter Robin Lopez against the Celtics.