Scalabrine Minutes

Brian Scalabrine strips away the familiarity and comfort of his Chicago Bulls home warm-up. It's time to go to work.

Brian Scalabrine, by virtue of playing on an NBA team, will forever be confounding. His game is not the confusing part. Scalabrine is a moderately skilled player who, at this point in his career, does nothing on the basketball court particularly well. His value is as a locker room guy -- a guy who keeps the other players loose and helps them understand the system he knows in and out. Scalabrine, by all accounts, is a sharp basketball mind and a future head coach. The NBA is filled with smart bench players. Why is it that Scalabrine is the only one who receivers standing ovations?

The popular explanation deems Scalabrine "the human victory cigar." He only plays when the Bulls are blowing their opponent out. His entrance into the game then makes it official: the Bulls have secured a victory. When the UC crowd chants for Scalabrine, they're really just chanting for the game to be wrapped and delivered. There's of course more to it than that. What makes Scalabrine different from the 12th man on the bench in every other city is his appearance. The curly red hair, pasty skin, pot belly, and lack of athleticism are the traits you'd give your 2K Created Player because they look funny. He's the exact opposite of what a prototypical NBA player is supposed to look like. Seventy-five to eighty percent of the UC crowd on any given night bears more resemblance to Scalabrine than any other Bulls player, and people like rooting for players they look like. Appearance-wise, what truly separates Scal from the crowd is his height, furthering the popular fan delusion that they too would be a professional basketball player if they were 6'9.

To Scal's credit he doesn't seem upset over the increasingly patronizing chants. He only cares about the respect of his teammates and coaches and dismisses his name as one that "just sounds good coming off the tongue." Bulls fans have been debating about the "Scalabrine" chants since last year. Some consider them harmless fun and others feel they are embarrassing and racially motivated. Race and overall appearance, I believe, do play the biggest factor, but if Scalabrine isn't offended and his teammates aren't offended, then let the crowd chant. Scalabrine and the chants aren't going to disappear anyway.

This is what I came here to talk about: Scalabrine is seeing more playing time this year. It's been strange. Last year, even with a 20-point lead, the "Scalabrine" chants fell on deaf ears. This year, the "Scalabrine" chants are followed by Scalabrine checking in. Could it be? Has Thibs finally started to soften up and concede the game is in hand? Of course not, the rotation is just different this year. You probably don't remember and neither did I, but Scalabrine was part of the regular rotation early last year. He appeared in only 18 games on the season and played 87 total minutes. Forty-nine of those 87 minutes were in the first five games of the year!

Carlos Boozer's preseason injury left minutes open at power forward and Thibs favored Scalabrine off the bench over Kurt Thomas. Boozer returned and Thomas played well in Joakim Noah's absence, leaving Scal as the odd man out. This year, rookie shooting guard/small forward Jimmy Butler occupies Thomas' old roster spot. When it comes time to clear the bench, Scalabrine gets the call because he no longer has three guys playing in front of him.

The reconstructed roster then, more so than a condensed schedule or Thibs' loosening his authoritarian grip, is the reason Scalabrine has appeared in 8 of the Bulls' first 16 games. So if Scalabrine minutes are your favorite part of the Bulls game,  thank Kurt Thomas for taking his forearm shivers and silky smooth elbow set-shot to Portland. Send him a "Thank You" card. Or a telegram.