Oct. 11--As yet another practice in a lifetime filled with them wound down, Kirk Hinrich launched jumper after jumper.
Swish. Swish. Swish.
Moments later, the veteran Bulls guard threw his head back and laughed when asked how many jump shots he figures he has taken in his life.
"Oh, geez, I don't know, I don't know," Hinrich said. "That's the great thing about this game, you can always get better. Growing up, it's what I wanted to do and I feel blessed to be able to do it."
At 34, Hinrich still is doing it as he is set to embark on his 13th NBA season. He started as a gym rat in Sioux City, Iowa, where his father, Jim, coached him from a young age through high school. He continued with a distinguished college career at Kansas and is in his second stint with the Bulls, with whom he will be counted on as a key player in the effort to dethrone the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference.
"It seems like yesterday I was a young player and now all these players call me, 'The Old Guy,' " Hinrich said last week. "I'm going to cherish it and not take anything for granted. I realize I'm at the tail end of my career (but) I feel like I can play longer."
Hinrich's NBA career began when the Bulls made him the seventh overall pick of the 2003 draft and he played for them seven seasons before two with the Wizards and Hawks and the last three back with the Bulls.
His career may be winding down, but he is all in for this season.
"I hope that I will know when it's time to go," said Hinrich, who exercised a player option for this season in June. "Mentally and physically it can be challenging at times but I'm up for it."
Coach Fred Hoiberg also believes Hinrich is up for it.
"Kirk is just so rock-solid," Hoiberg said. "He's always in the right spot. Defensively, he's very smart (and) he can get us into an offense. He does a lot of things that don't show up in a box score. That's a tough role to have, but Kirk has played it well his entire career."
Despite the wear-and-tear of an 82-game season, as well as the mental drain, Hinrich is able to reignite a passion for the game when he laces up his sneakers in preparation for another season.
Starting again, he acknowledges the challenge of returning after an offseason.
"But when you get back to it you realize how much you really love it and want to do it as long as you can," Hinrich said, who scored 13 points Saturday in the Bulls' 114-105 exhibition victory over the Timberwolves in Winnipeg, Manitoba. "I love the competition of it. I love the camaraderie with my teammates, the sense of coming together as a team and trying to accomplish something."
Making things both easy and difficult at the same time is Hinrich's dedication to his family. He and wife, Jill, have four children, ages 7, 4 and 1-year-old twins. Time spent at basketball arenas and on road trips means missing them but when he's home, family keeps Hinrich grounded.
"When I was young it was easy to get caught up in the lifestyle -- it's a great life," he said. "You get so many privileges but at the you have to be a pro and do your job. When I got married and had kids, it put everything in perspective for me. It was the first time I ever really had to balance basketball and anything else. To balance it was one of the more challenging things I've ever had to do."
One of the hardest things to balance are those extended road trips the Bulls take every season.
"I used to enjoy them," Hinrich said. "You hang out with the guys and try to get away from everything. It would just be us on the road. ... It seemed like that was when we learned so much about our team and we would come together. Now it's the same way but it's harder for me because not to be able to see the kids' faces on Christmas morning, stuff like that you really miss."
After 833 career regular-season games during which he has averaged 11.4 points and 5.0 assists in 31.7, is Hinrich proud of what he has accomplished?
"It's hard to answer that now because I just don't want it to be over," he said. "I don't want this to be all that I've accomplished. We have a good group. Hopefully, we can ... do some great things."
ckuc@tribpub.com
