Aside from the final score, is there any way to judge whether a preseason game is a success?

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Rookie Taj Gibson continued to open coaches' eyes with his play Tuesday against the Bucks.

Yes, the Bulls beat the Bucks 87-86 in a meaningless exhibition Tuesday night, and yes, Joakim Noah (20 points, 16 rebounds) and rookie Taj Gibson (15 points, 10 rebounds) looked solid in the process. But, is there anything else Vinny Del Negro is specifically looking for in these warm-up contests?

"Effort," the Bulls head coach said after the game. "Execution. Executing the game plan. Making sure that we box out, rebound, do what we're supposed to on the screen-and-roll stuff. Get back in transition. The offensive stuff takes longer because it's timing. Timing and spacing and things offensively are the most important things. Ball movement, strong to weak.

"But really, defensively, I'm looking at the consistency we can play at for 48 minutes. The effort, when guys come in the game, knowing what they're supposed to do. And go and do their job. Everyone has different skill levels, but they have to play at the level that they can and help the team win. That's the bottom line."

If that's the criterion Del Negro evaluates his team by, he must consider the team's performance a mild success. To be sure, the Bulls didn't exactly play great Tuesday, making the types of preseason mistakes all teams make, but they did play hard. Aside from getting everyone healthy (namely, Derrick Rose, Tyrus Thomas and Brad Miller), that's all any coach can ask for.

What really has to make Del Negro happy is that Noah is starting to consistently produce the way the organization always figured he could. He is making moves in the paint that he didn't have two seasons ago.

"I think the success he had [in] the second half of [last] year really helped him," Del Negro said. "When you have that type of success, it builds confidence, and the confidence he took over into the summer. He put on some weight, he worked on his game … it's a good sign it's a growing process. Even though Joakim's been in the league now for a few years, he's still a young player."

Speaking of young players, Gibson continued to open the coaches' eyes with some quality play. The 24-year-old was just excited to be on the floor for his first game at the United Center.

"It was real nerve-racking. My heart was beating 100 miles per hour," the rookie said with a smile. "I'm looking at all the banners; I'm a city guy from New York, so I love basketball. Just to come in this building and see the place where Scottie Pippen, [Michael] Jordan and all these guys played, it was [awesome] for me."

If Gibson can have more nights like Tuesday, he'll be making a lot of Bulls fans feel pretty good about the way this team is shaping up. Most notably, his coach.

Day-to-day: Del Negro said after the game that Rose and Thomas are being evaluated on a "day-to-day" basis and that he hopes they'll be ready to go by Thursday.

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