Halfway through an answer to a question about his playing rotation, Bulls' Coach Scott Skiles abruptly changed the subject, unsolicited.

"And let me say something else on the record since you [reporters] are here: I was way too harsh in my comments toward Tyrus," Skiles said. "And I apologized to him personally. I felt really bad about that. I didn't mean for that to come out the way it did. I wasn't misquoted or anything. But I felt bad about it."

At Tuesday morning's shootaround in Denver, Skiles strongly criticized Tyrus Thomas' lack of focus and attention to detail.

"We ask him to sprint the floor," Skiles said. "To my knowledge in his career he hasn't done it one time. Not one time."

Wednesday, Skiles appeared to show some uncharacteristic emotion during his apology.

"It was a mistake on my part," Skiles said. "It's hard when you say something, and you're quoted accurately to back up and say, 'I didn't mean it that way.' But that is honestly the case. I had a little something else going on, got distracted and I was way too harsh."