Bulls growing close off the court

Derrick Rose has seen a major change in his teammates early this season. They're spending more time together off the court.

Typically, the NBA player has family obligations, business meetings and personal appearances to fill his time, which tends to keep everyone headed in separate directions until there's a long road trip.

“We're hanging with each other off the court, going to each other's houses, going to each other's events if we're having any,” Rose said. “It's getting like a college team.”

Asked what sort of things he's been doing with his teammates, Rose mentioned shopping and dinner as two examples.

“Jo (Noah) has an event Sunday at his house; kids are going to be over there for like a charity event. Seven or eight of us are going to go over there,” Rose said. “Some of us are big gamers, like Taj (Gibson), Booz (Carlos Boozer), (Ronnie) Brewer. We play each other on the Internet, everything. Four or five people will go out for dinner. That's rare for an NBA team.”

The Bulls have plenty of new faces this season and Rose didn't think this was a case of someone serving as social director.

“I wouldn't say one person,” he said. “It's just new people, good guys trying to get to know each other.”

Assessing preseason:

Even after a 28-point victory over Indiana on Friday, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau wasn't ready to rave about his team's preseason performance.

The Bulls finished 4-4, beating four teams that missed the playoffs last year, and have three days of practice before the real deal hits Wednesday at Oklahoma City.

“I always think we can do better,” Thibodeau said. “Offensively, I think we've been doing a very good job sharing the ball. I'd like to see our turnovers go down and I'd like to see us into the paint a little bit more.”

Thibodeau has long been renowned as a defensive strategist, so it seemed a bit odd that the Bulls' offense was sharper than the defense in preseason.

Indiana shot 35 percent from the field on Friday, but heading into that contest, the Bulls ranked a lowly 29th in defensive field-goal percentage.

“Overall, I think offensively we've been very good. Defensively, I just think it's been in spurts,” Thibodeau said. “That's something we have to correct. Challenging the shots has been a sometimes thing and it needs to be an all-the-time thing.”

Sharing the ball was evident on the stat sheet. The Bulls ranked fourth in the league in assists per game at 22.6 during the preseason.

Bench is tested:

The Bulls feel good about their depth, which will be needed while Carlos Boozer recovers from a broken hand.

There were some uneven performances by the supporting cast, though. Newcomers C.J. Watson (.322 field-goal percentage) and Ronnie Brewer (.280) don't look fully comfortable with their new team, while Brian Scalabrine (.563) and James Johnson (.500) have been sharp. Johnson knocked down his final 9 shots of the preseason, capped by a 3-pointer against Indiana.

Kyle Korver started out shooting very well, then tailed off as a cyst in his left ankle became a problem. Rookie center Omer Asik (6.9 rebounds per game) was aggressive inside, which is agreat sign.

“We felt very confident right from the start that we had more than enough in the locker room,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We have a lot of guys who have started in this league. So we feel good about our bench.”