Bulls believe talking more will help defense

The Chicago Bulls could have taken Sunday off, but it turned into a problem-solving day after a rough home loss to Minnesota.

The Bulls went 1-for-20 from the field during the final 11 minutes of the contest.

One subject coach Fred Hoiberg addressed was communication. He wants the players to talk more during games.

“I thought today was a good step in the right direction for the guys talking to each other,” Hoiberg said. “I thought in the film room, we talked some things out and on the practice floor today, guys really went out and competed against each other and it was a vocal practice.

“We didn't have that (Saturday) night. We screwed up a couple coverages in our ball screens simply because we didn't communicate quick enough. We're still very early in the process right now, but it's got to improve.”

As far as the struggling late-game offense, it could be a function of the players still trying to learn a new system.

“We tried to simplify things a little bit,” Hoiberg said. “Hopefully that will pay off for us. Then as we get more practice time, we'll continue to add. But we've got to get better at the basics right now.”

Dunleavy makes progress:

Injured forward Mike Dunleavy has been more active in recent days, usually shooting around after practice. But it's tough to tell when he might be ready for game action.

Dunleavy has back surgery just before training camp and the prognosis was a 6-8 week recovery.

“It was six weeks on Friday,” Hoiberg said. “So that was really when he was going to start ramping things up and getting in the weight room and start getting his strength back up. His back feels great. He's been getting a lot of spot shooting.

“The next step is after he gets the core strength back is to get him on the floor and start running and getting himself back in shape.”

Practice days ahead:

Following Monday's game at Philadelphia, the Bulls will have three days off, which appeals to coach Fred Hoiberg.

“That's going to be important to really install the values that we've got to work on every day — the basics,” he said. “Getting those things down and to have practice time, finally, will be good for that.

“We're 4-3 now. We've lost two of those games in overtime. We're close, but you've just got to have that intensity coming out of the locker room and it's got to be consistent for the full 48 minutes.”