At 1-5, Bulls frustrated but not worried

For all the frustration expressed by the Bulls after a 101-71 loss to Toronto dropped their record to 1-5, the players were notably positive in the locker room on Saturday night.

"We've had bad starts before," guard Kirk Hinrich said. "I think as a group, we've faced our fair share of adversity. I feel like if I didn't know these guys in this locker room and their character, I would be worried.

"Obviously, we're frustrated. We're upset. Use whatever word you want. As a group, we've just got to get it going somehow."

As bad as things have been, it can't yet compare to the Bulls' 0-9 start in 2004-05, which was Hinrich's second season. The Bulls came back to finish 47-35 that year.

"We'll be fine," Luol Deng said. "It's six games. I know we keep saying that. But it's a long season. We're not going to put our heads down. If this doesn't hurt, something's wrong with you. But we're going to bounce back. I know we are."

"I'm definitely encouraging everybody to stay together," added Ben Wallace. "We're in the situation right now, we're at the bottom of the pack. It can't get no worse. The only thing we've got to do now, we've dug ourselves a hole. We just have to keep fighting. We can't let the situation bury us."

Waiting for departure: The Bulls have an unusual early-season break in the schedule, with four days off before starting the annual circus road trip Thursday in Phoenix. That means a day of rest and three days on the practice court to figure out what's wrong.

"We're going to have a lot of time to think about this," Ben Gordon said following the 30-point loss to Toronto. "Hopefully, once we get on the road, we can just bounce back. Obviously, that's a tough trip. Hopefully, it will help us focus in more."

Coach Scott Skiles offered a blueprint of how he planned to approach the time between games.

"The only thing you can do in these moments is work the problems," he said. "We have certain problems we need to address. We take them one at a time and you just keep trying to work the problem and hope that somehow within the group, they can gain confidence from each other."

Shooters keep slumping: Through Saturday's games, the Bulls rank 29th in the league in points per game (86.5), field-goal percentage (.381) and 3-point percentage (.264).

All four guards in the rotation are shooting well below 40 percent -- Chris Duhon (.371), Ben Gordon (.354), Kirk Hinrich (.318) and Thabo Sefolosha (.214).

"Defense wins games, but you've got to put the ball in the basket to have a chance out there," Gordon said. "I don't feel I'm pressing on every shot. It's contagious almost."

Scott Skiles pulled Hinrich midway through the first quarter Saturday, hoping Duhon could do a better job of running the offense. It didn't help.

"There's a fine line," Skiles said. "The more we continue to discuss our offensive ineptitude, it just becomes self-fulfilling and we keep getting worse. We've got to get back to the basics. We've got to outplay opponents. I thought our intensity was good for a while (against Toronto) and then it waned. We're not very good when that happens."