Nocioni might be the one to give Bulls some 'spacing'

While the struggling Bulls logged six hours on the practice court over the past two days, coach Scott Skiles' buzzword when discussing the team's anemic offense has been "spacing."

The Bulls need better spacing, according to Skiles, which basically is another way of pointing out that someone needs to hit some outside shots.

During the 1-5 start, all four Bulls guards have shot well below 40 percent, and the team as a whole has managed to knock down just 26.4 percent of its 3-point attempts.

"We need a little more space to operate out there right now," Skiles said Tuesday at the Berto Center. "What's happening to us is, because nobody's really making shots right now, the collapsing is getting worse and worse. Guys aren't even honoring our jump shooters right now. We're just wide open.

"Until (the slump) is over, we need to find ways for somebody to put the ball in the basket for us, and then that should just spill over to the next guy and the next guy."

The Bulls almost certainly will try a new lineup when the annual circus road trip begins Thursday against the Phoenix Suns.

The most obvious candidate to be the designated "space creator" is Andres Nocioni. The fourth-year forward was the only Bulls player to display any offensive skill in Saturday's 30-point loss to Toronto. Nocioni hit 8 of 14 shots for a team-high 20 points.

"Nocioni's a guy that has made shots for us, historically," Skiles said. "Right now, when we're struggling to shoot, it makes sense to get him into that lineup. Normally after five or six games in the regular season he really starts shooting the ball well. He's really shot it (at practice)."

The Bulls could either use a small lineup with Nocioni starting at power forward or go bigger with Luol Deng sliding over to shooting guard and Nocioni stepping in at small forward.

Going small might make sense against the Suns, who probably use the league's shortest lineup.

"I think everybody's kind of expecting there to be some sort of lineup change, just because of our record," guard Kirk Hinrich said. "They feel like they have to do something to try to shake it up."

"It's a logical moment right now to try something different," Skiles said. "Unfortunately it's against a team like Phoenix. They make you play a little bit differently anyway."

Ben Gordon, who had success early in his career coming off the bench, said Tuesday he could deal with being removed from the starting lineup. Gordon does lead the team in 3-point shooting, although his accuracy is an unimpressive 31.4 percent.

"I don't have a choice right now," he said. "We're 1-5 and we need some kind of change to get everybody going. I don't know if me coming off the bench will help or somebody else coming off or whatever. But I'm all about winning right now. Whatever it takes. I just want to win."

Playing an up-tempo Phoenix team might give the Bulls an opportunity to build on their 86.5 scoring average, which ranks 28th in the league.

Hinrich acknowledged the spacing argument but added his own theory on why the Bulls have been such miserable shooters through six games.

"We just need to relax and play off each other," he said. "Create plays for each other and just kind of have each other's backs out there. It seems like we've kind of all been off on our own page at times."