Deng: Summer play didn't cause injury

The similarities are unmistakable.

Last year Andres Nocioni began suffering from plantar fasciitis and took a few weeks off to see if the injury would go away, but it never did.

Now Luol Deng has a nagging foot problem, left Achilles' tendinitis, and is going to take it easy for a week or three and hope the problem disappears.

Another thing they have in common is both players spent the previous summer with an extended workload of international basketball. But Deng doesn't think his first experience with Great Britain's national team has anything to do with this injury.

"Noc has been playing professional since he was 14, so I kind of think that's different," Deng said. "I just think this is an injury that happened. It's not overuse or anything.

"During the summer, altogether, I played about eight games. It was two games a week. If I wasn't playing those games, I would probably be running just as hard or playing just as hard. So I don't really think that's the fact."

What about practice? Did the British coach run the squad for three hours to prepare for Belarus or anything like that?

"I was sitting on the side avoiding practice," Deng said with a laugh. "I was the vet."

New-look lineup: Playing without Luol Deng and Ben Gordon on Wednesday, Bulls coach Jim Boylan mostly used Thabo Sefolosha (43 minutes) and Adrian Griffin (28 minutes) to fill the gaps in the rotation.

But it was odd that Tyrus Thomas played during the entire 17-0 Bulls run in the second quarter, then didn't see any action in the second half.

"Certainly Tyrus will be a guy who gets an opportunity to play more," Boylan said before the game. "Hopefully he takes advantage of that. From there, it will be up to how guys perform and what they do on the floor as to whether we stay with the same rotation or experiment a little bit."

Nets like Nocioni: Strange rumor of the day comes from the Bergen (N.J.) Record, which reported the Nets are talking about acquiring Andres Nocioni and Thabo Sefolosha from the Bulls for a group of second-tier players such as Marcus Williams, Antoine Wright, Bostjan Nachbar and Jamaal Magloire.

There appears to be no interest from the Bulls' side in such a deal, though they surely would listen if New Jersey is ready to deal Jason Kidd or Richard Jefferson.

Bull horns: Wednesday's contest was the start of a four-game homestand, which matches a season-long stretch at the United Center for the Bulls. They also have four straight at home in March. … Demetris Nichols made his first official Bulls appearance by playing the final 41 seconds against the Pacers. He made three appearances with Cleveland earlier this season.