Bulls’ Rose, Deng feeling fine

Derrick Rose and Luol Deng sat back and watched the end of Sunday’s All-Star Game unfold.

Bulls fans may have been disappointed, but with everyone back at the Berto Center on Monday, the team is hoping the stage has been set for a healthy second half of the season.

Rose said he didn’t get or need any treatment on his back during the weekend in Orlando, Fla. He missed five games before the break with back spasms, before playing in the last two.

“I don’t have any pain nowhere,” he said. “My back is good. I’m not worried about it anymore. Just trying to move on from it.”

Deng played just less than six minutes in his first All-Star Game, none in the second half. He called reports that he did something to his injured left wrist exaggerated. He has been playing with a torn ligament in the wrist.

“I fell in the first quarter,” he said.

“I thought he was fine,” coach Tom Thibodeau concurred. “It wasn’t a big deal.”

Backup point guard C.J. Watson, who missed the final two games before the break with a concussion, also is healthy and participated in all of Monday’s practice.

So the one health question that remains is when veteran shooting guard Richard Hamilton will return. It should be soon, but probably not Tuesday when the Bulls host the New Orleans Hornets at the United Center.

Hamilton, 34, has played in just 11 games this season due to a groin strain and thigh bruise. So the Bulls want him to take his time and make sure he’s fully recovered and in basketball shape before returning to the court.

“He had a good practice today,” Thibodeau said of Hamilton. “We’ll see how he is tomorrow. We’re not going to rush it. Right before the break, he had a couple of good practices. He had a good practice today, but we want to make sure. We’re going to be patient.

“We’re going to make sure he can get through some practices and not have any problems. The intensity of a practice is still not what a game is. We want to make sure he can handle contact, be fine the next day, do it over a period of time, also.”

There appears to be no set answer for when Hamilton will return to game action.

The schedule will heat up quickly. After New Orleans, the Bulls will hit the road for three games in San Antonio, Cleveland and Philadelphia. The Spurs have the league’s fourth-best record after Miami, Oklahoma City and the Bulls.

“Rip looked good,” Rose said. “He was running through the plays, knocking down shots. His conditioning was good. That’s the biggest thing I was concerned about.

“With Rip, he opens the game up for us. We just can’t wait to get him out there and see what he can do.”

Of course, being healthy and staying healthy are two different things. The Bulls haven’t used their projected starting lineup of Rose, Hamilton, Deng, Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah since Jan. 4.

The second half of the season features 31 games in 59 days, so the grind continues.