Misfiring Bulls still start well

The Bulls are off to a good start this season, but they still have plenty of issues to address.

For one thing, they are the worst 3-point shooting team in the NBA at 26 percent. John Salmons (7-for-30) and Kirk Hinrich (5-for-20) are both shooting even worse than the team average.

The Bulls also rank 27th in free-throw percentage (.691) and almost blew Saturday's win over Charlotte by missing 5 in a row in the final two minutes.

"I think it's encouraging, really," Hinrich said. "I feel like offensively, we haven't played anywhere close to our best. I think we've been able to do a lot of little things and defensively, we've come a long way."

Turnovers have been another problem. They piled up a season-high 21 against the Bobcats, led by Derrick Rose with 7.

"You know me, I hate turnovers," Rose said. "That's my pet peeve. So for me to have all those turnovers, it hurts. It was just one of those games. I hope we don't have one of those games against (Denver on Tuesday), because they'll blow us away if we go out there and turn the ball over like that."

Comfort of home: Oddly enough, the Bulls coughed up 21 turnovers against Charlotte and had 19 against Milwaukee last Tuesday. But in between, they had just 7 giveaways in the 1-point win at Cleveland.

"I think we kind of relax a little bit," Kirk Hinrich said. "We know going into Cleveland, if we don't play well, we're going to get embarrassed. So we came out with a good effort.

"I think a lot of time at home, we have a comfort level and sometimes early in the game, we don't come out as sharp as we need to - which isn't good, but we definitely can fix it. I think it's encouraging that we've still won games the way we've been playing."

Bull horns: Tyrus Thomas, who had surgery to repair a broken left arm on Saturday, watched Monday's practice, but did not speak to reporters. - Center Jerome James is back to running full speed after recovering from a torn right Achilles tendon. He mentioned that he needs to pass a fitness test before he'll be allowed to practice with the Bulls. The burly 7-footer hasn't played since early last season with New York. - Center Aaron Gray (stress fracture in his left fibula) is running on the zero-gravity treadmill and expects to be back on the court soon.