Bulls' play has been lackluster but not terrible

Something isn't right with the Bulls. It isn't necessarily the starting lineup or the late-game strategy or the first-time head coach or any one player holding them back.

It's been a little bit of everything.

Five games into the regular season, no can say the Bulls are a good team, because they're 2-3. But they haven't exactly been awful, either, considering the losses were to three of the best teams in the East - Boston, Orlando and Cleveland, all on the road.

"I think everybody's trying to figure out everybody right now," coach Vinny Del Negro said following Thursday's practice at the Berto Center. "The good teams in this league stick together. When you trust your teammates and you trust the system, your chances of success go up dramatically. We've got a long way to go with that."

The next stretch is important because five challenging home dates remain - beginning tonight against Phoenix, followed by a rematch with Cleveland on Saturday - before bag-packing begins for the annual circus road trip.

So here's an early look at what's working well for the Bulls and what is not, beginning with the good:

• Rookie Derrick Rose hasn't had a bad game yet. In Wednesday's loss at Cleveland, the No. 1 draft pick missed some open jumpers and couldn't convert a few nice drives to the basket, yet still finished with 20 points and 7 assists.

When those shots start falling, Rose has the talent to be a routine 20-point scorer, with the occasional monster game thrown in. As a point guard, he doesn't always send the ball to the right places and likewise, the other Bulls could do a better job of finding the openings Rose creates.

• Ben Gordon's head appears to be in the right place. Some players have struggled in the past under the pressure of playing on a one-year contract. But the Bulls should have no complaints with Gordon's performance so far.

Playing fewer minutes than he has the past three years, Gordon is averaging 17.6 points and shooting 46 percent from the field. Imagine what is possible if someone - Rose perhaps - started setting up shots for Gordon when he has the hot hand.

• The defense hasn't been terrible. Until the Bulls ran into an inspired LeBron James on Wednesday, they hadn't given up 100 points in a game. Before Cleveland, they ranked 14th in both points allowed and defensive field-goal percentage, which isn't bad considering the changes in the coaching staff.

The good news stops there, more or less. Considering the Bulls have just one new player on the active roster this season, there shouldn't be five regulars shooting below 40 percent from the field. Here are the other bad omens plaguing the Bulls:

• The offense is way out of sync. Against the Cavaliers, Luol Deng stood about 12 feet from Andres Nocioni, with no defenders in sight, and they still managed to lose a pass out of bounds. Kirk Hinrich rifled a pass out of bounds toward a cutting Ben Gordon, who wasn't looking for the ball.

At other times, some Bulls seem to show a grade-school mentality of being determined to get a shot off, no matter what the defensive circumstances.

"We need to share the basketball a little bit more," Del Negro said. "We're taking too quick a shots on the transition stuff."

• The pre-Rose draft picks are struggling. Tyrus Thomas is shooting 25 percent from the field. As a starter, Thabo Sefolosha is averaging just 4.0 points and 1.6 assists. Joakim Noah is playing just 12 minutes per game.

The small lineup can help keep the Bulls competitive in some games. But good NBA teams are strong inside and the Thomas-Noah combination was supposed to at least be effectively defensively.

• The shooters can't shoot. The guilty parties include Hinrich, Nocioni, Thomas and at times Drew Gooden. But the real mystery has been Deng, who is shooting 36 percent from the field and averaging 11.8 points per game.

Del Negro promised to do a better job getting Deng involved early, but then the 6-foot-8 forward took his first shot against Cleveland at the 6:31 mark of the first quarter and it came on an offensive rebound.

"Not everybody on the team is a 1-on-1 player," Deng said Thursday. "So I think we've got to do a better job of moving the ball and just trying to get the best out of everybody's ability."