Bulls' Smith insists his knee not hurting

Veteran power forward Joe Smith didn't play at all in Monday's loss to Dallas and logged just four minutes against Charlotte on Saturday.

Assistant coach Ron Adams suggested Smith was held out because of injury concerns. Smith missed time in preseason with a swollen right knee.

"I think (coach Scott Skiles') thinking at the moment is simply he's been having a little bit of a problem with that knee again and did not move well for several games and has started, not so much rehabbing, but strengthening it," Adams said Tuesday on "The Mike North Morning Show" on WSCR 670-AM.

Later in the day, Skiles and Smith both insisted the knee was fine. Skiles even said he'll think about moving Smith into the starting lineup. Tyrus Thomas, who started the past three games at power forward, played the first seven minutes against Dallas then sat the rest of the night.

"I've got to consider getting him out there," Skiles said of Smith. "As many kind of busted coverages as we're having at the beginning of games and struggling to follow the game plan, I've got to take a look at it at some point."

Skiles also offered Andres Nocioni as a candidate to start at power forward when the Bulls visit Charlotte today.

Wallace never leaves: Bulls center Ben Wallace played all 48 minutes in a game against Indiana last season and piled up 18 rebounds.

Wallace went the distance again in Monday's loss to Dallas, but this time finished with 8 rebounds, 4 points, no steals, no blocks and shot 2 for 10 from the field.

Scott Skiles explained his decision not to send a sub for Wallace following Tuesday's practice at the Berto Center.

"I don't particularly care for playing anybody 48 minutes, generally, unless they're really, really playing well," Skiles said. "Several times I thought about going to Joe (Smith). We were having trouble shooting the ball, maybe putting another shooter out there. But each time, we would close the gap a little bit."

After trailing 56-44 at halftime, the Bulls couldn't pull closer than 7 points until the 1:29 mark of the fourth quarter.

"One of our struggles is, 'What is the alternative?' " Skiles added. "What about the guy behind him, is he performing well? What about the guy behind him, is he performing well?

"So when we have this sort of team-wide struggle going on, it's hard to make any reason for anything, other than I'm studying the other team and making the best judgment I can and hoping for a spark for various people."

Charlotte makes an offer: The Bobcats signed Cleveland holdout Anderson Varejao to an offer sheet Tuesday worth a reported $17.4 million over three years. The Cavaliers now have seven days to either match the offer or let their floppy-haired power forward join Charlotte.

There was speculation in the Charlotte Observer that the Bobcats expect the Cavs to match the offer, but may have done it as a favor to Varejao's agent Dan Fegan. By accepting a three-year offer, Varejao should be able to exercise an opt-out clause and become an unrestricted free agent in two years.