Boozer's return should give Deng a break

Whenever Carlos Boozer is ready to suit up for a game, coach Tom Thibodeau plans to send him straight into the starting lineup, even though the veteran power forward has not even played a preseason game with his new teammates.

“I just feel that makes our adjustment time much quicker. I think he'll be fine,” Thibodeau said.

“Carlos has been very good during the time he's been out. He's been here early going over the offense. He's familiar with everything we're doing.”

The most obvious lineup change will have second-year forward Taj Gibson joining the reserves. That should give the second unit a better inside scoring threat and take some of the workload away from Luol Deng, who averaged 41.6 minutes per game during the circus road trip.

Over the entire season, Deng is averaging 39.7 minutes, third-most in the league behind Kevin Durant and Rudy Gay.

“I don't think anything changes in terms of how we're going to play, style of play,” Thibodeau said. “It adds a quality big man and gives us more depth up front. Right now, Luol has probably played more minutes than we would like. He's played a lot of four for us. I do like Luol at the four, but it will allow us to get Luol more rest.”

LeBron should be a Bull?

The Bulls gave serious thought to signing seven-time all-star Tracy McGrady this summer. But they decided on Keith Bogans instead and McGrady went to Detroit.

Before the Pistons played the Knicks on Sunday, McGrady told several New York reporters that he thinks LeBron James should have decided on the Bulls instead of Miami this summer as a free agent.

“I feel like LeBron should've went to Chicago if he was going to leave (Cleveland),” McGrady said, according to the New York Post. “I'm not mad he left. (Chicago was) a better decision and place and fit as far as chemistry-wise. You can't just go somewhere and get that kind of chemistry he had in Cleveland. If he was to be with a team where he fit and chemistry would've been right, it would've been Chicago.”

Obviously, the chemistry between James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh has room to improve with Miami off to a 9-8 start before Monday's meeting with Washington.

“(LeBron) and D-Wade don't complement each other,” McGrady added. “Him and D-Wade and (Chris) Bosh don't complement each other. They're so much the same type of players, LeBron and D-Wade. That's why they're having trouble in the half-court. They can't get a rhythm because one of them is dominating the ball. When they're on the court together, they're terrible.”

Bull horns:

Taj Gibson skipped Monday's practice to rest his sore right foot and ankle. His health is basically a day-to-day evaluation, so his status for Wednesday's game against Orlando is unclear. … Comcast SportsNet reported a 34 percent increase in ratings for Bulls broadcasts compared to last November.