DEERFIELD, Ill. -- John Salmons didn't hesitate when asked if everyone was making too big of a deal about Derrick Rose and his health issues.

"Yes," the veteran said, as the media chuckled.

Rose hasn't always looked like his old self over the first three games of the season due to his ankle tendon injury (he scored just eight points and went 4-for-15 from the field in a loss to the Heat on Sunday night), but he and the rest of his teammates insist that he'll be fine.

"Derrick's just got to get in better shape," Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said after Monday's practice. "He's not in condition to play the minutes he's playing and play at the level he needs to play at."

Del Negro would like to see his point guard push the ball more and show off his trademark explosiveness, but he knows that will come in due time. He also realizes that Rose may be mentally holding back somewhat to protect his ankle -- which still isn't 100 percent healthy.

"He feels fine," Del Negro said. "He made some plays at the basket, he's got to convert and get his jump shot and rhythm down -- pick up his intensity defensively. But that will come when he gets in better condition."

Rose is doing his part to get back to the place where everyone expects him to be. He was the last player to leave the floor on Monday. He spent a lot of extra time working with assistant coach Randy Brown on taking jump shots in transition.

"I just got to get in a rhythm," Rose said. "My ankle's doing fine. It doesn't feel hurt. I just got to get my timing back."

The reigning rookie of the year thinks his timing will be back to normal after a few more days.

"I know [my game's] off, but every day I'm improving," he said. "In the other games I really didn't attack the basket like I did [on Sunday] so I'm trusting in my ankle right now and I know that in a couple of days those shots will be going in."

Faltering late in Miami: Salmons and company still can't believe they let Sunday night's game in Miami slip away.

[+] Enlarge

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

John Salmons told reporters the Bulls need to play with more of a sense of urgency.

"We felt like we should have won the game," he said. "We felt like we had opportunities down the stretch. We didn't make plays. They did. That was the difference."

The Miami alum believes that his team must play with "more of a sense of urgency" and become more cohesive down the stretch in games.

"Execute better," Salmons said. "You can't just go out there and expect to win. We got to execute on both ends of the court ... We just got to realize that we can't just walk out there and win games. We feel like we got a lot of talent on this team. We feel like we can play with anybody. We beat one of the best teams in the league already, so we just got to know that teams aren't going to bow down for us. We got to take it."

It was an assessment that teammate Joakim Noah agreed with.

"Yeah, I think that we have to play with a little bit more urgency on the road," Noah said. "Compared to the first game that urgency dropped a little bit. We're 1-2 -- it's not the end of the world, but we just got to pick it up."

The third-year center isn't sure why his team's urgency dropped a bit already on the road, but he sounds confident that they will figure things out.

"I wish I knew [the answer]," Noah said. "Everybody has to be on the same page. It's a little bit different when you don't have the crowd in your favor, but I think that's something that we have to get better at when we play on the road. Play with urgency, not in spurts, but the whole entire game, just be a little bit more on edge."

Captain speaks: After the Bulls wrapped up practice today, the team formed a circle as coaches gave their final words of the day. In the midst of the speeches, team captain Lindsey Hunter could be overheard giving an impassioned speech of his own. Del Negro said he had no problem with Hunter saying what was on his mind.

"Lindsey's one of our captains and I like when captains address the team," Del Negro said. "That's good. That shows good leadership and we had a good film session today.

"We were a step slow, I thought, defensively on our rotations -- some of the things we've been working on a lot. So, [we're] just trying to get the guys on the same page as [quickly] as possible. We just got to keep fighting, keep getting better everyday."

The last word: Del Negro, in discussing how things fell apart for the Bulls at the end of Sunday night's game against the Heat:

"We got good shots. We need to get better stops at the end. But we held them to 95 and we just couldn't score in the fourth quarter. We had open looks, we didn't make them. Missed a couple layups, but we got to get some more stops at the end. Also, guys got to make plays."

Sort comments by: Most Recent | First Posted