Continuity, captains and one re-injury

The Bulls completed their second of four “continuity practices” Monday at the Berto Center. This was supposed to be a chance to get the whole team working together for the first time since early in camp.

There was one mishap, though. Jannero Pargo made it through about three-quarters of practice, then tweaked a back injury, which he says is more of a hip problem and a result of overcompensating for a sports hernia that required surgery in June. No telling yet if he’ll miss any more practice time.

Here are some other issues from Monday's practice:

CAPTAINS ASSEMBLED
The players voted Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng and Lindsey Hunter team captains on Sunday. No great surprises here. Hinrich and Deng have done it before, while Hunter, 38, has been around the league longer than anyone.

Hinrich had some interesting thoughts about what being a captain means.

“I try to take it seriously,” he said. “(The job) is always different. Just kind of have a feel for things. You’ve got to know when to say things. You’ve got to always be trying to lead by example. We’ve got a lot of young guys, trying to bring them a long as quickly as possible.

“Just try to set an example every day. For me, I try to set an example by playing hard, bringing energy, trying to play the right way, that’s basically it. Just try to have a good feel for the team. I feel like I have a good relationship with all of the guys. It’s pretty much that simple.”

Derrick Rose said he’s hoping to become a captain as soon as next year.

ROSE CONTINUES PROGRESS
Rose admitted his right ankle was sore Monday morning and took a little while to get loose, but he made it through a full practice for the second straight day.

“Right now, I’m getting fatigued kind of quick, but that just comes with playing,” he said.
Coach Vinny Del Negro said he expects Rose to start Thursday’s season opener against San Antonio, but didn’t want to guess how many minutes the second-year point guard will be able to play. The Bulls have to visit Boston the very next day.

“At least 20-some,” Rose said about his Thursday minutes. “I don’t care if it’s 5 or 10, I just want to be out there playing. It would be up to the coach. Right now, I’ll play whatever minutes they want me to play.”

OPTIONS EXTENDED
--The Bulls picked up Joakim Noah’s fourth-year contract option and Rose’s third-year option – routine stuff for next season.

--Derrick Byars continues to practice. The Bulls have to decide whether to pick up his contract option soon, but if they were going to release him, they probably would have done it by now, right? Well, tough to say for sure. He could be released and re-signed (to a smaller guarantee) like Michael Ruffin was last year.