After opening the preseason schedule on Thursday and Friday with a pair of losses that showed how far they have to go before the regular season begins later this month, the Bulls had a little fun Saturday during an open practice at the United Center.

The players signed autographs for an hour and then took to the court for a 20-minute intrasquad scrimmage (White vs. Red). The level of play was very casual -- it was obvious early on that defense was optional -- and smiles replaced game faces.

Aside from a few fancy dunk moves, there was nothing memorable about the scrimmage. The most encouraging sign was that Joakim Noah returned to the court -- sporting a pair of goggles with a red strap -- after missing more than a week with an eye injury.

Noah was delighted to be back, but he soon realized how much conditioning he'd lost during the absence.

"The warmups felt great," he said. "Once I ran up and down the court like three times … I mean, I'm in such bad shape right now. I really gotta get back after it because I hadn't done anything in about 10 days. It's unbelievable how fast you lose it."

"I was so out of shape I wanted to come out. Coach (Vinny Del Negro) told me to keep running."

Despite some periods of heavy breathing, Noah played the entire scrimmage and, no doubt, was delighted time was kept with a running clock.

Although tired, the 6-11 center/ forward had some impressive moments. He had three rebounds on his team's first offensive possession and heard the UC crowd erupt after he hit a 3-pointer toward the end.

As he headed back on defense after the basket, Noah jumped high in the air and pumped his fist. He also pointed to one of the benches.

"My teammates wanted me to shoot, probably because they thought I was going to miss," Noah said. "But my release was just so on-point."

Noah missed his only 3-point attempt last season as a rookie.

The biggest cheers of the day were reserved for rookie Derrick Rose, the former Simeon star whom the Bulls selected with the No. 1 pick in the June draft. He received a rousing ovation when he was introduced, and the cheers were even louder when he connected on a spectacular reverse alley-oop dunk during the scrimmage.

Rose also drew the longest line of all the players signing autographs on the arena's three concourses before the open practice. The line for Rose wrapped more than a quarter of the way around the 200 level before it was cut off.

"Yeah, it's kind of crazy, but that's what you expect being the hometown player," Rose said of the reception. "I expected it to be like that."

After labeling his performance in the Bulls' first preseason game as "terrible," Rose was more positive about his second game Friday night against the Indiana Pacers (a 102-95 loss) when he had 13 points (5-for-9 shooting), six assists and four turnovers in 31 minutes.

"I think I did a little bit better," he said. "I had two less turnovers than the first game."

Although the Bulls are 0-2 in exhibitions, Rose sees reason for optimism.

"I think if we start off in the first half like we did in the second half, we'll be well off," he said. "In the second half, we tend to play harder than the first half. Some way we have to click it on in the first half, so we can win the game."