Chicago ? Tyrus Thomas dinged a hip while coming down with a rebound Sunday and missed all but 20 minutes of the Bulls’ 21â2-hour practice at the Berto Center. That Thomas said he felt fine afterward and also shrugged off his one-game suspension cracks a window into a mind-set that teammates say is more upbeat and focused of late.

Buried for a four-game stretch on the bench until Joakim Noah incurred early foul trouble Dec. 11 against Seattle, Thomas averaged eight points and six rebounds in just 15 minutes over a two-game stretch before his skirmish Wednesday night with Pacers forward Troy Murphy.

Thomas confirmed his representatives had appealed through the players association the monetary portion of the suspension, which cost him $31,867. General manager John Paxson said in a statement Saturday he hoped the union might develop an appeals process for the suspension, perhaps similar to Major League Baseball.

But Thomas is more concerned with winning games than appeals and, except for Sunday’s setback, has been practicing with more intensity.

“He’s definitely learning,” Luol Deng said. “He’s a lot more mature this year than he was last year, and he’s handling things better.”

Thomas, as is his nature, downplayed any praise.

“Just going out and playing hard, that’s it,” he said. “That’s really all you can do. Just try to keep everybody up and help everybody right now because we’ve been kind of struggling. Just trying to get better and help the team get better.”

Thomas confidently declared his one-game absence wouldn’t stifle momentum he created with those energetic back-to-back performances against the Sonics and Pacers should he be called on in Tuesday’s home game against the Lakers. After all, it’s not like Noah is going anywhere. Noah’s 10-point effort in Friday’s victory over the Knicks featured one of the rookie’s strengths – keeping the ball alive on the offensive glass.

“He’s starting to learn a little bit more about what we’re after,” coach Scott Skiles said. “He’s getting himself in positions where he can do some things and use his length and be big around the basket.”

With Joe Smith stabilizing the starting unit, Skiles again faces tough decisions regarding how to dole out the power-forward minutes. Especially because the Bulls’ best lineups often have featured them going small with Andres Nocioni playing the position.

“What we need Tyrus and Joakim to do is both play well in the same game,” Skiles said.

“Then you’re not necessarily searching to try to find which guy. But there’s no question: Both guys of late have played much better.”

That suggests there are enough minutes to go around at the position, which seems unlikely. Skiles said as far back as training camp that he hoped one player would take the position and run with it. Smith has done so with the starting slot. It’s up to Thomas and Noah with the reserve minutes.