who will be our little LJ???

But the Bulls' lack of a go-to scorer at crunch time is an ongoing problem. LeBron James' awesome fourth-quarter display on Sunday reminded all how far away the Bulls are from possessing such a player.

"We don't necessarily have a guy like that, so we rely on our ability to move the ball and play with each other and find open shots," interim coach Jim Boylan said.

And therein lies the rub. Though offensive numbers have spiked noticeably since Boylan became coach, the Bulls remain last in shooting percentage, mostly because they take so many contested shots.

The Bulls' drive-and-kick style used to draw widespread praise for its selflessness and its ability to produce wide-open shots. Scouts marveled at it.

Now, a problem area all season -- selfish shot-taking on offense -- has the added wrinkle of trying to incorporate two more talented offensive players, Hughes and Drew Gooden.

"We seem to be getting in each other's way at times," Boylan acknowledged. "Our spacing ... guys aren't quite comfortable with where they should be. Sometimes a matter of two or three feet makes a difference in where you're positioning yourself and how much space you give your teammates to operate.

"It's very, very subtle. Often it's making the simple play. Making the right pass at the right time affects your ability to attack a defense."

That's if the pass is made at all.

'At some point in time, you need to have a player step up and make plays like LeBron does,'' Bulls coach Jim Boylan said Monday. ''You look at LeBron on the court, and you see a big man with speed and skills. Once he gets going toward the basket, he's pretty tough to stop. We tell our guys, 'Get in front of him,' but he's extremely talented.

''When you have a player like that, one that you can base your offense around, at the end of the game, it's not very complicated. It's Kobe Bryant getting the ball on the top, or Paul Pierce; guys that can search out and find their own shot and have proven over time when the game is on the line, they can step up and make a difference. We don't necessarily have a guy like that. We rely on our ability to move the ball and play with each other and find open shots.''