by By Mike McGraw mmcgraw@dailyherald.com , Chicago Daily Herald

The Bulls now have two veteran big men on the shelf. Besides Gray, Jerome James is trying to come back from a torn Achilles? tendon and estimated that he might be ready to play in a month or two.

The Bulls do have 7-foot Steven Hill, a second-year center from Arkansas, and 6-9 former Florida power forward Chris Richard on the training-camp roster.

Though he has played well at times during his two years with the Bulls , Gray figured to be an emergency center this season behind Joakim Noah and Brad Miller. The 7-foot Gray averaged 3.9 rebounds and 3.5 points last season.

No regrets for Pargo: Just because Jannero Pargo took a year off from the NBA doesn?t mean he was exiled to Siberia.

He only went as far as Moscow. When he couldn?t find a decent offer from an NBA team, Pargo split last season between Moscow Dynamo and Olympiacos in Greece.

"You know what, I had a good time in both countries," Pargo said. "The weather was just a little bit better in Greece ? a lot better. There were great things in both places. It wasn?t that bad at all. If I had to do it over again, I would do it again."

Pargo, a 6-foot-1 shooting guard, is back in his hometown for a second stint with the Bulls . He?s expected to help bring offense off the bench now that Ben Gordon is in Detroit.

His agent, Mark Bartelstein, and Bulls general manager Gar Forman both have claimed Pargo took less money to come back home to the Bulls than he could have gotten elsewhere.

Between playing for the Bulls and going to Europe, Pargo spent two seasons with the New Orleans Hornets from 2006-08.

"Yeah, I had some decent offers on the table," Pargo said. "But Chicago?s a great city; it?s my city. I think the team is going in the right direction.

"With Ben leaving, I think it opened up the door for me to kind of come in and be successful and try to take this team to another level."

Deng holds steady: Forward Luol Deng hasn?t had to take any time off from practice to rest his right leg. A stress fracture in his shin kept him out for the final 29 games last season.

"It is a little sore, but I?ve been able to do pretty much full speed," Deng said Tuesday. "It?s not just going to happen overnight. Talking to the doctors and people who have had this injury in the past, it will be slow."

Jannero Pargo, who had surgery to repair a sports hernia early in the summer, also hasn?t needed any extra rest.

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