"When the Bulls didn't aggressively explore trading Kirk Hinrich to possibly Portland or Utah and let Ben Gordon sign his lucrative deal with Detroit, John Salmons stood at the center of their reasoning.

Management envisioned the player who authored so many effective moments in last season's stretch run and playoffs seamlessly transitioning from small forward to shooting guard, adding positional size and defensive dominance.

Now, it looks like Salmons has lost his starting shooting-guard role to Hinrich. At the very least, he had his confidence visibly shaken by Vinny Del Negro's decision to bench him at the start of the third quarter of an 88-81 loss Tuesday against the Knicks in New York.

"Nothing was told to me, so I don't know if it's permanent," Salmons said.

The soft-spoken veteran struggled to find the right words to address his demotion, which came with Salmons shooting a career-low 38.2 percent. His 31.6 3-point percentage is the second-lowest of his eight-season career.

"It was said (Tuesday) that I'm pretty much the reason we're losing," Salmons said. "I have to stay with it and hopefully help the team win. I haven't been playing up to my potential.

"It's something you got to deal with. We're losing, I haven't been playing well, I just got taken out of the starting lineup. So put two and two together."

The way the Bulls are shooting, they might do that math and come up with an odd number. Meanwhile, the Bulls had an informal workout Wednesday with no media access, but a team source said Hinrich definitely is staying in lineup over Salmons.

"He has to play through it, play with confidence and be aggressive. Play the way he's capable of and make plays," Del Negro said. "Not always settle for jumpers, but make plays off the dribble. And not always to score: Make plays for teammates. He has to get back on track.

"We need him to play at a high level. We need to stay with him and build his confidence up.""