"The masked man's debut will wait until Tuesday. As expected, the Bulls held Richard Hamilton out of Friday's exhibition opener.

"Each day he'll do a little more," coach Tom Thibodeau said. "But one day and a shootaround, I didn't feel comfortable with it."

Hamilton practiced with the Bulls on Thursday for the first time after signing a two-year, $10 million deal with a team option for a third season. He participated in Friday's morning shootaround at Conseco Fieldhouse.

"It's still a lot of information I'm trying to learn in a short period of time," Hamilton said. "I'm just getting in tune with guys on the team and learning offensive and defensive schemes. I just want to be fully prepared — and Tom agreed — before we move forward."

When Hamilton plays, he will be sporting his trademark mask and headband. General manager Gar Forman confirmed the organization will make an exception to its long-standing policy banning headbands to allow Hamilton to secure his mask better and prevent sweat from falling to fog it up."