OKLAHOMA CITY -- The reality of starting the season on the sidelines hit Carlos Boozer this morning as the Bulls arrived for shootaround at the Oklahoma City Arena in advance of tonight's opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Boozer, of course, suffered a broken right hand in a home accident during the first week of training camp and still is roughly a month away from being able to return to the court.

"It's one of those things where it was a great summer, a lot of excitement for our team and not to be able to celebrate with my team and open against Oklahoma City is gonna be tough," Boozer said. "But I'll do a good job of being a good coach, a good teammate, a good cheerleader and I'm looking forward to seeing us play. I think we have a lot of character and we'll show a lot of it tonight."

The injury required surgery and Boozer is scheduled to get the cast removed next week. At that point, he'll begin a rehabilitation program and the process of making it back to the court.

No target date has been established just yet, but Boozer said getting the cast removed is a significant step in his mind.

"Absolutely," he said. "Right now, I've just been changing the colors of the cast. I get it cut off on Tuesday. I'm excited about that. Then they'll take the pins out, put it in a soft cast for four or five days and then I can start attacking my rehab. I'll work my butt off doing my rehab so I can get back.

"The one thing I've been able to do is stay in shape. I've been able to lift and do conditioning and all that kind of stuff. I just haven't been able to do anything with my hand."