30 Teams In 30 Days: Chicago Bulls

[CelticBalla32]

For those unfamiliar, basically what I'm doing is making decent-sized team previews, one per day in alphabetical order. Today's featured team is the Chicago Bulls.

Teaser:

Barring any kind of major trade, Chicago’s offensive troubles are destined to continue this coming season. The talent is there, but the balance is not. Thank God for Derrick Rose – now the Bulls have at least one player that will create off of dribble-penetration. Outside of that, this is a team severely lacking an interior scoring threat, and their offense’s stagnancy can be utterly appalling. Rose may very well help repair this issue, but expecting a 19-year-old rookie point guard to completely correct it is more than out of the question unless he grows eight inches overnight and develops a go-to post move similar to Shaquille O’Neal’s “black tornado.”

Read the Full Article Here

Tomorrow: Cleveland Cavaliers


Previous Entries:

30 Teams In 30 Days: Atlanta Hawks
30 Teams In 30 Days: Boston Celtics
30 Teams In 30 Days: Charlotte Bobcats

[Who]

Why didn't you include Ben Gordon in your preview? Do you believe he'll be elsewhere? I can't see him anywhere other than Chicago.

Does Ben Gordon returning change matters much for your prediction?

You also had Derrick Rose starting, what are your expectations of him for his rookie season? It's a big ask for a rookie point guard to out-perform Kirk Hinrich. I'm not convinced he'll be good enough as a rookie to take that role from Kirk.

Those Tyrus Thomas numbers where very impressive. Did he play 30+ minutes often? Or is it a small sample?

I have the Bulls in a similar bracket. I consider them a long shot to make the playoffs and will likely finish with a similar record to last season ... but shouldn't be written off completely because there's so much youth there and if a few things go right they could be a substantially different team.

[CelticBalla32]

I didn't put Gordon in the Bulls depth chart because nobody knows what is going on with that whole situation. So, I generally left it alone after my brief paragraph reference in the Summer of 2008 section.

If Gordon returns, does that severely sway my prediction? No, not really. If they win 33-36 instead of my predicted 30, then so be it, but regardless, I still don't think I can see the Bulls making the playoffs this season.

I think Rose may start right away, and I also think we'll be seeing a fair amount of lineups with both Rose and Hinrich on the floor at the same time... which I believe will benefit Hinrich and the Bulls' offense.

I also agree with you about Rose. He likely isn't ready to start in the NBA. But with that said, he'll get the opportunity to, as he is the #1 pick and a Chicago native.

As for Thomas' 30+ minute numbers - I'm not 100% sure off the top of my head, but I believe he played 30+ minutes 8 or 9 times last season. Somewhere in that range.

Thanks for the comments, Who, I appreciate it as always.

[dmorrison22]

Great analysis, you can read Dustin's article on Bleacher Report. So excited to see how Rose does this year.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/62511-30-teams-in-30-days-chicago-bulls