Gray vs. Garnett: The Ultimate Showdown....TONIGHT!

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls will be getting destroyed at 7:30 p.m. EST this evening by America's favorite team, the Boston Celtics. I don't know about you, but I'm SICK of seeing Garnett and Rondo's mug on every piece of NBA media I read. I also don't understand where all of these Boston Celtics fans came from either, they sure as hell weren't around during the Dino Radja/Eric Montross days. Granted, I respect the Celtics teams of the 80's, those guys were great. I still can't think of the C's without Larry Legend and the Chief poppin' into my head. As of right now though, I'm siding with the L.A. Lakers bandwagon. In my mind, Phil Jackson is the greatest NBA coach of all time and can only solidify this by winning a 10th NBA championship ring and leaving Red Auerbach in the dust where he belongs.

I still believe that the whole NBA season last year was fixed. The whole Celtics/Lakers rivalry was renewed to cover up the whole Tim Donaghy scandal and the worst Final's viewer ratings ever with the Spurs/Cavs matchup of 2007. The Celtics traded their whole team for KG, and the Grizzlies gave up Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown, Jarvis Crittenden and a few draft picks. Those are two things that normally wouldn't happen. The Bulls would have at least given them Deng and a draft pick. Of course then, the Grizzlies would be running D-Rose at point but we'd have that long sought after post-up guy we've been needing since Elton Brand was traded.

Regardless of all my bickering, the Bulls are gonna lose bad tonight. I'm not going to get a chance to watch it since I've waited until the last minute to do my christmas shopping but that's okay. All it's going to do is make me more angry and I'm going to rant, rave and cuss about how much I hate the Celtics. Good luck VDN.

Bulls Somehow Win After I Turn the Game Off in Disgust

By Sean Mackey

So, I literally turned the game off 15 seconds before the ridiculous 4 point play made by BG to toss the game into overtime. After the terrible Bobcats game on Tuesday night, and the Bulls being down by 4 with 35 seconds left, I figured the outcome would be exactly the same.

The Bulls are possibly the most average basketball squad in the NBA. Every time you think they're going to finally have a .500 record, they lose the game and win another the night after. They have some of the most inconsistent players in the history of the league. Noc for example has sucked hardcore the last few games but randomly has 22 points last night. I understand why they started Gray and Gooden to try to block the paint up but Tyrus Thomas had two amazing games previously. Last night, 2 points, 1 rebound due to being in the game for only 5 minutes. Tyrus can defend and block shots, he's just not a big dude. Throwing Gray and Gooden in the middle just to be fat is ridiculous. (UPDATE: Tyrus was taken out of the game due to dizzyness, wasn't VDN's fault) It just sucks to see the team manhandled by Zach Randolph. I think the consensus is that the Clippers are doing fine without Chris Kaman. Hopefully after Hinrich returns, either him or Gooden will be shipped out to LA for Kaman so we can have a legit center who can post up.

The Bulls need an interior defender and Chris Kaman is a decent REAL NBA center which is something the Bulls have lacked since Luc Longley left in 99.

BTW, Note to Paxson: Make sure you do everything in your power to resign Gordon. He's the only one I've seen this season who goes out and gives it his all every single night.

Bulls, Clipps TONIGHT!

By Sean Mackey

After last night's ridiculous loss at the hands of a horrible foul call, the Bulls take on the Clipps. LA's other team has been on a 3 game win streak and Zach Randolph has been a beast. Should be interesting.

BTW....the two men in the above picture needed to be traded for one another.

Hell Freezes Over, Bulls Win Two in a Row

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls somehow squeaked by the NY Knicks last night 105-100. Drew Gooden was the Bulls high scoring "threat" with 22 points. He also pulled down 16 boards. It was once again, Larry Hughes (?) who saved the day by hitting a 3 within the last minute of play. Old Larry is currently ranked 12th in the NBA at 3 point percentage. Can't say we saw that one coming. Former Chicago Bull, Chris Duhon continued to do well with 15 points and 14 assists. D-Rose had 15 and 8 but anyone who thinks C-Du is better than him needs to have their head examined.

All of the cards fell where they were suppose to in the rankings last night. The Pistons and the Bucks lost (the only competition for the #2 spot in the Central Division). The Bulls are currently sitting on the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference. Meaning if the playoffs started today, we'd get smashed and mutilated by the dirty Boston Celtics. It's pretty obvious that the Bulls aren't going to get past them or the Cavs in the playoffs. Their only hope of survival would be to grab the 6th seed. This would have them playing the Hawks or the Magic which are teams I think the Bulls have a slight chance of beating but at least it's plausible.

The Knicks game was something that I really wanted to watch but it was blacked out in my area on NBA League Pass Broadband. It seems like every game they play is blocked out on there and I'm really starting to question why Alex and I even went ahead and paid $90.00 for a subscription to a team who's games are blacked out more than half the time. Usually it's because of them playing on NBA TV, a station our cable company fails to carry.

The Bulls visit the Grizzlies on Friday night. Memphis is 6-15 right now and being carried by rookie players Marc Gasol and O.J Mayo. It'll be interesting to see how well Gordon and Mayo match up.

Woah....an update!

By Sean Mackey

After taking a long vacation, I'm back. The circus trip went better than average but that game against San Antonio, they should have won. The boys in red somehow pulled out a win against the Wizards and tomorrow night they'll try to knock the New York Knicks off at home.

A quarter of the season is over and the Bulls are doing so, so. The consensus is that Derrick Rose will be an all star caliber player within the next two years, if not now. The Bulls have little trade bait other than Gooden and Hinrich (after his finger heals), so it'll be interesting to see who's on the team in March. I do believe someone will be shipped off by then, actually, I guarantee it. Gooden's contract is expiring, he'd be a great back up to Zack Randolph out in L.A. if the Clips would be willing to part with the big fake German guy, Chris Kaman. We need a center who isn't Aaron Gray, who is doing decent for having to start when he knows he's a bench guy.

All we can do is hope and pray the Pistons start losing more games so the Bulls can move into 2nd in the Central Division.

Tracking the Bulls/Lakers game online...

By: Alex Derickson

Why is it that the Bulls get within 8-10 points of the Lakers, VDN decides to take out Derrick Rose and run this lineup...

Ben Gordon

Drew Gooden

Tyrus Thomas

Joakim Noah

Aaron Gray

Vinny...buddy...I know you are new to this whole coaching thing, but that is one guard and four fowards. FOUR forwards. Four-wards if you will.

Look the lead is 86-69 now. Rose is back in...yay. But Gordon is out for Noche. FOURWARDS!

I'm going to bed. For a minute, I thought this game was going to be worth tracking...go grab yourself a bunch of rebounds chicago. you're lineup is good for it.

Circus Trip of Doom Begins Tonight at 10:30 p.m. EST in L.A.

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls start their ridculously dreaded 7 game, west coast circus trip this evening against the best team in the NBA, the LA Lakers. Chicago has been playing decent and they're making the most of it by running the entire game. I read in USA Today that they were 5th in the league in fast break points which is awesome. They do however need to get a big guy who can run. Zach Randolph is doing a great job of playing keep up in New York. I believe he's 3rd or 4th in the league for rebounding as well. Him or AK-47 would open up some doors for an additional scoring option behind Rose and Gordon. They also need a solid rebounder (Gooden ain't cuttin' it).

This is usually the road trip where I lose all hope for the season. If the Bulls can win 3 games on this tour de death, I'll be satisfied, not happy but satisfied. Opening up against the Lakes on their home turf has gotta scary.


Could you imagine if they somehow pulled out a win? Would it give them the confidence to defeat the other 6 teams? Probably not. If it did happen it would probably be a buzzer beating fluke, but I can dream can't I?


I think that any of the following 6 games after this are all winable but tonight's game will be the biggest challenge.


Be sure to tune in to NBA TV at 10:30 p.m. EST as it's the game of the week voted by fans. I'll be watching it on my computer on LP Broadband wishing it was in HD.

Bulls vs. Pacers Saturday night on WGN America!

By Sean Mackey

So I've been kind of fed up with the Bulls lately but last's night's game wasn't bad. The boys came back from a 19 point deficit to be up by 24 points, only to almost blow the lead and still win.

If they could just finish out the games right, they'd have way more wins, especially with the small point margins they're losing by.

Saturday night the Bulls/Pacers game will be broadcasted nationally on WGN America at 8:30 p.m. (the pregame Bulls Eye show will be at 8:00). Danny Grainger has been on a roll but so has Ben Gordon and Derrick Rose. Hopefully the Bulls can pull out a W and even up their record at .500. Be sure to check out the game and have a great weekend!

Enough is Enough

By Sean Mackey

After watching the closely contested Bulls/Cavs game on Saturday night, I've decided the Bulls need to take Sam Smith's advice and make a trade. Andrei Kirilenko is unhappy on the Jazz after being their go to guy for 3 seasons and now sitting on the bench. The Bulls could trade Gooden and Nocioni and get this man. He runs, he's from Russia and he would be a great compliment to Derrick Rose.

Please, do something before the season is lost again. Last year I kept saying "oh they'll get better" and while the Bulls are not putting fans in panic mode yet, I don't want to see them dig themselves in another hole. Pax needs to pull the trigger on something and stop wussing out. Looking back at it now, we should have traded Deng for Gasol. Seriously, who cares? Now he gets paid the big bucks and he's underachieving.

Seriously, do something.

Game #5: Bulls vs. Cavs live on ESPN @ 8:00 p.m.!

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls play this evening in Cleveland against the 2-2 Cavs. LeBron has been quiet so far this season averaging only 19.7 points a game but is also averaging 9.3 assists which is impressive.

I think it's time that Chicago wins a game that actually means something as opposed to 2 sloppy wins against the Bucks and Grizzlies. VDN, needs to shake up the lineup and start Gordon already but I'm sure he won't.

The game is being broadcasted nationally on ESPN tonight at 8:00 p.m. EST

Bulls Win 1, Lose 2 Over the Last 4 Nights + Iverson Goes to the Pistons

By Sean Mackey

Friday night was terrible. The Bulls were manhandled by the Celtics, Rose looked great though. I think VDN waited too long to put him back in during the 4th quarter. The Celtics defense is just ridculously sufficating. Yeah, all teams could be like that, but in all seriousness, it's a bore to watch. Bill Walker didn't play so we didn't get to see if him and Tyrus would jaw it out. Oh well.

Saturday evening the Bulls played the Grizzlies and won by 10. Rose had 27 points and Gooden had 20 rebounds, not bad. I totally forgot this game was going on and didn't catch a minute of it.

Last night, unforunately I had to work and didn't get to catch the game against the Magic. Dwight Howard is the most dominant center in the game, trying to stop him is impossible. The Magic only won by 3 but personally, I think they're on the decline with the exception of Howard.

The Bulls need to make a trade sometime soon, we need a post up guy really bad. I've been saying this for 3 years. Why oh why did we not trade Luol Deng for Pau Gasol? Seriously, in retrospect it seemed risky but we'd be winning sooo many more games with that man.

Speaking of trades, Nuggets all-star Allen Iverson was traded yesterday to the Detroit Pistons for Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess. McDyess will likely be waived because he refuses to put on a Nuggets jersey for the 3rd time in his career. This move was a steal for the Pistons, Iverson and Wallace come off the books after this season so they'll have room to sign Lebron or Bosh in 2010 which is some serious wishful thinking. I have no reason to believe LeBron will spend his prime in Detroit, Bosh maybe, not LeBron though. For this season, Iverson will do just fine, the guy can pass but he definitely is a shoot first kind of dude. I've always liked AI though so if he does win a title with the Pistons, good for him, he deserves it.

The Bulls next game is tomorrow against the Cavs. It'll be nationally broadcasted on ESPN, so hopefully they don't make complete asses out of themselves.

Bulls vs. Celtics live on ESPN Tonight at 8pm EST.!

By Sean Mackey

Happy Halloween everyone! Tonight, the Bulls take on the 2008 NBA Champs, the dreaded Boston Celtics. Words can't describe how much Alex and I hate these dudes. We both still believe their whole assembling was a diversion for fans to forget about the Tim Donaghy scandal. I hate seeing players going into their twilight, switch teams just to get a ring, it's so tacky. I'm still glad Karl Malone never got his ring after his cheap, desperate attempt a few years ago with the Lakers.

Anyways, fresh off the heels of their 13 point victory against the Bucks, the Bulls travel to Boston to try to upset the world champion Celtics who are also 1-0. This game of course will be broadcasted nationally on ESPN at 8:00 p.m. EST. This also will probably be most NBA fans first look at our new guy, Derrick Rose. Keep in mind, Jordan's first visit to the garden resulted in a 27 point performance about 25 years ago. Not that we're going to use that as a measuring stick for Mr. Rose but it would definitely send a message to these guys that their window is closing and his is just opening.

Yeah, they're probably going to get blown out of the water but just two years ago today, pretty much the same team, destroyed an NBA champion on their home floor by 42 points. I just wanna see them fight back tonight, just to show them they're not just gonna lay down. Anything can happen.

Game #1: Bulls Win Their First Regular Season Game 108-95! Plus, Ways to Watch Games on Your Computer For Free and For a Subscription Price!

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls came out on top last night against the Bucks, 108-95. Derrick Rose had a decent game with 11 points, 9 assists and 3 steals. Luol Deng lead the way with 21 points, Ben Gordon chipped in 18 including a couple of big 3's late in the 4th quarter. Tyrus Thomas had yet another great outing coming out with his first double double of the regular season, 15 points, 10 rebounds.

I must admit I was a little disappointed at the speed of the game. Scott Skiles' crew continued to foul the hell out of Chicago the whole game. It made for a painfully boring first half. The Bulls did however start to take over during the 3rd and started taking smarter shots and looking more like a real team. This kind of unselfishness is what they're going to have to do every night if they want to start winning games night in and night out. I was a little angry that A-Gray wasn't played at all during the game. I'm sure he'll be getting some quality minutes though as the season goes by.

Either way, this was a game they NEEDED to win. Going into the Celtics domain on Friday is going to be tough so hopefully some confidence can be built upon. Rondo vs. Rose is going to be epic and Alex is already predicting that T-Time and rookie Bill Walker aren't going to get along. As many wins are needed before the dreaded circus trip as possible. I hope the Bulls don't get blown out on Friday, they need to show the league they're back and they mean business.

Highlights from last nights game!

http://www.nba.com/video/games/bulls/2008/10/29/nba_mil_chi_0020800002_recap.nba/index.html?player=game&q=0020800002

Also, I probably will not be posting links for games anymore. It took a long time to actually find a working link last night and thats why one wasn't posted. Luckily, there are some solutions for you out of town guys like us that don't get to watch many Bulls games. We'll try to point you in the right direction. Your options:

1. My P2P - This is the FREE alternative to buying League Pass. The guys who run this site are very dedicated to bringing you all out of area sporting events straight to your computer. The downside is that you'll have to download some seedy software to watch these games. They have a great set up in which they have a game schedule and a link to the software it can be played on. The quality isn't terrible either. I watched the whole first Bulls game through a program called Sopcast (one of the least seediest of the bunch). One of the other problems I've ran into is that a lot of links don't work. It's kind of stressful trying to wade through some shoddy links 5 minutes before game time when only 2 out of the 8 work correctly. I've also noticed this site is kind of biased and a lot of the admins are more interested in streaming Celtics games than anything else. The Celtics will be broadcasted nationally more than any other team and they're wasting bandwidth to stream a game that like 80% of the world can watch at home. Anyways, here's the link, once again, a free way to watch NBA games streamed straight to your computer.

http://www.myp2p.eu/

2. NBA League Pass Broadband - Previously, this was only available with a League Pass TV subscription through Direct TV, Time Warner or In Demand as a bonus feature. This year the NBA wised up and decided to offer it as a seperate subscription for $99.99 a year. This isn't bad at all considering you're getting cable quality transmissions streamed straight to your computer. You'll have access to over 900 games this season (excluding the ones broadcasted nationally on ESPN, TNT & ABC). This is the best way to go if you've got a few extra bucks to spend (which I plan to do today). You'll be able to access games from any computer which is pretty amazing. The quality will depend on your bandwidth speed though so you'll have to make sure you have a decent cable or DSL connection for this to be worth you while. NBA League Pass Broadband is currently available through a FREE PREVIEW until November 11th! You'll be able to watch all out of area games that aren't broadcasted on major networks until then. They also have a special offer going right now, if you decide to subscribe before the 11th, it's only $84.99! Click on the link below to sign up for you free preview of NBA League Pass Broadband!

http://www.nba.com/leaguepass/online.html

Bulls Season Starts TONIGHT with a Rose/Sefolosha Backcourt! Sam Smith Writing Exclusively for the Bulls and More!

By Sean Mackey

Tonight is what we've all been waiting for. The first regular season game for the Bulls takes place this evening in Chicago where they'll take on the Milwaukee Bucks, a team led by the two guys who failed us so terribly last year.

There is a lot of controversy brewing on Bulls blogs and fansites this morning since yesterday evening it was announced that Sefolosha would be starting at the 2 spot instead of Kirk Hinrich. Sef performed medicore the whole preseason but scored 18 points, pulled down 7 boards and dished out 10 assists in last Thursday's win against the Bucks. However, this is also mediocre when you take in the fact that he played 49 minutes and shot 5-14.

I don't think anyone needs to fret about this. I have a feeling that VDN will be shaking up the starting lineup quite frequently this season and since this is the first game, it's getting blown completely out of proportion. Sef is a great defender and a big guard. He's going to be the best guy we have to defend against Michael Redd. Lets face it, we should be thankful it's him and not Larry Hughes (who would be starting tonight if he wasn't hurt). I'm willing to take a chance with any lineup that will help them win games. It shouldn't matter who's starting. There's so much ridiculously good talent on the team that it's hard to spread out minutes among them.

At least Derrick Rose is for sure starting tonight rather than coming off the bench. He's the leader of this squad and he's going to have to bring these guys together before another season goes by and implodes. These guys are too talented to be dismanteled this early. I'm glad Pax is sticking with his gut on this one and keeping the guys, but seriously, Hughes has to go.

The game will be streamed tonight FOR SURE since it's the only other game being played tonight other than the 2 that are being broadcasted nationally. I'm sure there will be more than one source so we'll try to post the best quality link on the blog this evening.

Also, another thing that's going to make some Bulls fans happy, Sam Smith is back! After some short stints with Hoops Hype and The Sporting News following his departure from the Tribune, Sam will be writing exclusively for Bulls.com. The team will continue to give him the independence he had at the Tribune, there will be no editing or watering down, just Sam doing what he does best. I'll be adding his column to my links for easy access.

8 hours left until the NBA season starts, I can't wait.

Preseason Finale TONIGHT Against Skiles/Boylan's Bucks Plus Zach Randolph Trade Rumors!

By Sean Mackey

Tonight marks the end of the preseason. The Bulls record stands at 3-4. A win tonight will have them walk away with a decent 500 record highlighted by wins against the Jazz and the Mavs. They'll be facing off against Scott Skiles and Jim Boylan's Bucks in their first appearances at the UC since their departures. The Milwaukee Bucks have had a miserable preseason so far with a 1-6 record. The only win they squeaked out was a 4 point victory over the Golden State Warriors. Charlie Villanueva so far been their best player with averages of 14 points, 4 rebounds a game.

It's very important for the Bulls to come out and destroy them early on. Skiles and Boylan must go down. The Bulls lineup tonight is probably going to be ridiculous since VDN has already went on record saying they're not going to play them using their regular game plan, whatever that means, we have yet to find out. Either way though, the Bulls have a good shot at a victory, with or without Larry Hughes hehe.

Chicago has also came up in some recent trade rumors regarding Knicks' PF Zach Randolph. The Bulls have cleared some roster space by cutting Brown, Washington, Powell & Ruffin. A clean swap of Hughes for Randolph would work as well as a deal that includes Hinrich & Nocioni.

As much as I don't like the guy, Randolph would definitely help fill the void of the decent post player the Bulls have been lacking the last 5 seasons. Hinrich and Noc would both thrive under a D'Antoni offense and Randolph would definitely help out Thomas and Gooden with rebounding and scoring. A definite win-win situation but I have a feeling that Cleveland is probably more realistically interested yet I have no idea who they would have to trade off for him. They're in a win now situation with LeBron suspected to bolt to Brooklyn in 2 seasons, so getting as many guys in there to help him is a must for them this year.

The Bulls are just one or two pieces away from being a decent playoff condender, it'll be very interesting to see what they do midseason.

Bulls Run Over the Wolves, Lose Larry

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls won their 2nd consecutive preseason game last night against the Minnesota Timberwolves 85-75. The Bulls were up 22-9 at the end of the first quarter. They played without Tyrus Thomas (sore ankle) and Ben Gordon (sore toe).Derrick Rose had another great outing with 17 points and 6 assists. Nocioni chipped in 12 points, Gray had 10 rebounds and Larry Legend had 21 points and 3 steals.

Speaking of the Legend, he went down with a dislocated shoulder in the 3rd quarter. This is great news because VDN won't have to think of a way to distribute time between the onslaught of guards the next few games. On top of this, Ben Gordon should be returning tomorrow night when they take on the Bucks in their last preseason appearance.

I couldn't find a link for the game to post yesterday so I apologize to anyone who came to the blog looking for one. I watched highlights and D-Rose was dismantling defenders and driving the ball inside with a lot of success. I can already see some chemistry building with this team. If Tyrus and Noah can start connecting for some lob passes, this team will be one of the most exciting in the league to watch.

I'll be posting a link tomorrow for the game against the Bucks. Have a great day.

Rose Scores 30, Bulls Beat the Mavs!

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls somehow rallied from a 23 point deficit to beat the Dallas Mavericks 109-105 last night. Derrick Rose scored a preseason high of 30 points including the go ahead bucket with 41 seconds left to put the Bulls up for good, he also had 7 assists. Tyrus Thomas notched his 3rd consecutive double double of the preseason with 10 points and 12 rebounds and 5 blocks, how's that for productive? The man is a beast.

I totally forgot this was on and didn't post a link for it (and I would have had one too since it was on NBATV). It's a real shame because I missed a great game. Derrick Rose finally played a game in which he put up Chris Paul numbers and T-Time continues to impress, all while playing without BG. The Bulls take on K-Love and the Wolves tonight (a link will be posted later) and Scott Skiles' Bucks on Friday to finish out the preseason.

In other news, the Bulls cut Darius Washington and Elton Brown. Roger Powell is still a longshot but has been impressive in preseason play. He made 2 free throws and a 3 pointer to cut the lead down to 5 against the Jazz last Saturday so he's really trying to make a case to stay.

Bulls Season Preview

By Alex Derickson

With one week before the season starts, and one televised Bulls game down, I figured it would be a good time to make my season preview/prediction.

Like Sean said previously, the best looking player so far has been Tyrus Thomas. In the second game against the Jazz he looked unstoppable before fouling out. He's using his quickness and athleticism to his advantage which is something he lacked the previous seasons. 

The X-factor for this season are going to be whether or not Kirk Hinrich is going to have the swagger he had when the Bulls won 49 games. He's one of the teams captains and he needs to step up and play like one. I'm hoping last season was just a fluke for him and he'll come back looking like the Kirk of old.

Another factor is if Ben Gordon will try to prove he deserves that big contract he keeps asking for. He's going to need to give the team more than 18 points a game. The dudes a proven scorer but he's inconsistent. I hate turning the games on and asking, "Which Ben Gordon is going to play tonight?"

Derrick Rose has proven that he can run the point. That's a given. He's sloppy at times but he's 19 running an NBA team's offense better than the likes of Chris Duhon or Rafer Alston. He's the teams future and I haven't seen a reason for them to bring him along slowly like Pax has been saying. 

I'm liking the system VDN has installed for this team. It's a lot of pushing the ball and the defense they've been known for is starting to show up again. The interior defense....not so much, but one step at a time. 

Larry Hughes...please stop taking so many awful shots. Actually, if the ball touches your hands, pass it back to the previous player. He obviously wasn't paying attention and probably didn't mean to give you the ball.

All in all, the team looks better than I thought they would. The conference has improved slightly (mainly Philadelphia) but their division itself is pretty much the same. Hopefully they get off on the right foot and beat the Bucks and the Grizzlies and at least get off to a 2-1 start. Sadly, that would actually be a better start to the season than previous years. It's a lighter circus trip too which is a plus. It's the same tough western conference teams, but not as many games for them to dig a hole in their season.

Hopefully by mid-season Rose and VDN have a better understanding of their jobs and the players start to play together the way we are used to seeing. I'm still keeping my expectations a little low for this season, but after watching them play, I can honestly say I'm excited for the season to start and see what they can do.

Season Prediction: 39-43 (9th in the conference maybe 8th if the Wizards can't recreate the same chemistry they had without Gilbert while he's out again. I'll stick with 9th though)

Bulls Win One, Lose One to the Jazz

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls finally pulled out their first win of the preseason on Friday night with the help of Ben Gordon who had 23 points off the bench. I watched part of the game online, I turned it off though because every time the Bulls pulled ahead, the Jazz came right back. They won by only 3 points but a win is a win.

Saturday night marked the first nationally televised game of the season. The Bulls once again played the Jazz only to lose by 8. Ben Gordon sat this game out (probably just to make a point that the team needs his scoring). Deron Williams got a nasty injury in the first quarter and had to be wheeled off the court. This gave the Bulls an advantage but Carlos Boozer proved to be unstoppable in the paint. The Bulls interior defense is almost nonexistant. The one thing I did notice more than anything was Tyrus Thomas. If he plays as hard as he did on Saturday, the guy's gonna win most improved player. I believe he had 15 points and 14 rebounds. He crashed the boards, drove the ball, made free throws, he looked outstanding. I hope VDN continues to give him decent minutes so he can perform. He's by far the most exciting player on the team so it should be fun to watch the man this season.

A week from tomorrow the season opener takes place against Scott Skiles and the Bucks. This is a game they NEED to win so they can gain some confidence to win the first few games before the dreadful circus trip.

Jazz, Jazz, Jazz....

By Sean Mackey

UPDATE: Link for Bulls/Jazz game tonight (Friday Oct 17th at 7:30 p.m.). The link can be found on this forum, you'll need either TV Ants and/or Octoshape ( http://www.octoshape.com).

http://www.myp2pforum.eu/nba-basketball/29137-basketball-today-october-17th.html

The Bulls will be taking on the Utah Jazz both Friday and Saturday evening this weekend. I'm hoping they can some how win at least ONE preseason game. They lost again to the Wolves earlier this week. I didn't blog about it because I angry they lost another stupid game they should have won. There was a short web stream of it on Justin TV for a few minutes but the streamer quickly switched to the Knicks game. Seriously, who cares about the Knicks?

Anyways, tonight they play the Jazz at Assembly Hall in Illinois to mark a homecoming of Deron Williams, tomorrow they play at the United Center. Also, tomorrow's game is the first nationally broadcasted Bulls game! I'm very excited that I get to watch them play on my 58' inch HDTV rather than a pixalated web stream on my 17 inch computer monitor. Yay for me. Have a great weekend.

Bulls Fall to Pacers in Ft. Wayne

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls ended up losing their 2nd straight preseason game, this time against the underwelming Indiana Pacers in a small arena out in Ft. Wayne. Derrick Rose looked okay again, drove a few times, made one three pointer in the 4th quarter. Free Money led the Bulls in scoring with 15 points, he also had 10 rebounds. The Bulls were without Gooden, Gordon & Noah. The Pacers were without Dunleavy and Murphy, and we still lost to them. Needless to say, it was so boring, I turned it off and played 2K9 where I also lost to the Pacers.

Sorry to anyone who tried the non-working Sopcast link posted on the blog. I eventually found a crappy transmission from FSN Indiana to watch the game on. The quality was terrible, the commentary was all about the Pacers and at one point Mike Dunleavy was in the broadcasting booth and the camera was more focused on him than the game. So, trust me, you weren't missing anything.

Tonights game is against K-Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves who are 2-1 in the preseason. The Bulls will once again be without BG but Noah will make his first appearance in Horace Grant style, sportin' some goggles. There are no listings for a stream yet. The game will be broadcasted on CSN Chicago so I'm sure a link will turn up by this evening which will be posted shortly before gametime if we can find one.

Oct 10th, Preseason Game #2: Bulls vs. Pacers STREAM LINK!

Hey everyone, if you're interested in watching the Bulls Pacers game this evening, you need to go to www.myp2p.eu and download "Sopcast". After you install it, click on the link we have below at the time of the game (7pm) and you "should" be able to watch the game. If a more reliable stream comes up or multiple listings, I'll post those too. Have a good night and enjoy!

Bulls vs. Pacers
sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/48608

Bulls Lose By Only 8 Points to the Mavs in Preseason Debut!

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls fell to the Dallas Mavericks 110-102 on Thursday night. I caught the halftime show and 3rd quarter of action before passing out last night. I had to work 12.5 hours yesterday so I was sort of uninterested by the time I started watching. Derrick Rose looked pretty solid although he took what I thought were some dumb shot attempts but it was his first game so I'm not freaking out....yet. Noah was out with an eye injury and Gordon's toe is injured so they ran Gooden, Thomas, Deng, Hinrich and Rose as the starters . Gooden didn't do too bad guarding Dampier but it was a smaller lineup so they weren't as effective as they could have been with Noah crashing the boards. Aaron Gray was the player of the night for the Bulls. He almost had a double double with 14 points and 9 rebounds. If he could just move a little faster, he'd be a pretty decent back up guy. I have a feeling that VDN is going to play him more than Skiles did so hopefully we'll see some improvement from him.

Darius Washington played a good game but I'm sure he'll face the same fate as Thomas Gardner did last year after a decent preseason performance. Former Slam Dunk Champion and new addition to the Mavs. Gerald Green looked great last night. I doubt he'll get a bunch of playing time but he'll definitely be a nice complement off their bench.

The game was broadcasted via a p2p stream courtesy of realestniggas.com on Justin.tv. The quality wasn't too bad for a youtube type stream but I'm hoping the regular season games (especially their opener against the Bucks) will be a little clearer. Also, during commercial breaks the stream showed amateur porn instead of the commercials, strange but definitely better than the overly repeated Better Basketball video ads featuring JJ Redick. Man, I'm sick of those. I would have posted the link on the site last night but it was late. From now on I'm going to try my best to post the best link to a game so you can guys can watch out of area broadcasts. I won't be posting WGN America, ESPN or TNT links because I'm going to assume most people have those stations but if someone requests, I'll be happy to find a link. Highlights from last nights game can be found below if interested. It just shows the Mavs dunking over the Bulls over 3 minutes and Deng making jumpers, if you're optimistic about the season, you might not wanna watch it. The Bulls play the Pacers this evening at 7:00 p.m., I'll have a stream link posted on the blog if one is available.

Onto a different topic. I caught the first half of the Heat/Nets game while I was at work. The Heat lead most of the game but ended up losing in overtime. Wade and Beasley looked amazing. If they got a decent center I think they'd be one of the better teams in the league.

Highlights of Bulls vs. Mavs:

http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.php?content=video&url=http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/recaps/recap09_pre021_dalchi.asx&video=blank

Preseason Game #1 preview, P2P Viewings and NBA 2K9!

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls will start their 8 game preseason tonight against the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs tore up the Wizards by 26 points on Tuesday so they look hungry. It'll be most interesting to see who the Bulls will start this evening. A lot of people think it's going to be a Rose, Hinrich, Noah, Gooden and Deng lineup but we'll see. I don't really like to pay too much attention to preseason games when teams are playing their 3rd stringers and benching their all-stars. Either way, I expect the Bulls to come out strong.

The game this evening will be broadcasted on CSN Chicago but of course, Alex and I live in Northern KY where the picnic game cornhole is more popular than NBA basketball so there will be no broadcast of this game within a 300 mile radius. So there's always P2P broadcasts right? No, the folks over at http://www.myp2p.eu/ aren't even streaming tonights game so yeah, the best we can do is listen to the radio broadcast streamed on nba.com.

What is http://www.myp2p.eu/ you ask? It's a decent website where a bunch of crazed sports fans stream out of area games. Sometimes the quality is decent, other times it's terrible. I'm going to try my best to post either links from myp2p or preferably direct NBA League Pass mms links here on our blog if I can find them on the day of a game. Also, if you are reading this and you can help us post streaming links to games, please send us a comment.

NBA 2K9 came out on Tuesday, I was at Gamestop as soon as I got out of work to pick up this glorious piece of software. It's harder than the previous year's game but the gameplay is a lot more realistic. Rose is an exciting player to use, he's sooooo fast but he sucks at finishing. The commentary still sucks, Clark Kellogg is terrible to begin with but on top of that he's reciting old commentary that Kenny Smith said on last year's installment. One of the more pleasant surprises is that Dennis Rodman is included on this game as a 90's East legend. If I can somehow extract him using a fantasy draft or something to get him on the Bulls, I'm so doing it. Definitely a recommended game here at Chicago Bulls KY. If you have Gamefly rent it, if have the cash, buy it, it's way better than NBA Live.

That is all for today. Tomorrow we'll have a recap of the Bulls/Mavs game and if a link for the game becomes available sometime this afternoon we'll be sure to post it so you can check out Derrick Rose's first game.

Gordon Finally Signs $6.4 Million Qualifying Offer

By Sean Mackey

The roster is now set.

The Chicago Bulls announced last night at 11:00 p.m. that Ben Gordon went ahead and signed the 1 year, $6.4 million qualifying offer. This is good and bad news. The good news is that BG will be with the team again, the bad news is that he will most likely leave after this season unless he performs super well and the Bulls pay him top dollar. Not that he's going to get top dollar from any other team in the league since everyone is going to try to clear some cash for the possible signing of James, Wade or Bosh.

Gordon's agent, Raymond Brothers went ahead and said “he’s very happy to be able to go back and play basketball, and he looks forward to talking to the Bulls next summer about an extension.” They also mentioned that he'll report to practice Thursday after skipping Wednesday's morning practice and being a no show at the second session.

I don't believe that Gordon has any intention to try to talk to the Bulls again. He's tried two years in a row and gotten no where. It's now up to him to be the best player on the team, whether he's on the bench or starting to justify any team paying him what he thinks he's worth.

In some more upbeat news, VDN coached his first practice of training camp Tuesday. So far, everyone seems to like the man and knows he means business. I'm just afraid he might baby the group too much, then again, that might be what they need to play harder. Skiles refused to communicate or pamper these guys and they refused to play for him so who knows, it may all work out. Skiles also is not a fan of the European player where as Del Negro embraces it.

I sort of feel that VDN is coming in as a sort of Coach Bombay who has to clean up a team of complete misfits. Lets hope his out of the box thinking helps this squad. They went from being picked to win the East to a league wide joke.

I can't wait for the season to start.

2008-2009 Hollinger Team Forecast (ESPN)

By Sean Mackey

John Hollinger of ESPN posted his season previews for the Eastern Conference yesterday afternoon. He's got the Bulls coming in tied for 9th place with the Miami Heat. That's a fair assumption being that no analyst can seriously predict where Chicago will pan out this year. A lot of the other predictions are complete head scratchers though such as Charlotte and Indiana possibly sneaking into the playoffs. I don't see either of them getting into the playoffs before the Wizards. I also think the 76er's are ranked too high in all seriousness. Yeah, they got Brand, but will he stay healthy? Here's how the rest of the east shakes out.

1. Boston Celtics
2. Detroit Pistons
3. Philly 76er's
4. Orlando Magic
5. Toronto Raptors/Cleveland Cavaliers
7. Indiana Pacers
8. Charlotte Bobcats
9. Chicago Bulls/Miami Heat
11. Washington Wizards
12. Milwaukee Bucks
13. Atlanta Hawks
14. New York Knicks
15. New Jersey Nets

Here's the overall outlook that was posted by Hollinger for the
Bulls:

Chicago still has as much young talent as any team this side of Portland, and its potential for cap space in 2009 and again in 2010 (when Hughes comes off the books) makes its future a lot brighter than its present. But we're dealing with 2008-09 here, and it could be another rocky year in the Windy City. While winning the lottery helps, NBA point guards typically need at least a year before their play really zooms upward, so Rose may have his struggles -- especially since he played only one year of college ball and needed half of that season to get his bearings. It's a similar situation up front, where Thomas and Noah are undoubtedly talented but still learning how to be pros, and giving up both pounds and experience to their opponents every night. It doesn't help that two of Chicago's best players play the same position, meaning they have to either go small to get Deng and Nocioni on the court at the same time or, more logically, trade Nocioni for a true frontcourt player. Either way, it seems more likely that they miss the playoffs than make it. There are a great many wild cards here -- how well Rose plays, how well the young bigs adjust to their increased roles and how Del Negro handles his first coaching assignment -- but ultimately too many of those have to turn in Chicago's favor to consider it likely that the Bulls will return to the postseason.

Prediction: 39-43, 4th in Central Division, T-9th in Eastern
Conference

Throw us a comment, let us know what you think of these rankings!

Report: Gordon to Sign Qualifying Offer!

By Sean Mackey

Finally, after an offseason of failed contract negotiations, Ben Gordon has caved. In a report by K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, Ben Gordon has verbally agreed to except the one year, $6.4 million qualifying offer which will keep him in a Bulls uniform until at least the end of the 08-09 season. After the season is over, BG will be an unrestricted free agent. He has acknowledged via a text message that he will be reporting to training camp tomorrow.

This is good news considering this has dragged on WAYYYY too long. The Bulls are now expected to add a veteran big man (cough Juwan Howard) to fill out their roster. I have a hunch that they'll also start operation: dump Larry Hughes sometime here in the near future.

A demo for NBA 2K9 with the Bulls facing the Thunder surfaced on youtube (link below) with the projected starters Rose, Hinrich, Deng, Gooden & Noah. The gameplay looks a lot like 2K8 but slightly smoother. The scoreboard is now located on the top of the screen which might take sometime to get use to. They also have interspliced real life footage of the players at the beginning of the game and ingame standout plays in a montage style at the end of the quarter which will make it look like more of a real tv broadcast. The only complaint I have so far from viewing this footage is the addition of Clark Kellogg as an announcer but that's pretty minor. I have a good feeling that this game is going to be pretty tight. Only 8 more days until the release! Very excite.

Bulls vs. Thunder (2K9 Beta Footage)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsI-8UUdEsU

Bulls Fill Up Roster For Training Camp

By Sean Mackey

The Bulls went ahead and signed three guys to fill out their training camp. Elton Brown, Darius Washington and Roger Powell. The understanding from Blog A Bull is that Elton Brown has the best chance to actually make the team. We'll see though. Also, I just found 2 games were added to our local schedule in KY. A preseason game is being nationally broadcasted on WGN America Saturday, Oct 18th against the Jazz and and a regular season contest against the Pistons on Tuesday, December 23rd. Both games start with Bulls Eye at 8:00 p.m. EST. That is all, have a great weekend!

Calling all nerds! NBA 2K9 Chicago Bulls Player Ratings Leak! New 2K9 features!

By Sean Mackey

So, apparently this is a leaked list of the player ratings for NBA 2K9. We all knew that there would be a slight ratings drop for a lot of players on the Bulls after the lackluster season. For example, Thomas is down to a 73 after an optimistic 76 rating on last year's game. Drew Gooden and Thabo's ratings both went up a tad. I've posted the old ratings in parenthesis to the right of the new ones for your comparing pleasures. In my opinion, they're about where they need to be after a bad year, nobody dropped mass ratings points so that's good. Also, if I might add, It'll be fun to finally play as Aaron Gray who for some reason was snubbed on 2K8.

2K9 Ratings
Luol Deng - 84 (Same)
Kirk Hinrich - 84 (85)
Ben Gordon - 82 (Same)
Derrick Rose - 80 (New Player)
Andres Nocioni - 80 (82)
Larry Hughes - 79 (81)
Drew Gooden - 76 (73)
Joakim Noah - 74 (76)
Thabo Sefolosha - 73 (72)
Tyrus Thomas - 73 (76)
Aaron Gray - 72 (New Player)
Cedric Simmons - 66 (Same)

The new features on 2K9 this year include the first ever 5 on 5 online play. This would normally seem lame if you didn't have the ball, but you'll be able to tug other players jerseys to slow them down and play hard defense which will be cool. The game also includes something called "living players". This feature will automatically update player ratings, trades and starting lineups weekly. How cool is that?

The best new addition to the game has to be the Create a Player downloads. For the first time ever, you'll be able to create players and upload them for other users to download. Users will also be able to rate your created player so that you'll be able to pick the best rendition of that particular baller. This will solve the problem with annoying people begging other users on message forums for people to post CAP attributes (which I might add was damn near impossible with last years game unless you took screen shots and posted them online).

Overall it looks like it's going to be an awesome game, even better than last year and 2K8 was the best basketball game I've ever played. With new animations, smoother gameplay and the new features mentioned above, 2K9 seems poised to out do EA Sports for the 3rd straight year in a row.

P.S. to all gamers still playing NBA Live:
Your game is lame. Do yourself a favor and switch over, you won't regret it.

Ben Gordon.....possibly staying?

By Sean Mackey

Finally, after 2 months of silence regarding the Ben Gordon standoff, Bulls owner, Jerry Reinsdorf has spoken. On Wednesday he had this to say:

''It has to be resolved, you know, we have a business disagreement
relating to the money, but he's still a Chicago Bull, and I expect him to play
for the Bulls. I expect him to play hard, and I'd be surprised if it's anything
other than that. I expect Ben Gordon to be playing for the Bulls this year, one
way or another. I don't know if it will be resolved before training camp, but I
do expect him to be playing for the Bulls.''

This is what I like to hear. I just hope they can get him signed. It would be hard to picture this Bulls group with out their semi-star player. Sam Smith (formerly of the Chicago Tribune) also finally blogged about the situation over at Hoops Hype. I recommend checking it out, the link's below. If there's anything I miss more, it's Sam Smith covering Bulls basketball. K.C Johnson is great but the whole NBA listens to Sam Smith's trade scenerios, it's ridculous.


Take the Money Ben by Sam Smith

National TV Broadcast Schedule!

By Sean Mackey

As promised here it is.......the national TV schedule for the Bulls 08-09 season! I have not included NBA TV on this schedule since this is the broadcast listing for the Northern Kentucky area and a lot of other parts of the US where we don't get NBA TV. Unfortunately, we weren't given the semi-decent 36 nationally televised games we've had the last 2 seasons. This year, we'll have to settle for a mere 23 televised games broadcasted between TNT, ESPN & WGN America (formerly WGN Superstation). Thank God for p2p streams :)

Also, it should be mentioned that this year marks the end of a truely great era in Bulls basketball with the departure of WGN television play by play announcers Wayne Larrivee and Johnny "Red" Kerr. Wayne and Johnny had done the play by play for the last 17 seasons including all of the Bulls dynasty era. Since I started watching the Bulls in 96, they were always there. Their voices will be missed although Johnny is still going to be with the broadcast team but in a much smaller role. He will be doing pregame and halftime shows at Bulls home games. I'm sure that traveling throughtout the whole 82 game season was starting to take a toll on the 76 year old former Bulls coach. Bulls radio announcer Neil Funk will be taking over TV duties along with sidekick, former Bulls player, Stacey King.

Friday October 31st at Boston Celtics, 8:00 p.m. ESPN
Wednesday November 5th at Cleveland Cavaliers, 8:00 p.m. ESPN
Thursday November 13th vs. Dallas Mavericks, 9:30 p.m. TNT
Saturday November 15th vs. Indiana Pacers, 8:30 p.m. WGN
Wednesday November 19th at Portland Blazers, 10:30 p.m. ESPN
Wednesday December 13th vs. New Jersey Nets, 8:30 p.m. WGN
Friday December 26th at Miami Heat, 5:00 p.m. ESPN
Saturday December 27th at Atlanta Hawks, 7:00 p.m. WGN
Wednesday December 31st vs. Orlando Magic, 2:00 p.m. WGN
Saturday January 3rd vs. Minnesota Wolves, 8:30 p.m. WGN
Saturday January 10th vs. OKC Thunder, 8:30 p.m. WGN
Thursday January 15th vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, 8:00 p.m. TNT
Saturday January 31st at Phoenix Suns, 9:00 p.m. WGN
Thursday February 12th vs. Miami Heat, 7:00 p.m. TNT
Sunday February 22nd at Indiana Pacers, 12:00 p.m. WGN
Saturday February 28th vs. Houston Rockets; 8:30 p.m. WGN
Saturday March 14th vs. New Orleans Hornets , 8:30 p.m. WGN
Saturday March 21st vs. Los Angeles Lakers, 8:30 p.m. WGN
Tuesday March 24th vs. Detroit Pistons, 8:00 p.m. TNT
Thursday March 26th vs. Miami Heat, 8:00 p.m. TNT
Sunday March 29th at Toronto Raptors, 3:30 p.m. WGN
Thursday April 9th vs. Philadelphia 76ers, 8:00 p.m. TNT
Saturday April 11th vs. Charlotte Bobcats, 8:30 p.m. WGN

The 2008 Chicago Bulls Offseason Recap

By Sean Mackey

It's been a while since our last post, but now with only 2 months until the 08-09 NBA season starts, it is truly a time to get excited about Bulls basketball. Since our last update, the summer league has came and went, Chris Duhon has signed up to be the New York Pants' new starting point guard, Deng was re-signed to a 6 year, $80 million contract, the US won the gold and Ben Gordon is still in limbo.

The summer league left most of us pretty unimpressed with Derrick Rose. He looked raw, but then again it was his first time playing against pros and he has a long way to go. The main ending concern was that he has tendinitus in one of his knees.....isn't he a little too young for this to be happening? He was removed from the roster for the last few games so he doesn't tear anything up. My boy Andres Nocioni also has tendinitus going on as well yet it was completely downplayed by Noc. That man would play with one leg if he had to though so I don't trust him when he says that he "feels great".

Chris Duhon left the Bulls as expected, although none of us could have predicted that he would take the dead end job of running the starting point guard position for the NY Knicks. As soon as they tank to dead last in the league, win the lottery and Donnie Walsh selects Spanish prodigy Ricky Rubio, Duhon will soon find his place on the bench again. If that doesn't happen, he'll end up getting in trouble for his well publicized nightlife addiction and crappy taste in novelty t-shirts. Have fun sucking C-Du.....and NY, he's your problem now.

Deng was re-signed to an insane contract that could be worth up to $80 million. This is great for Deng, he truely cleaned up with this deal. Now that you're happy Luol, can you stop sucking and have that breakout season you were suppose to have last year? Good luck brah, since you're now probably going to be the only scoring option on the team this year.

The Olympics finally ended on Sunday, thank God. Congrads to the US team, you toyed with every team, had fun, looked great and still won. Congrads to Noc for pulling in the bronze, I've never seen a guy so proud and enthusiastic to represent his country.

And then there's Ben Gordon. The whole BG fiasco has just gotten completely ridiculous. BG thinks he's worth 13 million, the Bulls think he's worth something in the $9.6 range. 6 years/$58 million is wayyyy more than he's going to get anywhere else. He's an undersized, streaky shooting guard who isn't a great defender. I don't know one team that could use him as a starter other than the Orlando Magic and that's not gonna happen. Then a few weeks ago, BG stated that he wasn't going to take the one year $6.4 qualifying offer with the Bulls and is demanding a sign and trade. No one has cap space for Gordon's ridiculous contract he's demanding he's worth other than the Grizzlies and they have OJ Mayo now so they're not going to want him. However there are a few rumors going around regarding both the Utah Jazz and the Denver Nuggets. The most popular is Gordon/Nocioni for Kirilenko/Brewer. I don't really see how this would work since AK-47 is going to want to start and he's going to have to play behind Deng and Gooden. This would just push him over the edge to go back to the Euro leagues which would be ashame. The other popular scenerio would be to clear out some players and re-sign Gordon such as the Hinrich, Nocioni, Larry Hughes, and Drew Gooden to Denver for Allen Iverson and Kenyon Martin trade. Both this and the Jazz trade are unlikely but it's something to toss around I suppose since no one else has any idea of how to handle this situation.

Don't get me wrong I love Ben Gordon. I think he's a very talented, sick clutch player but dude, just because you've been the the leading scorer for 3 years (18.6 points or something), doesn't mean you're worth top dollar. If teams paid by your logic, Mike Dunleavy would be worth $80 million for 6 seasons.....I mean hell, he's averaging 0.5 points more than you Ben....does that raise him to $80,500,000 or even maybe $81 million? Ridculous, simply ridic. BG, do yourself a favor, stop listening to your retard agents and realize that they aren't going to get you what they're telling you. Stop whining, sign a deal and lead us to a 7th ring.

That is all for now, we'll be releasing the Northern Kentucky (Insight Communications Cable) Chicago Bulls broadcast schedule as well as a season preview soon so stay tuned for that obscure information. Have a great Labor Day weekend!

It's Rose

By Alex Derickson

So with the first pick, the Bulls select local point guard Derrick Rose from Memphis. I'm a huge fan of this pick and think in a couple seasons Rose will be able to get the Bulls make it back to prominence in the Least-ern Conference. Granted, I love Michael Beasley and think he will be an excellent NBA forward and be an immediate impact for Miami, but I think Rose is the better fit for C

It seemed like once Kansas State would start to lose a game Beasley would get lost on defense and seemingly just disappear from the game. Rose just has an extra gear in him where he doesn't want to lose and almost refuses to when it counts. Watch highlights from the NCAA title game, Rose singlehandedly almost won the game for Memphis. That's what the Bulls really need as a player, not an immediate impact guy, but a guy who wants to win.

I want to sit here and say that Rose and Del Negro are going to work out perfect and the Bulls will be back as an Eastern Conference power next season. But I'm going to go ahead and keep my expectations a little lower than normal. Not quite Tim Floyd low...but I can't expect a rookie point guard and a rookie coach with NO experience to bring the Bulls around to where we got used to seeing them over the past few seasons.

Regardless, he's already looking better than a certain someone around this time....

First Post: The Hiring of Vinny Del Negro

By Sean Mackey

For the first CBKY post we make, I'd like the discuss the hiring of VDN. Now, granted most of us would have rather had Mr. Mike D'Antoni coaching the squad, this just didn't happen. As soon as D'Antoni's name got thrown into the coaching rumor mill, I think the majority of the Bulls roster and the millions of fans immediately were excited and full of hope for the 08-09 season. After our dreams were crushed by the dirty Knicks of New York, then Doug Collins' name got tossed into the mix.....even reports surfaced from the Chicago Tribune headlining "Doug Collins expected to be new Bulls coach" . A week later, that report was squashed after Collins decided to drop out of the coaching race. I wasn't a fan of Collins at all. The whole thought of it made me numb. Then a bunch of unexciting former assistants started to come out of the wood work.

Dwane Casey

Chuck Person

Vinny Del Negro

I thought, "how am I suppose to get excited by these names". As a Bulls fan, you just couldn't. After having your dreams of a run and gun D'Antoni offense including Tyrus (Free Money) Thomas slamming in amazing lob passes from Derrick Rose completely pissed on, how is a no-namer assistant suppose to make you excited for the future?

Then the announcement of the hiring of Vinny Del Negro happened.

Players on the Bulls roster along with the majority of the fans were either confused or pissed off. I was one of the confused ones since I was pretty numb still from the Knicks hiring of D'Antoni.

Maybe I'm a sucker, but I thought VDN did a great job at his first press conference. I totally see how Pax was sold on this guy, he's a great talker. Like D'Antoni, the man has played overseas and played at an uptempo pace.....but this guy stresses defense. Wow, it's like the best of both worlds right? Well I hope so.

All and all, I'm really excited about this next season. With the #1 draft pick (I don't care which one it is by the way) and a fresh young coach to guide them, I can see them picking up where they left off in 06-07. With all that being said, I wish VDN the best of luck this season. He's going to need it.