Friday, October 31, 2008

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.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

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!

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.


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!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

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.

Friday, October 24, 2008

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.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

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.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

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.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

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)

Monday, October 20, 2008

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.

Friday, October 17, 2008

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.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

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.

Friday, October 10, 2008

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:

Thursday, October 9, 2008

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.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

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.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

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!