Finally....the Bulls win a freakin' game!

By Sean Mackey

The Chicago Bulls ended a 5 game losing streak by notching a win over a depleted Detroit Pistons team and their former leading scorer Ben Gordon. John Salmons led the Bulls with 22 points on 7-12 shooting. Derrick Rose looked decent coming up with 19 points and 6 assists and Joakim Noah continued his best impression of Dennis Rodman by racking up 14 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks. Ben Gordon led the Pistons with 18 points shooting a poor 6-16 from the field.

This was a must win game, especially with Ben Gordon coming back to the United Center. Of course, the win kind of has an asterisk by it though since Villanueva, Hamilton and Prince were all absent but we'll take it. The win bumps up the Bulls to the 7th seed in the Conference and 2 wins below 500.

After watching the game, I came to the conclusion that neither Ben Gordon or the Bulls are better without each other. It's a shame that we couldn't just give up Kirk Hinrich and re-sign our best player. It's also a shame that he's playing for a team that makes absolutely no sense for him to be on. He had a starting spot on the Bulls and if he was re-signed, I'm sure John Salmons would be coming off the bench. Instead, he's coming off the bench behind Rodney Stuckey and Chucky Atkins. I'm assuming Hamilton and Prince will be moved at the deadline for big post up player which would be great for them (cough Chris Kaman). I'm sure they're not going to play Rip and BG simultaneously for very long when he does come back from his injury. It wouldn't make much sense keeping him when Will Bynum is coming off the bench and doing such a great job.

I would personally love to know what's going on with James Johnson. I wish VDN would start him a few games so we could see what this guy can do. Taj Gibson has a decent mid range jumper and fights for rebounds but the guy drops so many passes that it's ridiculous. Is Chicago going to just use him as a trade piece? Is he going to be unleashed mid-season they can take teams by surprise with his dynamic skill set? I'm so confused why he was drafted at this point.

Thinking ahead to the summer of 2010, with Chris Bosh probably going to Miami, the Bulls options for a post up player are going to be limited to Amare Stoudemire (who will probably re-sign with the Suns or go to the Knicks), Carlos Boozer or in a worse case scenario there's always David Lee. Signing another shooting guard like Joe Johnson just puts us in the same place we were with Ben Gordon last season. The Bulls can scrounge around and find a semi-decent shooting guard or re-sign Johnny Salmons and we'll still have Hinrich who can shoot decently from the perimeter. I just think having a big guy draw a double team down low would create more opportunities for Rose and Deng.

The Bulls play another nationally televised game Friday night against the Cavs. Check it out on ESPN at 8 p.m.