which should be good for 9th or 10th place in the EC, and pick 11-13 (i.e. middling talent).

I’d wait till the end of the summer before making any of those predictions. Injuries, more trades, signings are bound to happen over the next few months.

Just like last season, I see the Bulls making a mid-season move to push the Bulls over the hump and make the playoffs. Now how far they go depends on who they get and fast the rookies develop.

Derrick Rose making the jump from young stud to perennial all star (hopefully superstar) player. No matter what anyone wants to happen with this team going forward, it all revolves around D Rose taking his game to the next level.

Unless they want to make the lottery, which if you ask me is stupid unless next years lottery has some 2003 esque talent (im pretty sure it doesnt). I think they can easily get the same record they got this year. I think ben gordon helps us win more close games as opposed to games in general, in terms of point production i think that could be matched up, i think in terms of defense the bulls get better, its just now if any games get close, the bulls lose cuz they dont have that ice cold assasin shooting for them anymore. So i think some of the games that the bulls won last year, wont be won this year but some games we lost last year wont be lost this year.

I think alot of people keep talking about how we lose 20 points and our main offense, ill say this cuz its true but i know the response ill get (you do know that vdn is our coach right piccolo?) the team will adapt, gordon’s shot will go to primarily salmons which isnt that bad at all and i wont go into the details but its natural (no really it is) that other guys will step up their game. So ultimately the loss of gordon wont be felt in terms of regular season wins or losses…at least not significantly….

But the reason gordon was valuable to teh team is because of what people like yfbb tygeer sports2 and many others have been preaching. Ben gordon is young, he is clutch, he is good. He is a player who can be on the team as long as rose, with him here the bulls can get a good post player and become a contender. Rudy was a big hope this summer, somehow lucking into a sg of that talent (efficient scorer on all ends of the court and a good team mate with average abilities in pretty much every other category) because he was a sg who would be cheap and good enough that he could survive most of roses growth as a player so that if we did land bosh or amare we would still be able to contend. going into 2010 even if we land Bosh or amare we will be a player short, a sg short.

The bulls greatest pickle might be that if they trade hinrich they become even worse at which point they arent as talented as last year, but then they save money and have more of an ability to sign a all star forward and a decent sg. Its a tricky situation which becomes even more dependant on rose and deng’s development. Both have to play at a real high level where losing hinrich still puts them playoff bound, but then going into the playoffs deng becomes the leader so he really needs to learn how to well, at the very least, NOT DISSAPEAR LATE IN THE GAME!!!

These tricky situations are the true result of the loss of ben gordon, although maybe we wouldnt be able to land Bosh with gordon contract (without trading both hinrich and deng, and possibly even tyrus) but things would be alot simpler, we would be placed for many years to be just ONE POST PLAYER AWAY!!! Now the bulls are longing for a post player and a sg and its more complicated…but not impossible.

At teh moment a quick fix can be done by landing either lebron (not happening) or D. Wade (actually is possible although difficult)….these are the two players who can make up practically any void on offense cuz they have a scoring ability that surpasses pretty much anything any one player can bring to a team….

I mean, what if they pick up someone like Anthony Parker? What if no one takes Shawn Merion and he ends up signing for the mid-level exception?

There are a lot of what-ifs.

But I agree, if the Bulls simply limp into the season with this roster, they’re asking for it. finishing well below .500, further alienating their extremely frustrated and disappointed fanbase, all of it.

I am from Sweden no the bulls will be their usual .500 which is good enough for the playoffs

1. I figure that, barring some other major move, Gordon’s loss is partially offset by Deng getting healthy, and Rose and Noah being better versions of themselves. We probably also get Kirk for the whole season. Of course, all that would have been true if we had Gordon as well, so watch it be sold as “we didn’t need Gordon” when, in fact, if we’d added another good player to the mix we’d be further ahead. But yeah, with devent health, we more or less tread water.

2. Looking at the rest of the East, an assuming teams are healthy, I figure the Cavs, Magic and Celts are still obviously better. If they’re really finally healthy (Arenas and Dunleavy) the Wiz and Pacers are probably better. The Bobcats ended the season playing solid ball. Don’t see much change yet for the Knicks, Heat, Hawks and Pistons. Bucks and Nets look worse, but we finished ahead of them anyway.