The Bulls new bench acquisitions haven't been able to and will never be able to equal the production of last year's bench mob. Marco Belinelli isn't Kyle Korver, Nazr Mohammed isn't Kurt Thomas, much less Omer Asik, and even Kirk HInrich's play is causing people to long for CJ Watson. As unimpressive as the Bulls bench has been this season, the reason they are currently 5-6 isn't because of the difference in the contributions of their 8th and 9th men it is rather the contributions of their top players, specifically Carlos Boozer and Taj Gibson. Both players are sporting PERs below 16 and FG percentages below 44%. These players are integral to the success of the Bulls, both with and without Derrick Rose, and they have not been getting the job done.

If you'll recall, a similar situation occurred last year around this time with Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah in a funk for the first 20 games or so. The Bulls kept winning then because they had Derrick Rose, and yes, a terrific bench. This year the Bulls don't have Derrick Rose and don't have a bench that can carry them to wins, but if you subtracted Derrick Rose from last year's team during the fist 10 or so games the records would be similar. Side bar: Some state that Taj Gibson's struggles prove he was dependent upon Omer Asik to be successful, I would instruct those people to remember Taj's rookie season and his success without Asik on the court last year.

In 2011-2012 Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah eventually found their stride, and they, along with Omer Asik, Ronnie Brewer, and Taj Gibson, were able to keep the Bulls afloat during Derrick Rose's absence.That team minus D-Rose was 9 games above .500. If Boozer and Taj snap out of their funk, this is a team should manage to be a .500 or above by the time D-Rose returns. If they never do the Bulls will be in big trouble, but lets wait until their best players start playing well before we blame the bench mob for the closing of the Bulls championship window.