Just some random half-arsed observations:

I'm sure everyone is on edge to hear this declaration: Derrick Rose is going to be OK at basketball. I see a future in the league for this kid.

He missed his first few jumpers (and was a bit more trigger-happy than I thought he'd be) but he showed what he could do early in the game: not only did he initiate a lob to Tyrus (who whiffed, more on that later) but on a subsequent play he was the recipient of a lob. The point guard! Made some mistakes but also created space for shooters with his penetration. Looked for the ball when initiating the possession, and looked to run once he got it. Was not timid in attacking the basket, moved sharply off-the-ball, and showed off a nice jump-stop in the lane during the 3rd quarter. But what stood out right away is that this is a guard that can play above the rim. That hasn't been a part of this team for a while.

So that's good. Now to work on his teammates...

Kirk Hinrich was the two-guard tonight alongside Rose. I've doubted Hinrich's ability to ever be a full-time two, and tonight didn't do much to dissuade that opinion. He made one nice move getting through the center of the lane to get a layup and a foul, but on a couple of occasions he'd get the ball baseline on the move, and while heading towards the goal would not even look at the rim, let alone attack it. Thankfully he didn't follow through with the full-on Hinrich maneuver, but he needs to be more aggressive if he's playing off Rose. He also front-rimmed a few jump shots, and he was overpowered on defense on a couple of occasions by Antoine Wright.

Drew Gooden started at Center and played well. Eric Dampier is one of the bigger opponents he'll have to face, and overall he held his own, especially on the boards. He also made his jump shots, something that will be a key to this season as he'll have to carry the offensise load in the frontcourt.

Tyrus Thomas hit a couple jumpers himself and even made some plays when the defense starting closing out on him, but he did not show improvement in what was his major problem last season, which was finishing when close. He let a lob from Rose slip though his hands, and didn't do much around the basket on offense...getting to the point in the 2nd half where he'd start looking for the jumper first. I was a bit dissapointed that he wasn't isolated on offense more tonight, but against the tall frontcourt that Dallas posesses it could've just been a bad matchup. One thing I will say for Tyrus is that he didn't look lost , nor did he make many mistakes. And it's good that the jumper is still improving. But I don't want him to become another softie like LaMarcus Aldridge, I'd like to see him using that range to set up moves towards the basket.

Larry Hughes is not going to change, he is what he is. He takes bad shots, and a lot of them. He couldn't stay in front of Jason Terry on defense. When he did pass he forced them. He did a decent job rebounding, but that's that's about it for nice things to say about Hughes. Hopefully when Gordon comes back Huges will take his rightful place on the bench, though for tonight Hughes was ahead of Thabo in the depth chart.

Other random observations:

• Hinrich was announced after Rose in the starting lineups. Can you name a lamer face of a franchise than Kirk Hinrich?
  
• Luol Deng was underwhelming. I didn't even notice him in the game until halfway through the first, and he didn't do much outside of a few jump shots. Not worried or anything, but I would've been nice to see Lu take more initiative after a summer where he got paid and was the number-one option of his international team.
  
• The defense was pretty bad all night, alarmingly so in the first quarter when giving up 36 points while both teams' regulars were in the lineup. A lot of it had to do with turnovers on offense letting the Mavs run. Noah would've helped too. I'll wait a few games to see if that gets turned around at all.
  
• Good to know that even after changing over the announcing crew, the odd love for Aaron Gray remained. Stacy King said he should get 15-20 minutes a night, and then said that he'll learn to rotate better defensively as he matures. It's not a matter of recognition, Stacy, it's a matter of his inability to move his feet at above-glacial speed.
• Noc was pretty worthless: 0 points and 4 fouls. Let James Singleton get loose after a pick that led to a score. Didn't cut his hair all summer.
  
• Thabo had one nice play where he went rim-to-rim on a break. But he also lost the ball too much in the half-court set, and if he is indeed in the running to start alongside Rose he didn't distinguish himself.
• End of the first half, and Vinny drew up the play for Rose. It was pretty much an isolation of Rose at the top, and instead of sending someone to set a pick he overloaded to one side and let Rose beat his man solo off the dribble. Didn't quite work as Rose committed an offensive foul, but I like that the plan wasn't to inadvertenly send an extra defender at him, a la Skiles.
• When Tyrus exited the game for the final time he had a huge heat wrap around his back.
  
• Wasn't it nice not to see Chris Duhon?
• For the meaningful part of the game, the Bulls had zero three-point FGs. Come back soon, Ben Gordon.
• One third quarter lineup was Rose/Hughes/Deng/Noc/Gray. That's some high usage, and bad defense.
• Didn't watch most of the 4th, so I don't know who looked good in the scrub scrum amongst Washington, Powell, Simmons, Brown, and Nichols. Thabo and Aaron Gray received the rest of the garbage time.
• As I expected, I liked the new TV crew. Odd to see Red Kerr just give some brief analysis from courtside during a couple breaks, but I'd have to think that he'll be in studio when they give the Bulls the full pre/half/post show treatment.
• Game Thread comment of the night: messwiththebull, pulling a nice Big Lebowski reference to denigrate Larry Hughes.

Mike McGraw, with lots of interesting perspectives on Gordon and the other guards from media day:

"I'm going to be part of the team," Gordon said Monday at the Berto Center. "All I can do is continue to be professional. That's why I'm here today. That's why I'll be with my teammates tomorrow even if I'm not going to practice."

...

"I don't want this to be a situation where anyone thinks we don't value Ben, because we do," Paxson said. "If he's on our team, we hope he has a great year and helps us win games."

It's conceivable that Gordon will threaten to take the qualifying offer until the last possible moment, in hopes that the Bulls improve their offer. An increase doesn't seem likely, though, because the Bulls' payroll is approaching the luxury-tax threshold.

Asked if he's ruled out re-signing with the Bulls if he becomes unrestricted next summer, Gordon replied, "I don't know. Ask me in a year."

Once Gordon's contract is resolved, the Bulls will address a related problem - what to do with the crowd in the backcourt. They finished last season with Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Larry Hughes, Thabo Sefolosha and Chris Duhon struggling to get comfortable with inconsistent playing time.

Since then, Duhon left for New York as a free agent, only to be replaced by Rose, the top pick of the NBA draft. The Bulls plan to bring Rose along slowly, but he'll be a fixture at point guard sooner rather than later.

"It's not going to be easy," first-year coach Vinny Del Negro said. "We have a lot of talented guys at the one, two and three. Maybe sometimes we'll play a little bit smaller. The guys that compete the hardest, not only in practice but in games, and prepare the best and are ready to go to battle, obviously those are the guys you want to go with."

...

"Obviously, the logical person that people were talking about moving was Kirk," Paxson said. "I certainly wouldn't want to be sitting here next year not having Kirk or Ben. That was the reason we held pat in the backcourt."

Asked his thoughts about solving the logjam at guard, Gordon said, "It's a mystery. I've been trying to figure that out the whole time. I guess the only thing you can do is wait and see."

Paxson has made it sound as though Gordon signing a long-term deal would make it more likely that one of the other guards would be moved.

"I don't know if that makes sense," Gordon said. "That doesn't make sense to me. You could have done a deal with me and then if you wanted to move somebody, move somebody. I don't think it had to go in that order."

As Paxson said, in terms of who to trade, the only person really impacted by whether Gordon takes a 1 or 6-year deal is Hinrich. There's still no reason not to deal Hughes and Nocioni to clear up minutes.

As for Gordon's comments, he seems a bit slighted, but it sounds more like fuel for motivation than for petulance. There's talk of a last-minute avoidance of the QO, but the Sun Times reports that the Bulls are at $58m and Gordon's agents 'are believed to be' asking for $75m. I doubt that the gap is that wide (it almost sounds like the Sun-Times report is still using the year-old speculation that Gordon wanted to make more than Ben Wallace), but it still sounds like any compromise is a longshot.

This was briefly discussed when he was first drafted, and it was brought back up in the 'why don't the Bulls at least hype Rose?' post.

Are the Bulls serious about this cold-water treatment regarding Rose? Keeping him on the bench to start the season? All Paxson has done (in his brief appearances as assumed general manager) when talking about Rose was aimed at tempering expectations. Couple that with the odd commitment the Bulls have to Kirk Hinrich, and an 'apprenticeship' looks likely.

To me, there's no downside to having Rose start. I don't think the likelihood of him busting differs much whether he's thrown in the fire, or not. Either he's going to be great or he isn't, and the Bulls should be interested in finding out soon. And if he's merely OK, that's technically better than Hinrich was last year, a level which won't hurt the Bulls playoff chances this season.

I do see a downside in sitting him though. Hinrich's a capable player who will keep Rose on the bench more (both in every game and over the course of the season) than necessary. Yet, he'll be playing while always looking over his shoulder at the rookie inevitably taking his job (assuming the Bulls don't honestly try and make him a two-guard, yuck...actually this is a whole 'nother post). I'd rather Rose got used to playing with his best teammates instead of making entry passes to Aaron Gray. And I'd like for him to face tough competition right away as well. 

I'm genuinely interested in gauging this amongst the community, so: