Blog a Bull: FanPosts

Why isn't there more talk of LeBron...

2009-11-07T03:34:46Z

joining the Bulls next year. In terms of basketball decisions, would there be a better young roster with cap space this offseason than the Bulls?

Rose

Deng

LeBron

Taj? (I'd rather a serviceable, veteran 4 with a post game with the mid level exception)

Noah

Hinrich, JJ, 2010 rookie, and a SG that can hit the 3 off the bench, and a backup center.

This team would be in contention for titles for the rest of LeBron's career. The Knicks and the Nets both look absolutely dreadful this year. The Bulls have a younger, more talented roster than the Cavs do right now. And I don't see LeBron and Wade ever playing on the same team, they both need/want to be the main playmaker on their respected teams. This plan would require the Bulls to make an upgrade in coaching as well, obviously.

Michael did just fine becoming the biggest sports icon of the century in Chicago, I don't see why he needs NYC to obtain that. Why isn't there more mention of Chicago as a contender for LeBron? I heard Avery Johnson reference Houston, without mention of Chicago, as a possible destination for James this offseason? That's ridiculous.

Contract/Cap Question for BAB

2009-11-06T16:11:43Z

With everyone speculating about what The Org will be able to accomplish this summer with regard to free agents, Tyrus' extension, etc., I'd be interested to know the answer to this question:

Let's say (hypothetically) that the Bulls are able to create enough cap space to sign a max free agent without moving Tyrus or renouncing his rights, and the first thing they do this summer is sign Wade. Obviously this assumes that they have been able to create enough cap space around Tyrus' cap hold to sign Wade (probably not possible, but let's assume it is for now). Once the ink is dry on Wade's contract, can they then go ahead and sign Tyrus to a contract greater than his cap hold, thereby going above the cap due to the fact that the Bulls still own Tyrus' rights (and you're allowed to go above the cap to resign your own players)?

If this is legit, then this only works in that order: sign Wade first (so that total payroll is under the cap), then sign Tyrus (and legally go above the cap).

In reality, this is probably a moot point, as Tyrus' cap hold is likely to be greater than he is worth anyway, and the Bulls are unlikely to make the moves necessary to free up max FA cap space around his cap hold. However, if Tyrus has an underwhelming or injury plagued year - or the market for his services is quiet - maybe the bulls could sign him to a highly discounted deal (well below his cap hold), and still have room for Wade/Bosh/Johnson. In this scenario though, I think we're more likely to see Taj Gibson as starting PF rather than resigning Tyrus the rabble rousing trouble maker.

Game Preview # 5: Bulls at Cleveland Cavaliers

2009-11-05T18:14:46Z

[UPDATE by your friendly BullsBlogger, 11/05/09 2:19 PM CST: Tyrus Thomas is flying commercial and going to meet the Bulls in Cleveland tonight. May or may not play. I give up.

Thanks to wjb1492 for today's game preview. My initial thoughts on this game is that the Murder Train A Comin'. Then I figured that the Bulls do have a chance to out-hustle and out-run an especially immobile Cavs team. Then I figured that without Tyrus Thomas they don't really have this especially athletic roster conducive to running. Hinrich, Salmons, Taj, Miller, gimpy Rose.... even though Deng is effective in transition he's not a superior athlete. It's basically just Noah at this point. -ed.]

So I really don't want to relive Tuesday's Milwaukee game, from which the Bulls managed to scrape a W in spite of collectively playing like garbage much of the night. The exception was Luol Deng, who has managed to silence most of his critics with his play so far this regular season. Suffice it to say that, after getting our hopes up with a nice win over a San Antonio team many have predicted to be a serious contender this year, the Bulls' next three games have fans once again predicting doom and gloom for the season. A blowout loss, a 4th quarter choke, and a slim two-point victory over a predicted cellar dweller don't exactly inspire confidence, even with the team sitting at .500 for the season.

Through four games, the Bulls offense is ranked 27th in the league, and guys expected to play key roles in the offense are struggling - Tyrus Thomas (47.1%), Derrick Rose (44.2%), James Johnson (41.0%), Kirk Hinrich (41.0%), and John Salmons (33.9%) all have sub-.500 true shooting percantages so far. John and Kirk have been particularly frightening, as our "3-point threats" are currently shooting 18.2% and 13.3% from 3 respectively. It's no wonder that people are having flashbacks to the miserable 07/08 season!

(I've left out Lindsey Hunter, since he's not expected to play a key role in anything but honorary titles this season - but for the record, Captain Hunter is shooting 0% and sporting a PER of -20. True, he's only played 7 minutes and attempted 2 shots, but anytime you can be in the "Top 5" of something deserves mention, right? Even if the category is Worst PER in the League....)

I tend to be a major optimist where my sports teams are concerned, though, and I'm far from ready to give up on the season. The optimist in me is holding onto the facts that (1) Boston is generally considered the most talented team in the leauge when healthy, and the Bulls faced them on the second night of a back-to-back while Boston was rested, (2) Miami is a good team with a superstar, and Chicago hung tough the entire game on Miami's home court, and (3) the team did not quit in spite of being down 18 points mid-way through the third quarter to the Bucks.

Meanwhile, the defense is currently 11th best in the NBA, in spite of having played 3 decent to great offenses (excluding Milwaukee). The offense is a classic chicken/egg conundrum - does the offense look bad because key guys are shooting poorly, or are key guys shooting poorly because the offense isn't great? In my humble opinion, it's a little of both. The odds of both John Salmons and Kirk Hinrich shooting this poorly all year have to be infinitesimally low, and hitting more shots will undoubtedly improve the offense beyond the mere increase in team FG%. And at least the front court is playing reasonably well.

All that said, tonight's game is likely to be rough, to say the least. After starting a surprising 0-2 (losing to Boston and @ Toronto), Cleveland has won it's last 3 games by an average margin of 13.3 points. The Cavs offense is currently ranked 16th in the league, and it's defense 7th. They have bigs our front court might struggle with, and of course they have Lebron James. Having Tyrus Thomas expected to miss the game with the flu (not "flu") won't help. Last season, the Cavs won 3 of 4 against the Bulls, with an average scoring margin of +7.5, and the W the Bulls did scrape out came on one of Lebron's worst games of the season, without Zydrunas Ilgauskas playing, and with Delonte West leaving early with an injury - and it still took OT.

For the game tonight, looking at the Accuscore simulations, Cleveland won 84% of the time, and won big (by 10+ points) 52.6% of the time, with an average score of Bulls losing 96.8 to 86.3. If the Bulls come out playing and shooting like they did to start the Milwaukee game, it's going to be a whole lot uglier than that. But I always pick the Bulls to win, even would logic would dictate otherwise. Shooting slumps have to come to an end at some point. And, even though Cleveland is predicted to do great things this season, they really haven't done much yet with two of their 3 wins coming against Minnesota and Charlotte. So until proven otherwise (which hopefully won't happen in the first five minutes of the game), I'm going to hold out hope that the near loss and comeback win on Tuesday will have galvanized the Bulls into a great effort, that Kirk and John come out hitting tonight while Luol and Joakim continue their great play, and that Derrick leads the team well even if still somewhat hampered by that dratted ankle. After all, the Bulls went 4 and 1 in Thursday games last year, while Cleveland was a mere 5 and 4 - and Chicago it currently batting 1.000 on Thursday night TNT appearances for this season!

Check out the coverage from the Cavs side on Fear the Sword.

We've Got To Rescue D. Wade

2009-11-05T06:05:34Z

After watching the Heat - Wizards game tonight, I'm convinced that the Heat are even more of a one man team, than I believed them to be. There's no way D. Wade stays after this year, and we should really be doing everything in our power to align things to get him next year.

I know a lot of people are going to say, well what would make him want to come here over staying with the Heat and getting those extra millions in the warm weather. Well, look at the team that's around him. The Heat will have a lot of money coming off the books this offseason, from my guess I would say about 38 mil, not counting D. Wade's salary. So I guess they could go out and sign someone like Boozer and resign Wade, but that still leaves them with a starting lineup of :

PG Chalmers

SG D. Wade

SF Beasley

PF Boozer

C FA Pickup / Draft

Is that the team that u think he sees giving him a chance to contend for a title? I don't think so. And if the salary cap shrinks again, then that gives them even less money to fill in those gaps and the bench.

Now, I've heard that we would have to get rid of Hinrich or Ty Thomas's contracts (maybe both) if we want to have enough money to get a premier FA. I say we start with Thomas, I love his potential, but if he's in the way of getting D. Wade I say he can go. Now you're gonna have to follow me on this one.

We trade Tyrus and Jerome James for Boozer, we can give them some cash or a 2nd rounder for fill in. The Jazz do this because at present time they r going nowhere fast and will want to get his contract off the books, before the luxary tax deadline. We get a low post presence for a year, and added salary cap space at the end of the year. This move will give us 24 mil coming off the books. That should be enough space to sign D. Wade.

Our lineup as it exists today is missing the go-to scorer (which we lost when we let BG walk), but even with saying that we have really good pieces in place and that are locked up for the near future. I'll take Rose and Noah over Chalmers and Beasley every day of the week. Throw in Deng, who seems to be showing that he's healthy, and that's a pretty good core group. Reinsdorf has avoided going into the luxury tax like the plague, but I thought I heard he would do so for a championship contender. So say we sign D.Wade for the max and then come back and pick up someone like David Lee for another 8 or 9 mil. This puts us over the cap (I believe, not sure), but not by much and leaves us with this team:

PG D. Rose

SG D. Wade

SF Deng

PF David Lee

C Joakim Noah

With Salmons (if he opts in), Gibson, Johnson coming off the bench. Even if u leave out David Lee and substitute Gibson in. That lineup still looks better than what Miami can throw out.

Thoughts?

The Bulls and Young Talent

2009-11-04T21:07:43Z

I wasn't as high on Tyrus as some, but I would've never, ever guessed he'd be in the doghouse 3 games into the season. Now I wouldn't be surprised if we trade him for next to nothing.

With this coming on the heels of letting Gordon walk, it's easy to see a trend developing. But the sad thing is this has been going on for years. Here's the long line of talented young players the Bulls have traded for pennies on the dollar, or let go for nothing:

ELTON BRAND

Bulls Performance: Two 20/10 seasons on the Bulls
Bulls' Publicized Concern: Elton wasn't happy, there were rumors he didn't want to extend, Krause didn't think he was a superstar.
Trade and Aftermath: Brand for Chandler, Brand goes on to make two all-star games during six straight 18/9 seasons.
String o' Trades: Brand -> Chandler ... Chandler -> PJ Brown, JR Smith ... JR Smith -> Aaron Gray.

RON ARTEST

Bulls Performance: Started nearly every game over 2.5 years playing 31mpg. Terrible shooter, but defensive star with the ability to penetrate and pass.
Bulls' Publicized Concern: Artest's maturity, and like Brand, Jerry Krause didn't think Artest was a superstar to build around.
Trade and Aftermath: Artest and 26-year old Brad Miller for Jalen Rose. Artest became crazy, but also one of the league's elite complementary players, making an all-star team. Miller made two all-star teams. Jalen fizzled immediately and was traded two years later for Antonio Davis.
String o' Trades: Artest, Miller -> Rose ... Rose, Donyell Marshall -> Antonio Davis.

TYSON CHANDLER

Bulls Performance: Averaged 25mpg from ages 19-23, starting 50 games his final year with the Bulls. He was below average offensively, but gained a reputation as a top rebounder and defender while anchoring the 2nd rated defense in 2005.
Bulls' Publicized Concern: Endurance issues made him tire late in games and limited his minutes. And at the time, he wasn't Ben Wallace.
Trade and Aftermath: Chandler for PJ Brown and JR Smith. Chandler finished top-10 in the league in DReb% the next two seasons before injuries limited him last season. He's still just 27.
String o' Trades: Chandler -> PJ Brown, JR Smith ... JR Smith -> Aaron Gray

JR SMITH

Bulls Performance: None.
Bulls Publicized Concerns: Bulls coaches didn't like him.
Trade and Aftermath: Smith for what turned out to be Aaron Gray. Smith is still a poor defender with legitimate maturity issues, but he scored 16ppg in the playoffs over the past two years. He's grown into one of the league's best 3pt shooters, making 40% while attempting 9 per 36min.

BEN GORDON

Bulls Performance: Averaged 18ppg for five seasons as a top sharpshooter, led the Bulls in points scored all five years.
Bulls Publicized Concern: Rumored "me-first" attitude, rift with VDN, below average defense, debatable fit with Derrick Rose.
Trade and Aftermath: Bulls let him walk for nothing.

OTHERS...

Jamal Crawford - Averaged 17ppg for us at age 23 before we traded him essentially for Othella Harrington after Paxson cited improving team defense and commitment.

Matt Bonner - Now the starting PF for the Spurs. We traded him for Chris Duhon.

Chris Duhon - Now the starting PG for the Knicks. Played 25mpg for us for four years. We lost him for nothing after numerous reports that he missed team meetings.

Roger Mason - Was never given a shot here. Started 71 games for the Spurs last year, making 42% of 3s. We lost him for nothing.

Thabo Sefolosha - Decent defender, good rebounder, terrible offensively, but still just 24 years old when we traded him for Taj Gibson. Currently starts for the Thunder.

!!!!!!Eddy Curry!!!!!!! - The one time we've actually benefited from identifying a guy was going to suck! Traded him for Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah.

OVERALL

The Eddy Curry ripping of Isiah Thomas aside...

We've Traded/Let Go:

Elton Brand
Ron Artest
Brad Miller
Tyson Chandler
Ben Gordon
JR Smith
Jamal Crawford
Matt Bonner
Chris Duhon
Roger Mason
Thabo Sefolosha

And Got in Return:

Tyson Chandler
JR Smith
PJ Brown
Jalen Rose
Aaron Gray
Othella Harrington
Chris Duhon
Taj Gibson

Which Turned Out To Be:
PJ Brown
Antonio Davis
Aaron Gray
Othella Harrington
Taj Gibson

Which Currently Is:
Aaron Gray
Taj Gibson

No wonder VDN wants to play Taj so bad! Since the Brand/Chandler trade, we've posted a combined record of 287-373, with two winning seasons and one playoff series victory.

TYRUS' SITUATION

Now another young, talented player looks to be halfway out the door before getting a chance to develop. Like Brand's happiness, Artest's maturity, the staff's not liking Smith, Gordon, Crawford (weird how often this happens), there are concerns, some probably legitimate.

But to me in these situations, there should be two options.

1) Play the guy a ton, recognize internally that he's not going to develop into a star, then move him for better young talent (like we did with Eddy Curry and tried to do with Brand), or

2) Play the guy a ton, and extend him.

The worst, worst, WORST thing to do is bench him, leak your concerns about him to the press, and then try to trade him or let him walk. Especially with a guy like Tyrus who, with his filled box scores and highlight reel plays, would make some GMs salivate.

In my $20 fantasy football league, this tactic is obvious to everyone - when you want to trade someone, put him in your starting lineup and say you like the guy, then when you make him available good offers will pour in. You'd think a $500 million dollar franchise would figure out the same.

Chad Ford Rounds up extensions and team options for recent draftees

2009-11-03T20:21:26Z

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/10274/the-2006-comeback

'06 draft class extensions: Bargnani, Roy, Aldridge, Rondo, Balkman, Sefolosha

And adjust your 2010 free agent plans...

'07 4th year options declined: Acie Law, Sean Williams, Javaris Crittenton, Alando Tucker

'08 3rd year options declined: Joe Alexander, J.R. Giddens.

Game Preview #4: Chicago Bulls vs Milwaukee Bucks

2009-11-03T16:12:38Z

[UPDATE by your friendly BullsBlogger, 11/03/09 12:43 PM CST : Tyrus missed shootaround with the flu, Taj Gibson will start tonight whether or not Tyrus is available.

Thanks to Ozzie Montana for today's game preview. Sign up if you want to do one in the future. I figure the Bulls have an easy blowout, and we all laugh at how it made sense the Bulls offense to start out cruddy against three good defensive teams. But we'll also likely be wrong then thinking the offensive efficiency problem will go away. But if they lose...real fun begins here. -ed]

You have to hand it to this team. They really know how to crush even the most mild of expectations. Fortunately, the Bulls have a chance to right the ship against an even more unimpressive franchise (For one night, at least).

The Bucks, as we all know, lost a ton of talent in the offseason letting go of Vilanueva, Sessions, and Jefferson. Also, it looks like they're already giving up on last year's lottery choice. Joe Alexander is going to the highest draft pick to be refused the rookie option, making him an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. I'm sure they would love a re-do considering Brook Lopez and Anthony Randolph were still on the board. However, it looks like they made a great addition this year with Brandon Jennings, who dominated against Detroit (24 pts, 9/15 shooting), including a perfect 3rd quarter. Too bad the rest of the team is a collection of overrated and overpaid players. Michael Redd is injured yet again (17 million dollar salary FYI), and will likely start Carlos Delfino, Kurt Thomas, and Charlie Bell to go along with Jennings and Bogut. But, since Skiles is the coach, they will somehow remain competitive in a lot of games and play inspired defense.

As for our Bulls, what else is there to say at this point? The "Derrick Rose doesn't have the dog" topic has been beaten to death in one weekend. Tyrus Thomas is already being pointlessly benched in favor of Malik Allen re-incarnate Taj Gibson. Instead, let's talk about the crapulent 3 point shooting! When you have a guy like Ben Gordon on the team for 5 seasons, you really take elite outside shooting for granted. John Salmons and Kirk Hinrich were fantastic last year from the arc, but in 3 games they are a combined 5 for 32. What's even more disheartening is a lot of these looks are the result of great ball movement, and they're still not going in. Another reason for the poor offense may be due to the fact they are playing a bunch of teams that love to slow the pace down, and the guys aren't getting into any kind of a rhythm when forced into so many half-court sets.

Expecting anything from the Bulls is an exercise in disappointment, so hopefully Derrick is feeling better today and can go toe-to-toe with the "next greatest franchise PG that hasn't accomplished anything but is still better than Rose."

Bucks vs Bulls coverage

Brew Hoop

Start of trade talk....

2009-11-02T22:54:26Z

3 games into the season and it appears Tyrus Thomas is the odd-man out. Not only is he not getting an extenstion, which makes him more tradeable, but he also is losing playing time to Taj Gibson. After watching these games it seems that the Bulls could make some noise this season if they had a scorer in the low post to go to when the office is stagnant.

Carlos Boozer is doing really well this season thus far; but it doesn't seem like the Jazz will be major contenders once the playoff race and maybe the trade deadline rolls around. This situation for trading Boozer is more complicated though because this is the last year of his contract so the Jazz wouldn't want to trade him for solely expiring contracts. And; I don't see them trading for or wanting Hinrich.

I'm not going to suggest trade ideas becuase anything could happen and Boozer may not even be an option; however, does anyone else this tyrus might get traded before the trade deadline?

Poll

Do you see Tyrus Thomas getting traded before trade deadline?

Rondo inks reported 5/$55m extension

2009-11-02T16:51:04Z

Marc Spears:

Rondo’s new deal averages $11 million a season, the same amount San Antonio Spurs All-Star point guard Tony Parker (notes) earned when he signed a six-year, $66 million extension to his rookie contract in 2004. Among members of Rondo’s 2006 rookie class, Portland Trail Blazers All-Star guard Brandon Roy (notes) received a five-year, $80 million contract extension. The Blazers also gave forward LaMarcus Aldridge (notes) a five-year, $65 million extension.

Also, Bargnani got 5/$50.

A pretty fair deal for the Celtics, who knows if Rondo isn't really worth it without his tremendous teammates, but he'll be playing with them for the next couple seasons so that's not much of an issue.

Sort of amazing that Gordon received pretty much the same, though you also can get bargains when you lock up guys earlier than letting them hit UFA.

This was an early extension, the kind that both Gordon AND Deng turned down. Sounds like the Celtics handled their matters differently than giving guys a take-it-or-leave-it offer and then 'expressing disappointment' over their selfishness when they didn't accept:

League sources said the extension is for five years and guarantees Rondo at least $55 million. With the two sides facing a Monday deadline to get a deal done, Duffy said he called Celtics president Danny Ainge on Sunday to inform him Rondo was prepared to play out his contract and become a restricted free agent next summer because they weren’t satisfied with the team’s previous offers. Ainge, however, surprised Duffy by responding that Rondo’s contract hopes would be met.

"As much as we were willing to wait his contract out, the Celtics stepped up to the plate to meet the original request," Duffy said by phone.

Sign up for BlogABull game previews

2009-11-01T22:54:47Z

Like in years past, I'm sharing the responsibility of writing previews for the games this season.

I've published a google spreadsheet with the games for this season. I'll 'release' them (whatever's not grayed out) by the week, and whoever wants to can click the link below and sign up by just entering in your username.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AgIsRsriGjz6dGptbkRfMjY3UDZpam5jN3NGM1Jjc0E&hl=en

This isn't meant to be a chore, so only sign up to do a game preview if you actually want to do it, and have the time to.

I'd like for them to be up by 2pm on gamedays. Just create a fanpost, and I'll promote it to the front page.

I'll answer any questions below...this is just an idea, if things don't work I'll switch up the format for signups.

Tribune

2009-11-01T22:36:32Z

Can the Tribune cool it with the DWade to the Bulls stories at this point? After two games into the 09-10 season, the last thing I want to read about right now is the potential free-agent signing of DWade next year.. I know this season is about making the team into a contender for next year but it still feels premature to speculate about what could be next season. If they don't get DWade or Bosh next year does that automatically qualify that season as a bust? If so, should I have little to no hope for the future of this franchise?

My sense about Brandon Jennings was on point. Dude is the real deal!!

2009-11-01T03:49:00Z

I know this is a Bulls blog and this has nothing to do with the Bulls. But all those folks who were on Ricky Rubio's d!@k need to take a serious look at Jennings. The kid is the real deal. I don't know why anybody thought he wouldn't be. His game is tailor made for the NBA so of course he wouldn't look great in Europe. He had a big-time stretch in the third quarter where he went bananas!!! And guess who the Bulls play on Tuesday night? You guessed it. The Milwaukee Bucks. Skiles is giving him plenty of rope too. Makes me kinda wish Skiles was coaching Rose. Skiles would push him more than Del Negro appears to be, but it's a moot point so whatever.

Seems we may be entering the age of the PGs though. Paul and Williams are firmly established as #1 and #2. Rondo, Rose and Devin Harris are the next tier. Now you got a guy like Brandon Jennings who looks poised to be a big time performer and bring some long awaited excitement to Milwaukee. Next year John Wall will have people out of their seats wherever he plays. I'm really excited about the PG play we're going to see in the NBA over the next 10-15 yrs.

2010 cap space, Hinrich or Tyrus to be dealt?

2009-10-31T19:36:54Z

ESPN ranks the teams with the most cap space in summer of 2010. Of course this is depending on what the cap will be. LINK

4. CHICAGO
$53.6 million salary cap: $12.9 million of cap space
$50 million salary cap: $9.3 million of cap space

What it means: Sources with knowledge of the Bulls' thinking say Chicago wants to get a decent look at this group before deciding how to attack July 2010. There's also the perennial possibility that Kirk Hinrich gets moved, which could wind up creating more cap space than the Bulls currently envision depending on what they would have to take back in a trade involving Hinrich. Yet this much we know for sure: Chicago naturally believes it's set at the point with Derrick Rose and has one trusty big man for the future in Joakim Noah. Any eight-figure amount of cap room is going to help them keep adding quality to the core, although that is another best-case scenario that assumes restricted free agent Tyrus Thomas will have been traded elsewhere.

I'm thinking there is going to be a lot of turnover next season leaving the Bulls with Rose, Noah, Deng, HInrich,Taj, Johnson? After the loss to Boston it reminds you again what this thing is all about and thats building a contending title team around Rose.

It was nice to beat San Antonio but the reality is most of this roster won't be here next season. I would prepare for more rebuilding woes. Right now maybe Rose and maybe Noah are your core of players to keep and the rest you just have to figure out how to move.

Three players on this roster may need to be dealt. Tyrus, Hinrich and Deng. I know the latter seems impossible to move right now but it has to be worth it to try.

Poll

Who will be dealt?

Player by Player Analysis After Our First Back to Back

2009-10-31T03:37:42Z

With two real games played so far I feel like we're starting to get a glimpse of where everybody is at and what we can expect from them as the season progresses.

In our first game, we looked like a team that had a lot of potential last year and made some logical offseason improvements (defense, passing and to a lesser extent shot selection).

In game 2, we looked like the early 2008-09 Bulls.

So we've had a chance to see the good and the ugly. While the season will probably go somewhat in between the extremes of game one (impressive home win) and game two (ugly road loss), the question will be: do we lean towards good or bad?

The following is a player by player analysis of the team, coach and management, in parenthesis is my opinion of how far they has come since last season, both in terms of individual skill but more importantly how they are contributing to the team.

Joakim Noah (positive) - Noah has come into camp in very good physical shape. He looks stronger and slightly more focused this year. It still looks like he shoots with two hands, but his shot appears to be going in more often. Defensively, he hasn't played particularly well in the first two games (mainly against Perkins and Duncan) so that is an area that I look for him to improve in as the season goes on.

Taj Gibson (positive) - He really plays within himself. He's a smart player, especially intelligent on the floor for a rookie. He looks like he'll make a good role player for his career, possibly as a starter if he develops areas of his game, but not likely a star. If he were a little taller and bigger he would really be a force in the NBA. I look for him to continue being a very solid option off the bench and an average to above average backup. If he ends up starting this season, that probably either means he has more talent than anybody could imagine or Tyrus is hurt/playing like crap. I really hope Taj continues to be a solid role player and backup, but he's a pleasant surprise thus far.

Tyrus Thomas (neutral/positive) - Tyrus has looked like the 2nd half of last year Tyrus thus far, which is good. If he can play the kind of defense, both on the ball and off the ball, that he played in our victory against the Cavs last year, then he'll be a solid starter at the 4 position. He hasn't taken as many terrible jumpers as I saw in the preaseason and last year's regular season, which is a good thing. Playing around the rim, catching alley oops and grabbing offensive rebounds is his game. If he has an open mid range jumper, fine, take it, but I don't want to see him catching the pass and trying to create from 18-20 feet out.

Kirk Hinrich (neutral/positive) - He's looked better so far than last year, but remember last year he was also hurt. He also makes 9.5 million a season, over 50% as much as Salmons, and more than anybody not named Miller or Deng. He's a necessity at guard with the way our team is currently constructed. With the poor choices made on Pargo and Hunter to round out our guard spots, we're leaning on Kirk more than we should have to. When your 6-7th man's health is of vital importance (trust me, this year it is), then you know you made some poor choices or had some very bad luck. Sadly, it's the former for us. Defensively, he's been spotty this year. Daniels was a bad matchup for him vs Boston, but in reality Hinrich just picked up some quick fouls against him. He's looked like the old offensive Kirk, which is good, if he can keep playing the way he is and minimize defensive errors, he should give us exactly what we need: reliable, smart, able to score and defend guard play.

Derrick Rose (neutral - neutral/positive) - Taking into account the injury and his first two games, I think we're seeing a slight improvement so far. If he can get healthy in the next month or two, hopefully he becomes the star we expect. If he's slowed by injury all season, it's really going to be a challenge for us to do anything except limp into the playoffs and exit in the first round again. In game one his defense looked a lot better. He stayed in front of Parker and played the screens very well. In game two, he looked a lot worse, more like the Rose that couldn't guard Rondo if his life depended on it our round 1 loss. What is a little more troubling is his lack of aggression. In game 1 we were shooting well and moving the ball around, so I was less concerned. But in game 2, we clearly needed to attack Boston and Rose just didn't do it. In fact, the only time I remember him attacking the basket hard was when Rondo stole the ball and knocked it out of bounds. Rose came back and drove hard to the hole, making a layup. If that's what it takes to get him fired up, then he needs to grow up quickly. I know he's young, but he needs to turn into the leader he can be, and fast. I'm not a big believer in the 4-year plan, it fails time and time again. We have the talent to do better, and Rose needs to be the person it starts with. A positive that I have seen is that his jump shot looks better this year. If he continues to improve on that, it should play a major part in his rise to stardom on this team. He doesn't need to follow the 5-year plan that Parker followed before he developed a jumper.

John Salmons (neutral) - A trickier one defensively, as he had a solid night vs the Spurs on D but disappeared against the Celtics. If he can get back to last year's defense, I think he'll bet a net positive on that end of the floor. Offensively, I still think he makes an OK 2nd option, good 3rd option type player (we seem to have a lot of those, as always). He obviously has shot the ball poorly in the first two games, but if you look at the types of shots he's taken they are mostly good shots. When players shoot 40-50%, the short term variance (luck) is going to be huge. Two bad shooting games means very little to me with him, particularly when he looked good at times in the preaseason. I expect him to be the same player he was last year. One last point, to the Salmons haters in the thread today: relax. I saw a lot of crazy comments being made. One guy said we wasted money signing Salmons. We didn't sign him, we basically got him for Nocioni. If you remember how bad Noc's defense had become, you should love Salmons. I also heard another guy say he'd rather have Gordon than Salmons. Straight up, of course, anybody in the league would. But Salmons costs us 5.5 million this year. If Gordon wanted to sign for 5.5 million, everybody in the league would've tried to sign him. He cost twice that much, to put some perspective on the matter. I think having Pargo and Hunter as the 4-5th guard options is much scarier than the thought of Salmons starting at the 2. And the announcers talking about Salmons missing shots because he's adjusting to the 2 is ridiculous as well. If Brad Miller were our point guard getting open mid range looks and missing them, it would have nothing to do with his new position, pure nonsense. To conclude, I'm neither high nor low on Salmons. I think he'll be a consistently solid player in our rotation. If we have to lean on him too much, I may start to worry a bit, but as a starter and a 3rd scoring option he should be fine.

Brad Miller (neutral) - I think we can all agree he was an upgrade from Drew Gooden. He plays a more controlled offensive game than Gooden and is an all around smarter player. He's been sufficient as tag team lead and now backup Center as Noah develops. I don't want to trade him, but there is no denying in this economic climate, a 12.5 million dollar expiring contract can be quite valuable. If a trade presents itself to fill in any weak spot and add a legitimate 2nd scoring option to Rose, then it's going to be tough to pass it up. We might have to make a 2nd minor trade if we lose Miller, to secure our backup center role, but if Noah keeps progressing and one of the 2-4 position starters is lacking (and probably if we're in contention), we probably cannot afford to pass up on a good trade involving Miller. It's likely that the team that trades for Miller does so as a pure salary dump, so if we like him that much we can get him back for much less than 12.5 million next season.

Luol Deng (neutral) - This is one guy that is tough to analyze this early in the season, mainly because he's been out with injury and by all accounts is not 100% yet. In the first two games we've seen some flashes of solid defense, but he's missed too many rotations. On offense, he's still taking terrible shots. While he hit them in game one, even Kobe Bryant shouldn't be taking some of the catch and shoot shots that Deng seems to prefer over driving to the hole or passing the ball 19 feet away. If he continues to take these poor shots, he's going to slide into the negative for us this season. I don't expect him to be the player he was a few years ago, but an above average 3/4 combo who can hit smart shots from outside or use his length to outplay smaller guys would be perfect for our team. Combine that with solid defense, unlike what we've seen from him in the first two games, and Deng is giving us exactly what we need. Becoming a good 2nd scoring option on our team is a little unrealistic for Deng at this juncture, at least night in and night out. But if he and Salmons can combine for a decent 2nd scoring option that play good defense, that will more than suffice for this part of the rotation.

James Johnson (neutral/negative) - Has not given me anything except "he's one of those middle round potential draft picks." Not that you should expect a lot from non-lottery rookies, but I'd rather have seen the Bulls take a 3rd big man with this pick (and then not sign Gray) or a 4th guard (and not sign Pargo/Hunter) than take a combo forward that doesn't look like he can play in the rotation this year. This is another "it's still very soon" analysis, but so far I give it slightly negative points.

Aaron Gray (negative) - He's not a very important part of the Bulls, being less than 2% of their salary and playing as 3rd string center, so his improvement or lack there of should be taken in stride. He's always just been sort of a big body, but now he's hurt so it looks like he'll digress or stay the same (which is a net loss for a young backup) this season.

Jannero Pargo (negative) - He didn't have a positive impact on our team 3 years ago. He looked fine on the Hornets two years ago, but then went to Europe. Somehow he's our 4th guard, which on this team with Salmons as a transition 2/3 and Rose starting off hurt really means that Pargo will see more minutes than most 4th guards. He's looked like crap out there so far defensively, and offensively at best he's been quiet, at worst he's a streaky shooter that takes us out of the flow of our offense. I know his strengths don't play well to a controlled game, but if he can't play defense this year then we really need Rose and Hinrich healthy all season, as well as Salmons healthy and able to guard other team's 2. One thing everybody seems to agree on so far is that this was a pretty poor signing. So far it looks like everybody is correct, which is especially sad in a year with a lot of veteran and solid guys that could've been had for cheap at the end of the summer and taken the 4th guard slot.

Lindsey Hunter (negative) - It may sound harsh, but "why is he on our team?" really applies here. He isn't a 17 year Bulls veteran. He can't play anymore. If he has a coaching presence for our team, then I can understand keeping him on the team, but in a year where assistant coaches were shuffled, why not put him on as an assistant? With Pargo hurting us at the 4 guard, we really have no possible hope or potential for the 5th guard to overtake him. Why didn't we sign a flyer to a minimum contract? A young guy that might be able to develop against Hinrich's smarts and Rose's aggression during practice. I didn't understand this signing at all. When you combine it with the Pargo signing, it just adds up to two wasted roster spots on a team that can't really afford to do that.

Vinny Del Negro (neutral) - With his performance last year, he needs to be in the positive for improvement, staying steady will not allow the team to improve and will likely get him canned sooner or later. Other coaches keep talking up a storm about how good of a learner he is and how much potential he has as a coach. However, I don't see any direct evidence of this so far, but the "expert's" are keeping me from putting him into the neutral/negative category. He fails on 2 for 1s too frequently and he fails on rotations. The way he's handling the media has also been less than what you expect from a coach. In game 1 his rotations were fine, there wasn't too much to complain about, except for TT not coming in late and Pargo being in the lineup too long. The former is just one gripe, and the latter is probably more of a result of Rose's ankle, so I considered that a good step for Vinnie. However, the Boston game looked much worse in terms of rotation. If Salmons were playing solid defense, I'd of supported VDN not taking him out in the 2nd half, but he wasn't. You can live with missed shots if they are solid attempts, but not when a player is also playing poorly on defense. I think we'll really tell more about how far Vinny has come (if at all) as the season continues and (hopefully) Rose's ankle is healed and our rotations don't have to include as many tough "should I rest Rose another minute or two and keep Pargo in" questions.

Management (negative) - Finally last year, after so much anticipation and everybody saying we NEEDED to make a move, the management actually made the move. I'm referring mainly to the trade with the Kings, which was a very good one for us. The Hughes trade was fine too, but that's more of a makeup of the poor signing of Wallace a few year's back, which caused us to take Hughes which caused us to trade Hughes. This year, it started with the draft. The JJ pick was "well, didn't expect that, but let's see if we can see why they took him." So far, not great. The Taj pick was similar in my mind, and it's looking like a good use of the 26th pick to me. Hindsight is 20/20, but imagine if the Bulls had used their first pick on a 4/5th guard (Ty Lawson anyone?) and made a small move (cash considerations and/or future pick swap) to acquire an early 2nd round pick to nab up Blair. We wouldn't of had to sign Gray, we wouldn't of had to sign Pargo, and we could've taken a veteran guard as our other 4/5th spot instead of Hunter (one that can possibly play, Jason Williams or somebody like that). With Blair as our 3rd Center, we'd have more flexibility if somebody went down (like Hinrich or Salmons or TT) to trade our main piece (Miller's 12m expiring contract) for a true 2nd scoring option. Maybe that's not Stephen Jackson, but we all know that's not the last quality player that will be available before the deadline, and expiring contracts are particularly valuable this year. Instead? we are stuck with two signed guards that cannot play and a 3rd string center that hasn't ever looked like anything except a big body. If you notice, I haven't even mentioned their half assed attempt at pretending to want Gordon, or their lack of pursuing a real 2nd scoring option (or go into the tax to get it as the most profitable team in the league last year).

In conclusion, our ball movement in game one, as well as our improved defense, got me very hopeful. I know it's silly to expect that night in and night out (it really shouldn't be), but if we can play that way more often than last year, it'll be a good improvement and give us a chance to grab a 4-6 seed and possibly get into the 2nd round of the playoffs. Without everybody improving and clicking and staying healthy, we probably have no shot at getting any further than that. Even if that all happens, the talent and experience of the top teams is remarkable to me this year, so it's going to be as tough as ever to break through to the conference finals and beyond for any team not from Cleveland, Orlando or Boston.

And we did not even need to win against Boston tonight. You can't expect to beat Boston very often on the road when they shoot well, but if everybody played the way they did in the first game and we lost by 5-10 points, that would be a small victory (as much as you can take a victory from a loss) for the team and we would be starting the year off on a very good note. Instead, we get a lot of good, bad and ugly from this team, which is par for the course.

Vinny's Offensive Sets

2009-10-30T19:43:57Z

I don't really have much to say, but I hope this fanpost can start a discussion about how the Bulls' offense works (or how it should work).

Can anyone with a better knowledge of the game explain the idea behind our offensive sets? It seems like movement away from the ball was infinitely better last night than it was for all of last year. What are we doing differently?

Also, I've always been curious about the "Derrick brings it up, passes to Noah at the top of the key and then hides in the corner for the rest of the possession" play that we seem particularly fond of. I feel like this play often results in Derrick disappearing for stretches (e.g., games 2-7 of the Celtics series). Does anybody know what's going on there?

Would U Trade Luol for Stephen Jackson?

2009-10-29T21:19:17Z

If Golden State would take Luol, I would in a second. I think all the pouting comes from being on a sorry ass squad and playing for a coach like Nellie. Nellie seems to suck the life outta a lot of his players in recent years.

I would think Jackson's attitude would change once he got here. I know he's been portrayed as a malcontent in the media, but anytime I hear his teammates say something about him, it's always positive. U move him from a squad who has no chance of even making the playoffs in the West, to a squad that is coming off makin the playoffs and is getting better. We may not be title contenders this year, but we're pretty good. To me, he is the guy we wish Lu was. He's better in every aspect of the game, except maybe defense. He has 3 point range, can create his own shot, rebounds, and actually finishes at the rim, plus he's making less money on a shorter contract. U stick him in the starting 5 and we definitely can compete in the top 4 of the East.

New Bulls Lineup This Season

2009-10-28T06:17:58Z

Miller and Salmon's are in for the full season. they were arguable our best players on a consistent basis last year. We started the season last year with a bunch of malcontent's/non team players and we had inconsistent starting lineups for a large part of the season before they got here.

Deng was out for a large part of the season. when he played healthy, he brought points and team defense. He is stronger and (hopefully) healthier coming into this season. In that second round playoff against miami a couple of years ago, he was not a star in either scoring or defending, but he was great as a team defender and off ball scorer.

Hinrich was injured for a portion of last season as well. If he can stay healthy, and with a new defined role as the 6th man coming into the game, I think that he can play at a higher level against the other teams bench players. I also think that he feels more comfortable in a support role.

Tyrus Thomas put in (a second) off season of serious work in becoming a basketball player. From when I saw him playing his first season where he jumped as high as he could to dunk, to the second season, where he rushed his dunks because of his fear of getting stuffed, he looked in this preseason to finally start to balance his timing to be most effective at finishing at the rim. Watching Taj's footwork and shooting form as well as his shot selection, I see the gap in Tyrus' game, but he does look better. In his first 2 seasons, he didn't look to have made much of a jump. Last year he showed a marked improvement (finally). This summer he worked on his outside shot and getting stronger. Even if he doesn't become a star this year, I see him playing at a higher level then he has ever played before.

NOAH KIM JOAH went from a flop to a hustle player at the end of last year. he has speed, length and after this off season some muscle. Throw in some new (no fear) post moves that he showed in the preseason and he looks to be in for a much better complete season as well.

Derrick Rose is coming into his second season after a stellar rookie season that went beyond our expectations. he showed his weaknesses as well, bad defense, too many turnovers and not a great assist man ala Chris Paul. But he did get that vaunted playoff experience that we spoke so much about last year. And man was that some playoff experience. He will be better this season as well. He spoke about this off season working on his dribbling skills and working on communicating with his teammates better.

LESS IS MORE: Nocioni is an undersized power forward whose best work belongs to a league slow in responding to the new hand check rules (and still keeping a lot of slow big power forwards) and right before the no flopping rules came into affect. He is too nonathletic to keep up with small forwards and too short to defend against bigger faster power forwards. He played waaaaaaay too many minutes last season on this team.

Pargo fits better on this team in limited minutes then Duhon. How can we forget that drama.

Ben Gordon, after his first season became something akin to a crack addiction. He was totally manhandled in that first round playoff games against a bigger stronger Detroit team a few years back. We became dependent on his outside shooting to win games throughout his time here. I love his passion, but a team will never win a championship depending on his 3 on 1 shooting game. He can't dribble and he can't take it to the hole (and he can't pass). What team has ever won with that as your first option? add to that his limited defensive skills against bigger/stronger guards and his non team offensive flow and his pluses become less effective. Then you factor in his demand on a maximum contract effecting your team development options and he is NOT a good option for this team.

In Defense of pax: He turned a maximum contract for tyson freakin chandler into a gamble for ben wallace, once that experiment failed, he converted that albatross contract into clown a and b from cleveland, then somehow managed to convince sacramento to take another of his mistaken contracts in nocioni along with clown a for two of our current best players in miller and fish. throw in his dealings with new york for Curry "there is nothing i won't eat" to obtain his current starting forwards in Tyrus and Noah and cap flexibility next year and he has a very good body of work.

Prediction for this year: Yes Boston, Cleavland and Orlando appear to have upgraded their teams. But we do not just play them throughout the season exclusively. we will be playing a lot of teams that have not upgraded/lost good players against a bulls team that is better then what we had at the beginning of last year. We are better prepared for the playoffs and with this team we should be looking at better position in the playoffs.

45 - 49 wins

4th spot in the playoffs

2nd round playoff loss

What will the Bulls rotation look like?

2009-10-24T21:31:22Z

Preseason is finally over. It seems to get longer every year. The Bulls, in my opinion, performed fairly well. Outside of Lu Deng, I thought all the players performed well. The Bulls are talented, long, and versatile. Unfortunately, with injuries to Rose and others during the season, we never saw VDN use a real rotation, and we know with VDN - things can get freaky. So with that mind, here is what I think the Bulls ideal rotation should be.

Starters -

There has been a lot of back and forth in the media and on the various boards over who should start. Our perimeter is set with Rose, Salmons and Deng. The frontcourt is a more dicey matter. Many people believe that Tyrus and Noah can't play together. I disagree, they have played well together for various stretches over the course of the last 2 seasons - particularly before last year's trade when injuries forced VDN to give Tyrus and Noah big minutes. I think we were 8-2 over that stretch with road wins at Phoenix and Houston. In any case, I believe that Tyrus and Noah are the two most talented big men the Bulls have - and since there are considerable questions about Miller's stamina and Taj's overall play and prospensity for fouling (another 5 last night) I think you go with talent.

Point Guard minutes -

This is easy, Rose should get whatever he can handle - which I put at 36 minutes a game. Hinrich should get whatever's left, 12 minutes a game. The Bulls have one of the top, if not the top, tandem of point guards in the league. For that reason, Pargo and Hunter should never be in a position to run the point.

Rose (36) / Hinrich (12)

Shooting Guard minutes -

The big question here is should the Bulls try and find minutes for Pargo. The short answer is no. Pargo is a decent 3pt shooter and a pretty nice defender. He is really good at pressuring the ball, and if needed, you could probably use him with Hinrich or Rose to bring defensive pressure. But Pargo is so up and down, he can't be counted on for anything. And he more than other player on the Bulls, has shown an inability to execute the offense. He shouldn't play unless the Bulls are down 15 or up 15.

With Pargo out the way, I think Salmons should log close to 32 out of his 36 floor minutes at the 2. This preseason the Bulls went big, and I liked it (more on that later). Salmons playing almost exclusively at the 2, keeps the Bulls big. It also frees up more minutes for our talented forwards, who all expect to get minutes.

Salmons 30 minutes at the 2 / Hinrich 18.

Small Forward minutes -

Oh Luol. You haven't shown me anything. Its hard me for to believe he is healthy, but until someone comes out officially and says Deng is still hurt, than I've got to believe that this is his 100%, at least for a while. With that being the case, I don't believe you can pull Luol from the starting lineup. Everyone talks about Tyrus sulking, but there have been reports of Luol being upset with Gordon taking his shots, Rose getting more publicity and VDN's offense. I think pulling Luol from the lineup would make him regress, and we can't afford that. Instead, I would just limit him to 27 minutes a night, until he proves he is ready for more.

Next up is JJ, and frankly, though I championed his selection and skills, I don't believe he should play. At all. Maybe by midseason he will show some improvement, and I wouldn't mind leaning on him in case of injury, but with a fully healthy roster, JJ just doesn't do enough good to outweigh the bad - his turnovers, his fouls, his inability to play without the ball, and most importantly the fact that when he is on the court, he is taking minutes from a better player on the bench. I'm still firmly in the JJ camp, and believe he can develop into a starter for us over time. But right now, the Bulls are too deep at his position.

With Salmons getting his obligatory six minutes at the 3, that leaves Tyrus to take the last 15 minutes. I was a firm disbeliever in Tyrus's ability to play the SF, and I still question his offense, especially against any type of zone. But right now, Tyrus brings more positives to the position than Luol. Tyrus certainly has proven, at least to me, that he can guard 3's. He is moving much better without the ball so far this preseason (the whole team is) and his movement is best at the 3. Tyrus is a nightmare match up at the 3, because of his size. He isn't going to be able to take his man off the dribble but he should be able to crash the boards, play strong D, and be very hard to handle in the post and along the baseline.

Deng (27) / Tyrus (15) / Salmons (6)

Power Forward

Tyrus is the starter but, Everbody Loves Taj Gibson. And why not. We all thought he would suck but he is actually good. He plays good D, he can hit and open J, and unlike JJ, he seems to know what to do on the court at all times. Still, he is a foul magnet. And I worry about his rebounding. Still, I think he is a pretty good option to play off the bench and should be someone you can play when Tyrus is having one of his off games.

The Bulls from a defensive and rebounding standpoint are at their best when Noah is at PF and Miller is at C. I wouldn't start them together, however, because I think we should be looking to limit Miller's minutes and because I think Noah's natural position is center. He can do somethings out on the floor, but Noah can't make it full time guarding guys like Rashard Lewis and Josh Smith. I think Noah is developing skills to be a very good C, so as much as possible, we should let him learn that position. Still at the end of games, Noah/Miller may be our best option some nights. So he should get at least a handful of minutes at the 4. Therefore:

Tyrus (20) / Taj (16) / Noah (12)

Center

I think the Bulls are going to surprise the NBA with how well the center position performs this year. Looking at the PER differential stats, the center position was our biggest weakness.

http://www.82games.com/0809/0809CHI5.HTM

I look for that to change this season, with Noah improving and Miller being here full time. The center minutes are almost as easy as point guard minutes, the only question is how much power forward will Noah play. I say, a decent amount.

Noah (24) / Miller (24)

At the end of the day, I believe the minutes should be broken down like this -

Rose (36) / Hinrich (12)

Salmons (30) / Hinrich (18)

Deng (27) / Tyrus (15) / Salmons (6)

Tyrus (20) / Taj (16) / Noah (12)

Noah (24) / Miller (24)

End Game Lineup

Outside of playing a Deng or Tyrus when they are having an especially good game, I would finish the games with Rose / Hinrich / Salmons / Noah / Miller lineup - which probably provides our best mix of scoring, rebounding and defense.

Big vs Small

Over the last several years, we have gotten use to the Bulls going small. When in doubt, go small. It was a edict followed by Skiles, passed on to Boylan and finally fully realized with VDN and his Rose, Gordon, Hinrich, Salmons line-up. The Bulls no longer have to go small. They no longer have 3 talented small guards they need to get on the court. They no longer have a deficit of forwards. The Bulls have talented versatile, big forwards and guards. The Bulls can go big with defense, athleticism and agility. The Bulls should exploit the ability to play Tyrus at the 3 and to use Salmons or Deng as big 2's as much as possible. Since we lack 3 pt shooting already, we might as well make up for it with defense and rebounding. When the Bulls went big this preseason, the defense and rebounding were enough to smother what the opposing team did. I would love to see them try this more during the regular season.

Ben "Thinks he's Jordan" Gordon

2009-10-24T04:04:33Z

We are going to be so much better without that ball stopping midget. I understand scoring is important, but the improved ball movement will make up for more than enough points especially considering passing wont go hot and cold as often as Ben would. Lets just hope somebody else doesn't step into that ball chucking role for instance like Salmons. This will be a much better Bulls team, and if Tyrus step up and makes a stride this year the Bulls will be a contender. That is assuming Vinny won't cause this team to self destruct.

The first month.

2009-10-23T17:32:59Z

Maybe I'm crazy or just pessimistic about the season but going over the Bull's schedule in November makes me sick:

Regular Season Schedule/Results
OCTOBER	OPPONENT	TIME (ET)
Thu, Oct 29	San Antonio	8:00 PM	LOSS
Fri, Oct 30	@ Boston	8:00 PM	LOSS
Fri, Oct 30	@ Boston	8:00 PM	LOSS
NOVEMBER	OPPONENT	TIME (ET)
Sun, Nov 1	@ Miami	6:00 PM	LOSS
Tue, Nov 3	Milwaukee	8:00 PM	WIN
Thu, Nov 5	@ Cleveland	8:00 PM	LOSS
Sat, Nov 7	Charlotte	8:00 PM	WIN
Tue, Nov 10	Denver	8:00 PM	LOSS
Wed, Nov 11	@ Toronto	7:00 PM	WIN
Sat, Nov 14	Philadelphia	8:00 PM	LOSS
Tue, Nov 17	@ Sacramento	10:00 PM	WIN
Thu, Nov 19	@ LA Lakers	10:30 PM	LOSS
Sat, Nov 21	@ Denver	9:00 PM	LOSS
Mon, Nov 23	@ Portland	10:00 PM	LOSS
Thu, Nov 26	@ Utah	10:30 PM	LOSS
Mon, Nov 30	@ Milwaukee	8:00 PM	WIN

The only games I wavered on was against Toronto and Philly which I can see going either way. Am I crazy to think the rest of these games(barring any injuries or trades) are easy to predict? It's going to be a long year if we start out 4 and 11, although It would be less painful if our young core(that matters) of Rose, Tyrus and Noah get 35 or more minutes a game. But it's looking more like we'll be heading into December with a crappy record and a pissed-off/pouting Tyrus. I just pray that this leads to the usual firing of a Bull's coach by Christmas Eve.