Deng, Thabo and Tyrus are probably the players with the most potential. Noch, Hinrich, Gordon need to finally break out and find thier roles on the team. Wallace, simply has to play like he wants to win.

This is what i see:

Deng

-At the very least he should play like he did last season, the mid range shots that seem like they never miss, opens up great attacks to the basket which either way leads to two points (sometimes three). Deng said that he would be shooting more threes this year, and i suppose thats nice, but i would be content if he didnt. His defense is great, and he knows when to pass it. If he actually does get better than last year, then we should be looking at a definite member of the all star team with him

Tyrus

-My biggest complaint with tyrus was his lack of b-ball iq. He had great instincts basketball wise, which resulted in incredible alley oops blocks and tip-ins. However, he is also the same person who would get back to back offensive fouls, that were the same calls, throw the ball inbound after stepping inbound himself, and other numerous turnover causing events. Still he also showed that given some time, he could become a dangerous blast of energy and ability, who could easily change the tides of the game. This year hopefully tyrus became a smarter player, and can boast a nice turn-around jumper from about 15. If he manages that, then other teams...beware.

Thabo

-The main goal for thabo is to take all of duhons minutes, really thats it. He has the build of a great guard, he has shown, in flashes, the ability of a great player. Hopefully last year, and this summer has given thabo the confidence and experience needed to utilize all his talents. If he can control the ball on point, without turning over, hit the open jumper, and continue his strong d, duhons minutes should easily be converted into Thabo-Time.

Nocioni

-Nocioni is dangerous. Before his injury he alone could jump start a potential loss into a win. Before the injury he had more confidence and grit than any of the other bulls, before his injury...we loved him! Then he got injured and suddenly everyone would cringe when nocioni got on the floor. He would give us hope that he had recovered and could play his crazy b-ball style, and instead we would get a chucker who couldnt even take the place of pargo. Nocioni is thus dangerous, we signed him to a grateful contract, and it will be a steal if nocioni goes back to the pre-injury noch. However, if he doesnt...we totally wasted money.

Gordon

-he is clearly one of the most lethal perimeter scorers in the Eastern Conference...however he is also short. Gordon cant change that, no one can, but luckily its not that big of a deal. Its true that big guards will continually rape ben when they have the ball, but if luol deng is the most scorer on the bulls, gordon has to be the BIGGEST scorer on the bulls. He can light it up faster than a microwave, he can attack from anywhere, and HE WANTS THAT GAME DECIDING SHOT... gordon just has to improve turning over the ball, and not limiting his defense to save for offense. Luckily i dont see any of this as impossible.

Hinrich

-There will be no more excuses this year round. Hinrich had the right percentages last year, but when the team needed him hinrich wasnt much of a savior. Whether on offense of defense he controls the tempo the team plays at, limiting fouls, moving teh ball around. Somtimes he passes like he is steve nash, somtimes he scores like he's chauncey billups...the problem is SOMETIMES he does this. Hinrich is still too inconsistent, and for whatever last year he seemed to dissappear more than ever. Hinrich has to be able to hit open shots (which he will get quite a bit with deng and gordon pulling double teams), and has to show the same court awareness as he did against the pistons. Last year he didnt improve much, and the reason might be the fiba games, hopefully this year he makes up for last year and takes another step in becoming the best white american point guard in the nba.

Wallace

-Even though he is aging, Wallace's biggest flaw last year was not playing like he wanted to win. His chemistry always seemed off with the other players, hopefully this year it is all behind him. I had a theory that wallace didnt play "beast like" because there was no decent player to take the center position if he got in foul trouble. With the adition of Noah, Wallace might finally be able to let himself go. Gotta love the crazy fadeaways though.

-All the rookies are x factors, and Joe smith is gonna be a decent role player, but i dont expect much of anything from him except solid production when he is in-

If the core develops well this year they can easily make up for the lack of the lowpost presence. A jump shooting team without a superstar CAN win a championship, this year will be the year that should prove just that.
GO BULLS!!!!!!!!

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_basketball_heat/

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-070910mitchell,1,6450034.column?coll=chi_sports_util

Then we have noah, who is still a question mark, but if his work ethic is as high as ive heard, and if he has this wierd power to simply win....man this year might be more exciting than i could ever have imagined.