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We had a feeling the Bulls would see less of a national presence after an offseason which saw the accomplishment little besides John Paxson and Gar Forman guaranteeing themselves more job security.
It’s official now, as the NBA released the schedule for the 2017-18 season.
The Feb. 9 game vs. Minnesota is on ESPN. It’s the Bulls’ only national TV game of the year.
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) August 14, 2017
That is likely the marquee game for the Bulls all year, when Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson return to Chicago. Also of note is that the early season starting means an opening night of 10/19 in Toronto, with the home opener 2 nights later against The Spurs. And there’s no Circus Trip.
Below is the entire thing in one handy picture (via).
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I can’t remember a year where there was less interest in this. Used to at least try to analyze the schedule strength to try and peg a win mark to see if it was a playoff-ish team, or delude ourselves into thinking the Bulls were contenders. Now it’s just thinking over whether it’s 15 or 25 or 30 wins, followed by cognitive dissonance over how winning is actually bad because the Bulls pathetically put themselves in this situation.