Amigos' NBA Previews: Chicago Bulls

Recent Past They sucked for a little while post-Jordan, then they climbed to the dizzying heights of "halfway decent". Somewhere in there I think they were meant to become legitimately good, but it's never really happened, and so they seem to be stuck in the monotonous world of mediocrity. The VDN hiring doesn't seem to have helped in their quest to escape mediocrity.

Offseason Ben Gordon and Tim Thomas left, and they signed Jannero Pargo. So, yea. They obviously didn't really replace Gordon's production, but the Brit got overpaid but the rival Pistons, so even if this may hurt the Bulls short term, long term they ought to be better off not paying a good but not great scoring guard a fuckton of money. Assuming they can, at some point, actually spend money on a solid player that could theoretically put them over the top. Like we've sort of been hearing about for a while. But I digress.

Probable Lineup Derrick Rose, John Salmons, Luol Deng, Joakim Noah, and Brad Miller. Hinrich, Pargo, Thomas, and probably one of James Johnson and Taj Gibson as key guys off the bench. Or, you know, whatever the fuck Vinny Del Negro decides to do.

General Outlook Look, let's get this out of the way. This team is probably going to get fucked over by Del Negro's coaching. It's basically a question of how much he messes up their chances. I mean...could the guy improve drastically this season? Sure. But he consistently fucked up the rotations last year, did very poorly with what ought to be a pretty damned good defensive team, and just sort of generally seemed somewhat clueless. The near-upset of the Celtics doesn't really change that.

Now that that's done, onto less grim matters. Well, how 'bout this: Derrick Rose? Yea, that guy's pretty good. And he's going to get better. This season, even. The reigning rookie of the year looks likely to be the first real great point guard to enter the league since Paul and Williams, and guys of such potential at that position tend to really improve over their second and third seasons. So, look out. As with most players, he really just have to become more consistent, work on limiting his turnovers, and improve his defense.

Also, I hear the Bulls have other players. Some of them are even good! Yes, Luol Deng is returning, which will be sort of like replacing Ben Gordon with a guy they already had. And he's British, too! Whoa. If he can get back to his 06-07 best, his intrinsic weirdness will give this team another dimension of awesome. Brad Miller and John Salmons stick around as remnants of the Nocioni trade from last season, both very solid veteran players that could help the team to a pretty damn good record over 82 games. Joakim Noah, well, who the fuck knows. Same with Tyrus Thomas. Not to get back on the Del Negro shit, but I pretty much guarantee that we'll collectively groan at his use of those two about 100 times this season. Give or take.

The two rookies, Gibson and Johnson, have both had pretty damn solid pre-seasons, and it's sort of a shame they seem to be competing for one spot, and a spot where they'll likely not get that much playing time. But who knows, one (or both, even) could really break out. Pargo's signing will mean most of Hinrich's minutes come at shooting guard, I'd imagine, but who knows. Del Negro sort of liked playing small lineups last season, so maybe we can look for some real weird shit this season. But,anyway, both Hinrich and Pargo are pretty nice players, bringing completely different things to the team, and that sort of variety is cool. Is it weird that I've become more positive about the Bulls' season while writing this? Because I have. But then I think about Del Negro. And then, well, sadface. But anyway.

If they were a hip hop act: Gravediggaz. Like the hip hop supergroup/novelty act...well, they're sort of this weird super group novelty act thing. I'm not sure how these pieces make sense, really, but they come together, and it works out. They're pretty good, but nobody's going to mistake it for some all-out awesomeness or anything.

Actually, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with Vinny Del Negro as Prince Paul. But oh well.

Guessing how they'll do I already predicted the Hawks for fourth, right? Alright, well, I'll say the Bulls will compete for that fourth spot, and fall just short. They'll be a real pain in the ass for whoever they face in the first round, and that series will go deep. I will not predict a winner. But I'll say that this is likely to save VDN's job. Again.