Chicago Bulls Team Preview 2010-2011 Season
By Mike Misek
Not many teams who went into the summer of 2010 with dreams of LeBron, Wade, and titles came away with as optimistic an outlook as Chicago. Despite clearly having to settle for their Plan B, the Bulls seemingly came away as winners. Marquee signee Carlos Boozer provides the Bulls with a consistent scoring presence inside for the first time since Eddy Curry was dealt six years ago. The signing of Kyle Korver brings much needed three point shooting to a team that only finished 29th in three pointers made and 28th in three point shooting percentage but gave away their best perimeter shooter, Kirk Hinrich, for more cap space before the draft. Ronnie Brewer offers more athleticism on the wings. His abilities as a slasher and guarding athletic wings are to complement those of Korver. These three join holdovers Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah. Derrick Rose is a legitimate star capable of becoming a top ten player in the league. With many of the new faces having Utah roots, it is not surprising that this Bulls team has the look of the Chicago Jazz only with a legitimate center. While it was not coming away with the kind of microwave title contender that Miami did, it is still unmistakably evident that the Bulls had improved themselves markedly.
Joakim Noah looks forward to the return of Carlos Boozer
The optimism of the summer has been quickly tempered with news that Boozer is sidelined with a broken right pinkie and will likely miss up the first month of the regular season. Without him, the Bulls do not look dramatically improved from last season beyond the coaching position. Swapping out Kirk Hinrich, Brad Miller, and Jannero Pargo for Kyle Korver, Ronnie Brewer, Kurt Thomas, and CJ Watson are mostly lateral swaps, especially when one considers Hinrich was able to fill the roles provided by both Korver and Brewer. The difference is that even as a rookie coach Tom Thibodeau is going to be an upgrade over Vinny Del Negro. Despite not having experience as a head coach, he does bring two decades of experience as an assistant. Even in the preseason, Thibodeau has already showed himself to have far more control over the huddle, as opposed to deferring to a Bernie Bickerstaff or Del Harris-type as Del Negro did. The team is regularly using half court sets that are not simply involving a pick and roll or isolation, which has not been the case in Chicago since Scott Skiles was in charge. Defensively, the player are always talking through assignments on the court, which had not been the case in recent years. The problem with Thibodeau is that he appears to not know when to let up. He has played Joakim Noah 40 minutes in one of the early preseason games, which seems excessive for an established talent coming off plantar fasciitis. The minutes of Luol Deng and Derrick Rose have also been much greater than necessary considering both players have come off summer assignments with their national teams. While this may end up being chalked up to nothing more than harmless enthusiasm for the season from a rookie coach, it is also possibly a sign of problems on the horizon.
Derrick Rose
If Thibodeau can learn to pace himself so as not to burn out himself or his players, the Bulls might end up picking up speed around mid-season. Any hope of the Bulls avoiding another slow start probably went by the wayside when Boozer got hurt. The infamous Circus Trip is especially difficult featuring five Western Conference playoff teams from last year, Houston, and Sacramento. Not only that, but they get to return home with a date against Orlando. It is going to test Thibodeau’s mettle as a coach. Some of the best Xs and Os coaches struggle to master the marathon element of the NBA season. One of the longstanding points of contention with Stan Van Gundy, a coach who is in many ways similar to Thibodeau, has been his style has worn on his players. Shaq called him the Master of Panic, Marcin Gortat said that he makes the players nervous, and multiple players have questioned his varying rotations. It is not outside the realm of possibility that with Boozer being out the Bulls could be staring at a 7-14 start. While that may temper 50-win expectations, it should not change the approach of an organization with hopes of playing deep into the Spring. A slow start will not necessarily require a massive change in approach or urgency. When being led by Derrick Rose, Carlos Boozer, and Joakim Noah, the Bulls will simply be too talented and hard-working to not come together and gel.
The concern is whether the rookie coach who has been operating at 100 miles per hour since training camp started because he finally has gotten his dream job can be patient enough to withstand a slow start. Once the Bulls get Carlos Boozer back, they will have the talent to be that Chicago Jazz outfit that wins more than 60 percent of its games and battle for one of the top four spots in the East. While that should be a goal, Thibodeau hopefully will have learned from his team in Boston the relative balance between competing for wins in the regular season and putting the team in the best position to battle in the playoffs. With a roster littered with players whose track records of playing 82 games is spotty at best, taking the smart approach might end up costing the team the division to Milwaukee but should not keep them from being in the group with Boston, Atlanta, and the Bucks for the seeds three through six in the East.
Predicted Record: 46-36
Bulls 2010-11 Roster
NUM PLAYER, POS, HT, WT, FROM
1 Derrick Rose, PG, 6-3, 190 lbs, Memphis
11 Ronnie Brewer, SG, 6-7, 227 lbs, Arkansas
9 Luol Deng, SF, 6-9, 220 lbs, Duke
5 Carlos Boozer, PF, 6-9, 266 lbs, Duke
13 Joakim Noah, C, 6-11, 232 lbs, Florida
22 Taj Gibson, PF, 6-9, 225 lbs, USC
26 Kyle Korver, SG/SF, 6-7, 212 lbs, Creighton
6 Keith Bogans, SG/SF, 6-5, 215 lbs, Kentucky
40 Kurt Thomas, PF/C, 6-9, 230 lbs, Texas Christian
32 C.J. Watson, PG, 6-2, 175 lbs, Tennessee
16 James Johnson, SF, 6-9, 245 lbs, Wake Forest
24 Brian Scalabrine, PF, 6-9, 235 lbs, USC
3 Omer Asik, C, 7-0, 255 lbs, Bursa, Turkey
