The Bulls after some consecutive seasons where they managed to have
a solid team and advance to the playoff have gone backwards last
season, but luck was on their side and their bad season gave them the
#1 draft pick this season. The team was coming from a season where they
had a 49-33 record and for the first time since the Jordan Era, they
were able to win a playoff series by sweeping the defending champions
Miami Heat, just to lose against the Pistons in the conference
semi-finals. Normally after that season, the expectations were huge for
the Bulls and the 2007/2008 season was supposed to be the season where
they would try to win once again the Eastern conference. However,
everything went wrong and not even a coaching change and a mega trade
in mid-season made the team improve.
The biggest reason for the bad season of the Bulls was some problems
outside the field. Everything began with the renewals of Luol Deng and
Ben Gordon and later the possible trade of these two players to LA, in
exchange for... Kobe Bryant! The crowd of Chicago chanted Kobe's name in
a lot of home games and this clearly affected the team. Curiously,
while Kobe was able to focus himself on basketball and take his team to
the NBA finals and winning the MVP award, Gordon and Deng had poor
seasons, much worse than what they had done in the previous season.
For this season, the Bulls have a new coach: Vinny Del Negro. Vinny
will have his first opportunity as a head coach, so there are doubts
about which style of play the team will use this season. As a player,
Del Negro played most of his career in San Antonio and Phoenix and it's
easy to associate him to the defense of the Spurs and the offense of
the Suns. In an interview, he states that he wants to use both styles:
"You have to have a productive and efficient offense, but I think it
has to start with a defensive and rebounding mentality," Del Negro
said. "We want to get out and make the game fun and use our strengths
offensively. So I'm hoping we can be creative defensively and use the
versatility we have at a few positions to create havoc, create
turnovers and convert."
He doesn't have a lot of experience as a coach, but he was always
known as a general as a player and he will be assisted by very
experienced assistants, like Del Harris. One of the big challengers of
Del Negro this season will be to fit his #1 draft pick Derrick Rose on
the team. Unlike the rest of the top picks on this season's draft, Rose
doesn't have a guaranteed place on the starting team and he won't have
the same minutes players like Mayo and Beasley will have. He is a very
talented player and possesses a big number of offensive weapons,
capable to turn around a game on his own, however the Bulls aren't a
team in renovation and they will have the pressure of having the goal
of reaching the playoffs this season. Besides that, the Bulls have for
the PG position Kirk Hinrich and Larry Hughes who are good players.
During the offseason, there were talks that both Hinrich and Hughes
could be traded, but that didn?t happen. So, Del Negro will have 3 good
players for just one position, unless Del Negro uses Hughes in the SG
position. Hinrich had a disastrous season and saw his numbers
decreasing in almost every stat: minutes, points, assists and rebounds.
This season won?t be easy for him, as he will need to play much better,
but at the same time he knows his margin of error is getting shorter
with the time. Larry Hughes didn?t have better numbers in the 28 games
he played for the Bulls last season than the ones he had in the 40
games he played for the Cavs. Hughes, who will turn 30 in January, is
coming from 3 consecutive seasons where his numbers have decreased and
I wouldn?t be surprised, if he ends up being just the 3rd choice of Del
Negro for the PG position at a certain time of the season.
The rest of the roster is basically the same from last season, so
the big task of Del Negro will be to create chemistry between the
players, which lacked big time last season and to implement a style of
play that we still don?t know how it will be.
Ben Gordon will need to prove on the field that he is worth the big
contract he is wanting so badly and Luol Deng will need to prove he
deserves the contract he has just signed. These two players were the
main responsabiles for the struggles of the Bulls last season and it?s
their responsibility to comeback to their real level that they?ve
showed a couple of seasons ago.
The frontcourt of the Bulls has suffered dramatic changes in the
past few seasons and it looks like the team will adopt a very young
frontcourt. Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah are the future of the team,
but I wonder if they are ready to be the present of the team too,
especially with their conference rivals getting stronger on the paint.
Drew Gooden will be the veteran in the Bulls frontcourt and the truth
is that on the 18 games he has played for the team last season, he had
14.0 ppg and 8.6 rpg, which are very interesting numbers.
The Bulls have a very tough challenge this season on the PG position
and how Derrick Rose will fit on the offensive scheme of the team. Del
Negro will need to succeed on this task, just like on the task of
implementing a new style of play, which will adapt to the
characteristics of the players. Rose, Gordon, Deng, Thomas and Noah are
all 25 years old or younger and I think the team may have an
interesting season if they play with a faster pace than the one Scott
Skiles implemented on the last few seasons, but it?s up to Del Negro to
solve this enigma.
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