The Chicago Bulls were a perfect example of how a team can develop through the season and playing their best basketball when it matters: the playoffs. The challenge for them is to start where they finished last season and with them being the Bulls, this won't be easy at all for them.

First of all, we have to understand that last season was a good season for them, despite finishing the regular season with a 41-41 record and being knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. I remember that they had a rookie head coach in Vinny Del Negro and naturally he struggled to impose his ideology to the team. Also Derrick Rose was taking his first steps in the league as an inexperienced rookie and their "franchise player" Luol Deng was struggling with several injuries. At some point of the season, the Bulls had a 18-27 record and were inconsistent, but then GM John Paxson decided to make a trade with the Kings and the Bulls received John Salmons and Brad Miller. Suddenly, the Bulls started playing better and transformed into a cohesive unit through the rest of the season.

In the off season, the Bulls decided to not give a huge contract to Ben Gordon and Gordon went to Detroit. The Bulls feel that Salmons can be a more consistent player than Gordon, while they expect Loul Deng to bounce back after his poor season last year.

Luol Deng missed most of the second half of last season, but even when he was apparently healthy, he was far from being the same player who enjoyed a stellar 2006-07 season. He played 49 games and averaged 14.1 points and 6 boards per game. The challenge for him is to be healthy and get back to his 2006-07 level. If he can do that, then surely the Bulls will be in the Playoffs and eventually they will fight for a first round home court advantage.

Without Deng, Derrick Rose established himself into the Bulls leader on the floor. Rose is one of the quickest players in the game right now and his athleticism allows him to do everything he wants. He ended the season averaging 16.8 ppg and 6.3 apg, but his real highlight of the season was his first playoff game: he torched the Celtics defense with 36 points (shooting 12-19 from the field), while dishing out 11 assists. Now in his sophomore season, there isn't any reason for him to not improve his numbers and his overall play, especially when the Bulls need him to be a true all star player.

It might sound weird, but besides Ben Gordon, the Bulls leading scorer last season was...John Salmons! He had a solid season with the Kings (personal numbers only of course) and when he was traded to Chicago, he kept his numbers: 18.3 ppg, 3.7 apg, 4.2 rpg, while shooting 47.2% from the field. The Bulls are counting on him to play at SG, replacing Ben Gordon. Although he will never have the shooting skills of Gordon, he can offer other things to the team. He will score his own points as well, but he is also a decent defender and can rebound and assist better than Gordon.

Tyrus Thomas is a player who has already showed some flashes of being a good player, his problem is really doing it on a regular basis. Through November, he was a disaster, but then between December and January, he finally started playing better just to break out after the all star break. On his best month last season, Tyrus Thomas averaged 15.4 points per game, grabbed 8.4 boards per game and blocked almost 2 blocks per game. If he can extend these numbers to an 82-games regular season, then the Bulls will be a better team, however if he fails to do that, the Bulls should really be starting looking up for other players. Thomas will start his fourth season with the Bulls and this is a pivotal season for him.

Meanwhile, for Joakim Noah, it was a raise of his minutes that enabled him to bring better numbers to the board. Between October and January, Vinny Del Negro apparently didn't trust him, as he was on the bench regularly and his minutes were in the low 20's per game. However, since then, he started to earn more minutes and his production suffered a huge boost. If we look to the whole picture, Joakim Noah finished the season putting up mediocre numbers of 6.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. However, when the playoffs started, we saw a new player on the court who averaged 10.1ppg, 13.1rpg and 2.1bpg, while shooting a respectable 51% field goal percentage against the Boston Celtics in 7 games. On the last 3 games of the series, Noah ended with 17, 15 and 15 rebounds and he also made a key play down the stretch which earned him the biggest highlight of the day. Like Tyrus Thomas, if Noah can bring such level to a daily basis, then the Bulls are well served for the present and the future. He is still in a maturation process, but his hustle and aggressiveness down the post are a vital piece for this organization.

The Bulls have a nice and deep bench which can provide solid minutes to the team. Kirk Hinrich is a good player (he would be a starter in several teams around the NBA) who can run the team when Rose is out, but he can also be on the floor with Rose because he can shoot from the outside. He fared better in the playoffs than in the regular season, when he showed some major value as a defensive pest (defending Ray Allen) and as an outside shooter. Without Ben Gordon, he can have more minutes and help the team with his leadership skills. Also the Bulls signed Jannero Pargo in the off season and Pargo is returning home after an experience overseas. He was a key bench piece for the Hornets two seasons ago and he will bring offense off the bench with his aggressiveness. Taking in account that he Bulls will only pay him $2 million, Pargo can be a valuable player for the team. For the frontcourt, the Bulls will count with veteran Brad Miller. Although Miller is losing his physical abilities and gradually getting slower as the seasons go by, he can have some impact due to his good offensive skills and good jump shooting skills. Lately with the Kings, he was a demoralized player, but right now, playing for a team with legitimate playoffs aspirations, he can put 20's solids minutes per game. The Bulls also drafted James Johnson and Taj Gibson, adding in that way more talent to a young frontcourt.

The Bulls have a great opportunity to establish themselves into a perennial playoff team. The Pistons dynasty is over and only the Cavs are the clearly better than them, in a division which was once in the past a wild tough division. The expectations for this team are strong because we have all sen them pushing the Celtics to the limit in last season's playoffs and so the challenge for them this season will be to bring a similar effort to each game of the season and not only in a 7-games series. They are one of the most talented teams in the league, but they are also still a work in progress and we can really know when the project will be finished.