The NBA season is right around the corner and the Chicago Bulls 2013 NBA Championship Odds are currently at 22-1 ($100 bet pays $2400). They are 8-1 to win the Eastern Conference and their over/under season win total projection is 48. Below is the overall season preview by Pregame Pro André Gomes. 

Tom Thibodeau is really an Elite Coach

There were no doubts about Thibodeau’s quality as a coach, after he won the Coach of the Year award and led the Bulls to the best record in the league, when the team wasn’t previously better than just a mediocre team who was fighting to have a record above 0.500!

Thibodeau had the reputation of being an excellent defensive coordinator and with no surprise, the Bulls were the best defensive team in the league over the past season, however they were far from showing the same level on offense, where they weren’t in the top 10 of the most efficient offenses in the league.

2011-12 Regular Season Numbers:

During this season, Chicago continue being the best defensive team in the league and even with Derrick Rose missing 27 games in the regular season, the Bulls were the 5th best offensive team in the league with an offensive rating of 109.1! The argument that Thibodeau could only coach defensively their teams is now over, as Chicago was in the league’s top 5 in defense, offense and rebounding.

Chicago Bulls month-by-month record :

Unfortunately, the previous season’s MVP had a lot of physical issues that caused him to miss 27 games, but the Bulls adapted very well to Rose’s absence. Obviously, the offense had some regression, but it wasn’t as bad as it was expected, while the defense marginally improved. The result of that was the fact that the Bulls were extremely competitive without Rose and easily managed to grab the #1 seed in the East.

Chicago Bulls with and without Derrick Rose:

In the Playoffs, Rose got injured in the first game against Philadelphia and the Bulls were eventually eliminated by the 76ers in six games. Even though the loss in the series by 4-2, Chicago fought bravely against Philadelphia and they had a good shot of winning 3 of the 4 games they eventually lost, but they ended up getting outscored in the 4^th and decisive quarter.

Offseason moves 2012-13:

From all the teams that were the main contenders to win the title last season, the Bulls were in my opinion the least aggressive team in the offseason. Derrick Rose’s injury may put him out of the whole season and maybe because of that, the Bulls didn’t attack the offseason in an aggressive way.

They decided not to match Houston’s offer on center Omer Asik, where his wage explodes in the third year of contract. C.J. Watson and Ronnie Brewer rejected the option they had on their contract to continue in Chicago one more season to play in other teams. To replace Rose while he is still injured, the Bulls traded Kyle Korver to bring back Kirk Hinrich to the organization.

Marquis Teague was an opportunity in the draft that the Bulls weren’t waiting and they decided to take a risk and draft him, while the other signings were all of them via free agency: Vladimir Radmanovic, Marco Belinelli, Nazr Mohammed and Nate Robinson.

Chicago doesn’t have one of the best second units in the league anymore

Even though the league’s best bench was residing in San Antonio, the Bulls had also a very strong bench over the past few seasons that could change the games, especially at the defensive end, where they were by far the best unit the league by allowing just 38.0% FG to their opponents.

However, we only need a quick look onto the “offseason moves” topic to realize that almost the whole bench of Chicago last season, with the exception of Taj Gibson, isn’t playing for the Bulls anymore.

Omer Asik, C.J. Watson, Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, John Lucas and even Brian Scalabrine (!) aren’t in Chicago anymore! This wouldn’t be problematic if their replacements had the same quality, but in my opinion that isn’t the case. Mohammed may even be better offensively than Asik, but defensively, there is a huge difference between them.

Marco Belinelli will play Kyle Korver’s role in Chicago, but he is far from showing the same offensive efficiency that Korver has been showing throughout his career, even though Korver was disappointing on the playoffs with a Bulls uniform.

Nate Robinson and the rookie Marquis Teague will try to do better than C.J. Watson and John Lucas did last season and even this task doesn’t look to be easy. It looked last season that Chicago was able to raise their intensity when the second unit entered the court and it will be up to Thibodeau to have this happening once again, even though he has less talent to work with – this challenge seems to be very hard right now!

An even stronger Starting Lineup

I won’t mention Derrick Rose in here, as we don’t know when he will come back to the court and we all know about his great value. The problem is that Rose is a player that bases his playing style around his amazing physical explosiveness and the severe injury he suffered in the knee may become problematic for the future. Anyway, I don’t have doubts that Rose will find ways to keep himself as a great player due to his character and attitude.

Now forgetting the Derrick Rose factor, the Bulls will continue having one of the strongest starting lineups, without a doubt. Kirk Hinrich will have to do the role that C.J. Watson had last season in Rose’s absence and I have no doubts that he will manage to do that.

Carlos Boozer has been the players that the Bulls’ fans criticize the most, including asking him to be amnestied. His lack of intensiveness in the defensive end has been well compensated by Thibodeau’s system or the Bulls wouldn’t be the best defensive team in the league in back-to-back seasons with Boozer playing around 30 minutes per game. Boozer is still a good offensive player and in a season where Rose won’t be playing at least in the first months, it will be up to Boozer to raise his offensive production, but I doubt he can do the same on defense. Anyway, Taj Gibson is ready to take Boozer’s role if something happens.

Luol Deng had a tough season with some injuries, but Thibodeau loves him and his role won’t be different for this season, with Deng leading the team once again in minutes per game. Finally, Noah had a consistent season with no injuries and we’re talking about one of the best centers in the league when it comes to defensive versatility and even in passing skills. One of the reasons why the Bulls may be more competitive than expected has to do with Richard Hamilton. Rip Hamilton is coming from a tough season full of injuries, but he looks 100% healthy for the new season.

Final Thoughts:

Chicago will benefit from the fact that they will possibly be playing in the weakest division in the league, with only Indiana looking to be playoffs contenders, while Detroit, Cleveland and Milwaukee still have no identity and the Bulls should take advantage of that.

A team with a Coach like Thibodeau and a very strong starting lineup will easily qualify for the playoffs. In an ideal scenario, the Bulls would fight to have homecourt edge in the first round of the playoffs, while the return of Derrick Rose would happen in the playoffs, where he would be at 100%, with the Bulls suddenly becoming the team that nobody would like to face.

This scenario may not concretize in the part about Rose, but Chicago will be a very competitive team, in a very poor division. 

Follow Andre Gomes on Twitter @GomesCapper

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