We know that the Chicago Bulls are in a very good position heading into next season. Last season the Chicago Bulls were a fourth seed* (*in the East) and got beat by an overall better team in Washington in the first round. This year the Bulls are not looking at just getting a fourth seed, they are looking at NBA Title aspirations. While their pitch to Carmelo Anthony was strong and had Anthony really taking a look at Chicago they ultimately lost out to the New York Knicks, who just had way more zeros to offer than Chicago did. Their attempt at prying Kevin Love from the Minnesota Timberwolves also came up short, as they just did not have the pieces to compete with the offer Cleveland had on the table. I suspect the Bulls were merely in the conversation to try and drive the price up to weaken the one team that may stand in the east, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Chicago Bulls may have lost out on Melo and whiffed on a trade for Kevin Love but their team got stronger nonetheless. The Chicago Bulls team has been successful over the years because of their workhorse defense. Joakim Noah has one of the best motors in the game. Noah will out hustle you and really lives the cliche of “leaving it all on the court”. I would only put Kenneth Faried in the same class of limitless energy. Some people would say Noah is the best center in the east. I don’t know if I would go that far, while he is the defensive heart and soul of that Chicago Bulls team he still has some flaws that keep him out of the conversation. Mostly, his offensive woes. Still, Noah is the unquestioned leader of the Chicago Bulls team on and off the court. When the media want a sound-byte they will search out Noah to get something juicy. The Bulls got the fourth seed last year because of Noah.
Of course, fourth seed isn’t enough this year because the Bulls have added some good pieces while also getting rid of the albatross that was Carlos Boozer. While Boozer wasn’t a bad player per se, his no D-playing self just didn’t fit in with this team. So with the contract off the salary cap the Bulls had room to make some moves. The Chicago Bulls, a fourth seed* in the 2014 playoffs, have added to that roster the former MVP Derrick Rose, multiple time All-Star Pau Gasol, rookie Doug McDermott, and Nikola Mirotic. There is a lot of value in these players that can take the Bulls to the NBA Title. Let’s look at some of their additions.
The rights for Nikola Mirotic was obtained by the Chicago Bulls from the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2011 draft. Mirotic had a contract with Real Madrid and the Bulls preferred stashing him overseas a few years. Mirotic was able to buy out his contract and come over from Europe. The Bulls may have a huge steal here as the export from the Euro League has won a handful of awards like the 2011 and 2012 Rising Star award given to the best player under 22, All-Euroleague Second Team, 2013-14 Euroleague Round 1 MVP and the 2014 Spanish Cup Finals MVP. This guy can ball and the Bulls are counting on Mirotic to be a huge contributing piece to their title hopes.
Doug McDermott, the Creighton sharp shooter, will be splitting time with Mike Dunleavy but we may end up seeing McDermott take the majority of the minutes. In college, McDermott was hot from behind the arc never going below 40% from three point range. That is a very rare attribute to have in your lineup and with Jimmy Butler being a mediocre three point shooter, having McDermott out there really gives Derrick Rose a great shooter to target when he gets doubled. McDermott will go as far as his shot takes him.
Pau Gasol’s best days are behind him, I don’t think you have to be a keen analyst to know that. Gasol had a good year last season scoring 17 points and pulling down 10 rebounds a game but getting these statistics on a team as bad as the Lakers really doesn’t impress me. Gasol has also been lighting it up for the FIBA World Cup averaging 24 points on 65% shooting, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks a game for Spain while only playing a crunched 26 minutes per game. Pau has been the star of this first round so far and the Bulls may really hinge on how good he is this season.
The truth is that the Bulls title hopes don’t rest on any of these players but squarely on Derrick Rose and his knees. We’ve seen the memes and jokes about Derrick Rose playing out the last few years as Rose has put more work in his suit game than basketball game. Rose is finally back, again, and this may be the last chance he gets to prove he is not just a limping punchline. The star point guard is not having a great FIBA World Cup. Apart from a dunk against a turnstile defense he’s actually looked pretty bad. Rose is averaging 5.7 points per game and shooting a woeful 22% from the field. Of course, it is hard to take this as anything more than a trial run for Derrick Rose. Just seeing him being able to play multiple games is a positive if you’re a Chicago Bulls fan. The true test comes when the season starts. This team will need to mesh and Derrick Rose will have to learn to find his players. If Rose can just choke back on the motor a little and not go barreling into a gang of defenders over and over again he should settle into his role. As the true superstar on this team, Rose is the key to the Chicago Bulls. Not Gasol. Not Noah. Not Mirotic or McDermott. Not Butler. Not anyone but #1, Derrick Rose.