Storyline: The Chicago Bulls didn’t make the Playoffs and they’re facing a host of off-season challenges. But if Derrick Rose gets healthy and works out issues, then watch out. The Bulls may be back — and sooner than you think. Written by Rory Clark, Glasgow, Scotland
April the 16th 2008: The Chicago Bulls saw out their season at home with a 107-97 victory over the Raptors, ending the year at 33-49. Going into the season they were touted to challenge the ‘Big Dogs’ of the Eastern Conference, but their efforts ended promptly in April.
Sound familiar?
Not many people saw the Bulls finishing outside the Top 5 of the East this season. Some picked them to push the Cavs all the way to the Conference Finals. Some even saw them in the Finals. But, for the first time in nearly a decade, the Bulls failed to make the playoffs.
Now all the normal off-season questions are cropping up.
Will Derrick Rose be able to avoid injury?
Will Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol jell on the frontcourt?
Courtesy: ballerstatus.com
Well, ex-MVP Rose saw action in 66 games this season, the most since his aforementioned MVP campaign of 2010-11. Joakim and Pau, though, never even got the chance to jell. Noah lost his starting spot to Nikola Mirotic, who has been a relative high in a season of lows, before the season had even started. The big man would see no action past mid-January after he was sidelined by a severe shoulder injury. However, he looked like a shadow of his former DPOTY self.
As for the rest of the roster, it’s a relative hodgepodge–seeing who fits best and where. When healthy, Rose and Jimmy Butler lock down the 1 and 2 spots. However, Dunleavy, Snell, Moore, and McDermott have all had their chances at 3 this year. While it has generally been a frontcourt of Gasol, and either Gibson or Mirotic, there has been no true, bona fide, recognizable starting 5 for the Bulls this season.
Of course there have been the obvious injuries, an area in which new coach Fred Hoiberg’s inexperience has shown. He made some questionable adjustments to the roster. Aaron Brooks is the only player who failed to start a game this year. Such is the extent of the rotation. One has to argue that it has hindered, rather than helped, the team.
Courtesy: sportsmockery.com
All in all, it has been a poor season for one of the league’s most storied franchises. With the greatest cumulative attendance for home games since 2010, the fans deserve better.
And while it hasn’t been a complete disaster (42-40 record) players struggled to adapt to Hoiberg’s offensive game plan (ranked 23rd in offensive rating). Worse still, the team looks to have lost defensive intensity that was a constant under Coach Tom Thibodeau.
The Bulls undoubtedly lost identity throughout the course of the season, something that the oft-vocal fans were unhappy to see.
So what’s next?
It could be argued that the team is entering a transition phase. Trade rumours are never too far away from Jimmy Butler. And with a good chunk of the team entering their 30s, it’s entirely possible that the Bulls may cut their losses and start a rebuild. With Noah being as unconvincing as he was this season, it looks increasingly likely that the center will test the waters of free agency. And, as he is the third highest earner on the team, it would give the Bulls an option to make moves of their own in free agency.
While it’s unlikely to generate enough cap space to make a marquee signing, there are plenty of solid players up for grabs in free agency this year. Bulls’ fans can also rest easy that modest superstar, Butler, has been re-signed until at least 2019. He’s an invaluable piece of business from the Bulls’ management. which has been coupled with the retention of veterans Taj Gibson and Mike Dunleavy.
Courtesy: bleacherreport.com
Then we come to hometown hero Derrick Rose. Contracted to the Bulls until the end of 2017 as the team’s franchise player, he hasn’t had an easy time over the past few years. The exploits of his MVP season will live long in the memory. However, the subsequent struggle to stay healthy has meant that he has become the subject of ridicule from some fans and, more worryingly, the media.
It’s criticism that I, for one, feel is unjust. Rose will arguably never again be the ‘40 inch vertical’ guard that we had became used to. After numerous knee injuries it seems unlikely that we will see repeats of the famous dunk on Goran Dragic.
But he’s still the same slashing point guard. He drives hard in the paint. He makes clutch contact layups. He’s still the franchise player for the Bulls. Keeping him is essential.
He knows the pressure and he knows what it’s like to be a fan of the Bulls. While he may not be considered a top-10 point guard in the NBA these days, give him this offseason to work on his game and iron out problems, i.e. the jump shot, etc.
One fully healthy season in the League and he’ll once more be in the conversation with the elite where he belongs. And I’d be willing to bet that the Bulls aren’t far behind.
