Do Not Underestimate the Chicago Bulls

Written by Jason Rubin | 27 October 2009

After ending last season on a heart-breaking Game 7 of the first round of the playoffs, Chicago Bulls fans have an upcoming season to be excited about.  The roster has changed quite a bit and with it the dynamics of the team.  Gone are controversial 2-guard, Ben Gordon, along with sparingly used Tim Thomas and a few scrubs.  Welcomed are rookies James Johnson, Taj Gibson, Derrick Byars and in a return performance, Jannero Pargo.  Luol Deng has returned from a stress fracture that had him cheerleading from the bench during the Bulls’ surprisingly resurgence to playoff form, and John Salmons is sliding down a number to take over for Ben Gordon.  Without Ben Gordon and his 20+ points per game on the roster, the Bulls will surely take a huge step back from last season, right?

Wrong.

As exciting a player as Ben Gordon can be, at times he can be your team’s own worst enemy.  While last season was probably his most consistent in terms of putting up the same scoring numbers night in and night out, his shooting still varied from all-star caliber to chucker who badly needs to be benched before doing more damage.  And while his defense last season was certainly improved, he was still just an average defender at best.  So what does his absence mean for Chicago?

With Gordon off to Detroit, his touches will go other players.  His 16 FGAs per game will be divided mainly by the likes of Derrick Rose (14.9 FGAs per game last season), John Salmons (13.4 FGAs per game last season) and Luol Deng (12.1 FGAs per game last season).  Rose and Salmons both had higher field goal percentages last season than Gordon.  And while Deng’s shooting was below Gordon’s, the difference was a whopping 0.7% during Deng’s injury-laden and worst shooting venture in three seasons. Since it is likely that those three guys combined will be hitting their shots more often than Gordon, it is likely that that reason alone should be enough to improve on Chicago’s offense.  However, there’s more to this story than those three guys.

Do not forget that Kirk Hinrich’s minutes should go up significantly.  With his expanded role and more consistent play, he should provide a big spark off the bench.  Brad Miller throughout the preseason has showed no signs of decline so far and is still capable of averaging double-figures.  And Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas came to camp much stronger and have both added moves to their repertoire.  Noah, in particular, looks as if he’s on the verge of a breakout season.  He’s surprisingly added some post moves to his offensive game and his jumpshot, while still having an awkward release, seems quite a bit improved.  Not to mention that the Bulls still have the poor man’s Ben Gordon in Jannero Pargo as their fourth guard in the rotation and each of their rookies look as if they should be nice contributors off the bench this season.  Taj Gibson especially has been turning heads with his high basketball IQ, consistent mid-range jumper and great rebounding ability.  He may not have been quite as impressive as many Bulls fans pined for in DeJuan Blair, but Gibson’s probably a bit more durable and better defensively since he’s taller, longer and actually has cartilage in his knees.  But as much as Chicago’s offense should improve this season, it’s their defense that should be making leaps and bounds this season.

Once again, with Ben Gordon gone, both John Salmons and Kirk Hinrich will be taking the majority of his minutes.  Both guys are incredibly good defenders.  Hinrich is so versatile defensively that he is even capable of defending small forwards (e.g. Paul Pierce in the playoffs).  And Salmons is a good half-foot taller, longer and known to be much more capable of defending the perimeter than Gordon did last season.  Luol Deng’s solid defense should certainly help, and with both Tyrus and Joakim getting stronger, one would think that they will show some more life on the defensive end next season.  In addition, through Gibson the Bulls have found the defensive big off the bench that they sorely lacked last season.  Had Chicago’s defense from their bigs coming off the bench been better last season, they may have been able to defeat Boston in the first round of the playoffs last season.  If Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Brian Scalabrine are giving you trouble at times when you’re trying to defend the interior, you know you have interior defense issues.

With both an improved offense and improved defense in addition to Chicago’s burgeoning star in Derrick Rose, the Bulls are poised, on paper, at least, to do some significant damage next season.  Perhaps they’re not a 50+ win team, but they have a decent chance of reaching that level if all things click like they should.  So they are by no means a team that should be underestimated because if a team comes unprepared to hustle against the Bulls, that team will be in for a rough game.

Jason Rubin of the Dunk Base