2010-2011 Chicago Bulls Thread

[SpongeWorthy]

Schedule

 

First game is against Oklahoma City tomorrow night at 7 CST. It'll be on ESPN.

 

In anticipation of the season starting I present the two best moments from last season:

 

 

Joakim Noah gives his thoughts on the city of Cleveland

[jersey cubs fan]

What's their over/under for wins this year?

[bleedingblue]

What's their over/under for wins this year?

 

46 1/2 according to Betus.com

[SouthSideRyan]

Same at bodog. They also have a [expletive] load of Heat props that I feel compelled to bet. Edited October 26, 2010 by SouthSideRyan

[SouthSideRyan]

Bulls are:

 

18/1 to win title

9/1 to win East

-120 to win Central

[jersey cubs fan]

I thought with all the love they were getting that would be a little higher. Still would probably take the under.

[Flames24Rulz]

Under 46.5 wins? Even with an injured Boozer, I think they should pass that mark with room to spare.

 

Remember in 06-07, they won 49 games. I'd take this team over that team every single time.

[jersey cubs fan]

Under 46.5 wins? Even with an injured Boozer, I think they should pass that mark with room to spare.

 

Remember in 06-07, they won 49 games. I'd take this team over that team every single time.

 

I don't know anything about basketball I've just been surprised with how much love they've received despite completely failing to get what they planned on getting this offseason. Boozer seems like a terrible fallback option. But then again I was thinking people had them winning 48-49 games. They don't get to feast on their own division do they? They play Miami and Boston as much as Cleveland and Detroit?

[SpongeWorthy]

Under 46.5 wins? Even with an injured Boozer, I think they should pass that mark with room to spare.

 

Remember in 06-07, they won 49 games. I'd take this team over that team every single time.

 

I don't know anything about basketball I've just been surprised with how much love they've received despite completely failing to get what they planned on getting this offseason. Boozer seems like a terrible fallback option. But then again I was thinking people had them winning 48-49 games. They don't get to feast on their own division do they? They play Miami and Boston as much as Cleveland and Detroit?

 

The difference between Boozer and Chris Bosh is negligible. It's considered a miss because he got lumped in with Wade and James when he is clearly closer to guys like Boozer, Amare, and David Lee. It's a big upgrade. Of course he's hurt. Tactically, going from VDN (terrible) to Tom Thibodeau is huge. If he can get the team to play hard like Vinny did then they'll be a lot better.

 

46.5 is really low. Bulls are gonna clear that easily barring really bad injuries.

[bukie]

They'll probably struggle heavily coming out of the gate. If they can finish their first 20 games at 10-10, they'll clear 46 wins easily.

[SouthSideRyan]

Under 46.5 wins? Even with an injured Boozer, I think they should pass that mark with room to spare.

 

Remember in 06-07, they won 49 games. I'd take this team over that team every single time.

 

Laurens could've guided a team to 25 wins in that Eastern Conference.

[SouthSideRyan]

I think 46.5 is just about perfect.

 

18/1 to win the title is what seems crazy to me.

 

I put 20 apiece on Cleveland over 30.5 and New Jersey over 24.5

[javy knows my name]

I think 46.5 is just about perfect.

 

18/1 to win the title is what seems crazy to me.

 

I put 20 apiece on Cleveland over 30.5 and New Jersey over 24.5

What was the prop you said looked good for Miami?

[bukie]

I think 46.5 is just about perfect.

In their first 20 games, they play OKC twice, the Lakers twice, Denver twice, Houston twice, @ Boston twice, @ Phoenix, @ Dallas, @ San Antonio, and have home games against Orlando and Portland. If they go 10-10 after 20, they'll clear 46 easily. More likely, they'll go something like 7-13 and everybody will panic.

[SpongeWorthy]

I think 46.5 is just about perfect.

 

18/1 to win the title is what seems crazy to me.

 

I put 20 apiece on Cleveland over 30.5 and New Jersey over 24.5

 

You'd say 41 was just about perfect. Bulls will win more games than the Celtics BOOK IT (ok not really but 46.5 is low). I think they'll clear 50 with room to spare.

[SpongeWorthy]

Seriously though, 46.5 is absurd and it's sort of angering me. There's just no way with reasonable health.

 

Basketball prospectus is predicting 49-33.

[Soul]

Interesting. I would have thought around 50 as well. Of course, I know little about basketball. But still. Bulls might not have landed the big fish, but look at the obvious improvements they've made.

 

This should be a solid team.

[UMFan83]

Here are reasons why the Bulls should have no trouble getting over 46.5 wins:

 

-Best player is going to turn (i think) 22 during the season and clearly still has room to improve

-Thibs theoretically should be a much better tactician than VDN, but I have a hard time thinking coaching makes much of a different.

-They won 41 games last year and signed one of the top 3-4 PFs in the league, who has similar numbers PER and efficiency wise to players like Bosh and Amare. Should fit in well with a guard who shoots a lot and a Center who can play help defense to minimize his own defensive efficiencies

-They had absolutely no one who could shoot a 3 last year. And while only getting Kyle Korver is not exactly filling that need, just having at least one dominant 3 point shooter should help the team when he's on the floor. Also Deng has been hitting 3's like crazy in the preseason. If you watched Deng closely, he came into the league shooting 3s, Skiles told him to stop shooting them in order to get the rest of his game going, and for 3-4 years he barely shot them before last year shooting them at a respectable clip.

-They have pieces to make a move in season if one arises. Noah is probably no longer considered a great piece since he signed his extension, but other than Boozer, the guys they signed in the offseason all have reasonable contracts, most of them 2 years with an option.

-Thibs has been able to positively affect the defense of every team he's been on. And the Bulls were an above average defensive team last year.

-They won 41 games last year despite a 10-17 start plagued with Rose hobbling around with 1.5 ankles, and also despite a 10 game losing streak in march where Rose (4 games i think),Deng (6 games) and Noah (10 games) all missed significant time. So the record last year is probably not indicative of the type of team they were at the end of last year.

 

Reasons they might fall below the mark:

 

-There are pretty good injury concerns on the team. Noah and Gibson have that stupid injury that never fully heals and could reappear somewhere down the road. Boozer is already hurt and has been oft injured his career. Brewer is already banged up, Kurt Thomas is old and easily banged up, etc. Even Rose has dealt with minor injuries his first couple of years. Leads me to my next point

-As good as they'll tell you the Bulls improved in the offseason, this team still lives and dies with Rose. If Rose gets hurt, even with Boozer in there to weather the storm, the Bulls are done. Boozer is a solid scorer but my impression of him is that he needs a playmaker to get him the ball to be most effective. Without Rose in there, who is your playmaker? Deng? Watson? Brewer? Bogans? Korver? There is none. Deng is a nice 3rd option for a team, Noah is a great energy guy, Watson will be a useful backup guard, but this team only works if Rose is in place.

-Thibadeau for all his praises as an X and O guy, has never been the head coach of a bball team. Sure he might be able to teach defense or diagram the perfect play, but how is he going to handle it when a player comes to him complaining of PT. How is he going to keep his team going on the 4th night of a 4 in 5 after blowing a 10 point 4th quarter lead the night before. Like I said earlier, I don't see coaching having a ton of effect on W-L, but I'll add an EXCEPT when the coach doesnt have the trust of his team.

-Addressed earlier but there are a lack of guys who can create their own shots. Rose can, Boozer can to an extent, Deng and Watson a bit, havent seen enough of Brewer and Bogans but maybe a little. Overall, they just don't have many pure scorers on the team. Can they get around this?

-They will be a good defensive team but they lost a bit of their talent with Hinrich leaving, and 30 mins of Gibson being replaced with 30 minutes of Boozer

-The top half of the East is pretty good. They will play teams like the Celtics, Heat, Magic, Hawks, Bucks 3-4 times each this year.

-The big one is the start to the season. This isn't anything new, but the Bulls have a very very tough schedule to start the year, as someone above pointed out. This year seems to be even more formidable than past years. Now your looking at a young team, with a new coach, trying to work in 7 new players from last year, and your best new player is out a month and you start the season with an extremely tough schedule. Most years the Bulls have rebounded from their slow starts. will this team be able to?

 

Should be interesting. I have them at about 48 wins. Don't go on RealGM, the Bulls board has plenty of posters that get pissed if you don't predict the Bulls to have more than 50 wins.

[SpongeWorthy]

My philosophy on NBA coaches is that they make a big difference, if you've got a good one. Sounds kind of dumb but there are probably 3-4 elite ones (Phil, Sloan, Popovich, Brown) and a half dozen or so good to very good ones (I'd put guys like Rivers, Adelman, and Van Gundy, in that group). Guys play hard for Vinny, to his credit, but he was a terrible tactician. I could go on and on about things I hated about the offensive system, timeout management, substitution patterns, etc. I think/hope Thibs can be in that 2nd tier of coaches. It is kind of weird that he hadn't gotten a head coach job so that gives me concern but I can say without much exaggeration, there hasn't been a more qualified assistant coach in the league in the last 20 years and maybe even longer than that.

 

I think people say coaches don't make a big difference because there's a revolving pool of 20 retreads that constantly pop up and get jobs on rebuilding teams.

[SouthSideRyan]

I think 46.5 is just about perfect.

 

18/1 to win the title is what seems crazy to me.

 

I put 20 apiece on Cleveland over 30.5 and New Jersey over 24.5

What was the prop you said looked good for Miami?

 

I more felt compelled to have something to keep my interest, rather than specifically liking them.

 

I'm tempted by the over on 28.5 road wins and the over on 39.5 as their largest margin of victory on the season.

[Cubbies622]

I'd be shocked if they dont get 50 wins this year. They are just all around better and should be worth 8 or so more wins. Id put the over/under at about 48.5 or so.

 

On a related note I've got season tickets and am trying to sell them, does anyone have any advice on where to sell them at or any suggestions. I've been using Clicktix on chicagobulls.com but you can't price them for lower then 35$ and most the games are selling for about 20 or so on stubhub. I've also not been able to understand how to convert the tickets into a pdf, I can forward them to people but stubhub wants me to convert them and upload them as a pdf but I can only do that when I forward them and then there is someone's name on it that wouldn't the buyers name. I wasn't sure if that was an issue but if there is anyone on here who has advice on selling bulls tickets, or just tickets in general any info would be helpful since this is my first time selling tickets.

 

Also does anyone know what the odds of moving up to better seats next year would be? I'm on the corner 300 level this year and would like to get center 300 hopefully next year, those seem to be selling much easier.

~Thanks

[SouthSideRyan]

Id put the over/under at about 48.5 or so.

 

Then you wouldn't be shocked if they won less than 50.

[Cubbies622]

Id put the over/under at about 48.5 or so.

 

Then you wouldn't be shocked if they won less than 50.

No, that is just the over/under that I would set it up at, indicating that I think half the people betting would pick over and half would pick under. Id obviously bet on the over. I'm more optimistic than most.

[jersey cubs fan]

Id put the over/under at about 48.5 or so.

 

Then you wouldn't be shocked if they won less than 50.

No, that is just the over/under that I would set it up at, indicating that I think half the people betting would pick over and half would pick under. Id obviously bet on the over. I'm more optimistic than most.

 

But if Vegas has it at 46.5 why would you set it up higher? They are probably better at setting those things. And Chicago fans are notorious for over aggressive betting on their teams.

[Cubbies622]

Id put the over/under at about 48.5 or so.

 

Then you wouldn't be shocked if they won less than 50.

No, that is just the over/under that I would set it up at, indicating that I think half the people betting would pick over and half would pick under. Id obviously bet on the over. I'm more optimistic than most.

 

But if Vegas has it at 46.5 why would you set it up higher? They are probably better at setting those things. And Chicago fans are notorious for over aggressive betting on their teams.

 

I just feel like they are more improved than some might think. Obviously I am biased but I think most people would imagine us winning 47 or more games. I think most sports writers have us closer to 50 wins