2010-2011 Chicago Bulls Thread

[Wilson A2000]

Brewer needs to be starting until the Bulls get a legit shooting guard. Igoudala is available.

[Cubbies622]

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this but the Bulls have also had far and away the hardest Strength of Schedule of any team. They currently have .573 with the hornets the next closest at .561. It is also worth noting that the Lakers have the 2nd easiest schedule with .415 and the Knicks with .403. This makes you really wonder how good the Lakers are, with a schedule that easy you would expect them to only have lost a few games. Of course everyone knows the Bulls have one of the easiest schedules for the next month and a half or so. I really expect them to win 80% or more of the upcoming games unless they start playing down to the competition. At their current record after going through their hardest stretch, it would be hard to not see them winning 50+ games. 55 might even be a better guess at this point but we will have a better idea in a few months, it is still early to guess and injury's can happen to any team.

[bukie]

Well, the Bulls got through their brutal opening 21-game stretch 2 or 3 games better than I was even hoping for (way back on page 1 of this thread). So, I don't think they'll have any trouble clearing the 46 win mark and getting a top 4 seed in the East (and thus, home court advantage in the first round).

 

The Bulls are also just about halfway done with their entire Western Conference schedule at 10-4, having played the Lakers twice, Thunder twice, Nuggets twice, Rockets twice (who, despite struggling, are better than their record and projected to sneak into the 8 spot in the West), along with games at Dallas, San Antonio and Phoenix (other 3 games were home vs. GS and Portland, and @Sacramento). Their other 7 games (yes, that's 14 games against the West, 7 against the East) included both games @ Boston for the year, and home "games" against Orlando and the Knicks (other 3 games: vs. Detroit/Washington, @Cleveland).

 

They've managed to look terrible in games only twice (both losses at home, oddly enough). They gave Dallas what happened to be their last loss to this point, in Dallas. They took San Antonio, Boston (once), OKC and the Lakers down to the wire on the road.

 

Now the challenge will be to make some of these games against lesser competition look easy (they only have one win by more than 12 points), and build up a record to see if they can try to challenge Boston, Miami or Orlando for a top 3 spot, or if they'll be stuck in the 4-5 matchup with Atlanta or some upstart.

 

Also, wow, that 8 spot in the East will be terrible, unless Milwaukee somehow gets their act together.

[David]

http://i52.tinypic.com/2ldjfq1.gif

[Magnetic Curses]

Brewer needs to be starting until the Bulls get a legit shooting guard. Igoudala is available.

 

and how are they going to create cap room for that? philly wants an expiring contract or contracts, they think they have a shot at carmelo and they will not take back deng.

[SpongeWorthy]

Stephen Jackson is the guy that intrigues me at the moment. He can shoot, handle, pass, and has great size. He's a malcontent but on a winning team he's effective.

[BigSlick]

the only problem with the Bulls is they have to learn to gel mid-season, thus hurting their record when they throw some games away, as they inevitably will (they nearly threw the Cavs game away), and hurting their season. There is no doubt to me that this is the 3rd best team in the East, but I don't know if their record will show it. They can really do no worse than the 4th seed because of their division, so its not a big deal though, but the 2nd round match up could be really darn fun if we get the Celtics again.

 

I think next year is really the start of the championship contender years, as we may still be a couple small pieces away, but damn this team is playing well, just not always consistently well. (I feel like Joe Morgan saying that)

[Wilson A2000]

Brewer needs to be starting until the Bulls get a legit shooting guard. Igoudala is available.

 

and how are they going to create cap room for that? philly wants an expiring contract or contracts, they think they have a shot at carmelo and they will not take back deng.

 

Yeah probably not going to work. If they traded Korver and Brewer it might work, but Igoudala is due too much money during the next few years which would interfere with the money Rose will be getting.

[Wilson A2000]

tThere is no doubt to me that this is the 3rd best team in the East

 

You don't doubt at all that Orlando, Miami, or Boston is better than the Bulls? I think the Bulls could beat any of those in a series, but it is certainly just a possibility.

[rawaction]

Stephen Jackson is the guy that intrigues me at the moment. He can shoot, handle, pass, and has great size. He's a malcontent but on a winning team he's effective.

 

The problem with a guy like Jackson is that the only way to make a deal work with them is if they take back Deng. The Bulls don't have any good young talent they can trade that can match the salary of a relatively big name like those two. They also don't have expiring contracts that rebuilding teams desire. Deng isn't desireable to a rebuilding team.

 

I think the only chance the Bulls have to add a SG is to go bargain shopping. A team that is not going anywhere that has extra bodies at SG is the best bet.

 

-JR Smith from Denver after they Melo trade goes down is a possibility. They'd keep Affalo over Smith at SG.

-Rudy Fernandez. I think if that was going to happen, it would have. He doesn't want to be in Portland. Wes Matthews is who they'd rather keep anyway.

-Courtney Lee. Probably not available, but he backs up their leading scorer. Not getting a ton of minutes in Houston but they did just get him this offseason, so I assume they like him.

[BigSlick]

tThere is no doubt to me that this is the 3rd best team in the East

 

You don't doubt at all that Orlando, Miami, or Boston is better than the Bulls? I think the Bulls could beat any of those in a series, but it is certainly just a possibility.

I honestly believe the Bulls are a better team than Miami, though they are clearly not up to the task of taking out Orlando or Boston yet. But we still have plenty of time before we play Miami for the first time this season, so who knows! (they certainly have been on a roll of late)

[17 Seconds]

rose now shooting .400 from 3. amazing.

 

i was skeptical when he came out with his "i have a 3 point shot now" quote during the offseason, but damn. shooting over 4 attempts a game at 40%? sick

 

not to mention he's taken at least 3 or 4 of those last second heaves from beyond half court at the buzzer, which go against your percentage

[Flames24Rulz]

You can tell he's confident every time he shoots a jumper too.

[17 Seconds]

it makes me happy seeing pippen sitting on the baseline

 

i love this season so far

[Wilson A2000]

End on a high note in the second quarter and give the starters some rest with the Bulls having 3 games in 4 nights.

[17 Seconds]

deng looks awesome tonight. so much more confident

[17 Seconds]

kevin love must be in misery

[Wilson A2000]

deng looks awesome tonight. so much more confident

 

You would too if Michael Beasley was guarding you. He plays no defense. No wonder Wade hated him.

[17 Seconds]

the UC crowd is pathetttttttiiiccc

[bcl412]

Minnesota blows.

[SpongeWorthy]

rose now shooting .400 from 3. amazing.

 

i was skeptical when he came out with his "i have a 3 point shot now" quote during the offseason, but damn. shooting over 4 attempts a game at 40%? sick

 

not to mention he's taken at least 3 or 4 of those last second heaves from beyond half court at the buzzer, which go against your percentage

 

Anything around 40% on this volume for an entire season would completely blow any expectations I had out of the water. I was thinking like 32% on maybe 2/3rds this # of attempts.

[Flames24Rulz]

after the lakers game this schedule is about to get a lot softer. and its about time, nice to see the bulls pass the gut check with flying colors, but it'd be nice to throw some long win streaks together. look at this:

 

timberwolves

pacers (they've gotten better, but still shouldn't be a problem)

raptors

clippers

sixers

wizards

knicks

pistons

bucks

nets

cavaliers

raptors

nets

sixers

 

then finally we get the celtics again, but then after that its

 

pistons

bobcats

pacers

 

and finally the overdue heat match up

 

we could easily string together a 10 game win streak somewhere in there

 

We really need to take advantage of this stretch coming up.

[17 Seconds]

rose now shooting .400 from 3. amazing.

 

i was skeptical when he came out with his "i have a 3 point shot now" quote during the offseason, but damn. shooting over 4 attempts a game at 40%? sick

 

not to mention he's taken at least 3 or 4 of those last second heaves from beyond half court at the buzzer, which go against your percentage

 

Anything around 40% on this volume for an entire season would completely blow any expectations I had out of the water. I was thinking like 32% on maybe 2/3rds this # of attempts.

 

yup anything in the high 30's would be awesome. before the season i was hoping for like 35% if he was going to take this many. still a lot of season to go, but it looks legit.

[17 Seconds]

nice to see rose go from 3 assists to 7 in about 2 minutes

[17 Seconds]

rose now up to .409 from 3