Bring on Derrick Rose!

Can't go much worse than last year. I'm cautiously optimistic.

I'm not sure what to think about this team this season. We had a terribly disappointing season last year, but we still have some of the best young players in the league.

We are overcrowded at the guards, and most people thought they would try to make a move, but nothing has happened, yet. Our main concern going into this season is our low-post scoring (again). I like Drew Gooden, and I think he's better than what we have had, but I also don't think he's the answer. Thomas has all the potential in the world, but he's never developed anything good around the basket.

I think it will be a slightly better year for the Bulls, and will leave Bulls fans with a positive outlook at the future.

36-46, 9th in the East.

I did hear Aaron Grey lost 25lbs in the off-season. 2nd coming of some good white 7 footer one time! (Joking sorta, but would be nice if he learned how to move his feet.)

Aaron Gray is probably the most polished low-post player on the team, and that's not just due to there being nobody good, he is actually talented. The problem is he's a fat white guy.

Raptors could probably use another guard. If both teams struggle I could see a trade before the end of the calendar year. Maybe Jamario Moon for somebody who can double for PG and SG from the Bulls.

I don't see us taking Jamario Moon, unless somehow you package him with Bosh (which won't ever happen).

QFT

Jesus Christ, are these our bright spots?

The Derrick Rose...hey hey hey hey....

you are in for a rude awakening, as a pacers fan i know first hand how soft jermaine is

I never cheer for a guy to get hurt, but I couldn't help myself but give a little fist pump when I heard this.

If only to unclog things.

right shoulder...ouch!

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/8c/fullj.fd...ulls_twolvs.jpg

Right, and to hopefully dispel any thought of having our starting back court being Hinrich and Hughes which a lot of people thought it would be. I just want to make sure Rose gets adequate playing time, because if there is one thing the Bulls have hopefully learned is that you don't develop talent by having it sit on the bench :cough:tythomas:cough:.

Weird, suddenly the backcourt is really thin. Hughes, out. Rose, out. Gordon, out. What did that leave us with last night? Thabo running the point when Hinrich was resting. Let's just say that was really, really friggin ugly. Though I agree with you all that Hughes going down is probably a good thing.

Thabo has looked fucking terrible so far.

This is going to be a long year methinks. Hughes sucks. Gooden is servicable. Thabo sucks. We've seen the ceilings of Gordon, Hinrich, Deng, and Nocioni. They're all 6th to 7th men, besides maybe Deng who could make a nice 3rd-4th option on a winning team.

30 wins sound about right?

There will certainly be some growing pains, but I think they'll win more than 30 games. I predicted 36 earlier in this thread, and I stand by that (bold, I know).

A starting lineup of Rose, Hinrich, Deng, Gooden, and Noah with Noc, Ty, Thabo, and Hughes off the bench will win at least 36.

The reported starting lineup for tonight:

G- Derrick Rose
G- Thabo Sefolosha
F- Luol Deng
F- Tyrus Thomas
C- Drew Gooden

Why is Thabo starting? Only thing I can think of is having Thabo start the halves until BG comes off the bench, because he apparently can't play well otherwise. Noah better be the first big off the bench, too. If I see Gooden/Thomas come out for Grey I'm going to start firevinny.com.

**** WGN, instead of the Bulls game I get 6 straight episodes of The Ropers.

Judging by the box score, my thoughts about Thabo were correct.

All I have is the box score to judge this game but from what I see; I'm happy.

Hinrich is going to come off the bench, huh?

I still don't know. Thabo was terrible in the preseason and frankly, he has never been all that good in his career. Hopefully, Vinny will realize this. Ideally, I would have a starting backcourt of Rose and Hinrich with Gordon getting significant minutes off the bench, but we'll see.

Granted I haven't watched them this year, or very much last year, but I would agree that's their best option in the backcourt. It seems like to me they have a lot of expensive dead weight.

Kind of. They have a team of all 4th-6th men, with Rose being the wild card. The good news is that when we get to our 10th guy, it's going to be usually way the hell better than the other teams 10th guy. The bad news is against teams with big talent, we will struggle since we don't have anyone really resembling an all star.

Vinny said that he had Kirk off the bench to lead the 2nd team. Which makes sense I guess, cause he works much better as a point than 2 guard, and can't do that when he's out there with Rose. Even though they did play a bit together. Not really sure about Gordon though. Maybe they just decided to give Thabo a chance while Hughes is out. He ended up not playing much anyway. This is the kinda team where it hardly matters who starts, just matters who gets hot that day.

At least we won.

Gonna see how they look against Boston tonight.

I don't give a shit if Hinrich plays a little worse with Rose, THABO IS FUCKING TERRIBLE.

I was pretty upset I wasn't able to watch the Bulls opener, but I must say I'm a little more upset after watching this pathetic display.

What are they even trying to do on offense? Boston is a great defensive team, but they have no idea what they want to do. If I was a Bulls fan I would be really frustrated by their rotation.

What an ugly game, I couldn't even watch it.

Meanwhile, I made a points+assists bet taking Derrick Rose vs. Rajon Rondo. Rondo finished with 14 pts 6 asst. Rose 18 pts 1 asst. If anyone recorded this game, watch Rondo's first two assists in the first quarter, complete bs. He passed, then Garnett counts to 3, backs his defender down 2 dribbles, then another dribble to the middle and jump hook. Twice. Then Rose hands off to Deng who immediately takes one dribble and hits a 20 footer, no assist. Rondo got another freebie in the 3rd quarter when Pierce got the ball in the corner behind the 3-pt line, squared up and took 3 dribbles to the basket baselind, and a reverse dribble to the middle and a little scoop shot. What the **** is this? It's not high school. **** Boston and their scorekeeper. Then I looked at Rondo's assists last year home/away. 4.4 away and 5.8 at home. All his other splits are within 5% change either way, but assists, the only semi-subjective statistic there's a 32% increase. Give me a ****ing break.

That would tilt me pretty bad too...I remember watching Suns games back in the day and Jason Kidd getting the same home treatment.

Last night was just ugly as hell. Thomas shot way too many times, but I did like his aggressiveness. Thabo was terrible (shocking). Deng was terrible. Our entire bench was terrible.

The only positive is that Rose was clearly our best player. It would be nice if he had some talent around him.

Same story tonight. Though they got a win against an equally atrocious Memphis team, this is going to be a long year. Rose is BY FAR the best player on the court. Deng sucks. Nocioni sucks. Gordon sucks. Thabo not only sucks, but may be the worst player in the league.

It was blacked out in my viewing area, but that's basically the impression I got from the box score. It looked like Hinrich shot the ball well from outside, which is nice to see. If you watched the game, did Rose and Hinrich get any significant playing time together?

Yes, since thankfully Thabo wasn't on the floor for long. The reason I didn't include Hinrich on the list of players that suck, is that I don't think he does. He won't be able to shoot like this all year long, and he sometimes dribbles too much, but with Rose the latter problem should resolve itself a little bit. And on the other end, he is a really solid on the ball defender...I'd actually say he's one of the best on the ball defenders in the league.

All that being said, when Paxson finally gets canned this year and if the team starts to get purged, if Hinrich goes I won't lose any sleep over it. But I'm really sick of the others much more; Hinrich at least adds a couple of other dimensions IMO

Yea, I agree with all of this. It looked like Thabo played a little better yesterday, but I sill think he sucks.

The backcourt should be Rose/Hinrich then have Gordon come off the bench for Rose to get him some rest. Then bring in Rose for Hinrich, then Hinrich for Gordon and so on. Throw in Thabo getting like 8 minutes/game and that should be fine. Of course, a lot of this could go to shit when Hughes comes back, but we will see.

It frustrates me seeing Rose surrounded by Thabo, Deng, Thomas, and Gooden to begin games. None of those players can stretch the floor beyond 18 ft and none can play in the post.

I haven't watched The Bulls play this year but to me one problem seems the Bulls don't have anybody at the 2 who can guard any of the bigger stronger 2 guards. Hinrich and Rose on the floor are fine on the offensive end together but they're going to be exposed on defense and I guess you can throw Gordon into that as well.

Having 3 guys all listed at 6'3" as your guard rotation is going to cause problems.

Yes, this is a problem, and will continue to be one, but that rotation will give us the best chance of winning.

Also, Hinrich has guarded 2's throughout most of his career and still got All-NBA defensive 2nd team in 2007.

Yea, they have Hughes and Thabo as their bigger guards.

I'd rather have the three 6'3" guys and just deal with it then have those two see the floor for any extended period of time. I mean, Thabo is an above average NBA defender but he can't dribble, shoot, or pass, like, at all. After watching the preseason and the first few games I can't imagine there being a worse ballhandler in the entire league at his position. Granted, there are a ton of guys in the NBA that can't shoot but they usually at least bring some level of explosiveness driving to the basket. And if you look up "unexplosive" in the dictionary you will see a big picture of Thabo.

Is there anybody on the Bulls who is an above average shooter for their position who can stretch a defense any ? Gordon is a scorer not a shooter and Hinrich is meh.

nope

This. For a stretch in the beginning of 06-07 Deng's midrange shot was pretty deadly, but since that stretch it has completely dissapeared. Being almost 2 years later now I think it is safe to say that stretch was a fluke. Gordon is streaky hot, but is definitely a scorer, not a shooter, like you said.

Rose is a goddamn animal. There is no other above-average NBA player on our roster. That is all.

WTF, Why do I not get the game? Says I should be getting it but I get a stupid highlight show.

Bad news: Hinrich is out for 3 months and the Bulls now have zero backup point guards on their roster
Good news: 40 minutes a game for Rose

Playing Dallas tonight... two losing teams battle it out.

Just read that they picked up Lindsey Hunter. Do Chicago just not get it? They have a glut of guards, so they go and pick up an old veteran that still can't create and is very good defensively and would be a nice pickup for a championship contender who needs somebody to really pressure the ball. Label me confused.

They have no backup point guard for the next three months. I actually like the pickup.