This upcoming Bulls season is for me at least the most excited I have ever been about basketball. We have the good things to hope for with…

• Derrick Rose's quest to become the league's best pg,
  
• Luol Deng coming back,
• James Johnson, seeing what he can do, at least hopefully he gets a few halftime break dancing gigs.
• Noah bulking up
• Tyrus Thomas's potential

The bad with…

• Will Salmons be able to play sg?
• Will Deng be back/injured again?
• Will TT ever find his true purpose?
• Will we sign/trade for a second all-star for Rose?
• Will VDN learn to coach?

So many questions and I couldn’t be more excited for the season. Unlike many others who have previewed the bulls season, I think they will make the playoffs, and improve their record from last year.  How you say? Let’s start out with Number 1…

Derrick Rose- A true Savior of the franchise. Without him this team has 0 identity, and doomed to first round playoff losses for the next 3-4 years.  He brings what this team most needed, an athletic scoring threat.  He can get into the paint whenever he wants either creating layup and 1’s for himself or dishing out to shooters/ slashers.   He should become an all star this year in a pg void east if he can improve upon his defense from last year. Screw working on jumpers, this kid needs to learn how to read passing lanes, get better hand speed for stealing the ball, and stop the opposing pg from penetrating into the lane. I expect rose to get to 20 ppg without even trying next year, I’m worried if he really wants to become an elite level defender.

Ben Gordon- Ben Gordon had to go, end of story. Ever since we received Rose, Gordon had to go.  Gordon will never be a starting sg on a championship team, never.  The role he best fills is to be the best 6th man in the NBA. Scoring off the bench in bunches, providing an offensive spark whenever he gets into the game. This is a role he is reluctant to accept now when he is in his prime, and that’s ok because he has no real shot of winning a championship barring a trade for the duration of his contract with the Piston’s.

                The contract, let’s talk about that. For the bulls to resign BG this year, they would now be more than 9 mil over the luxury tax, overall costing them about 18-19 million to keep him.  I’ve heard of signing him then trading him later, for what and to whom? Who in this league is going to trade for his contract? We would be stuck with him for 5 years, with 0 chance of signing a big time free agent next summer. Did we let talent walk away? For sure, but BG has a pg’s body with a 2 guards game. The best scenario for him would be to be traded to the Lakers and play in the triangle. He would be almost perfect as a pg there, as he was with this bulls team, he just could not stay.

Luol Deng- Many people say the bulls cannot become better than last year because they didn’t acquire any players and lost their top scorer in BG. Do people realize Deng was out for the entire time Salmons and Miller were on the Bulls? I for now have faith in Deng to become healthy again and get back to being a 3rd option on offense. He is with us for better or worse for the next 4 years; let’s see if he can remember how to knock down midrange jumpers again.

Tyrus Thomas- Oh Tyrus, the enigma of this current Bulls team. Will you just find a role and play it every game already? Becoming a scoring pf like Bosh or Amare is out of the question. I want Tyrus to become a neo Dennis Rodman. He has the skills to become a lockdown defender, if he focuses on rebounding he could easily get 8-12 a game with his jumping skills. He can already block shots like few others so I don’t think this is out of the question for Tyrus. On the offensive end throw him some alley-oops, knock down open 12-16 footers plus a few put backs and he can average 14pts, 10reb, 2blks, and a steal a game.

                Given this is Tyrus’s contract year, he has two paths with the bulls organization. One is that he plays his butt off, becomes the man I mentioned before and becomes a valuable trade piece. He gets traded at the deadline for either expiring contracts + picks or a legit pf in part of a blockbuster deal. Second route is he continues to be the Tyrus of old. Somehow manages to still not get 30 minutes a night and shows flashes but does not become anything most teams would call a starter. His contract expires and either he finds a team who can teach him to play basketball or the Bulls resign him after we make our bids at the premier free agents next summer. 

                Whichever path Tyrus takes next year, I believe he can become a Rodman type someday in this league. It all depends on when the right teacher/ coach comes along and where that will be.

Joakim Noah- My second favorite Bulls player by far. According to many reports he has bulked up and is ready and willing to defend Shaq and Howard this season. He has also been working on his free throw and jump shot both of which I hope he can improve upon from last season.  Along with Rose, Noah is the other reason why I expect great things from this Bulls team in the upcoming years.

NBA Draft – This day I cursed out a lot of the Bulls management for not once but twice passing on Dejuan Blair, quite possibly being the best college basketball rebounder ever. I liked the James Johnson pick because he has a lot of upside given his draft position. Passing on Blair for Taj Gibson was just stupid. Taj was undersized power forward in college, who did next to nothing for a mediocre USC team. Blair now belongs to the Spurs where he has vowed vengeance on everyone who passed on him in the draft. I expect him to do just that in the minutes he plays for the Spurs this year. 

Coach Vinny Del Negro- Many called for his head last season for many things; not being able to have timeouts at the end of close games, running a basketball playbook similar to that of a high school team, playing friggin Aaron Gray over Tyrus Thomas for long stretches and not preaching defense. I think he will improve this season mainly because he couldn’t be much worse as he was last year, and because he can’t give minutes to Nocioni or Gooden anymore over Tyrus. He has this season to prove that he can become a legitimate NBA coach or else the calls to hire Avery Johnson will get louder than a KG scream.

Summer of 2010- Probably the most anticipated offseason ever, has a Chicago team once again with its hopes up. Lebron James is going to either the Nets or staying with Cleveland. With Lebron, the Nets become championship contenders immediately with a starting 4 of Harris, Lee, Bron, PF, and Lopez. Add a defensive minded PF, Terrence Williams off the bench plus a few more rotation players and that team is scary.

                Wade is most likely staying in Miami, with Chicago a distant long shot. Bosh is our most attainable Free agent and I still think it will require a sign and trade with us trading TT, Hinrich, and 2 first round picks for Bosh. It fills out our starting 5 granted Salmons re-ups and gets us a legit big man. Same trade for Amare if Toronto can actually keep Bosh, and then Joe Johnson becomes our final option for a big free agent. I honestly do not expect any straight up free agent signings but instead all the movement will be by sign and trade since the amount of money the FA’s lose by not signing with their original teams is around 20 million and an extra year on the contract.

Overall outlook-

                I expect the Bulls to get either the 7th or 8th seed in the East this year.  Overall growth from Rose, Noah, Thomas, and Vinny Del Negro will make up for the loss of Gordon and with full seasons of Brad Miller and John Salmons will also help us get into the playoffs. Along with the Magic, Cavs and Celtics, I expect the Hawks and Wizards to be the second tier of teams with the Bulls, Raptors and another team making up the C level teams in the playoffs.

                I am very excited for this upcoming season for the Bulls as we now have hope for a better future with Rose and Noah developing. I really just want to watch NBA basketball again, it seems like the Bulls-Celtics series was about 3 years ago right now to me. I just want my basketball back, If Vinny decides he wants to run some offensive plays too, then all the better.