John Salmons Main Key To Chicago Bulls' Success

In a very underrated trade last season, the Bulls acquired John Salmons and Brad Miller from the Kings for Andres Nocioni, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons, and Michael Ruffin (although Ruffin was later traded to the Trail Blazers for Ike Diogu).

At first the move looked like it was made so the Bulls would finally have a true center that can score and pass the ball.

However, in the off-season the true meaning of this trade came to light. The front office execs. obviously took a look at the 2010 off season, one even the King has said has the potential to be "the most exciting ever," and asked themselves if Ben Gordon was worth the money that he'd be asking for.

In the end they made the right call in my opinion and let Gordon walk (or at least didn't give him an offer). Gordon may have broken the bank for potential upcoming free agents like Chris Bosh, or Dwyane Wade.

And they must've felt, like I did, that it was too early to rely on Derrick Rose's shooting ability. They wanted Rose to open people up by driving to the lane, but with that you need a reliable mid-to-long-range jump-shooter.

Which brings me to John Salmons. The guy who, along with Brad Miller, brought an instant spark to the new-look Bulls team looked like he would be a suitable choice for just that kind of player.

The former Miami Hurricane showed off his silky-smooth stroke at the end of the season, and came up with big shots alongside Gordon in the playoffs.

The only problem is, his success late last season hasn't translated into positives on the court so far this season.

Now I understand that it's still early in the season and shooters sometimes need a little more time to get in rhythm, but Salmons needs to find his rhythm soon.

Although his points per game are well above his career average (12.6 to 8.8), his shooting percentage this season (31.7) is nearly 13 percentage points lower than his career average (44.4).

And although he did have a season-high 27 points against Charlotte a little over a week ago, it was his lone 20-point scoring night of the season.

The lack of scoring is already prevalent as the Bulls, who averaged 102.2 points per game in 2008-09 are only putting up an average of 89.2 so far this season.

To get over the hump as a .500 team, guys like Salmons and Kirk Hinrich have to prove their value as shooters. As nice as the emergence of Joakim Noah and the re-emergence of Luol Deng have been, there is still one glaring weakness on this team, three-point shooting.

That's why I'm making John Salmons the key player of this season. I feel that as he goes, so will the Bulls.

And as the season progresses and Rose gets his legs under him, teams will find the need to clog up the lane so he can't utilize his speed and so Deng can't use his length to create shots.

Which in turn will create open shots for guys such as Salmons and Hinrich. Hitting those shots could mean a 4-6 seed in the playoffs, while staying cold could mean another .500 year, which, with this season's strong Eastern Conference may not qualify the Bulls for the postseason.

Now that I think of it, it's not too late to bring Derrick Byars back, is it?