Derrick Rose, Luol Deng: Are They the Second Coming of Michael Jordan, Pippen?

Its been a long time since Bulls fans had a team good enough to talk about with championship entitlement. Its been just as long since the fan base had a star with national appeal.

The days of being excited to call yourself a Bulls fan have returned. In the 1990's Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen led a changing cast of role players of varied levels of importance to six world championships.

I suppose its natural that people would attempt to draw comparisons to this team's "dynamic duo" of Derrick Rose and Luol Deng.

Well, to that I say, stop that....right now.

The only similarities I see between the two duos are that they play and played for the same franchise. One is the unquestioned scoring leader and one is the defensive specialist, more comfortable in a supporting role.

That may sound like enough similarities to warrant a comparison, but its not. Obviously, in this scenario, Rose is to Deng, what Michael was to Pippen. The one issue in this scenario is that the current Bulls team needs a third player to play a significant offensive role in order for the team to take the next step.

The first three Bulls championships were very top heavy with Jordan and Pippen carrying the majority of the scoring load. Horace Grant was the third leading scorer during those years at just over 12 points per game.

The second three-peat was similar from an offensive standpoint, with Toni Kukoc playing the sixth man role, though he was the team's third leading scorer.

The makeup of this Bulls team is different. The Bulls have a $15 million power forward that figures majorly into what this team will become. He is the Bulls second best offensive player behind Rose.

MJ and Pippen led a Bulls team that lacked an offensive low post presence of Carlos Boozer's stature. Say what you want about Boozer and his playoff struggles. He still is formidable on the block and as for the championship teams, Jordan and Bill Cartwright were the Bulls best offensive post performers.

Shouldn't the dynamic duo really be Rose and Boozer and not Rose and Deng? Luol Deng has been a steady performer for Chicago, but by design, the Bulls management paired Boozer with Rose to be a Boozer/Deron Williams, Tony Parker/Tim Duncan, Kevin Johnson/Charles Barkley type of a combination.

For this team to win a championship, the stat line breakdown would be something like this: Rose 18 points, 10 assists, Boozer 22 points 11 rebounds and Deng 18 points, 7 rebounds as per game averages. The role players of course, fall in place below that and as a team continue to play solid team defense.

If this core is ever to achieve its potential, this is the way they will have to get there. In light of this, Rose and Deng could never be the second coming of MJ and Pip. Considering the entire team of both duos, there are too many differences in structure, personnel and coaching.

In addition, Rose plays the point guard. Though he will always be a bit of a scorer, his position requires him to facilitate at a level that immediately creates a contrast between himself and MJ.

One of the things that made MJ and Pip such a formidable duo was that in many instances, they were interchangeable. Pippen could play with the second unit, and he was the primary scorer or distributor.

When this Bulls team attempts this, the Deng led unit struggles mightily to score. All this and I haven't even touched the fact that neither player is anywhere near the level of his comparative predecessor.

For as great as Rose was this past season and as great as I believe he will still become, it won't be on the level of MJ. As dependable and sound as Deng is, I can't imagine him ever being considered one of the top five on-ball defenders the game has ever seen, let alone one of the 50 greatest players.

Even with championships to back them up, it is far-fetched. These facts don't doom the current Bulls. No team's path to a championship is the same.

The best way to watch this team is to appreciate the run and the players for what it is and who they are. Over a decade of subpar teams should tell the city how rare having a team in serious contention truly is.

Rose and Deng or Rose and Boozer don't need to be the second coming of Jordan and Pippen. They are carving their own identity that requires a championship for validation.