Chicago Bulls' Road to Contention Still Runs Through LeBron James
CHICAGO — The 2015-16 Chicago Bulls are at once the same and completely different from last year's model.
The coach is new, and the offense Fred Hoiberg is installing is a complete 180 from the one they ran under Tom Thibodeau.
But the roster is almost identical, as is the "if everything breaks right and they stay healthy" qualifier on their title chances.
One other thing is completely unchanged from last year—or, more accurately, the last five: The Bulls still have to get past LeBron James if they hope to contend.
Whether in Cleveland or Miami, James has been the Bulls' biggest hurdle, one they have yet to clear, and the new season is tipping off with a fresh reminder that this obstacle isn't going away any time soon.
The Cavaliers team that will take the floor Tuesday evening at the United Center is an imperfect one. Both of their starting guards, Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert, are out for the foreseeable future, at least through December. Kevin Love will play, but he's only seen a week of game action following April's shoulder surgery. Timofey Mozgov is still hampered by knee soreness, and Tristan Thompson only just joins the team after his contract holdout kept him out for most of training camp.
Like the new-look Bulls, this Cavs team is still a work in progress. But they have one thing the Bulls don't, which makes those imperfections easier to cover up.
They have the greatest player in the world.
The Bulls haven't been able to figure out James as long as he's been in the league. Not that a lot of other teams have.
"Starting off, he's so fast, explosive, his size," Hoiberg said Monday. "The game hasn't really seen someone with his physical attributes and does the things he does. He can shoot the three. He can post. He has mid-range. His passing ability is so unique for someone with that size and athleticism. He's just a load out there. You have to try to make it tough, knowing he's going to make some spectacular plays. You can't hang your head when he does it. You have to try to stick with the game plan and execute."
In the short term, that's highly doable. The Cavs of October 27 are banged up, and James won't have much help on either end of the floor. It's the long-term prospect of beating them in a seven-game series in April or May, when Cleveland will presumably have a full complement of players healthy, that's a much taller order.
The Bulls will have the season to prepare themselves for this eventual battle, but the Cavs themselves have to get there as well. The first step is getting everybody on the court.
"It's a process for sure," James said at shootaround Tuesday morning. "We've had a small taste of what it means to play in meaningful games last year as a unit. A lot of these guys didn't play in meaningful games until last year. To see how they reacted to it, even guys like Kyrie and Kevin who got hurt, I think they learned from it. I think they can individually use that for their own experience. I think we have to get healthy to see our full potential."
James is going to need all the help he can get, once again. Going into Year 13, with his 31st birthday approaching in December, James is entering the Tim Duncan/Dwyane Wade stage of his career, where the miles are adding up and he's going to have to be more mindful of his workload.
The sooner Irving and Shumpert are playing, the easier that will be to pull off.
But don't expect to see James coasting Tuesday night. President Barack Obama will be in the building cheering on the other team.
And the Bulls have a long history of losing to James in the playoffs. During the Derrick Rose era, Chicago has fallen to the four-time MVP four times: in the first round in 2010, the Eastern Conference Finals in 2011, the second round in 2013 and the second round last season.
The Bulls are hungry to make this year the year they finally break the LeBron barrier.
"It actually makes you work harder," Rose said. "If anything it makes you want to play against him even more. He's a great player, that team is great, and if anything he pushes you to work harder on your game and make the team work harder, so all this is happening for a reason. We don't know what the reason is now, but we're hoping that it will lead to a championship."
Figuring out who they are under Hoiberg is the first step in that process, and that starts on opening night. Consider it a dress rehearsal for the playoffs, when they will have no room for error. Right now, as familiar as they are with each other, both teams are in the feeling-out process. It's just easier to get through that stage when you have James.
He's getting up there in years and miles, but until further notice, all roads that lead to a championship still run through James, and that's something the Bulls will have to reckon with once again.
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