Chicago Bulls: State of the Chicago Bulls

For every sports fan, there are moments in their sports' life that they will never forget. For Chicago Bulls fans, they point to the drafting of a certain shooting guard from North Carolina, any of the six championships, Michael Jordan's simple words of "I'm back" and of course, October 12th, 2010, the date of the first State of the Bulls articles, by yours truly.

State of the Bulls, a weekly analysis of the week that was, will run every Monday throughout the 2010-11 season. After a busy off-season featuring LeBronpalooza, free agent signings, and a Derrick Rose gold medal performance, this should be a fun journey. Lets get it started, with a review of the opening week of the preseason.

Results: Record: 1-2 
     L @ Milwaukee Bucks - 83-92
     L @ Dallas Mavericks - 83-88
     W vs. Washington Wizards - 107 - 96

What We Learned: The Bulls ended an off-season full of anticipation on a sour note with news of Carlos Boozer’s broken right hand. Tripping over a bag in his home, Boozer had surgery Tuesday and will miss the opening two months of the season. With the injury to Boozer, Taj Gibson was reinserted into the starting line-up.

The Bulls played fairly well in all three opening preseason games: an opening night loss to Milwaukee, followed up by a loss to Dallas and a win over John Wall and the Wizards. While it is only preseason, several things have stood out.

Kyle Korver has looked great. Being used as a Ray Allen-type player in Tom Thibodeau’s motion offense, Korver has scored at will, coming off screens and spot ups. While everyone knew Korver could stroke it, his speed and ability to shoot on the move has been better then even the Gar Foreman fan club could have expected. For the week, Korver poured in over 16 points per game on 53% shooting from the field and 57% behind the arc. If Korver can come anywhere near those numbers in the regular season, the Bulls will be more then happy.

Another nice note has been the play of rookie center Omer Asik. Asik is far from a finished product, at times looking lost and being out muscled, but what cant be denied is his athletic ability and his knack for rebounding. The 24 year old’s play improved each game, culminating in a near double-double, 9 point, 10 rebound outing. With Boozer out, Thibodeau has talked about pairing Joakim Noah and Asik together in the front court. With the athleticism and continued improvement Asik has shown in training camp and three preseason games, the young Turk may prove a valuable rotation player sometime this season.

Even with several fresh, shiny, just out of the free agency box new players, the Bulls will still rely on the core of Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and Luol Deng. As to be expected, the trio has looked solid. Joakim Noah, has visibly bulked up from last season, while Luol Deng looks revitalized in Tom Thibodeau’s motion offense. Derrick Rose, fresh off a gold medal from the world championships, used this first week to give John Wall an introduction to the NBA. Rose was stellar in the Bulls win over the Wizards, showing off all facets of his game. Obviously, the Bulls will go as far as Rose takes them.

What’s Next: With the regular season fast approaching, the Bulls will play three of their final five preseason games this week. They start things off Tuesday at the United Center against the Chris Boshless Toronto Raptors. Then the beginning of a back-to-back will begin Friday, in what should be a fun match-up with fellow top Eastern conference contender Orlando, and then finish off with another date with the Raptors, this time in Toronto.