Chicago Bulls: 10 Reasons They Will Dominate After the All-Star Break
The Bulls have jumped out to a 34-15 record as of February 7, 2011 at 5:21 P.M. Not even a loss to the Warriors on Saturday could ruin the spirits of Bulls' fans. However have we seen the best of this Bulls team already?
Absolutely not!
Here are ten reasons why:
A Balanced Offensive Effort
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Derrick Rose is obviously the top scorer and best player on this team, but he's by no means a one man team. The Bulls offense can come at you from all sorts of different angles.
Derrick Rose of course is adept at getting into the lane. Even if he doesn't get to the basket, he opens up shots for other players on the perimeter.
For example, Kyle Korver is often open for a three.
If a team tries to go small on the Bulls, Carlos Boozer can take advantage of it.
Even though he's slightly undersized, he is able to outmuscle and straight up bully smaller players in the post.
And if both Boozer and Rose are somehow off, Deng can make a living by cutting to the basket and hitting long jumpers, as he proved with his 40-point output against Portland earlier this season.
The Bulls have all sorts of different options which makes it difficult for teams to match up against them.
The Best Defense in The League
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As the old adage goes, "Defense Wins Championship."
Well that looks good for the Bulls.
Here are the top five teams in the NBA in Defensive Efficiency (the amount of points allowed per 100 possessions):
1. Chicago Bulls (96.4)
2. Boston Celtics (98.0)
3. New Orleans Hornets (99.4)
4. Miami Heat (99.8)
5. Orlando Magic (99.8)
So all of the top four teams in the Eastern Conference are top five in Defensive Efficiency. How good are the Bulls right now on defense?
The top team in Defensive Efficiency last year was the Charlotte Bobcats. The Bulls are nearly four points better than the Bobcats were last year.
So if defense wins championships, the Bulls will be there at the end.
Just a note, the top fourteen teams last year in Defensive Efficiency all made the playoffs.
The Offseason Acquisitions Coming Together
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What people sometimes forget is that this Bulls team is a completely new team. They added eight new players and a new coach.
When you come in and play with people that you never have played with before, it's difficult at first. When you play with players for a while, you learn their mannerisms and where they want the ball and in what way.
Since this team is so new with each other, they're only going to get to know each other better and only get better playing together.
MVP
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So far this season, few players have been as good as Derrick Rose. For his impressive play, he was awarded a starting role in the 2011 NBA All-Star Game for the Eastern Conference.
Rose leads the Bulls in both points and assists, and is also top ten in both of those categories.
There is so much to love about Derrick Rose. He's the hometown kid, he's the unselfish superstar, he's athletic, he's a great passer, what is there not to love?
Derrick is a legit MVP candidate. The best part is, he's only going to get better!
If you need any more, read the second section of this article.
A Potential Coach of The Year
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Bulls' coach Tom Thibodeau has been one of the most pleasant surprises in the league so far this season. He has taken a team that has at most two elite defenders and turned them into the team with the best defensive efficiency in the whole league. Not only that, but one of those elite defenders has been out since December.
Look at the players on the Bulls. Joakim Noah and Ronnie Brewer could be considered good defenders. Derrick Rose, Taj Gibson, Kurt Thomas, Luol Deng, those are pretty good defensive players. Kyle Korver, Carlos Boozer and C.J Watson are typically considered horrible defenders.
Yet despite these individual shortcomings, Thibodeau has used his system to be the best defensive team in the league.
Thibodeau should be up there with the top candidates for Coach of the Year, he's been that good.
Experience
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This team is relatively young. The superstar of the team is 22-years-old, and there's only one rotation player over 30.
So how can experience be a strength for this Bulls team?
Well even though the players are young, they have lots of experience in not much time.
Derrick Rose was the key cog in perhaps the most exciting first round playoff series ever.
Sure, the Celtics were missing Kevin Garnett during the 2009 NBA Playoffs, but that doesn't matter.
How much more experience can you have than a playoff series with seven overtimes, including a triple overtime thriller that the Bulls emerged victorious in?
This just goes to show you, you don't need an inordinate amount of time to be able to gain experience.
While Derrick Rose was one of the two main offensive players in the 2009 playoffs, Joakim Noah catapulted his game into places no one thought possible. His career playoff averages are 12 points per game and 13 rebounds.
Luol Deng went into the playoffs against the defending NBA Champions in 2007. The Bulls came out and swept them behind strong play from Deng. For the playoffs, he averaged 22 PPG and 9 RPG.
Carlos Boozer, along with Deron Williams, has led the Jazz deep into the playoffs before, including getting all the way to the NBA Conference Finals in 2007.
For the most part, he has actually improved his regular season numbers during the playoffs when it counts.
Despite the Bulls' young players, there is a plethora of experience to go around.
Depth
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The Bulls are one of the deepest teams in the league. Kyle Korver has started over 100 games in this league. Ronnie Brewer has started over 200. Taj Gibson started almost a whole season during his rookie year. The bench is filled with experience.
The bench unit works very well too. On 82games.com, there are rankings of lineups. The second and third top outscoring lineups include Taj Gibson, Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver playing next to Derrick Rose.
The Bulls' depth allows them to come out with different looks. Ronnie Brewer allows the Bulls to increase the defense. Kyle Korver allows the Bulls to increase their offense. Taj Gibson is a fantastic option in case of injury or foul trouble.
The bench allows the Bulls to match up with any team in the league.
A Little Bit Extra...
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"I know I missed some games with my broken hand, but I feel like I am deserving of an All-Star appearance," Boozer said. "If not, I'm not going to be disappointed. There are a lot of guys who feel they are deserving. If I am there, I will be extremely happy. I'll tell you that."
Despite Boozer showing better numbers and having a more important role, he was snubbed by Chris Bosh for the All-Star Game.
Deng wasn't picked as well.
"I'm disappointed," Deng said. "To go there and represent the team would've been great. It's weird to me we only have one. All I can do is put it past me. I really think I'm a step ahead of where I was last year. So my main thing is to keep going forward. There's nothing I can do about it."
Like Deng said, the coaches don't seem to take the Bulls seriously yet. They feel they only deserve one All-Star despite the fourth best record in the league.
The rest of the season will be about showing the whole NBA the error of their ways. As if they needed any more motivation.
The Return Of Joakim Noah
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It's easy to remember that the Bulls are one of the hottest teams in the league and have a top five record in the league. What you may not remember is that they are adding a borderline All-Star at the All-Star break, and not giving up anything to get him.
That's right, they have accomplished all of this without Joakim Noah, easily their second or third best player.
Noah brings energy at the beginning of games, which the Bulls have lacked in their few losses along the way. He also brings defense, although the Bulls aren't really looking for that right now. What may surprise you is that he is also a key player in the offense.
Saturday night, the Bulls lost to the Golden State Warriors. They were able to shut down Derrick Rose by triple teaming him and using athletic players to rotate and contest the potential open shots. If Joakim Noah was there, they wouldn't have been able to do that.
First of all, Joakim is a big athletic body for Rose to toss the ball to. That can prevent turnovers. Second, Joakim is a very good passer. Carlos Boozer was killing the Warriors, but they had trouble getting him the ball because Rose is the only good inlet passer. Third, Joakim could have handled the ball and broken the press because you can't leave him open like you can afford to leave Kurt Thomas open.
While Joakim will improve our defense, he will actually improve our offense as well.
