Chicago Bulls: Is Skip Bayless a Hater or Does He Know What He's Talking About?

Skip Bayless insists over and over that he's not a Bulls hater, but then he always follows that up with some kind of hating. 

In the above video, watch Skip's less than well-crafted argument over why the Chicago Bulls aren't really a contender for the NBA title. His reasoning? That the Bulls got lucky in playing teams with injuries.

He explains how the Magic played without Dwight Howard the last time the teams met. He does know that the Bulls beat the Magic 98-91 in Orlando just a couple of weeks ago, right?

The greater irony, though, is that the team that has the best record in the NBA has been anything but lucky in regards to injury. Their 62 wins came in spite of the fact that barely more than one third of their games, 28 in all, have come with the full roster intact. 

Of course, Bayless isn't alone. Colin Cowherd, John Hollinger and others are right there with him. The Bulls have plenty of people questioning their potential ability to win it all.

On the one hand, only two of the last 10 NBA champs had the NBA's best overall record. Of course, those two occurrences came in the last three years. The team with the best record won 13 of the 21 years prior to that, so it's a bit of stat cherry picking to point to "eight of 10." 

It's hard to find a national media person other than Michael "from Chicago" Wilbon who will tag the Bulls as a favorite to win it all. But does that mean he's wrong? Normally, the types of things the Bulls do well are the indicators of championship material. 

The Bulls are the best defensive team in terms of efficiency, and they have the sixth-most efficient offense in the NBA since the All-Star break. They have potentially the MVP and the coach of the year. They have the league's second best margin of victory over the season and the best since the All-Star break. Their 20 of 22 wins ties for the best finish over the last 22 games in NBA history.

There's not a lot about this team that says easy out, so why is it that people are so ready to discount the NBA's best record? Do they have a point? Is inexperience in deep playoff runs relevant?

Or are the "experts" still just stuck in their preseason prognostications because they want to be right?