Chicago Bulls: Why Richard Hamilton Would Make Them Best Team in the NBA

Richard Hamilton is expected to sign with the Chicago Bulls, and if he does, he should be enough to put the Bulls over the top and make them the best team in the NBA. This might seem like an exaggerated statement, but there is a lot to qualify it. 

First, even prior to that signing there were a number of reasons to suggest that they were one of the two or three best teams. For starters, they did finish the season with the NBA's best record. While some will say that that "means nothing," it's not true. It means something; it just doesn't mean everything. 

What it does mean is that the Bulls are in the conversation. 

There are other indications too. The second big reason is that the Bulls had the best record in spite of a series of injuries to their big men, Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer, and as a result the two never really learned to play off of each other. 

They played 23 games together last year, and Chicago went 18-5 in those 23 games. Two of those games were the first two back and another was Noah's first game back. When they were playing together in rhythm, the Bulls were 18-2. 

This year, they will have an abbreviated offseason to work together, something they never had last year. For the first time they will have an opportunity to play extended minutes in practice together, learn one another and find their rhythm. 

Additionally, both players have worked on things to get better. Boozer told ESPN's Nick Fridell, 

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I was able to look at some of the things I didn't do well and go in the gym and work on them and be better for this year. I'll leave it broad like that. This year I want to play better 'D,' be more efficient offensively, be a better leader, a better teammate and do whatever it takes for our team to win.

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One of those things, perhaps the most important, was to get in better shape. Based on KC Johnson's word, he is "noticably slimmer and healthier" and if you don't believe it, see for yourself. The link has the video to prove it.

What's also helpful is that while Boozer was working on his defense, Noah was working on his offense, as Johnson reports: "Noah, who also trained with Derrick Rose in California, said he most worked on getting stronger and his hook and jump shots during the offseason."

Luol Deng worked on his ball-handling. Derrick Rose worked on his post game and spent a lot of time watching film and learning how to run the offense better, learning when to pass and when to shoot. Kyle Korver worked on creating shots without the ball and posting up smaller defenders. 

It seems that to a man, every player worked to hone their games after they fell the to the Heat last year in the conference finals. That's not by coincidence. According to Boozer, there was a pep talk by John Paxson after the team lost last year in the playoffs. 

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"You took at the (great Bulls teams in history), all those wars that they had with Detroit, then they finally broke through," Boozer said. "Pax talked to us about it at the end of last season, all those wars they had with Detroit before they finally broke through and beat the Lakers.

"That's how you grow. You go through defeats. And you learn from your mistakes and you become better and you let those mistakes motivate you. You do what you do good, you do that better. And then your shortcomings, or the mistakes that you make, you get better at those and make those your strengths and then you become a better team. And that was our goal."

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This is a very good team that was going to be better, even without the addition of a new shooting guard. They don't need the ultimate shooting guard genetically formed from the DNA of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade. They need a player who can adequately shoot and guard. 

Imagine a young Achilles off to battle, armed with a metal strip around his heel. By itself it might not mean much, but that it protects that one weakness, it's a enough to make him invincible. That's what the Bulls need—a thin metal strip—and Hamilton is that. 

Last season, when Keith Bogans hit two or more three-point shots the Bulls were 23-2. When he scored at least six points the Bulls were 26-2. When he had five points or less the Bulls were 36-20. That's a .286 difference in winning percentage, which equates to a 23-win total over an 82-game season. In other words, having a shooting guard who can score is a major difference. 

The Bulls don't need an astronomical scorer, they need a starter who can reach double digits on a consistent basis; or failing that, six points. They need a player that has at least a marginal ability to create his own shots. Last year, Bogans had one unassisted field goal in the entire season.

Hamilton hit 10 points or more in 39 of the 55 games he played last year. The Bulls were undefeated when Bogans hit double figures. What happens if the Bulls get a shooting guard who can consistently share the offensive burden?

The fact of whether a shooting guard scoring can help the Bulls win is a provable, and by the numbers above, proven, thing. Still, some will dismiss these as mere anomalies that "don't tell the whole story" without a clear explanation as to why. 

The reason is simple: It's about floor spacing. Everywhere else on the court the Bulls have players that can score. Having a shooting guard who can score forces defenses to account for five players defensively, not just four. 

Doing that means that the opponent can't use their shooting guard to come off of Bogans and cheat to help on Rose. With Bogans, teams could take that risk as a wide open Bogans was less of a risk than a single-teamed Rose. With Hamilton, a lifetime shooter of .347 from behind the arc who has scored just shy of 15,000 points, they won't be allowed that luxury. 

Accounting for Hamilton will mean that there is "space" on the floor, i.e. room for Rose to move. Essentially, by moving their players, the Bulls can move the opponents' defenders to create room for Rose to move. 

It can be argued that the single most important thing an offense can have, particularly for a guard, is space. For a guard like Rose, who is lightning-quick to the rim, space is pure gold. Given space he makes the Bulls virtually impossible to defend. 

That's why the way to defend the Bulls has been to take away space from him. By putting two players on him and crowding him, opponents could take away that space. That's what Miami did in the postseason, using LeBron James with help defense from Wade. 

The risk is that when you do that you abandon another man, and in this case opponents are daring the Bulls to beat them with Bogans. Now that strategy is fool-hardy because Hamilton is an outstanding spot-up shooter who can create shots without the ball. 

Last season he averaged 1.17 points per play off the spot-up, an outstanding rate. Now players can either have Rose beat them off the dribble or beat them off the pass, whether it be to the one wing in Hamilton, the other in Deng or delivering the ball in the paint to Boozer.

The Bulls are able to add all of that without a great cost on the defensive end. Bogans had an opponent PER of 14.7 last year compared to Hamilton's 15.5. Their synergy stats are also very close with Hamilton yielding .88 points per play to Bogans' .87.

Considering the difference between the Bulls' defense and the Pistons' defense overall, it could in fact be argued that Hamilton makes the Bulls even better defensively. 

The Bulls don't need a lot of help to get over the top because they are already close. Hamilton gives them what they need: a shooting guard who can shoot and guard. This deal might not get as much attention as say, Chris Paul to the Lakers, but it could be the one that ends up making the most difference in who wins this year's title.