Chicago Bulls: What the First Preseason Game Means for the Start of the Season

The Chicago Bulls' first preseason game was a long way from perfect, but they still managed to pull out a victory without a lot of drama. Granted it was against a Pacers squad who weren't playing their key offseason acquisition, David West, but neither did it include the Bulls' free-agent acquisition, Richard Hamilton. 

While you can't read a lot into preseason games, particularly one with such a shortened training camp, there were a few things that were interesting about this game in terms of what we can expect from the Bulls in the future.

The Bad

The offense, particularly the starting offense, was out of sync. Some of that had to do with the way the game was called, which got Rose into foul trouble early. Still, the offense was not exactly flowing while he was on the court. 

The team had a horrendous 24 turnovers, and six of those were from Rose. Most of them were just sloppy mistakes by the Bulls, not due to aggressiveness or defense by the Pacers. It's pretty amazing the Bulls were able to lose the turnover battle by 10 and still win the game. 

Most of this is just "kinks" and will get worked out at the start of the season. 

Of particular note is Carlos Boozer, who scored just seven points on 3-of-10 shooting from the field. You have to believe that is going to get better, as some of his shots just rolled out. 

One thing that was a positive sign form Boozer was he was positively svelt! He was moving quicker and was more aggressive on defense. He wasn't going to be making All-Defense or anything, but compared to last year, in terms of both conditioning and effort, he was a lot better. 

The other problem the Bulls had was foul problems. While you can pin some of that on the officials, who called a very tight game (we'll just say it that way and be polite), some of it was on the Bulls, too. Joakim Noah and Omer Asik both found themselves in foul trouble at the end of the game, owning five fouls each, emphasizing the need for a new big to replace Kurt Thomas. 

The Good

The Bench Mob looked like their last game was yesterday. With the Bulls trailing early, the moment the the bench came in they started to turn the game around. The plus/minus numbers form the mob were downright insane: Taj Gibson (plus-22), Kyle Korver (plus-21), Omer Asik (plus-19) and the young rookie, Jimmy Butler had the highest of them all, (plus-23).

Butler was a visual paradox. If you looked at his face, his expression said, "What the heck am I doing here!?" On the bench he looked lost and confused and frankly overwhelmed by it all. When he got on the court it was amazing, as he shut down a true NBA scorer, Danny Granger.

I can't give you the exact number of plays or points that he was responsible for, but give Butler a chunk of credit for Granger's woeful 5-for-17 shooting. Defense doesn't slump and it doesn't get hot and cold. The Bulls got a defensive hawk in the draft in the mold of Luol Deng, and he should develop nicely.

CJ Watson—sporting a new beard by the way—took home Player of the Game honors. However, I felt that should have gone to Taj Gibson, who showed more of an offensive game than he's had in the past. In fact, he actually outscored Boozer by five, and with one fewer field goal attempt. He finished with 12 points, nine boards and two blocks.

The other positive, and one that should help the Bulls to get off to a great start this year, was that after a decidedly weak first quarter, the defense played outstanding. After yielding 33 points in the opening frame, they gave up just 54 points in the final three. 

In the second quarter they only gave up two field goals. 

The Bulls will keep a lot of continuity because last year's team is essentially intact, with just a few exceptions. The bulk of their rotation—both their starters and bench players—are the same as last year and are primed for a great year on defense.

In fact, I can't help but think that coach Tom Thibodeau's legendary high intensity practices from last year are still paying off now. Most of the assignments and roles seem hard-wired into the players' brains, and they are just automatically rotating the way they are supposed to. 

During the first part of the season in particular, this will be a huge advantage, as the Bulls will be able to step into things more quickly than teams that have had more turnover. 

What should payoff in the second half of the season is the incredible depth the Bulls have.

Being able to rotate 10 players, or perhaps even the full 12 if you add in Butler and whomever Thomas' replacement ends up being (Joel Pryzbilla?), will enable the Bulls to spell their starters more. The punishing nature of the condensed 66 game schedule shouldn't have the same impact on the Bulls. 

We still don't know what Richard "Rip" Hamilton will look like. We'll find that out tomorrow night, but all-in-all the take home from the first preseason win was pretty positive.

If they have a little more ball security in their next game, that would be a nice sign of progress.