Chicago Bulls: Three Questions for the 2011-2012 Season

There is no question that the Chicago Bulls were the break out team of the 2010-2011 basketball season.

Missing out on the big free agent names of 2010, the Bulls landed Carlos Boozer, a pick up that most hailed as modest at best.

Analysts across the country had the Bulls improving from their number eight playoff position of the previous two seasons and while they picked the Bulls to finish near the top of the NBA Central Division, they were hesitant to put them any higher than number four in the 2011 playoff seeding.

One season, 62 wins, a No. 1 seed and an Eastern Conference Finals berth later, the Bulls are now being touted as a perennial top dog in the East.

Needless to say, no one is shortchanging Chicago this year and everyone expects great things.

There are many questions being debated about the Bulls’ season; here are a few of those questions.

1) How Healthy Is This Team?

Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer missed a combined 57 games last season because of injuries. During the playoffs, Derrick Rose played on a sprained ankle, Boozer had a fractured toe and Omer Asik fractured his tibia.

Injuries aside, the Bulls were able to maximize their available talent and pull out wins even though the injuries caught up with them against Miami in the conference finals.

The Bulls had a very deep bench with more than enough capable players and most of that bench is still intact. This health and depth proves all the more crucial since the season is more like a 66-game sprint than an 82-game jog.

There are more back-to-back games, some nights with three consecutive games and very little time to rest in between

Carlos Boozer has shed 20 pounds in the offseason. This lighter weight will mean less stress on his body. Hopefully, that will translate into more games played.

Joakim Noah says he feels 100 percent healthy thanks to the extended time off due to the lockout.

That same time off had to have been just as beneficial to Derrick Rose and Omer Asik as well.

If health is on the Bulls’ side this season, a lot teams are in serious trouble.

2) What Has Tom Thibodeau Learned from Last Season?

Everyone had high expectations for Tom Thibodeau last season and it probably goes without saying that he exceeded those high expectations.

He brought defensive intensity and instilled a selfless attitude and did so with a very young team.

There were chinks in his armor, however.

Thibodeau was long on defensive strategy but very short on offensive versatility.

This was apparent in the Eastern Conference Finals when his go to scheme down the stretch was to simply put the ball in Rose’s hands and let him create. Miami wasted no time in putting a bigger, athletic defender in LeBron James on Rose and letting it all play out, much to the Heat’s advantage.

Thibodeau is a consummate student of the game and there is no question that he studied every minute of last season.

He’s encouraged by Boozer’s weight loss and is already talking about how it will be a boon both offensively and defensively for the team.

Look for Thibodeau to have an even better grasp of his players and their capabilities this season and expect production to improve in a lot of areas.

3) Is Rip Hamilton Really the Answer?

Rip Hamilton was signed to be the shooting guard that helps carry some of the scoring load.

He is intended to be a legitimate third or fourth option and a dependable one at that.

If he is a starter (and there is no reason to think he would not be), he is already a scoring improvement over Keith Bogans, who averaged 4.4 points per game last season.

Hamilton has great conditioning, is an accurate perimeter shooter and reliable defender.

He has a championship pedigree and knows what it takes to win.

Had Chicago had his career 17.7 points per game scoring last season, who knows how many things would’ve gone differently.

Rip adds needed tangibles and intangibles to the Bulls roster and the effects of those attributes should be very evident this season.

Finally...

The Chicago Bulls have the bar set pretty high for this season.

At the very least, they are expected to be more competitive down the playoff stretch than they were last season. At most, title number seven should cap off the end of the year.

With most of the same roster from last season, the Bulls should gel quickly and make the most of the abbreviated schedule.

The selfless, supporting attitude from last year is front and center once again. Even Rip felt it from day one.

It seems like the only ones who can stop Chicago this year are the Bulls.