The NBA season is just around the corner. Basketball at one point was my favorite sport to follow. The game itself is still a great game, but the league itself has been wearing on me. Star calls and superteams, rather they're good or not, are just not the NBA that I remember growing up with. I don't mind change at all, but as long as it's good. I prefer when teams are built up through good coaching and the draft. I prefer when if a game is called poorly, it's called poorly both ways. However, it's still basketball, and it's still at the highest level in the world, and it's almost impossible for me to not get excited about it.
The biggest thing for the Bulls this season is that Derrick Rose is back. He is by far the biggest addition to this year's team. However, adding Mike Dunleavy is another big addition. There's a lot of talk about how it was pretty much a trade of Belinelli. Now, I'll play along and answer the question, who are the Bulls better off with, Belinelli or Dunleavy? First, we need to consider that neither guy would be considered a long-term solution, so age can be thrown out. If this is last year's team, Belinelli is the guy, as he is a more dynamic offensive player who can drive to the hoop and at least disrupt a defense's rotations. However, with Rose back now and with Butler the player he is now, as well as Hinrich and Teague both able to do that off the bench, what the Bulls need are guys who can set up camp just outside the arc and hit the 3. Belinelli wasn't a bad 3 point shooter by any means, but he's not Dunleavy either, who is one of the best 3 point shooters in the entire league. So for this season, with the Bulls having several guys on the team now that can create their own offense, I think a guy who's offense is going to be coming off of open jumpers, and who is reliable with open jumpers, is what's better for the team.
Other things to look for though, Jimmy Butler has supposedly continued to really work hard during the offseason. If his jumper continues to look like it did late last season and he is able to add other things to his offensive game he could start to look like a poor man's version of a prime Ron Artest (which is no insult at all to Butler, Artest was an absolute beast in his prime), and without the headaches that Artest brought. Another player who looks like they may have improved this offseason is Marquis Teague. In the summer league he looked much better than he did in last year's summer league, and so far in preseason this season he's looked better than he did last year in the preseason. He's not putting up jaw dropping numbers, but he does look a lot more comfortable on the floor than he ever did last season. I really liked the Teague pick in the 2012 draft, even if the Bulls are good at point guard for the next decade plus still, but at the same time, a player with Teague's talent is too good to pass up on with the 29th pick in the draft. Teague could show by the end of this season that he's ready to step up and fill Hinrich's shoes as the main backup, and at the same time may be able to build up serious trade value, since a solid backup point guard isn't something that should be very expensive. You don't expect to get a starter with the 29th pick in the draft. Sure, it happens, but it's not what you expect, so if the Bulls can get a very good backup or a guy who they can get a lot for in with that pick, that's actually a very good return. That's why it's important for fans to put things into perspective. You'll be constantly disappointed when late first round picks don't turn into stars if you can't put things into perspective. Just go over the drafts of the last 25 years and count how many stars have come from the 29th pick on, it's not a huge number.
The Bulls are looking to have 2 rookies that have a chance at getting some minutes this year. Tony Snell and Erik Murphy are both guys who are known as guys who can really shoot the ball. They're going to need to be given time early on. They're both going to be acclimating themselves to the NBA game, which is a whole new world in comparison to the college and even NBA preseason game. Neither player has been very impressive in the preseason, but this is their first actual game time under Thibodeau. It does appear that both are trying to do the things that Thibodeau wants them to do. Murphy seems to really have a nice nose for the ball, which should help to make up for his lack of mobility. Murphy, if he does make it in the NBA, will most likely make it as a spot up shooter who doesn't bring a whole lot of defense. However, he looks like he may be a better rebounder than I thought once he gets going, and he supposedly isn't useless in the post either. With Snell, I just watch him and realize that he looks like a defender. He just has that look to him, and I can tell he's been really working hard to learn Thibodeau's defensive system, mainly because he actually seems to be picking it up fairly fast, although he's not quite there yet. Still, it took Butler a full season, and still hasn't quite happened with Teague, so that shows that it's not just something you can be told and then go out and do. Early on these two will not be making a big difference for the team. However, by the time the playoffs roll around there is a solid chance that both can wind up being decent contributors.
Moving on, looking at what to actually expect. The theme of the Bulls offense this year is going to be Derrick Rose breaking down the defense and either taking the ball to the hoop himself, kicking it out to one of the shooters behind the 3 point line, or a player by the hoop for a quick close shot. When Rose is on the bench it will likely be a Hinrich led simple offensive setup designed to get whatever open shot is there. If Teague is running the point, I expect him to try to break down the defense as well, because he has that kind of speed and ball handling, but I'm just not sure what to expect him to do from there. As far as the defense goes, expect to see more of the same out of the Bulls. All preseason they have been suffocating on defense. It looks almost better than it did last season, but at the same time, it's only preseason, and that's nothing that I feel comfortable taking too much away from.
Now, moving forward, here are my predictions for the league this coming season. I'm just going to go with a prediction for the standings, by division, and with the playoff teams indicated, then my predictions for the playoffs, and so on.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic
1. Brooklyn Nets (4)
2. New York Knicks (5)
3. Toronto Raptors
4. Boston Celtics
5. Philadelphia 76ers
Central
1. Chicago Bulls (2)
2. Indiana Pacers (3)
3. Cleveland Cavaliers (7)
4. Detroit Pistons (8)
5. Milwaukee Bucks
Southeast
1. Miami Heat (1)
2. Atlanta Hawks (6)
3. Washington Wizards
4. Orlando Magic
5. Charlotte Bobcats
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Northwest
1. Oklahoma City Thunder (1)
2. Denver Nuggets (6)
3. Portland Trailblazers (8)
4. Minnesota Timberwolves
5. Utah Jazz
Pacific
1. Los Angeles Clippers (4)
2. Golden State Warriors (5)
3. Los Angeles Lakers
4. Sacramento Kings
5. Phoenix Suns
Southwest
1. San Antonio Spurs (2)
2. Houston Rockets (3)
3. Memphis Grizzlies (7)
4. Dallas Mavericks
5. New Orleans Pelicans
PLAYOFFS
First Round
Heat over Pistons
Nets over Knicks
Bulls over Cavs
Pacers over Hawks
Heat over Nets
Bulls over Pacers
Bulls over Heat (now, there is some homerism involved here, but at the same time, the Heat taking the Bulls down in 5 with a healthy Bulls team in 2011 is nothing more than a myth. Omer Asik had a broken leg, Derrick Rose was playing on a sprained ankle that really slowed him down, allowing LeBron to defend him, Noah was having his foot issues, and Deng was having those wrist issues. All around the team was beat up, even for a team in the conference finals. I don't think the Heat are as good as they were then, as Wade's knee is going to be an issue for the rest of his career, especially late in seasons, and the Heat bench just doesn't impress me much, especially since they're going down in a few positions off the bench. The Bulls were able to stay close in almost every game without Rose this past season, and expect to see an even better showing in each of those games this next season.)
Thunder over Trailblazers
Warriors over Clippers
Spurs over Grizzlies
Rockets over Nuggets
Thunder over Warriors
Rockets over Spurs
Thunder over Rockets
FINALS
Bulls over Thunder
Well, that's that. What really happens is in the air, but there's a reason that they actually play the games, so we'll see what really happens. This predicting stuff, remember, is nothing more than speculation and just for fun, so if you disagree with anything, don't get all worked up. Nothing I say here has any bearing on what the final outcome is.
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