Da Bulls!
Tonight is opening night for the Bulls, as they play the Heat starting in about 40 minutes.
A look at the Bulls:
First off, they've resigned Kirk Hinrich to a contract extension, which is superb news. The 6'3" guard is the driving force to the offense and has been much better with shot selection in the last year. He's already one of the best defensive point guards out there, and his offensive skills put him in the top 50% of the league for sure.
The contract overall is worth around 47.5M over 5 years. The contract is backloaded, and tops out at close to 12M at the end of the contract.
Other big news: First rounder Tyrus Thomas looks more NBA ready than most people expected, so he could be a very valuable contributor off the bench. With Nocioni, Brown and Wallace playing the power positions most of the time, Thomas won't crack the starting rotation often, if ever, this season. But this was a team that has made the playoffs the last two years. Obviously, they're not a team like the Detroit Pistons when they got Milicic, but it's not a completely different situation. An already solid team(especially now with Wallace) getting a high draft pick.
Tonight could be a good statement game to start the season. The Miami Heat are the big dogs on the block, with the championship rings coming to them tonight. However, it's a team ripe to be picked off tonight with Wade worn down from the off season.
The Bulls should be a top 4 team in the East, and could potentially win the central and be one of the top teams in the NBA. Of course, predictions like this mean little until we actually see them play.
So what will happen? Who knows? But I'm calling for the Bulls to win in the range of 52-54 games this year and finish either the 2nd or 3rd seed in the East.
However, the way they're built, I don't see immense playoff success, so I'll pick them to win the first round and lose in the Conference semifinals. Now, time to file these away for awhile and revisit them late in the season to see if my predictions are worth the bandwidth you're viewing them with.
A look at the Bulls:
First off, they've resigned Kirk Hinrich to a contract extension, which is superb news. The 6'3" guard is the driving force to the offense and has been much better with shot selection in the last year. He's already one of the best defensive point guards out there, and his offensive skills put him in the top 50% of the league for sure.
The contract overall is worth around 47.5M over 5 years. The contract is backloaded, and tops out at close to 12M at the end of the contract.
Other big news: First rounder Tyrus Thomas looks more NBA ready than most people expected, so he could be a very valuable contributor off the bench. With Nocioni, Brown and Wallace playing the power positions most of the time, Thomas won't crack the starting rotation often, if ever, this season. But this was a team that has made the playoffs the last two years. Obviously, they're not a team like the Detroit Pistons when they got Milicic, but it's not a completely different situation. An already solid team(especially now with Wallace) getting a high draft pick.
Tonight could be a good statement game to start the season. The Miami Heat are the big dogs on the block, with the championship rings coming to them tonight. However, it's a team ripe to be picked off tonight with Wade worn down from the off season.
The Bulls should be a top 4 team in the East, and could potentially win the central and be one of the top teams in the NBA. Of course, predictions like this mean little until we actually see them play.
So what will happen? Who knows? But I'm calling for the Bulls to win in the range of 52-54 games this year and finish either the 2nd or 3rd seed in the East.
However, the way they're built, I don't see immense playoff success, so I'll pick them to win the first round and lose in the Conference semifinals. Now, time to file these away for awhile and revisit them late in the season to see if my predictions are worth the bandwidth you're viewing them with.
posted by Matt at 6:20 PM
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