Offseason acquisitions

The Chicago Bulls are looking to take the next step on their journey to greatness.  To do this, the Bulls have made some very key additions to their roster during this offseason.  They have acquired two big men, Nikola Mirotic, a 6’10”, lights-out shooter from Serbia, as their Mid-Level Exception and Pau Gasol for a steal of roughly $7 million a season.  Other key offseason additions include Doug McDermott and Aaron Brooks.  Doug McDermott is expected to impress this season after an outstanding senior year at Creighton, and Aaron Brooks is going to fill a large role as a backup point guard with the departure of DJ Augustin.

Some have compared Nikola Mirotic to Dirk Nowitzki, which is a fair comparison because he is shooting lights out.  He was shooting a promising 46% from downtown last year with Real Madrid, which is a great asset for the Bulls to have.  Hopefully he can be comfortable with around 10-15 minutes per game next season, because that is probably all he will receive from coach Tom Thibodeau with Thibodeau’s history with not playing rookies.

Pau Gasol, a veteran in this league, has a huge role to fill as a Center/Power Forward, with the departure of Boozer during this offseason.  Gasol has been a very good scorer near the basket, but he also has a mid-range shot.  Boozer is not as big as Gasol, so his size will help with blocking shots and hopefully result in more made shots near the basket.

With these big men also comes in a 22 year-old from Creighton, that is, Dougie McBuckets.  Last season for the Blue Jays, McDermott averaged an NCAA leading 26.7 PPG, which is a huge part of the game that the Bulls have needed with Derrick Rose being out for almost 2 seasons.  The Bulls defense last season was again in the Top-5 ranking with the Defensive Player of the Year Joakim Noah, but the Bulls have struggled on the offensive side of the ball.

Aaron Brooks was signed to replace DJ Augustin as a backup point guard to go with Kirk Hinrich.  Winning Most Improved Player in 2010, Aaron Brooks has been a good guard in his NBA career.  He averaged a solid 11 points last season playing for Denver after he was traded, so that can really help the Bulls when D-Rose needs a breather.  Brooks is not an above average 3 point shooter, but he is an athletic passer who can drive to the rim and get some baskets.  His mid-range shot is also a nice asset that the Bulls could use to compliment their ability to score inside and shoot the 3 now with McDermott, Dunleavy and Mirotic.  Aaron Brooks is a good player and will act like last year’s DJ Augustin with the Return of Derrick Rose.  Hopefully, these acquisitions will contribute a lot to this year’s championship run.

Regular season preview

The Chicago Bulls are looking to improve on their 2013-2014 season in which they finished 48-34 and lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Washington Wizards.  The Bulls are hoping that the return of a healthy Derrick Rose along with some new additions will help carry them over the threshold and into the championship.  The projected starting five for the Bulls is: Rose, Butler, Dunleavy, Gasol, and Noah.  The Bulls will also have Taj Gibson along with the newly added Nikola Mirotic and Doug McDermott to play key roles coming off the bench.  The Bulls will have a tough time trying to finish as the top seed in the Eastern Conference with the young Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards gaining experience along with the Cleveland Cavaliers additions of Kevin Love and Lebron James.

The Bulls start the season with two key games.  The first is on October 29 at the Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks.  Not only will this be the season opener, but it will be the first time that Derrick Rose plays a regular season game for the Bulls after his major knee injury that he suffered on November 22 in Portland, Oregon.

The second game, which is also the home opener, is against the brand-new “Big Three” of the Cleveland Cavaliers.  This trio of superstars seems to be the Bulls new rival for the top seed in the East.  The Bulls and Cavaliers will meet four times in the regular season.

Another set of key games for the Bulls come with the annual “circus trip”. On the circus trip, the Bulls give up the United Center to the circus and normally go out towards the west coast for a string of road games.  Not only are these games a majority of the games we will play against the talent-heavy west, but they are crucial to the Bulls’ success in the Eastern Conference standings.  These games are against the: Clippers, Kings, Trailblazers, Jazz, Nuggets, Celtics, and Nets, in that order.

The Bulls will be playing a very weak Eastern Conference this year.  The only real threat to a healthy Bulls roster is the Cleveland Cavaliers with Lebron James.  Other than the Cavs, the teams are too young or untalented to compete with a healthy Bulls squad.  With that the Bulls hope that they can do well in the regular season and get a high seed as well as home-court advantage.

Playoff preview

With the Bulls having a disappointing finish to the playoffs last year, they will hope to improve by making it past the first round. Before they can get to the playoffs though, the Bulls will have to win a good amount of games to make the playoffs. They will need a good record to get a high seed that is desired. The higher the seed they get, the easier the competition is in the first round. They will need to win around 55-60 games for the 1st or 2nd seed in the East. If the Bulls can finish with that good of a record, they will be in a comfortable position going into the playoffs.

Their first round matchup would be against the 7th or 8th seed, so some teams that they could possibly play are the Charlotte Hornets, Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks, or possibly the Miami Heat. Their main competition in the East playoffs will be the Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards, and the Toronto Raptors.

To fulfill these playoff hopes, the Bulls will have to keep a healthy roster for a big portion of the season. They will have to average a good 95 points a game. That might be challenging considering in their past few years they have barely been able to average 90 points. One more thing is their defense will have to be stellar all season long and a big part of that will be from Joakim Noah. The Bulls this year are expected to make it a long way in the playoffs. The Bulls have these high expectations because they are going to be one of the sturdier rosters in the East. The Bulls will need to use their depth off the bench and experience to fill these preseason expectations.