This my entry for the '08-'09 blogger previews series. You can get the full list and schedule of previews here.

Team Name: Chicago Bulls
Last Years Record: 33-49
Key Losses: Chris Duhon, Scott Skiles (head coach)
Key Additions: Derrick Rose, Vinny Del Negro (head coach)

1. What significant moves were made during the offseason?

The Bulls entered the offseason after an incredibly disappointing campagin with many speculating that there'd be significant changes in the roster, already overhauled a couple months prior with the trade of Ben Wallace and Joe Smith netting Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes.

The first major goal of the summer was to get a new coach. Scott Skiles had been fired the previous Christmas Eve, and his bumbling apprentice Jim Boylan was let go after his interim tenure completed at the end of the season. The Bulls 'process' to find a new coach ranged from confusing to embarrassing, with countless candidates interviewed over the course of several weeks, including two high-profile near-hires in Mike D'Antoni and Doug Collins, who both pulled out of the running after reports of a done deal had surfaced. The Bulls eventually wound up with first-time head coach (on any level) Vinny Del Negro, a former NBA veteran and broadcaster who was serving in the Phoenix front office. The Bulls are rolling the dice with such a novice coach (though hiring veteran - and expensive -  assistants Del Harris and Bernie Bickerstaff will help), but they should be applauded for at least taking a chance rather than falling back on a failed retread.

Then in May, with a 1.7% chance, the entire direction of the franchise was altered. The Bulls had won the draft lottery after being slotted for the 9th pick, and a month later drafted point guard Derrick Rose. A team searching for a top-level talent and leader now potentially had it, and the goal going forward was to create a team around him.

Unfortunately the Bulls had plenty of roster uncertainty even before Rose was drafted, namely their two best players, Luol Deng and Ben Gordon entering restricted free agency. With not much cap room available around the league, and themselves creeping towards the luxury tax, the Bulls were in a difficult position of bidding against themselves with each player, with the danger of each taking the Qualifying Offer and walking from the team next offseason. The Bulls and Luol Deng wound up agreeing to a 6 year deal, while Ben Gordon turned down the Bulls offer and instead took the Qualifying Offer as training camp began. Gordon's situation is now settled at least for the season, but the issue of his potential departure still looms as they try and decide what to do with numerous other guards on their team. While Gordon is likely their best existing complement to Rose, he also may be gone with no compensation after the season.

2. What are the team’s biggest strengths?

Depth. The Bulls have as many as 10 players that deserve minutes in the rotation (Rose, Hinrich, Gordon, Hughes, Sefolosha, Deng, Nocioni, Thomas, Noah, Gooden). This allows for plenty of flexibility as well as damage control in the event of injury or trade. In fact, look for the Bulls to deal from some of this depth, especially from the backcourt, to thin out the roster. If not, while it's good to have options, Del Negro will have a tough time keeping everyone content with their minutes.

Another strength with this deep roster is the ability to run the floor. Del Negro promised to bring some of the fast-paced philosophy from Phoenix, and with a guard like Derrick Rose leading young athletic big-men like Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah on the break, complemented by shooters like Gordon, Deng, and Hinrich, they have the players to pull it off.

3. What are the team’s biggest weaknesses?

Inside scoring. John Paxson's Bulls have been long-criticized for not ever getting a low-post scorer. But the real issue was not finding the next skilled big man, but that their existing bigs not being able to even convert layups, let alone hook shots. As a result the Bulls have had to work hard for their baskets, trending their offense towards relying exclusively on jumpers. Some of this hopes to be mitigated by employing a fast-break offense, but a lot will depend on Rose to break down defenses in a way that the other guards on the roster couldn't, opening up better opportunities for his teammates. This is also a huge season for Tyrus Thomas, who is entering his 3rd season as the likely starting PF, who's shown flashes of his top talent but will now be responsible for major minutes and major contributions in that time.

4. What are the goals for this team?

One major goal is to get the team's defense back to what it before last season, a top-5 unit that thrived on hassling opponents into bad shots and turnovers. With the personnel mostly constant from those happier times, the onus is on Del Negro to get the team motivated on that end of the floor. Likely years away from being a great offense, the return to a top defensive team is imperative if they hope to challenge for a playoff spot, which is the ultimate aspiration for the team this season.

That playoff goal should be pursued with emphasizing the development of the younger players on the team, specifically Rose, Thomas and Noah. Even veterans Luol Deng and Ben Gordon are at the ages where they should still be seeing progressions in their games, as opposed to the regression that occurred last season. If the youngsters play well, the Bulls will be on their way back, and the season can be deemed a success even if a playoff bid falls short.

5. So what is this team? The 49-win team of '06-'07, or the team that won 16 fewer games the season afterwards?

Likely somewhere in the middle. While many of the same players remain, that 49 win team also had a not-yet-mummified Ben Wallace, as well as a roster playing incredible defense under Scott Skiles. The conference as a whole should be tougher than it was that season as well.

The Bulls are fortunate to have aquired Rose without being the type of completely talent-starved team that usually gets the top overall pick. But while not a full-scale rebuilding effort, the fact that Rose and other young players will be playing significant minutes means that they likely won't be sniffing 50 wins. But a .500 record and playoff appearance is certainly attainable, especially if Del Negro can get the team playing defense again, and if Derrick Rose is as good as Bulls fans believe. So while they're ultimately a team in transition that may look significantly different by April, the Bulls should not be settling for another lottery appearance. One impossibly lucky draw should be enough for a while.

Predicted Record: 43-39

No local TV or radio tonight from Ft. Wayne, IN. Rumor has it you can catch it on DirecTV or Dish Network through league pass. And there's always those seedy streaming sites on the internets. I refuse to advocate going to these places, but if you find a way there on your own I cannot stop you. As Mike North would say "I'm not sayin, I'm just sayin".

For all Indiana Pacer stuff, go to Indy Cornrows, a fantastic blog that deserves at least the amount readership my crappy blogging does, if not more.

I'd have to guess that anybody who was out for the Bulls on Thursday is also out tonight. I'm itching to see Gordon play with Rose. Beyond that all I'll ask from tonight is for my mind to be put to ease regarding the defense. The Pacers only scored 71 points in their preseason opener (though that was without Dunleavy and Murphy).

Just some random half-arsed observations:

I'm sure everyone is on edge to hear this declaration: Derrick Rose is going to be OK at basketball. I see a future in the league for this kid.

He missed his first few jumpers (and was a bit more trigger-happy than I thought he'd be) but he showed what he could do early in the game: not only did he initiate a lob to Tyrus (who whiffed, more on that later) but on a subsequent play he was the recipient of a lob. The point guard! Made some mistakes but also created space for shooters with his penetration. Looked for the ball when initiating the possession, and looked to run once he got it. Was not timid in attacking the basket, moved sharply off-the-ball, and showed off a nice jump-stop in the lane during the 3rd quarter. But what stood out right away is that this is a guard that can play above the rim. That hasn't been a part of this team for a while.

So that's good. Now to work on his teammates...

Kirk Hinrich was the two-guard tonight alongside Rose. I've doubted Hinrich's ability to ever be a full-time two, and tonight didn't do much to dissuade that opinion. He made one nice move getting through the center of the lane to get a layup and a foul, but on a couple of occasions he'd get the ball baseline on the move, and while heading towards the goal would not even look at the rim, let alone attack it. Thankfully he didn't follow through with the full-on Hinrich maneuver, but he needs to be more aggressive if he's playing off Rose. He also front-rimmed a few jump shots, and he was overpowered on defense on a couple of occasions by Antoine Wright.

Drew Gooden started at Center and played well. Eric Dampier is one of the bigger opponents he'll have to face, and overall he held his own, especially on the boards. He also made his jump shots, something that will be a key to this season as he'll have to carry the offensise load in the frontcourt.

Tyrus Thomas hit a couple jumpers himself and even made some plays when the defense starting closing out on him, but he did not show improvement in what was his major problem last season, which was finishing when close. He let a lob from Rose slip though his hands, and didn't do much around the basket on offense...getting to the point in the 2nd half where he'd start looking for the jumper first. I was a bit dissapointed that he wasn't isolated on offense more tonight, but against the tall frontcourt that Dallas posesses it could've just been a bad matchup. One thing I will say for Tyrus is that he didn't look lost , nor did he make many mistakes. And it's good that the jumper is still improving. But I don't want him to become another softie like LaMarcus Aldridge, I'd like to see him using that range to set up moves towards the basket.

Larry Hughes is not going to change, he is what he is. He takes bad shots, and a lot of them. He couldn't stay in front of Jason Terry on defense. When he did pass he forced them. He did a decent job rebounding, but that's that's about it for nice things to say about Hughes. Hopefully when Gordon comes back Huges will take his rightful place on the bench, though for tonight Hughes was ahead of Thabo in the depth chart.

Other random observations:

• Hinrich was announced after Rose in the starting lineups. Can you name a lamer face of a franchise than Kirk Hinrich?
  
• Luol Deng was underwhelming. I didn't even notice him in the game until halfway through the first, and he didn't do much outside of a few jump shots. Not worried or anything, but I would've been nice to see Lu take more initiative after a summer where he got paid and was the number-one option of his international team.
  
• The defense was pretty bad all night, alarmingly so in the first quarter when giving up 36 points while both teams' regulars were in the lineup. A lot of it had to do with turnovers on offense letting the Mavs run. Noah would've helped too. I'll wait a few games to see if that gets turned around at all.
  
• Good to know that even after changing over the announcing crew, the odd love for Aaron Gray remained. Stacy King said he should get 15-20 minutes a night, and then said that he'll learn to rotate better defensively as he matures. It's not a matter of recognition, Stacy, it's a matter of his inability to move his feet at above-glacial speed.
• Noc was pretty worthless: 0 points and 4 fouls. Let James Singleton get loose after a pick that led to a score. Didn't cut his hair all summer.
  
• Thabo had one nice play where he went rim-to-rim on a break. But he also lost the ball too much in the half-court set, and if he is indeed in the running to start alongside Rose he didn't distinguish himself.
• End of the first half, and Vinny drew up the play for Rose. It was pretty much an isolation of Rose at the top, and instead of sending someone to set a pick he overloaded to one side and let Rose beat his man solo off the dribble. Didn't quite work as Rose committed an offensive foul, but I like that the plan wasn't to inadvertenly send an extra defender at him, a la Skiles.
• When Tyrus exited the game for the final time he had a huge heat wrap around his back.
  
• Wasn't it nice not to see Chris Duhon?
• For the meaningful part of the game, the Bulls had zero three-point FGs. Come back soon, Ben Gordon.
• One third quarter lineup was Rose/Hughes/Deng/Noc/Gray. That's some high usage, and bad defense.
• Didn't watch most of the 4th, so I don't know who looked good in the scrub scrum amongst Washington, Powell, Simmons, Brown, and Nichols. Thabo and Aaron Gray received the rest of the garbage time.
• As I expected, I liked the new TV crew. Odd to see Red Kerr just give some brief analysis from courtside during a couple breaks, but I'd have to think that he'll be in studio when they give the Bulls the full pre/half/post show treatment.
• Game Thread comment of the night: messwiththebull, pulling a nice Big Lebowski reference to denigrate Larry Hughes.

My word, the first gamethread of the season, and first time using the fancy new SBN2.0 commenting system. Welcome to the terrordome.

Noah, Ruffin, and perhaps Ben Gordon are out. Aaron Gray is in (thank goodness).

No obvious answer as to what the starting lineup will be outside of Luol Deng at SF. There's reports that Hinrich will start (of course! he's...tenured?) with Rose or Hughes. I've also read some VDN quotes that suggest that the starting frontcourt would be Gooden and Tyrus, and with Noah out that's certainly the likeliest combination.

(Lets all hope that Hughes isn't starting over Rose (or anybody). Beyond the reason that it's stupid, it'll also make me unnecessarily squeamish about a preseason game and any extrapolations I can take towards the season. Because to be fair, tonight's lineup shouldn't be of any relevance. So I hope the Bulls don't even have me considering it as sort-of possibly maybe perhaps relevant. Why tempt me?)

Crisis averted, KC reports that it's Rose/Hinrich/Deng/Thomas/Gooden

I can think of two obvious candiates for ' who to watch': Rose and Thomas. Maybe VDN will show something on a scheme-level that will be of interest, though I'm not too good at seeing such things anyway. But I really hope that Rose and Thomas put on a show, and the veterans don't look substantially worse or hurt themselves.

For all things Mavs head to MavsMoneyball.

Game starts at 7:30 CST on ComcastSportsNet. Another brand-new element of this season: the debut of new TV play-by-plan man Neil Funk!

This is an open game thread, which means that once the game is over there will be so many comments that it's best to let it burn, die and never be revisited. Lets use this preseason to work on our in-season commenting skills, civility, not-posting-huge-images, etc? alright? go!

Bullets are a blogger's best friend, though maybe actual media back to work is an even better friend...

• KC Johnson had an article on Noah's rocky start to his sophomore season, what with the lack of conditioning and eye poking and all. But the first paragraph was just as scary:

  while Ron Adams walked by Joakim Noah at the Berto Center on Friday morning that the second-year big man only half-jokingly stated a simple goal for this season.

  
  "I just don't want to get in trouble," Noah said.

  Why is Adams still allowed near the team? That's right, 'organizational guy'. Man, if last season didn't deserve the full purge I don't know what will.
  
  But despite some ties to last season, it looks like the VDN experience is taking hold with Noah, who claims that he's spent more time with VDN in a month than he did with his whole time under Skiles.

• Both KC and Mike McGraw have profiles on Drew Gooden, who is in his prime (27) and entering a contract year. While he likely isn't in the long-term plans of the team (again, 27), I think that a huge year can be mutually benefitial for both Gooden and the Bulls. He's not the ideal compliment to Tyrus and Noah, but any combination of the three should be capable (perhaps not against the hugest of opposing centers) which means that Gooden's minutes need not be at the expense of either, as he can play both PF next to Noah and Center next to Tyrus. I'd actually prefer a Gooden/Thomas starting frontcourt to begin the year. Gooden claims that he spent the offseason working on his offensive game (specifically shooting) after spending his years in Cleveland relegated to a 'hustle' player. I'll believe it when I see it, but having a frontcourt player who can actually play pick/pop with Rose is on Paxson's wish list...and I'd rather see Gooden do it than acquiring the Nenad Kristics of the world.
  
  
• Aaron Gray, Mike Ruffin, and Ben Gordon all got their ankles done rolled.
  
  
• Speaking of Ruffin, here's Sham:
  

  the Bulls need an extra centre, particularly a defensive one.....but they don't need Michael Ruffin.
  

• Ridiculous Upside has a profile of all the former D-Leaguers trying to make a camp. They're particularly high on Elton Brown:

  Brown has never looked to be in great shape (though has a great big frame), and I'd assume he's more like 6'7" or 6'8", but he plays and rebounds like a legit 7 footer. He does well getting into position for rebounds and has a decent array of post moves on the offensive end. Brown played for the Nuggets Vegas Summer League team and averaged 13 points and 10 boards a contest. It'd make sense for the Bulls to give the guy his first shot in the NBA, as he brings heart and passion, not to mention a decent low-post game, to a team that lacks these qualities.

• Former almost-coach (and technically former coach as well), Doug Collins:

  "I feel a connection with LeBron," Collins said. "We probably, in our lifetimes, haven't spent an hour together. But for some reason you connect with certain guys, and I just feel like I, through the years, connected with him. I don't want to speak for him, but from my standpoint, I felt a real connection."

  Just in case you needed a reminder that Doug Collins is a weird dude. (via BDL)
  
  
• Finally, it's blogger preview season, and the Atlantic Division is all ready for ya:
  

  Boston Celtics
  Jeff Clark: CelticsBlog.com
  Jim Weeks: Green Bandwagon
  FLCeltsFan: LOY’s Place
  John Karalis: Red’s Army
  Dustin Chapman: Celtics 24/7

  New Jersey Nets
  Dennis Velasco: About Basketball

  New York Knicks
  Joey: Straight Bangin’
  Seth Rosenthal: Posting and Toasting

  Philadelphia 76ers
  Dannie & Pete: Recliner GM
  Jon Burkett: Passion and Pride

  Toronto Raptors
  Franchise: RaptorsHQ.com
  Ryan McNeill: Hoops Addict
  Cuzzy: Cuzoogle

Arch-community-nemesis Blazers Edge:

Once upon a time Chicago was the young team destined for greatness.  They’re not supposed to be so young anymore.  They’re not old by any means but with Deng entering his fifth season and Hinrich his sixth plus Hughes and Gooden in the starting lineup, they should have enough veterans to do the job.  It’s ironic, then, that so many hopes are pinned on a rookie.

Dave's logic, and I agree, is that the Bulls need to increase their high-percentage shot attempts and have someone become a leader, and it's Derrick Rose or bust.

Bonus (sort of) link, Basketbawful moonlighting at Deadspin. Low-post scorer, 'identity', etc.