The New East... and the Chicago Bulls

In the last blog I mentioned how excited I am for the NBA playoffs this year, so I can’t resist diving in real quick.  And who would have thunk it??  It looks like the East’s top four might be as good as the West’s this year… or maybe better!  If you had uttered that phrase anywhere near knowledgeable hoops junkies during the last twelve years, you would have been laughed right out of the gym (or sauna?), and rightfully so.  The “aughts” were an absolutely terrible decade for the NBA’s Leastern Conference.  While the monsters of the West battled among themselves (often times having five or six of the leagues top six teams) the East, on the other hand, started promoting sub .500 teams into the playoffs.  In 2004 the Knicks got in to the playoffs and they were ten games under .500!  Conversely, it became commonplace for Western Conference clubs to be left out of the playoffs with winning records.  Multiple teams in multiple years this happened.  It was absurd and unfair.  The West was just that much better.  

So as a result, very strong teams like Dallas, Phoenix, Sacramento, and even Portland (in the early part of the decade) who would have dominated had they played in the East, are mostly forgotten historically, while the New Jersey Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, and Detroit Pistons and their players get bogus credit for all the Eastern Conference Championship Banners they won.  When for the most part, it was kinda like playing in the NIT tournament.  Seriously, who grieves for Chris Webber?  Steve Nash?  Bonzi Wells??? 

Today the West continues to have the better conference.  As of now three teams have winning records that will be left out of the playoffs, while in the East the eighth (and possibly seventh) playoff seeds will finish below the .500 mark.  While that is still despicable and embarrassing, and the top three teams in the league still reside in the West (including the current NBA Champs,) for the first time in years the East actually might make things interesting. 

  

The Boston Celtics have been the cream of the East for the past four years, and the Orlando Magic have risen to a legitimate contending level as well.  LeBron and Wade joining forces in Miami this year has solidly put them in the top four, but the best team in the East, right now, has to be the Chicago Bulls.

At the top of their roster the Bulls are laden with good and more importantly, complimentary basketball players.  Take note Miami.  Somebody, and I can’t remember who, made a great point the other day.  They said something like this, “If somebody told me I could have both LeBron and Dwayne Wade on my team, of course I would do it.”  BUT, fitting those similar pieces together within a real basketball situation (not just fantasy numbers) has been something of a nightmare for the Heat and Coach Spolstra.  There is only one ball to go around.  Yes, they still have a good record at 45-21 (winning against lesser talent) and they will certainly be a high playoff seed in the East, but there is still an enormous question mark that hovers over their late game-half court offense when the score is close… and who takes the shot?  So far in that situation they have been impossibly terrible.  This is not the case in Chicago.

When the Bulls took Derrick Rose with the first overall pick in the 2008 draft, I thought they should have taken Michael Beasley instead (because they really needed a low-post scorer.)  But boy was I wrong.  John Paxson and the Bulls brass obviously met with both players before making their choice, and after talking to Rose, they KNEW that he was the guy for them.  Why?  Because of his character.  Everybody in the draft’s top ten has great talent, but Rose was so much more than that.  He was smart, he was hungry, and he was a leader.  He was exactly what they needed.  Rose is the perfect example of this new trend of dominating point guards in the league.  Somehow, at a very young age, these guys just get it.  They care about winning more than making commercials or starting record labels.  They care about creating a legacy.  And Rose has been invaluable.   

With Rose running the show and Luol Deng playing brilliantly off the ball, the Bulls are just now getting solid contributions from their two big men, Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah, who missed dozens of games with injuries.  Only recently at full strength, the team is just now coming into it’s own, which is scary for the rest of the league.  Right before the season started there were rumors that the Nuggets were willing to trade their superstar Carmelo Anthony for Noah, virtually straight up, but John Paxson adamantly refused to include him in any deal.  I was shocked by this.  I thought he made a huge mistake by not seizing the opportunity to add a perimeter player of Melo’s ability, because their biggest weakness now was their outside shooting.  Although I knew how valuable Noah’s defensive intensity was (and of course I LOVE the guy… he lead my Gators to two NCAA Championships for crying out loud!!) I really thought Pax missed the boat on that one too, questioning his foresight.  And guess what?  I was wrong again!

The Bulls new head coach Tom Thibodeau, the defensive mastermind behind the Celtics last few years of championship contention as Doc Rivers’ top assistant, had a plan for Noah.  He was the second most important piece to their puzzle and was to be the anchor of the Bulls Defense, and that plan has pretty much worked to perfection.  Add in Taj Gibson and Kyle Korver off of the bench and the picture becomes clear.  The Bulls are, pretty much, a good Two-Guard away from winning the next five or six championships.  (Hmmmm isn’t that the position Michael Jordan revolutionized a few years back?  How interesting!  You think he thinks everyday about maaaaaybe coming back?  Yea, me too.) 

The bottom line is the Bulls play the right way.  They play amazing team defense and Derrick Rose’s ability to either score or find the open guy on offense is nothing short of a miracle.  There is no question mark in Chicago as to who is going to have the ball in his hands, and as long as Rose is healthy I really think the Bulls are the favorites in the East.  And he’s still getting Better!  But, even if the Celtics, Magic, Heat, Hawks, or (gulp) Knicks are somehow able to knock these guys out of the playoffs this year, the Bull’s future is downright scary.  Next year they will be in a position to add the aforementioned A or B list Shooting Guard to the squad (Jason Richardson anyone?) because Chicagoans know, Keith Bogans and Ronnie Brewer are more like K and L list, respectively.

So, assuming that happens what have you got?  A new Chicago Bulls Dynasty?  Another statue infront of the United Center?  Be afraid Eastern Conference.  Be veeeeeery afraaaaaaid!

This past summer, a pal of mine, and honorary Underdog, Kyle Fabel said that LeBron, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh had ruined the NBA when they decided to join up in Miami.  That creating a “super-team” was going to destroy the competitive balance in the league.  Well, I’ve already admitted twice in this blog when I was wrong, and Kyle was wrong in this case.  It’s not about the individual players.  It’s about how they fit together as a team.  How they can co-exist.  It’s about basketball… and the better team always wins. 

Derrick Rose knows that, Joakim Noah knows that, Tom Thibodeau knows that.  And now, so does Kyle.  And that lucky jerk is a Bulls Fan!!! 

You think he’s looking forward to the Playoffs!

Yea, me too.

And so are we. 

Thanks for reading,

Underdogs OUT!!!