The Bulls' First Quarter: Reason(s) to believe?

When we last left the Chicago Bulls, I was actually feeling sorry for Vinny Del Negro and there was still hope of landing LeBron James. And while the Bulls didn't make the biggest splash in the free-agent pool this off-season, they did improve exponentially just with the man they nabbed to coach their team while adding a few more pieces to surround their star player with. Thus, there's been admittedly just as much buzz for the basketball team that hasn't made it out of the first round of the playoffs the past two seasons as there is for the United Center's other resident—a hockey team that just won the biggest prize in their sport last year.

After having endured a few years in which so many of us felt we were only a player or two (and a coach) away from contending in the East again, does it look like the Bulls have made that stride forward to being contenders again? I think it's still too early to make any grand sort of prognostications about deep playoff runs, what with Chicago still being the No. 4 seed in the conference and looking up at two relative conference stalwarts and the oh-so-slightly-hyped group from South Beach. But overall, it's not as though there aren't some encouraging signs here. 

RECORD FOR THE QUARTER: 13-8 (13-8 OVERALL) — Well, this is a pretty weak division and it would be hard for the Bulls not to walk away with this one. Both Indiana and Cleveland have been better than expected—and I mean that in more of a "not as awful" way than anything too complementary. Still, this was the quarter of the season with the oh-so-dreaded "circus trip," and the Bulls are over .500, so what really could I complain about?

BEST WIN: November 24 (Bulls 123, Suns 115 [2 OT]) — With the Bulls having split the first four games of the aforementioned "circus trip," they found themselves in a real deep, real early hole as Phoenix led by 19 after one quarter and was up by 23 midway into the second with Taj Gibson on the bench nursing an ankle injury. Oh yeah, and did I mention that this was the second part of a back-to-back one night after playing the defending champs—where both Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah played roughly 40 minutes each? So all the excuses were in place to explain how this one could end up so lopsided, and then a funny thing happened: the Bulls didn't give up and battled back to force an overtime period, finally taking a lead in the first extra session before emerging victorious after double-overtime. Credit for the win could be passed around to multiple Bulls players—including Rose leading the team with 35 points, Noah's strong defensive efforts, Kyle Korver's shooting adding a season high 24 points off the bench—but really, this game was a testament to the improvement the Bulls made at head coach. Steve Nash had carved Chicago open with pick and roll before Tom Thibodeau made the necessary adjustments at halftime with Rose and Noah switching spots and causing the same Hakim Warrick that had 23 points in the first half to finish the game that had two extra periods with just those 23 points.

WORST LOSS: December 1 (Magic 107, Bulls 78) — In the first game back from the first winning "circus trip" since the Jordan era with the long-awaited debut of Carlos Boozer, the Bulls got outplayed from start to ugly finish in a decidedly one-sided affair that was a stinging reminder that there's still quite a bit of work to be done before the team can be thought of as being serious contenders in the Eastern Conference. Name any aspect of the game, and Chicago was pretty much outplayed in it. The most glaring had to be rebounds, where the Bulls pulled down a franchise-low 21 total for the game—Joakim Noah having absolutely none on his own bobblehead night. Boozer appeared more in name only, finishing with five points and a pair of rebounds. The Magic beat up the Bulls 27-10 in second chance points as Orlando got 24 points from Jameer Nelson and 22 more from Vince Carter while Dwight Howard pulled down a dozen of his team's 44 rebounds. Sure, maybe you could blame the off-night on adjusting to finally having Boozer in the lineup, but there was some undeniably high expectations for this one before the game tipped off and the night ended up feeling like a forceful kick to the sack.

MVP: Derrick Rose — Well duh. And it's likely he'll continue to occupy this MVP spot as the season goes on, of course. Hell, they were even chanting "MVP" as the Bulls beat the Lakers to close out this quarter of the season with an 88-84 victory over the defending champs. And in that contest, it was Rose's 15 footer that sank Hell-A. A couple nights earlier in Cleveland, he had a three-point play  with 20 seconds left and the Bulls trailing by a point, making it seven of the team's nine points after Chicago trailed by four. And a few nights before that, it was Rose's three that forced overtime in a victory over the Rockets. On and on and on we could go about the seemingly numerous occasions in which Derrick Rose has pretty much single-handedly saved this Bulls team so far this season, but at this point in his third year of playing professionally, Rose has already become the second-best player ever to wear the Chicago uniform. He leads the team in both scoring and assists, and has even lived up to the pre-season talk about having improved his three-point shot. So while there was initially a little bit of concern when Rose asked during the team's media day, "Why can't I be the MVP of the league?" I think the only response I have if he keeps playing at this rate would be, "Why not?"

LVP: Keith Bogans — This would seem like a no-brainer, but the ongoing question many fans—and even reporters—have right now is why Bogans continues to be in the starting lineup. Thus far, he's started every single game this season for the Bulls, even though both Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver have averaged more minutes. Many others have also said that the ideal solution to filling the shooting guard void would be to create some sort of hybrid that utilizes Brewer's defense and Korver's offense, it still seems that either one of those two—whatever their weaknesses might be—would help the Bulls start stronger than they've been apt to with Bogans beginning the game on the floor. As it is, Bogans might certainly give some effort, but he doesn't allow the Bulls to get in transition and play pressure defense. The only sensible argument I can accept for as to why Thibs continues to start Bogans would be the energy lift that Brewer seems to deliver coming off the bench, but this question has already been asked multiple times and Thibodeau's probably going to have to keep answering it as long as Bogans keeps starting games. And if the Bulls have a stretch where they aren't able to overcome those slow starts with Bogans on the floor for the tip, it's only going to be a matter of time before he's relegated to coming off the bench—which is what he was brought in for in the first place anyway.

THREE THINGS I'VE LIKED SO FAR:

1. WE'VE GOT A REAL HEAD COACH NOW!!! — No offense, Vinny (don't forget ... he's got a new job now!), but my oh my, what a refreshing change to see this Bulls squad under the direction of Tom Thibodeau. It goes beyond seeing how this team is capable of adjusting and running back-up plans when opponents counter certain sets and plays as originally drawn up, as Thibs has also made other key decisions this team wasn't used to having made in recent years. For instance, when the Knicks were shooting the lights out at the United Center, many fans criticized Thibodeau for not playing Rose and Noah more as the Bulls seemed to be getting back into the game. But it was the right thing to do since the team was going into Boston the following night and were going to need their stars to be as fresh as possible.
2. GETTING RID OF THAT STUPID "CIRCUS" MONKEY — It's been a tired recurring theme these past oh-so-many seasons of sending the Bulls out west to watch them go on an extended sub-.500 trip away from home, but the team finally, finally FINALLY came home with a winning record on such a trip for the first time since—GASP—1997.
3. WHERE THE WEST WAS WON — Perhaps it's a scheduling thing, but the Bulls had 10 wins over Western Conference opponents when no other team in the East had more than six.

THINGS I HAVEN'T:

1. LOSSES TO THE HEAVYWEIGHTS — The wins over the Mavericks and the Lakers were nice, but the Bulls won't play either of those teams in the playoffs if they can't get out of the East. And thus far, the Bulls came out on the losing end of both games they've had in Boston and we already talked about what happened when Orlando came to town.
2. THE ADJUSTMENT PERIOD — It took a while before we got to see Carlos Boozer and now we've got to adjust to making the best possible use of him. Sure, it probably won't be a problem in the long run, but the first two games in which he appeared caused some concern.
3. DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE — Even Joakim Noah agrees with this. As the season wears on, I'm sure the Bulls could become a sexy underdog pick for others in the national media, but there's still a little ways to go before I can believe playoff life goes beyond the second round.

25 WORDS OR LESS:

As the class of the Central, it appears a Top Four finish in the East is a realistic expectation.