The Bulls' First Quarter: Complaints? What complaints?

Keeping in mind that this is a shortened 66-game season, the fact that the Bulls have more wins in less games played than the team that ended up with the best record in the league last season did at this "point" last last year should be encouraging. But then again, ever since the thrilling victory over the Lakers to open the season, Chicago's schedule has been rather favorable in these first 17 games. The Bulls beat both the Celtics and the Magic, and split a pair with Atlanta, but no World Champs (Dallas comes to town once in the third-to-last game of the season), no Thunder (only one meeting this year .. in April) and no Heat (four meetings this year, with first one coming next Sunday and two in April) yet.

Make no mistake, the Bulls were picked by nearly everybody to return to the Eastern Conference Finals this season, but only a handful had them getting anywhere beyond that. And after the astounding effect Tom Thibodeau had in his first year last season, the expectations are a bit higher. The fan in me simply is just not going to be able to truly imagine a return to the Finals until the Heat are eliminated. Last year, after taking all three meetings in the regular season and holding home-court advantage, Chicago was ousted in just five games. So far, both clubs look good again right now, but even assuming the Bulls were able to take all four meetings this year, what more should I really make of it? "Yeah, and ..."

This post also comes at a time when Derrick Rose is nursing a toe injury that he already said he might have tried to come back from too soon. While turf toe proved to be a lingering, but not all that hampering issue last year, you wonder how much of an issue the star's toe could play this season. Is Rip Hamilton going to be able to step up against some stiffer competition in Derrick's absence?

There is still a ways to go this year, but winning 14 of the first 17 gives you more reason to believe that the team can do better than what was expected rather than worse.

Over the course of the next 16 games, in addition to the first game in Miami, the Bulls will also get the annoying yet playoff probable Pacers before that, a rather disappointing Celtics squad twice in February, and a visit to the Garden to play the Knicks right after going into a very surprising Philadelphia. Hey, at least there's no "circus trip" this year because of the shortened season.

As soft as this schedule appears, there's always the matter of injuries. Still, for what the Bulls are right now, it appears that Tom Thibodeau could be the perfect type of coach to have in charge to take advantage of this 66-game season. While others (like Boston, particularly) are struggling to get into a rhythm, Thibs has his team focused most every single game and there doesn't seem to be much reason not to believe they're only going to improve. I originally feared I'd be taking this time to express more disappointment about Joakim Noah, but I'll digress. For now, 14-3 doesn't come with too many complaints.

NOTE: PHOTO IN QUARTERLY GRAPHIC TAKEN FROM THIS CHICAGO TRIBUNE GALLERY