The Bulls' Second Quarter: Farewell, old friend

Perhaps it was fitting that the first half to this season concluded in Cleveland, the new home (well, at least for this year) for Luol Deng. For the most part, the trade was only surprising in that the Bulls front office actually pulled the trigger on a deal. Too many times in recent years, it has seemed as though this organization clings to its own overvaluation of its own talent. All too often, the belief in players like Deng or Kirk Hinrich or name any other draft pick has led to many fans insisting that the team should not part with said young players because their ceilings will be just as high as a Kobe or a LeBron. 

We know that Luol Deng's ceiling is not anywhere near that high, but his current floor remains pretty darn high as is. In Luol, Chicago fans were privileged to have a nightly solid effort from a team player who understood his role, played solid defense, and always kept his nose clean. In fact, Deng's numerous humanitarian efforts while a member of the Bulls cannot be understated. 

I consider myself to be among many who were surprised to learn that Deng left Chicago as the fourth-leading scorer in Bulls history. Still, after being a steady contributor for nearly a decade in the Windy City, there was no denying that it was in the organization's best interest to obtain some sort of compensation while available before Luol became a free agent and earned a paycheck that Chicago could not afford to sign. We are now only halfway through a completely lost and unwatchable season, but the many draft picks that the Bulls got in exchange for Deng could give fans reason to be a little more optimistic. We have no idea what level of player former league MVP Derrick Rose is going to be when he returns to the floor, but the ability to sign new, young talent at more reasonable rates while Tom Thibodeau is still in charge (however long that lasts ... ) could help the Bulls contend again. One day.

Indiana being on top of this division is no surprise, but the rest of this division is a mess. While not completely surprising that the Eastern Conference is something of a disaster, I had higher hopes for all five of these teams this season. And so far, I'm not seeing any team other than the Pacers giving much reason to tune in to any of their games.

While we're still at the point in the year in which football's postseason is the only sport that really commands "must see TV" status, I simply doubt that the Bulls or any NBA game in general is going to garner much interest from me this year until, oh, late May. Maybe even early June.

Sadly, the East remains a story of just waiting to see whether it will be Indy or Miami getting to the Finals. Sure, the West could very well be a spirited four rounds of basketball in all series, but even then I'm not so sure how out of my way I'm going to go to find first or second round playoff games now that we're without cable. As I said, this is a lost season for the Bulls, and what I'm fearful of now is that they'll continue to overachieve, make the playoffs and once again advance to the second round only to be quickly dispatched in five games at the hands of ... Miami or Indiana, of course. Perhaps there will be more juicy rumors about possible trades or free agent signings for Chicago this off-season by the time the next quarterly update rolls around, but mostly I'm expecting the Bulls to continue to be a painful watching or listening experience, and I have very little hope that I'm going to find anything to get excited about for the remainder of this 2013-14 season other than waiting for it to be over.