The Bulls' Third Quarter: Continuing to Win in Lost Season

As has been the case pretty much all year long, the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers remain far and away the only two elite teams in the Eastern Conference. And while the Bulls were essentially written off as soon as Derrick Rose went down only a few games in to the season, and while shipping Luol Deng off to Cleveland at about the midway point seemed to further cement the reality that this wasn't going to be Chicago's year, the Bulls just continue to grind away and keep winning games. If the playoffs were to start today, the Bulls would have home court advantage in the first round. But again, this is all simply delaying the inevitable. Do you want to be eliminated by Miami or Indiana?

For as much of a lost cause as this year is for Chicago, the team still has maintained a lot more interest among fans than I would have suspected. A big part of it has to do with the remarkable play of Joakim Noah, who became the first center to record three triple-doubles involving assists (as opposed to the blocks that are typically the third double digit for big men) in a single season since David Robinson in 1993-94. He was also the first center to record 14 assists since 1986.

As eye-popping as those statistical notes are, a lot of the talk naturally drifts to what the team will be able to do in the off-season. And the biggest headlines Noah has made in recent weeks has had to do with him reportedly urging Carmelo Anthony during All-Star Weekend to come to Chicago next year. This, as always, is a very entertaining concept to imagine, but probably has no realistic chance of actually happening. That won't stop many of the die-hards who still believe the crack in the championship window can be yanked wide open with one move.




Ken Berger did a pretty good job of breaking down the financial reasons why a Carmelo-to-Chicago move isn't going to happen. However, the good news for Bulls fans is that Berger does mention the possibility of Chicago finally bringing over 2011 pick Nikola Mirotić, the Spanish big man who could have a pretty high ceiling. So it's not as though all is lost. And as the Bulls continue to win games this year with an increasingly depleted roster, the success is a testament to Tom Thibodeau's ability to get great things from whatever team he has to work with. The future is not entirely doom and gloom.

Well, the big picture stuff at least. We can hold out hope that maybe Chicago can compete again next year or the year after that, what with an improved roster while the age of Heat players like Dwayne Wade and Ray Allen catches up with them. For this year though? It's all about Miami and Indiana in the East. Maybe the Clippers, the Thunder, or the Spurs can give either of those teams a go of things in the Finals, but the Bulls will most assuredly be on the outside looking in when June 2014 rolls around.