The 2010/11 Chicago Bulls will be led by former Spurs and Celtics Assistant Tom Thibodeau, spreading the Spurs style of management to the East Coast. It is no coincidence then that the team picked up former Spurs Keith Bogans and Kurt Thomas. The team made big moves over the off season signing former Utah Jazz standout Carlos Boozer to an $80 million/5 year contract. The team also picked up Turkish All star Omer Asik, guard Ronnie Brewer and guard Kyle Korver.
Look for the Bulls to compete in a very tough Eastern Conference and expect them to compete for the Eastern Conference Central title.
The 2009-10 Chicago Bulls will celebrate their 44th anniversary of the franchise this season. The team is led by Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng, and is coached by 2nd year embattled coach Vinny Del Negro. In the offseason, the Bulls drafted Wake Forrest small forward James Johnson and USC power forward Taj Gibson. They also acquired Janero Pargo and resigned guard Lindsey Hunter. As of this writing the Bulls are sitting in 2nd place in the Central Division and seeded 8th in the Eastern Conference.
In early December, Coach Del Negro was rumored to be on the chopping block with coaches chomping at the bit to replace him. But as of this writing, Del Negro is still running the show. His team is currently sitting in second place in the Central Division and 13 games behind the Division Leading Cleveland Cavaliers. They are currently the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Chicago Bulls are one of the most storied franchises in the History of the National Basketball Association. Most of that is due to a one man dynamo by the name of Michael Jordan. While it’s true that the only other championship of any kind won by the Bulls was a Division Title in 1975, the tag of a storied franchise sticks none the less.
The Bulls came into existence in the 1966 expansion and qualified for the playoffs in their first season. In the next decade, the team would hang its hat on defense and built tough teams around forward Jerry Sloan, himself a tough defender. The team of Sloan, Bob Love, Chet Walker, Norm Van Lier, Cliff Ray and Tom Boerwinkle won their division in 1975 but could not get past the conference finals. By the end of the decade, the team was a consistent cellar dweller and in 1979 won the rights to a coin flip for the 1st round draft pick. They would lose that flip and the Los Angeles Lakers won the right to the #1 draft, which they used to select Ervin “Magic” Johnson. With the #2 pick, the Bulls selected David Greenwood.
The next significant event to happen to the franchise came in the summer of 1984 when they earned the rights to the 3rd overall pick in the NBA Draft after the Houston Rockets (who chose Hakeem Olajuwon) and the Portland Trailblazers (who selected Sam Bowie). The Bulls used their pick to select UNC guard Michael Jordan who would pay immediate dividends for the franchise, winning the NBA Rookie of the Year award while leading his team back into the playoffs.
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is widely considered one of the best players to ever step foot on the hardwood. For new Owner Jerry Reinsdorf and GM Jerry Krause, it was the new beginning of a legend, a dynasty and a franchise. Though the team didn’t go very far in their initial playoffs, the franchise was determined to surround Jordan with talent. In the offseason, they acquired pg John Paxson in a draft day trade. The Bulls would get a scare in the 1985/86 season when Jordan suffered a broken foot. He would return to finish 2nd on the team in scoring and lead the team to an 8th seed for the playoffs. They would meet Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics who would sweep the Bulls in four games. In game two of that series, Jordan would score a playoff single game record of 63 points. His nemesis Larry Bird called him “God disguised as Michael Jordan.”
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