NBA Preview: Chicago Defenses

Oh, that's where Joakim gets it from.

Almost every elite team in the NBA has been defined by their stars.  The Lakers had Shaq and Kobe.  The Celtics had Larry Bird.  Even the Clippers had Bob McAdoo.  Keeping with that theme, when people thought of the Bulls the last few years, it has been to talk about Derrick Rose.  Admittedly, this makes sense: the guy won an MVP award at age 22, the youngest ever.  He is, by all accounts, a superstar.

However, he also breaks easily, and this year will be the year the Bulls try and prove they can be elite because of their team defense, not because Derrick Rose runs really fast.  Rose shattered his leg in the playoffs last year, and he won't be back for some time this year, leaving the burden of leadership on Luol Deng, and Joakim Noah, and Rip Hamilton, and... well there is no lack of veteran leadership on the Bulls.  In much the same way, there is no lack of defensively sound players, thanks in part to the players and, possibly more so, to Tom Thibodeau's coaching.



With or without Derrick Rose, the Bulls are best defined by Luol Deng, who has become an excellent player that nobody really cares about.  Certainly, he isn't a great scorer by any means (career-low 41% FG last season, 15 PPG), but Deng does just about everything one can ask for.  Once again, Deng led the NBA in minutes per game, and plays as solid of a defense as any player in basketball.  Much like Shane Battier, Deng doesn't block shots or steal the ball much at all (only 1 SPG and .7 BPG), but he gets in every single player's face and is almost never in the wrong position.  In this way, Deng defines what the Bulls are: the least flashy team in the NBA, but a consistent winner thanks to doing everything nobody likes about basketball.

Speaking of things nobody likes: Joakim Noah.  After a down year individually, a theme for Bulls players last year, Noah returns at full strength and ready to average a double-double once again.  Noah is just as sound defensively as Deng and, despite how awful it looks, can extend his range all the way to a 15 foot jumper or so.  Carlos Boozer, who rounds out the front court, can score a bit better than Noah, but has become a shell of his Utah self and still can't defend all that well, which is masked somewhat by the players around him.  At this point, he is just about the equal of Taj Gibson, who will once again be coming off the bench and once again be as solid as a big man can be.

Sadly, Rose's absence means this year may be a bit of a wash.  As such, the Bulls have gone cheap in their backcourt, relying on retread Kirk Hinrich (7 PPG and 3 APG) and Nate Robinson (11 PPG and 5 APG for the Warriors, which is like 7 and 3 for a real team) to hold down the point guard fort.  The shooting guard position remains awkward and forgotten, just like in years past.  Marco Belinelli is this year's inconsequential newcomer, and should be roughly the same as Kyle Korver was for the last few years.  Rip Hamilton returns, and couldn't possibly be as boring as he was last year (hopefully).  Finally, in the terms of shiny new rookie toys, there is Marquis Teague, who everybody thought highly of because he was from Kentucky, then remembered that he isn't really any good.

Losing Rose for so long means that nobody will expect much of anything from the Bulls, and that's just fine.  They aren't going to compete for a championship, but they play defense so well and communicate like nobody's business, so expect them to remain very, very good.  They won't make too many waves, but they'll stay in the top half of the playoff picture all season.