Luka’s Corner

The Bulls are one of the NBA teams that have unlimited potential, with a core of young players that showed great promise last season. Surprisingly, their three go-to-guys all went to an elite NCAA school, with Kirk Hinrich from Kansas, Ben Gordon from UConn, and Luol Deng from Duke. That is what makes them one of the rare teams with tremendous college experience.

On draft night, they added another college star with winning experience-Joakim Noah from Florida. He brings even more experience from college to the Bulls, since Florida has been the best in the NCAA these past two seasons. Noah is an explosive player, with the ability to run the open floor and finish on the other end. He is mostly known for bringing energy into a game with a strong dunk or highlight block. Perhaps one of Noah’s unique skills is on the defensive end. He is an excellent shot-blocker and one-on-one defender, which is one of the reasons why Florida won two championships when he played. I do not think that he will recieve significant playing time this coming season, but look for him to potentially become a solid role player in the league who does all the dirty things on the floor. I project his stats to be around 4.8 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 0.8 APG, with 0.5 BPG and 0.2 SPG. These stats are not that impressive, but it is because of the reduced playing time he will recieve in the Windy City, sitting behind Ben Wallace, P.J. Brown, Tyrus Thomas, and Joe Smith. However, in years to come, I think that Noah and Thomas (if they stay in Chicago) will form a scary frontcourt, since they are both freak athletes and excel on the defensive end of the floor. The other player that the Bulls added is Joe Smith, a veteran forward who arrived from Philadelphia that brings even more experience to the Bull frontcourt. If there is a weakness to the Bull roster, it is that there is no down-low scoring threat. The Bulls are, however, attempting to make improvements by adding veteran forwards and centers. They are hoping that these players will help develop their younger counterparts, such as Noah and Thomas, into greater scorers.

The core for Chicago is centered around Hinrich, Gordon, and Deng, as well as their defensive stopper Ben Wallace. These three are their only consistent scorers (along with the often-injured Andres Nocioni), so Chicago is going in the direction where they are trying to develop these three into a potential elite trio (like Duncan-Parker-Ginobili or Stoudemire-Marion-Nash). Although Hinrich never really played at his potential in the 07 campaign, Gordon and Deng proved that they can carry the scoring load for the Bulls during the season as well as in the Playoffs. Throughout the Playoffs, Gordon put up 20.4 PPG, 3.8 RPG, and 3.8 APG and Deng put up 22.2 PPG and 8.7 RPG, and 2.4 APG. I porject that Gordon’s stats in the 08 campaign will stay around 21.8 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 4.2 APG. He will remain the Bulls’ one pure scorer and go-to-guy in clutch situations, so the stats will be around the same as last year. In my opinion, Deng will have stats around 18.4 PPG, 8.2 RPG, and 1.4 APG. He is the most versatile player on the Chicago roster and, like Gordon, his stats will stay around what he did in 07, with a few more rebounds and a few less points. Form Hinrich, on the other hand, I expect a slight drop in stats, since he did not have the best year last season and Gordon and Deng are on the top of their games and only improving. He should expect less touches and, therefore, less impressive stats. I expect 15.2 PPG, 3.3 RPG, and 5.6 APG. All in all, if this Chicago trio keeps on improving and developing, don’t be surprised that if you see the Windy City contending for a title.

Predicted lineup:

C-Ben Wallace, PF-P.J. Brown, SF-Luol Deng, SG-Ben Gordon, PG-Kirk Hinrich

6th man-Andres Nocioni, 7th man-Joe Smith, 8th man-Chris Duhon

Predicted stat leaders:

Points-Ben Gordon (21.8 PPG)

Rebounds-Ben Wallace (9.8 RPG)

Assists-Kirk Hinrich (5.6 APG)

Blocks-Ben Wallace (1.9 BPG)

Steals-Ben Wallace (1.4 SPG)

Final Prediction: Chicago will visit the postseason with a 50-32 record.