This is the fifth and final part of The Pit’s five-part look at the NBA Central Division.
Derrick Rose will return to a revamped Chicago Bulls team this year. Photo/Wikimedia
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Central Division had more movement than any other division in the NBA over the summer of 2014.
The Cleveland Cavaliers may make claim to be the biggest winners, but the Chicago Bulls didn’t stand around and watch, as they made some major moves as well.
The Bulls made a huge push to acquire the services of Carmelo Anthony. Although they came up short, a consolation prize of a returning Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol should allow the Bulls to build on their 48 win total of last season.
In a busy offseason, the Bulls acquired 6 new players while parting ways with 7. We take a deeper look at their accomplishments this offseason in the final part of a 5 part look at the Central division:
Management: Tom Thibodeau enters his 5th season as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls and longest tenured coach in the central division. Entering the offseason, many reports suggested that the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks requested permission to speak to Thibodeau about their head coaching vacancies. While no word came about as to the validity of those reports, Thibodeau enters the season with no movement to his staff or upper management.
Players retained: G/F Jimmy Butler, F Mike Dunleavy, F Taj Gibson, C Joakim Noah, G/F Tony Snell, G Derrick Rose, G Kirk Hinrich
Departures: Although Luol Deng can’t officially be considered a departure since he was traded away from the Bulls at midseason, this will mark the first time since 2004 that Deng will not start the season as a member of the Chicago Bulls. Deng spent his first 9 plus seasons with the Bulls, starting 631 of his first 677 contests. He departs as the only player in Bulls history to win the NBA Sportsmanship Award.
Late last season the Bulls signed Lou Amundson, Ronnie Brewer, and Mike James to non-guaranteed two year contracts as salary space fillers in the event of a sign and trade for Carmelo Anthony. Subsequently, the Bulls released all three players when ‘Melo decided to re-sign with the Knicks. The Bulls also signed injured big man Greg Smith in April after he was waived by the Houston Rockets.
Smith was expected to remain with the Bulls for the foreseeable future as the 3rd string center, but after acquiring three big men this summer, the Bulls traded him to the Dallas Mavericks. In a draft day trade with the Denver Nuggets, the Bulls acquired Anthony Randolph as salary filler. He was traded the next day to the Orlando Magic for the rights to Serbian professional Milovan Raković who will probably never make the trek to the NBA. Anthony was soon waived by the Magic and has since signed with Lokomotiv Kuban of Russia.
DJ Augustin was waived by the Toronto Raptors on Dec. 9, 2013. He immediately signed with the Bulls and had his best stretch as a professional, thus resurrecting what had become a journeyman career.
As a member of the Bulls, DJ surpassed his career averages in points (14.9), steals (0.9), assists (5.0), rebounds (2.1), Free throw percentage (.882), two point field goal percentage (.426), three point field goal percentage (.411), over-all field goal percentage (.419), and minutes per game (30.4).DJ and the Bulls had mutual interest in continuing their working relationship, but after multiple Bulls transactions, there was simply not enough money to secure his services for the upcoming season.
DJ was able to secure a two year contract with the Detroit Pistons as their primary backup guard and scorer off the bench. After missing out on the Lebron James sweepstakes in 2010, the Bulls signed Carlos Boozer as a consolation. Never known as a defensive player, Boozer made some contributions as the scoring big man he was known to be in his first season as a Bull scoring 14.3 points per game while grabbing 9.6 boards per contest.
Boozer had a down second season, scoring 12.7 PPG while only suiting up 66 times. After the season, rumors began to run rampant that Boozer would soon be amnestied.
Although the Bulls brass vehemently denied those rumors for more than two years, Boozer was waived via the amnesty clause this summer with one year and $13.55 million remaining on his contract. Boozer became a bench player in the fourth quarter over his final two seasons, prompting the move which cleared more than $16 million dollars of cap space and dropped the Bulls below the Luxury tax threshold allowing them to pursue other free agents.
The Lakers claimed Boozer off waivers, even though published reports stated that they were not interested in trading for him. Native Chicagoan Nazr Mohammed more than likely won’t return after the Bulls acquired multiple younger players who can easily fill his role. Mohammed spent the last two seasons as the second big man off the bench in the Bulls rotation.
Reportedly, the Miami Heat had him in for a workout, and even at the advanced age of 37, he could still provide valuable help in a league that has very few dominating post players.
Acquisitions: The Bulls went into the summer with a goal of landing free agent Carmelo Anthony to improve on their 93.7 point per game average which placed them dead last in the league in scoring. Kevin Love was also on their radar as a trade candidate after he informed the Timberwolves that he wasn’t interested in returning after this season. The Bulls fell short of both goals and saw an influx of talent enter their division. They didn’t come away empty handed and stand to be one of the most improved teams in the entire league. Here’s a look at the players the Bulls were able to acquire this summer:
- Nikola Mirotic-The Bulls were finally able to convince 2013 Spanish League MVP and reigning 2014 Spanish Cup MVP Nikola Mirotic to bring his talents to the NBA. Mirotic leaves Real Madrid as the perennial best player outside of the NBA and joins the Bulls as a six year pro at age 23. The Bulls acquired the rights to Mirotic in a draft day trade from the Houston Rockets in 2011. Since then, they have seen Mirotic rise from the under 20 league MVP to being a two time All ACB team selection as well as become a five time Champion. With more professional and International experience than any other incoming rookie, with any substantial playing time, Mirotic has a chance to win the rookie of the year.
- Cameron Bairstow-After playing 4 years at New Mexico State and two years internationally for Australia, Cameron Bairstow joins former Lobo teammate Tony Snell and the Bulls as a low risk high ceiling second round draft pick. Selected 49th over-all in this year’s draft, Bairstow has already signed a partially guaranteed three year deal to compete for playing time. Bairstow could very well be the heir apparent to the minutes most recently occupied by Nazr Mohammed. Bairstow comes to the Bulls as the reigning MWC Tournament MVP as well as a First team MWC selection.
- Aaron Brooks- After nine seasons in the NBA and one in China, Aaron Brooks signed with the Bulls to replace DJ Augustin as the veteran backup point guard. He will also serve as an insurance policy for oft injured Kirk Hinrich and a returning Derrick Rose. Brooks is coming off a career best .409 from three point range as a member of the Rockets. That alone should allow him to push for playing time on a team that ranked 30th in scoring.
- Doug McDermott-In Doug McDermott, the Bulls may have pulled off the steal of the 2014 draft. The Bulls sent their two first round draft picks (nos. 16 & 19) along with a future second round pick to acquire the reigning Consensus National Player of the Year. McDermott spent four years at Creighton University breaking college records and racking up NCAA awards. He enters his rookie season as the 5th highest scoring player in NCAA history ahead of Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor, Larry Bird, and Oscar Robertson. There is simply not enough space available here to list his various awards and honors, but it is worth noting that he led the NCAA in scoring at 26.7 PPG in his senior year and is one of only three players in NCAA men’s basketball history to have 3,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
- Derrick Rose– After missing 197 of the Bulls last 246 regular season games, Derrick Rose makes his long awaited return. Rose can’t officially be considered a 2014 acquisition, but no other team brings back a former MVP (2011), 3 time all-star(2010,2011,2012), Rookie of the year(2009), and two time FIBA Gold Medalist after missing all but 10 games of the last two seasons. Playing for the US national team this summer allowed Rose to get an early start to his conditioning as he looks to lead the Bulls to the top of the eastern conference and a trip to the finals.
- E’Twaun Moore– Former Magic combo guard and East Chicago, Indiana native E’Twaun Moore joins the Bulls on a two year partially guaranteed deal to provide depth at the guard position.
- Pau Gasol-After 14 NBA seasons, three finals appearances, two NBA championships, four all-star appearances, and two Olympic silver medals, the 2002 rookie of the year joins the Chicago Bulls. In Pau Gasol, the Bulls might have acquired the best value available on the open market in 2014. Gasol signed a very cap friendly contract of $22 million over three years, after ranking 7th in salary last season making $19,285,850 ahead of even Lebron James in terms of yearly salary. With Gasol, Thibodeau gets a very willing defender who blocked 92 shots last season as opposed to Boozer, who blocked only 22 in 16 more games. Gasol comes off a season in which he averaged 17.4 ppg, 9.7 rebounds and a very unselfish 3.4 assists per contest which ranked him 3rd only behind his brother Marc Gasol (3.6) and new teammate Joaquim Noah (5.4) in assists from the center position.
Outlook: The key to the season will be the health of Rose, who has a .757 winning percentage in games played under coach Thibodeau. Although over the last two seasons without Rose, the Bulls managed to win a very respectable 56.7% of their contests.
The passing prowess of Gasol and Noah from unconventional passing positions allows the Bulls to free up Rose for more scoring opportunities while reducing his facilitating responsibilities. The additions of McDermott and Mirotic to go along with 6th man Taj Gibson provides Thibodeau with the most depth and talent in the big man rotation than he’s ever had as coach of the Bulls.
If McDermott is inserted into the starting lineup, the second unit of Dunleavy, Snell, Mirotic, Hinrich, and Gibson (without even mentioning Brooks) provide the Bulls with the most depth of any team in the entire NBA. Overall, the Bulls can only improve on their 48 game win total of last season with their newly acquired offensive weapons added to their no.1 ranked defense.
Early Prediction: Look for the Bulls to have the best record in the NBA and face off against the Cavaliers in the conference finals. The last time Rose was able to compete in the FIBA tournament, he won the MVP and the Bulls went to the eastern conference finals.
This time around, Rose returns to play with a much improved Noah, who was 4th in MVP voting last season. If Rose stays healthy and has another MVP type of season, look for the Bulls to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy in June.
