Start The DAMN Season Already

So I have been waiting for some sort of actual "playing of basketball" to happen, and it is finally almost here. Training camp started on October 1st. The roster was completed with the signing of Andre Barret, Joseph Blair, Justin Cage, Thomas Gardner, and Jared Homan. Obviously not all of these players will make the final roster. Of these five players, Andre Barrett was the only player to have previously played with the Bulls. With the addition of these five players, the roster is now set at 19...for now.

The first preseason game will FINALLY take place on October 9th, which is less than a week away, against the Milwaukee Bucks. Thankfully, I will finally get some actual basketball action to talk about and begin my first player and team reviews. The Bulls will face-off against Milwaukee, Dallas, Washington, Toronto, and Indiana during the preseason. The first official regular season tip-off for the Bulls will occur on October 31st against New Jersey. Chicago's first home opener will be on November 2nd against Philadelphia. But until then, I will continue to talk about random shit involving the Bulls.

Random Shit #1

My projected starting line-up for the Bulls will be as follows: PG-Kirk Hinrich, SG-Ben Gordon, SF-Luol Deng, PF-Tyrus Thomas, C-Ben Wallace. The power forward position will be tossed around a lot this season. Scott Skiles has thrown Joakim Noah into the starting five at practices hoping that he would get the feel of the fast pace play. I predict Coach Scott Skiles will utilize Joe Smith, Joakim Noah, and even Andres Nocioni in the starting poward forward position sometime throughout the season as well. I am looking forward to finding out which of these players earns the permanent starting power forward position, but I doubt that it will be figured out until at least the all-star break.

Random Shit #2

I'm glad that those five players mentioned in the first paragraph are getting a chance to actually play and possibly be signed with the Bulls. The sad thing is that during the regular season, they will be lucky if their feet will touch the floor more than ten times. Last season, Andre Barrett only made six appearances during the regular season, but he did have a remarkable preseason. He had a few buzzer beaters that iced off victories for the Chicago Bulls in preseason. Andre Barrett, 5'10" on a good day, then beat out Luke Schenscher, 7'0", for the final spot on the Bulls roster.

Random Shit #3

Coach Scott Skiles is one bad dude. Bulls Executive John Paxson credits much of the Bulls success and improvement to this man. Scott Skiles has a very firm way of playing the game. He is happy with the young talent that he has that can go along with his somewhat up-tempo playing style, but he isn't afraid to get on the rookies' asses if he feels that they aren't keeping up. Skiles has also been working a lot with Tyrus Thomas in hopes that he can be Chicago's starting power forward. He has turned this team into a single unit that always makes that one extra pass. Skiles has been credited by many coaches about the ball movement he has taught his team. I believe passing the ball more conserves the energy of the Bulls but wears down the defense. I know Scott Skiles will get the job done doing it the only way he knows...the Scott Skiles way.

Once again, I look forward to next week because I will finally be able to get to see the Bulls in some action. Until then...enjoy my random shit.