8 Weird Things About the Chicago Bulls So Far

Vinny DelNegro

I watched “Observe and Report” with Seth Rogen this weekend per Netflix and I didn’t know what to make of the film.

Was it good? It could have been just as bad as it was funny.

It’s a nasty comedy, one that doesn’t balk at mocking mental disorders or slamming the back of kids’ heads with skateboards. But it was delightfully weird and well-acted, and the parallels are hard to ignore to this Bulls season so far.

For instance, Rogen plays a bipolar, militant mall security guard who is hell-bent on catching a pervert who flashes women. In some ways, you love the character and then you hate him.

Sort of how things are going with Chicago teams these days. So, I give to you eight weird things about the Chicago Bulls so far in reverse order (cue Billy Ocean's Caribean Queen in the background to really get in the mood).

8. Joakim Noah is really good. I mean like-all-star-esque-in-the-thin-crop-of-east centers-good. On Saturday night, he ignited the team with a thunderous slam as he split two defenders to rally a slumping Chicago Bulls’ team. He is finally matching effort with his talent, and is clearly carrying a Bulls team that cannot score or get much out of their cornerstone Derrick Rose.

The Noah story is by far the most important of any so far, and it clearly gives us something to be happy about. Noah actually has some offensive touch and is pulling his weight on defense. Everything about his success tells you what you need to know about the exceptionally athletic Tyrus Thomas: That he’ll never be that good. He doesn’t get it.

7. Vinny DelNegro’s dad is not sitting on the bench anymore. Could you imagine Phil Jackson or Greg Poppovich having their dad sit on the bench with his team?

In last year’s playoff run against the Boston Celtics, DelNonsense had his father sit with the team for some, um, reason. Needless to write, he was one of the NBA’s best punchlines all season long and this merely added to his lore of inepititude. What’s weird this year, is Vinny actually does look competent and has his team better prepared defensively. I still don’t know what that means for the long-term for this team.

6. Derrick Rose is a better shooter than last year but a lesser player. Few athletes have emerged at the point guard position quite like Rose: He’s a physical specimen. He broke into the league last year and was putting everyone on notice that a new breed of point guards were arriving in the NBA.

This year, he looks like he’s battling an injury and teams are trying to get the ball out of his hands with double teams off the high pick-and-roll.

Vinny should just isolate Rose on the perimeter and let him beat his man off the dribble like Dwayne Wade does. After watching rookie point guard Brandon Jennings go off for 55 points, 45 in the second half, against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, it reminds us that Rose may still be years away from being an all-star.

Scoring doesn’t come to him as easily as guys like Jennings or Chris Paul, and he’s not the crazy-assist guy you’d think he was with a mere 6 assists per game last year and 5 per game this year.

His best defense usually consists of Kirk Hinrich coming off the bench.

He’ll get better…but how much better?

5. I don’t hate Joakim Noah’s face anymore. He used to be the guy we rooted against on our own team. Because he was mostly bad for his first two years in the NBA—the bizarre hair, the smallish face, the gangly arms and posture, matched by a bizarre free-throw, the celebrity parents all made him an easy target. The running style never helped either.

Just don’t count on seeing him in Vitamin Water commercials anytime soon.

4. The Bulls suck on offense, and kill on defense. Flip that phrase around for the 2008-2009 season.

3. The Great White Hope is gone. Aaron Gray gave disoriented fans the idea that he was good because:

mmitchell
I'm a journalist who has previously worked for the Sun-Times News Group in the Chicago area, covering features, entertainment, city government, police and crime, and--yes--sports. More

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