Should younger Bulls players look to take over?
�)The Chicago Bulls roster is filled with young, athletic potential. Potential can only mean so much though. Since the emergence of the young team into the play-off ranks in 2004, the Bulls have continued to gather top draft picks from trades, and a little luck. These top draft picks have brought the Bulls a lot of top college players filled with potential, such as Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, Thabo Sefolosha, and this year Derrick Rose.
These young guys have stepped in and played some great games, and shown flashes of All-Star talent. Joakim Noah came from a college team in which he and the team succeeded year in and year out. In his first season with the Bulls he lashed out at teammates who dogged it during games, and weren’t always into the game in his opinion. Noah had a point, but as a rookie in the NBA this was not his role. This was the role of veteran players such as Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng or Andres Nocioni, who is by far the most mature of the group. Nocioni is a quiet player, who leads by example. He plays each game with 110% effort and never backs down to a defender.
This year the Bulls have a true point guard in Derrick Rose. Although still a young man, at 19 years old, he has the poise to become an All-Star and a leader of this team for years. Rose, a Chicago native, grew up watching the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s. Those teams were obviously lead by Michael Jordan, but always had a premiere court general in players such as BJ Armstrong, John Paxson and Steve Kerr. This year the young group of ball players should look to take over the torch. Gordon and Deng are having contract issues, which may lead to them being traded before the season, before the trade deadline or lost via free agency following the season. And Kirk Hinrich is coming of arguably his worst professional season.
The athleticism of this young group is similar to that of the New Orleans Hornets, who finished with the fourth best record last season. The talent, and production of Chris Paul, Tyson Chandler and David West may soon be compared to Derrick Rose, Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah. With players such as Tabo Sefolosha and Andres Nocioni there for the pass out for jumpers.
This team has the make-up to run up and down the court and tire opposing teams out with their speed, athleticism, and deep roster. The Bulls have 7 guys who can currently play the guard position, 4 who can play the small forward, and 5 who can play center or power forward. This allows Vinny Del Negro with plenty of substitution possibilites to keep the bodies on the court fresh.
Just imagine this for a second…
“Joakim Noah with the block.. ball recovered by Andres Nocioni who outlets to Derrick Rose.. Rose hurries the ball up the court and the Bulls have numbers with Tyrus Thomas running down the lane.. Rose sees Thomas, Rose tosses one up to Thomas, Thomas slams one down!”
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