It's Official...

The Oakland Raiders offensive coordinator position is more enticing than the Bears...this is how far we've fallen...

Source: Jackson to take Raiders' offer

Baltimore Ravens quarterbacks coach Hue Jackson, who was scheduled to interview Tuesday in Chicago for the Bears' offensive coordinator job, will accept an offer to serve in that capacity for the Oakland Raiders, sources close to the situation tell ESPN.

So now we've had a college coach decline an interview, a few assistants interview and decide to turn it down, and the Ravens QB coach decide he'd rather work with Jamarcus Russell and Al Davis than the Bears.

But remember Lovie promised us "People will want to come here" in that dog and pony show press conference where he somehow kept his job despite 3 straight seasons of declining performance.

I completely understand why any legitimate OC (don't call it that...) candidate would absolutely not want to come to Chicago. It's pretty simple really:

1) Lame duck head coach who is likely, barring a miracle, not returning after next season. Which basically means that..

2) You're looking at a 1 year gig because as soon as a new coach is brought in, new assistants are likely to follow...and with a lockout in 2011 looming, coaches want job security.

3) The Bears have already hired assistant offensive coaches before hiring a coordinator. So come to Chicago for a 1 year deal with a group of coaches you didn't select to run your offense...not exactly a resume builder.

4) Can't know for sure, but it's pretty likely the Bears are lowballing all of these coaches. The Bears are pretty notorious for not wanting to pay coaches, I don't see this changing now...especially with that looming lockout.


So what can the Bears hope for? Mike Martz? He said he'd take the job but I personally would be pretty ticked if they sign him because you know they'll act like he was the best choice and the guy they were looking for all along. They'd just be ignoring the fact that if Martz was the guy, he could have been signed the day after Turner was fired. He has lobbied for the job. Angelo said this is the most important decision he's going to make for the Bears moving forward...so if they just throw their hands up in the air because they cannot get any of the guys they actually want (like Perry Fewell on defense...didn't get him either) and sign Martz out of desperation, it will be a huge cop out.

This could have been avoided if the Bears did the right thing and chopped down this issue from its source: Angelo and Lovie. Pay them off to leave town and start over. Because now Jay Cutler is going to be looking at his 3rd offense in 3 years (and likely 4th the year after) which anyone knows is detrimental to a QB's development. Just look at what Peyton Manning has done with that offense in Indy...been running it for over a decade and I'm pretty sure he could run it in his sleep by now. Must be nice as a Colts fan to know that.

Click-a-Bull (Aaron Gray Traded!, Weekend Sweep, Rose, Noah, Rudy Gay, Amare)

Sources: Hornets trade Brown for Gray

The New Orleans Hornets have reached terms on a trade that will send guard Devin Brown to the Chicago Bulls for reserve big man Aaron Gray, according to NBA front-office sources.

The trade, barring an unforeseen snag, is expected to be formally approved by the league office later Monday.

The Hornets nearly traded Brown to Minnesota in hopes of reducing their luxury-tax bill in December, but the deal could not satisfy salary-cap requirements unless Brown agreed to waive a portion of the trade kicker in his contract. Brown declined.

This deal would net only a small luxury-tax benefit for the Hornets but bring them an extra big man for their bench. Brown has started 37 games for New Orleans this season, but the Hornets want to give more minutes to rookie Marcus Thornton and decided they needed the extra size.

In spite of its recent improvement, Chicago has been looking for perimeter help to help fill the void created by Ben Gordon's free-agent departure to Detroit.

I have never liked Aaron Gray, so getting anything for him is an improvement. The fact that we got someone who could actually contribute is even better. Anyone who can give us some perimeter scoring off the bench - and whose name doesn't rhyme with Benero Fargo - is a welcome addition!




Bulls' weekend road sweep not the only NBA surprise

The good theme to the current NBA season would be, "Don't be so quick to judge."

The Bulls kept up with the slogan this weekend by pulling off surprising wins at Phoenix and Houston. An 0-7 road trip seemed possible, if not likely, when they started with losses to Golden State and the Los Angeles Clippers.

But then, who knew veteran center Brad Miller would erupt for 25 points while Joakim Noah rested a foot injury and help beat the Rockets?

In the past two games, the Bulls demonstrated what can happen when Derrick Rose is aggressive, they get scoring from both Kirk Hinrich and John Salmons, and someone steps up with a good performance off the bench.

The three remaining games on the ice show road trip - San Antonio, Oklahoma City and New Orleans - will be tough, but maybe another win is possible.

Noah still hurting, Rose sick

Joakim Noah said he will do anything he can to play tonight when the Bulls visit the San Antonio Spurs despite plantar fasciitis of the left foot, but the usually upbeat Bulls center was subdued and didn't sound optimistic about his chances of playing following the morning shootaround.

"It's frustrating because I had it for a while and it just got worse," Noah said. "I'm trying to go, but I'm limited and I can't really go the way I want to. We'll see how it goes.

"If I can play, I'll play. I'm gonna take a pill, take a shot, I'm gonna do whatever I have to do, but I took a shot last game and it didn't help at all. There's no point in trying to go when deep inside you know you're only hurting the team."

Noah isn't the only player trying to get ready for tonight. Derrick Rose is battling flu-like symptoms (apparently unrelated to the stomach virus that hit Kirk Hinrich and John Salmons last week) and Brad Miller has a sore knee.

"We'll see how he feels before the game," coach Vinny Del Negro said of Noah. "Hopefully, we can get him out there. Brad's knee is bothering him a little bit, Derrick's sick, so we're just trying to get over this sickness with the team, heal some plantar fasciitis up and try to get our guys out there.

"But the rest of the guys will be ready. We'll see how Derrick feels and how Jo warms up and Taj [Gibson] and Brad and just go with what we can go with. Our body counts a little low, but we'll see."

Grizzlies' Gay could be a diamond in the rough this summer

He doesn’t get talked about much with the big free agents, in part because he is a restricted free agent. But some of the teams lining up for this summer’s potential free agent bonanza are quietly eying Memphis’ Rudy Gay as the secret diamond in the rough.

Some of the scenarios being discussed have LeBron James perhaps winning a title—or making the NBA Finals—and staying in Cleveland, and then maybe Chris Bosh joining Dwyane Wade in Miami. If that were to happen, the three A-list free agents would be off the board, leaving several teams to fight over the likes of Amar’e Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer, David Lee (no one expects Dirk Nowitzki to leave Dallas) and Joe Johnson. When you want to pay big money for a star, you want a finisher, someone to whom you can throw the ball and isolate to make a last shot. Among that group, there’s perhaps only Johnson, and I can see given his age and superior athletic ability, teams will go for Gay.

I can see, assuming you cannot get any of the Big Three, someone throwing a max offer front loaded with a bonus at Gay. I know Hall of Famer and longtime team executive Jerry West has a bias because he traded for Gay when he ran the Grizzlies. But West is one of the most knowledgeable talent evaluators in NBA history, and while not connected to any franchise now, West keeps a keen eye on the league and he sees big things coming for the underrated Gay.

Suns seeking trade offers for Amare

After recent discussions with Amar’e Stoudemire’s(notes) agent that didn’t appear to destine a contract extension, the Phoenix Suns have increased their efforts to trade the All-Star forward, league sources told Yahoo! Sports on Sunday night.

League executives say the Suns have become more active initiating talks over the past few days, and believe the franchise will take the best offer for Stoudemire before the Feb. 18 trade deadline. The Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets and Detroit Pistons are among multiple teams that have a strong interest in Stoudemire, sources say. The Arizona Republic reported Sunday night that the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers have also inquired about Stoudemire.

Suns general manager Steve Kerr met with Stoudemire’s agent, Happy Walters, on Thursday, and league sources say there was little sense an agreement could be reached before the trade deadline. With Stoudemire able to opt out of the final $17.7 million season of his contract, the Suns don’t want to risk losing him for nothing in free agency this summer.

As they did when shopping Stoudemire last season, the Suns want a combination of young talent, salary-cap relief and draft picks for him. Some teams are hesitant to trade for Stoudemire for fear he won’t want to re-sign with them this summer. The Minnesota Timberwolves lead that group of teams, sources say. The Wolves are mostly eyeing small forwards, including the Memphis Grizzlies’ Rudy Gay(notes), the Bulls’ Luol Deng(notes) and the Washington Wizards’ Caron Butler(notes). No one is untouchable on the Wolves roster, sources say.

Rose Dunk over Dragic - POSTER!

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Click-a-Bull (Noah, Rose, Mediocrity, Shooting, Noc/TT)

What to do with Joakim Noah?

Joakim Noah has really turned some heads this season. He's now seen as a possible all-star center. Personally, I don't think Noah ever has a legit shot of making the all-star team while Dwight Howard and Brook Lopez are in the conference, but his name is popular as a dark horse to throw into the conversation.

I remember trying to convince friends last season that Noah would become a top 10 center in the league, which I feel he has, when they tried to tell me the guy was worthless. Now everyone loves Noah. Maybe everyone loves Noah a bit too much.

I don't think the Bulls will trade Joakim Noah at the deadline now. However, I think they should listen to offers for one simple reason. It's easy to love Noah on a contract a bit over two million a year while he's playing well. However, his trade value will never be higher. See a funny thing happens in 6 to 18 months. We need to extend his contract. In discussions of his worth, I've already seen 10 million a year thrown around as his value.

That doesn't mean the Bulls should trade him, but it means you have to look at it rationally. We've seen a lot of good players in this sub-all-star level go through this team, get extended to big contracts they didn't live up to or leave for relatively little [often on big contracts they didn't live up to]. I love Noah, but see Nocioni, Gordon, Hinrich, Deng, Curry, Crawford, Chandler, etc..

VOTE IN THE POLL ----->

I might be one of those people that over-value Noah, because I think he will command (and deserves) a decently-large contract. (Obviously I would be happy to extend him early, before a "market" is set, so that we can get some type of hometown discount.)



Rose finally could break long all-star drought

The Bulls should end a 12-year drought when second-year guard Derrick Rose is chosen as a reserve for the Eastern Conference all-star team sometime next week.

Will that actually happen? Hard to say. Rose clearly deserves a spot, but a couple of factors could work against him.

One problem is the fans vote for the starting lineup, and through the fourth set of returns, Philadelphia guard Allen Iverson was in second place with a sizable lead over Orlando's Vince Carter.

The starters will be officially announced Thursday at 7 p.m. on TNT's pregame show.

There should be no quarrel with the other likely East starters - LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett.

Are the Bulls Doomed To Be Mediocre for the Forseeable Future?

Before yesterday's afternoon matchup with the Warriors, the Bulls had been playing well. They had won their last four games and seven of their last 10 entering a highly winnable game against Golden State.

That was before they laid an egg against a severely under-manned Warriors team. Despite the fact that they only had four healthy NBA-caliber players, the Warriors still dominated the fourth quarter and defeated the Bulls by 17 points.

The loss left the Bulls at a middling 18-21 and dropped them to a meager 4-14 on the road. They still hold a two-game lead over the Knicks for the eighth playoff spot, but the general lack of depth in the Eastern Conference is a far bigger reason for that than the play of the Bulls.

After a shockingly poor effort, one has to wonder if the Bulls are making any progress. Ever since their surprising 2006-07 campaign where they reached the second round of the playoffs, the Bulls have been treading water on the fringe of the playoffs.

The shooting quandaries of the Chicago Bulls

As the Bulls prepare for their game against the Los Angeles Clippers — the second stop on their current seven-game Western Conference road trip — Vinny Del Negro has some very real concerns to deal with. Forget the fact that his team could be without John Salmons, who spent Monday night in an Oakland hospital with flu-like symptoms, or that Kirk Hinrich’s status is unknown due to his own bout with flu-like symptoms, or even that he has to figure out a way to deal with L.A.’s Chris Kaman, who has very quietly become a real force inside (20.4 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 1.4 BPG).

Vinny’s biggest problem is that the Golden State Warriors provided a perfect blueprint for beating the Bulls, which is allowing and even enticing them into relying on their favorite field goal attemp. I’m talking about the long-range two-point jump shot.

Andres Nocioni For Tyrus Thomas? Please.

So, with Francisco Garcia coming back to the Kings’ lineup soon and Omri Casspi finding his way into the Rookie of the Year discussion– and, to a lesser extent, SG Kevin Martin already being back since Friday — the Kings finally find themselves with a plethora of wings. They’ve been rumored to be wanting a big man.

So Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee connects some dots here as trade season really starts to heat up: Nocioni (the odd man out at small forward) for Tyrus Thomas.

Click-a-Bull (Rose, Outlook, Bosh, Rose, Poll & links from TrueHoop)

Rose leads Bulls over Wizards 121-119 in double OT

The Bulls have been terrible most of the season in the second leg of back-to-back games.

The second of back-to-back overtimes turned out much better against Washington on Friday at the United Center.

Derrick Rose scored a career-high 37 points and capped the performance with his first true game-winning shot as a pro. Rose sank a one-hander in the lane with 5.4 seconds remaining after putting a spin move on Randy Foye, giving the Bulls an exhausting 121-119 victory in double overtime.

"These are the type of games you dream about when you're younger," Rose said in the locker room. "Unlike most people, I'm playing in my hometown, so everybody's standing up cheering for me. I've got the ball in my hand at the end of the game and everybody's looking at you, seeing what you're going to do.

"It's crazy. I really couldn't believe it. I don't show no emotion anyway, so I was cool. But I was happy, though."

Coming off a nice road win at Boston the previous night, the Bulls (18-20) faced a dangerous home date against Washington, perhaps the league's greatest underachiever this season.

VOTE IN THE POLL ------->


OK, this is a Rockets post, but the guy seems to have the right outlook for Bulls fans this season:

My dilemma here is that I just don’t really care. I view this season as house money – if the team plays well, like they were before the new year – I’ll get in on the fun and think of the playoff possibilities. But if they’re struggling, as they have been, I just can’t bring myself to lose sleep over it. This is a basketball team in transition with at least a 75% chance of having a completely different dynamic next season (whether simply by Yao’s return or also via trade.) So why should I be overly concerned about what’s taking place on the floor, other than from a player development perspective? It has little relevance in the long term. If something is going well, well then that bodes well for its continuity into the future. But if something is going bad, I’m not going to pull my hair out when I know someone might be riding in on a white horse by November.

As Bulls fans, we don't know how the team will change this summer, but we will know a lot more by next year. Will we go forward with the current roster? Will we land Wade or Bosh? Or Bosh AND LeBron? Will we settle for JJohnson or Rudy Gay? I don't have a clue, but viewing this season as "playing with house money" will allow me to enjoy Rose/Noah/TT a lot more than worrying about whether we'll finish with 39 wins or 44 wins. So that's my plan the rest of the way, a more optimistic approach that is much less concerned with wins and more concerned with enjoying the process of seeing our young talented players grow and develop.


Pre-Game: Bosh Not Handing Out Discounts?

Toronto's Chris Bosh doesn't sound like he'll be giving anyone a discount when he becomes a free agent next summer.

"That's a good question," Bosh said before his game against the Knicks – one of his potential suitors – when asked if he'd be willing to accept something less than a max deal in order to play with better talent. "I don't know (laughs). I don't know about (LeBron James and Dwyane Wade). I really don't know. Like I said, it's a business, so that would be tough to do. You'd really have to make a big commitment to do that."

Bosh continues to be lumped in with Miami's Wade, Cleveland's James and Atlanta's Joe Johnson as members of one of the biggest free agent classes in NBA history. Ironically, each player has used the same locker in Madison Square Garden's visiting locker room.

"They probably did that on purpose," said Bosh.

Bosh continues to be hounded regarding his plans for next year, but maintains that he is primarily focused on basketball. When the subject of next year does cross his mind, Bosh knows that he'll want to play for the right coach.

Rose's 37 points help Bulls escape Wizards in double overtime

Derrick Rose drove and spun around before getting off the shot that would send the Chicago Bulls to a double-overtime victory and deny the inspired Washington Wizards.

"I've been doing that move since college," Rose said after his basket with 5.4 seconds left capped his career-best 37-point effort and gave Chicago a 121-119 win Friday night.

"If I want to go a certain way and they play me a certain way, I got to spin and I got a nice little floater. ... I used to think about what move I'm going to make or whatever. I'm just letting it come to me right now."

Just hours after suspended teammate Gilbert Arenas pleaded guilty back in D.C. to a felony gun charge, the Wizards put everything they had into getting a victory before falling short.

Antawn Jamison had a season-high 34 points and 18 rebounds, Caron Butler added 27 points, Randy Foye had 22 and Brendan Haywood grabbed a career-best 20 rebounds and scored 16.

Both Butler and Jamison logged over 55 minutes. But Jamison said Arenas' problems had no bearing on the team's efforts Friday night.

"It doesn't matter what's going on off the court. It just matters what's going on on the court," Jamison said.

"It's tough to take anytime you lose a game. Off the court doesn't affect what goes on during game time. It doesn't affect us at all. We're out there playing hard, but we're just coming up short. Off the court distractions don't even come in this locker room when it's time to play the game."

After Rose's basket over Foye and a timeout, it was Foye's turn. But he missed a shot from the baseline and Haywood got the offensive rebound just as the clock ran out.

Kirk Hinrich scored 19 points and Joakim Noah had 17 points and 15 rebounds for the Bulls.

Bulls' Rose talks isolation, game-winners

Not only did Derrick Rose hit the first game-winning shot of his NBA career Friday night, he did so off an isolation play rather than a screen-and-roll situation.

Rose admitted again that he's most comfortable in such an offense, though it obviously can't be used at all times.

"My whole life -- Memphis, everything -- was isolation plays," Rose said. "So I know how to score off them. I had to get used to pick-and-roll."

Coach Vinny Del Negro discussed his thinking as to what dictates calling a high screen-and-roll for Rose or using isolation.

"Time and score," Del Negro said. "Who's guarding him, who's on the court with him, how we can space it out and give him driving angles. And just mix it in. Whether we clear a side, clear it out, flatten it out. Teams scout and see what we're going to do too, so we have to mix it up."

As for his first game-winner, Rose, not surprisingly, acted nonchalant about the shot.

"I've been doing that move since college," he said. "I go a certain way, spin and shoot a nice little floater. I hope I get many more."

So do the Bulls.

BBS Poll Results: Who should be the Bulls coach next year?


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Couple of Bulls links on TrueHoop's Friday Bullets

What I noticed about the Bulls last night: Between Joakim Noah, Tyrus Thomas, Taj Gibson, Luol Deng, James Johnson ... there are a lot of lively dudes with long arms eager to stick their hands up to protect the rim. In general, I believe Wayne Winston's theories about the merit of playing Brad Miller with a bunch of scorers. But that worked best when Ben Gordon was in the mix, and last night it seemed like it was frenetic activity around the rim that most bothered Boston, and for that, you have to keep Miller on the bench.

Zach Lowe of CelticsHub: My personal version of hell is standing on a hot New York City subway platform as train after train full of clapping Joakim Noahs goes by.

Another Link from TrueHoop: The U.S. Secretary of Education talks basketball development

The negotiations for the NBA's next collective bargaining agreement will be mainly about money. (Owners, who have been dipping into their own pockets to keep the fires burning through a frosty economy, want more of it.)

But perhaps the hottest issue will be about a different set of numbers: The age of NBA players. Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Dwight Howard and the like were once drafted straight out of high school. Four-and-a-half years ago, the NBA declared players had to be one year out of high school before going pro. The result has been a rash of "one-and-done" NCAA players. The NBA has expressed an interest in extending the ban for an additional year, which will be an issue in upcoming negotiations with the player's union.

Meanwhile, a growing number of people are eager for the age rule to be eliminated.

On Thursday, the latter group appeared to gain an influential ally in U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Once a star player at Harvard -- one of his coaches there was current Celtic assistant coach Tom Thibodeau -- and a former professional player in the Australian league, Duncan is passionate about basketball. Speaking to university and NCAA officials in Atlanta, the former chancellor of Chicago's public schools said that the higher education of some basketball players was a "farce."

We spoke by phone shortly after his speech:

Tell me your thoughts on the NBA's one and done rule, if you would.
I focused a lot on the NCAA in general. Can I go through that first?

Poll Results: Who should be the Bulls coach next year?

VOTE IN THE NEW POLL ------>


Looks like Bulls fans are interested in D (Thibedeau) or a coach that can develop our young PG (Byron Scott). Personally, I would be really happy with either of those options. However, I stated the other day that I fear the worst:

Best case scenario would be to move Salmons, sign Wade or Bosh, and replace VDN. Worst case scenario would be Salmons opting-in, Bulls over-paying for JJohnson or Rudy Gay (putting us over the salary cap), then keeping VDN to save some money. That is a huge contrast ... and I'm very scared that the latter could happen.

Click-a-Bull (Haiti, Trades, Mailbag, Reinsdorf, Hollinger, and more)

Chicago Bulls to Assist in Haitian Relief Efforts

Team to match fans donations at Friday’s game; Hold relief drive at Feb. 2 game

The Chicago Bulls announced today they will assist UNICEF with their on-going relief efforts from Monday’s devastating earthquake in Haiti.

During Friday’s game versus the Washington Wizards, the Bulls will donate all net proceeds from the 50/50 Raffle ticket sales and in-arena auctions to UNICEF in support of rescue and relief efforts. Additionally, the team will match every dollar that is raised.

Throughout the game, the Bulls will run scoreboard messages, radio, television and public address announcements encouraging fans to assist by texting “HAITI” to “90999” to make a $10 donation to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts. The donation will be charged to the donor’s cell phone bill.

In response to the disaster, the Bulls will also hold an emergency relief drive on Tuesday, February 2 to help provide important bare essentials to Haiti. Prior to the tip-off of the Bulls’ home game against the Los Angeles Clippers, fans are encouraged to drop off items at any of the United Center admission gates.

Fans not attending that evening’s game can still assist in the ongoing emergency relief efforts in Haiti by visiting www.unicefusa.org/haitiquake or calling 1-800-4UNICEF.

VOTE IN THE NEW POLL ---->



My post from earlier today: What Should the Bulls do Before the Tade Deadline?

Over the past couple of seasons, the Bulls have been part of many trade rumors involving TT Tyrus for Amare, TT for Carlos Boozer; some more recent rumors involving Kirk for Caron Butler, Salmons for any expiring, and even Noah for T-Mac!

So how does this all play out? And how does it affect the Bulls this summer?

K.C. Johnson's Bulls mailbag

The Bulls begin a stretch of 10 of 12 games on the road Thursday night in Boston. That means I'll be more acquainted with your questions than my wife and kids in the very near future.

Whether that's a good thing or not is debatable. This is not: Your questions continue to engage me. So let's tackle some answers.

Hey. I was wondering why I don't hear anyone discussing a trade between the Bulls and Rockets. Tracy McGrady's contract is expiring and the Rockets don't want him anymore. We could get rid of John Salmons and that player option. TMac would improve the Bulls this year and we would still have freedom in the free-agency market this summer. The Rockets would get another role player for a team of role players. --Sim, Chicago

And this question assumes a very big assumption--that the Rockets want Salmons. My educated guess is that the Bulls would do Miller, Jerome James and Salmons for TMac in an instant. But at least for now, the Rockets are holding to all expiring contracts and a young star. There is no chance the Bulls part with either Rose or Noah merely for the chance to make a big splash in free agency. Remember from 2000: Nothing is guaranteed in that field. I'd also take slight exception to your point about TMac helping the Bulls this year

Reinsdorf sees Bulls as poised to improve

So far, the Bulls are meeting the expectations of chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.

During an interview on Comcast SportsNet, Reinsdorf suggested the Bulls should make the playoffs this season. Through Wednesday's games, the Bulls were the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.

"I think we have built a roster where the core is pretty good," Reinsdorf said. "I really think this team certainly ought to be in the playoffs this year, and if you add one really outstanding player to it, I think we can go all the way."

The outstanding player would come in free agency, theoretically. The Bulls are hoping to have around $20 million to spend next summer, when several superstars will hit the open market. Among the players expected to be available are LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Joe Johnson, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Amare Stoudemire and Manu Ginobili.

Reinsdorf admitted the Bulls have compiled a wish list of players to target, in order, but refused to reveal any of it.

John Hollinger explains his (formula's) Bulls pessimism

A playoff-less future:

Currently, Chicago holds the No. 8 spot in the East and is tied with Toronto in the loss column for No 7; based on this information, you might conclude the Bulls are in great shape for a playoff run.

Not so fast. Chicago has played only 16 road games and has one of the league's worst road records at 3-13; only Indiana, New Jersey and Minnesota are worse. Not only do the Bulls still have 25 road games to go, they're the only team facing two negative evening-out trends at once. Chicago's average scoring margin of minus-3.7 per game is nowhere close to what we'd expect for a 16-20 team; the Bulls should be more like 12-24.

As a result, the Playoff Odds favor No. 9 New York to make up a game on the Bulls and bypass them for the final playoff spot, and projects Chicago's current neighbors in the standings, Toronto and Charlotte, to outdistance the Bulls by five game in the final table.

I still think they'll squeak in, what these projections can't account for are things like injury, or guys like Hinrich and Salmons overcoming terrible months to get more to their career norms. Granted, that assumes nobody else gets injured the rest of the year, which may not be reasonable.

We'll learn a lot in the upcoming road-heavy schedule, including a game in Boston tonight that, without Garnett and Wallace, is actually winnable. Sort of like the entertaining yet not-exactly-well-played playoff series where the Bulls also had a chance. The same series we'll probably hear a lot about (and in bloviating terms) tonight: the game's on TNT, and that's likely the last time their studio crew paid any attention the Bulls.

God Sends The Bulls A Flood Warning, A Rowboat, And A Helicopter. They Run Back Inside Their House.

3. Chicago Bulls 85 – Oklahoma City Thunder 98

Date: 1/4/10

CHI at-rim: (24 – 53), 45.3 percent, 29 missed

The Bulls missed more shots at the rim than the normal team attempts on any given night. Just stunning. Granted, when you take a league-high 53 shots at the basket, you’re gonna miss your fair share. The Bulls were assisted on only 9 of their 24 field goals there so most of them likely came off of penetration and offensive rebounds. The Thunder only blocked 9 of the 29 misses which leaves 20 that were straight up errant. As I noted earlier this year when I profiled the Thunder, they allow a ton of shots at the basket but teams find little success in actually converting the chip-ins. This game serves as a microcosm of the Thunder squad.

via Hoopdata – The Missed Bucket List: The 5 Worst Performances At the Rim.

HoopData runs down the worst at-rim performances of the season. And the Bulls are popular attendees.

Can you really be successful if you don’t convert at the rim? Should the Bulls consider that before they go trading for a wing?

You can’t really look at Noah and believe he’s going to evolve into someone you can give the ball to and expect him to score consistently. That’s no knock on Noah. He’s doing everything else so well this season, if he had low-post back-to-basket moves he’d be a top flight player in this league. But Brad Miller’s the other heavy-rotation big and he loathes the paint and loves the top of the key, while Taj Gibson’s too measley to make an impact (and he’s inefficient).

The Bulls need a substantial makeover, and it’s going to take more than just one big free agent to fix it if they want to contend for a title… whenever the Lakers get done pwning everyone.

Bulls make statement with 96-83 road win over Celtics

A popular tradition in Boston during the past few seasons is to punctuate a Celtics victory with video of vintage American Bandstand disco dancers, with special focus on a bearded gentleman wearing a tightfitting Gino Vanelli T-shirt.

Well, the Bulls knocked off the Celtics 96-83 on Thursday at TD Banknorth Garden, so the disco dancers stayed off the videoboard.

But a certain song by K.C. and the Sunshine Band would have been appropriate for the Bulls' locker room celebration. That's the way the Bulls like it against the Celtics - with Kevin Garnett on the bench in street clothes.

Garnett didn't play in last spring's playoff series between these teams, which was obviously a big reason why it took seven competitive games to decide the winner.

In the first two Bulls-Celtics contests this season, with Garnett on the floor, the Bulls lost to Boston by 28 and 26 points. Without Garnett, the Celtics didn't get their usual open looks from 3-point range, going 4-for-17, and had no one to stop the Bulls from building a 48-42 advantage in points in the paint.

Except for a few seconds in the first quarter, the Bulls (17-20) led this one from start to finish, opening up an early 17-7 advantage and never letting up.

Forward Luol Deng got the best of Paul Pierce, just as he used to do in the pre-"Three Amigo" days. Deng hit 8 of 13 shots for a game-high 25 points. After sitting most of the first half in foul trouble, Derrick Rose scored 9 of his 17 points in the final seven minutes to finish off the win.

Joakim Noah (15 points, 11 rebounds), Taj Gibson (14 points) and Kirk Hinrich (11 points) also played well for the Bulls, who won their third straight.