2006-2007 Finish: 45-37

What went well

The Chicago Bulls are a team stacked with a bevy of outstanding players. Their starting lineup features four of the best players in the league in Shawn Marion, Ricky Davis, Ron Artest and Stephon Marbury.

Perhaps the biggest achievement of the season for the Bulls was making the playoffs without a GM. Gm Scooby (or Bigben) took off midseason, seduced by the life of Carnaval in Brazil and left the Bulls way over budget and high and dry. Somehow they still managed to finish fifth in the Eastern Conference and make it as far as the Conference Semi-Finals where the Philadelphia 76ers handily defeated them four games to none.

Last season began with GM Scooby trading away players who had made a big impact on the club, which has made the playoffs the last four years and won the Conference title twice. Ray Allen was shipped off after a year and a half of service for Artest. Brad Miller and Mickael Pietrus (both holdovers from GM Simon's iron reign and longtime fan favorites) were replaced with Davis and Juan Dixon.

But even with this newfangled lineup the Bulls stood strong. Even when injury took down 6th man Jamal Crawford for most of the season, the rest of the team rallied, overcoming losing streaks of up to 7 games to finish strong.

The Bulls may be on the decline, but they are still a strong team. With a new GM, they may be able to skip an inevitable rebuilding phase and continue to be a strong presence in the league.

What didn't

Without the guidance of a good GM equals almost certain sudden death in this league. Somehow the Bulls vanquished the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round, but they looked hopeless against the Sixers. Also, the bulk of the Bulls talent lies in players 6'7" and less. The starting center position has been a veritable horror show, occupied by such players as Steven Hunter, Dan Gadzuric and even Calvin Booth at desperate times. The bench is crawling with point guards: Dixon, Crawford, Eric Snow and Keyon Dooling. Better personnel moves to diversify the type of player on the squad was definitely required and not executed under GM Scooby's tenure.

Stars

- Shawn Marion, F-

Marion kicked off the season with a bang, so much that earned the honor of Eastern Conference Player of the Week. Though his point production fell from last season, Marion still provided the Bulls with strong play each time he hit the court. He brought his shooting percentage up from 51% in the previous season to an astounding 61%. It seems as if Marion concentrated more on defense this season, allowing the guards to run-and-gun the offense. He hauled in a career 13 boards a game. After completeing four full seasons in Chicago, Marion is and will be the face of the Bulls.

- Ron Artest, SF/SG –

It is now two seasons since the infamous brawl and the subsequent suspension and Artest has played now for both the Utah Jazz and the Chicago Bulls. When they traded away Ray Allen for this fiery swingman, the Bulls took a major risk. Would he explode on or off the court? Would he sit out another year? Would he demand a trade? After one full season and 70 games, the fans and brass in the Windy City breathed a collective sigh of relief. Artest had his best NLL season yet, scoring more than 20 points per game for the first time in his career. His contract is up and though all indicators point to a return to the team that drafted him, Artest has been heard to say that playing in New York has always been a dream. Drama follows this man wherever he goes, but two seasons of great basketball under his belt now gives him at least a little license, doesn't it?

- Ricky Davis, SF –

The amazing thing about Davis is he played for three NLL teams in the last five years and never averaged below 17 points per game for any of them. Davis is the classic unsung hero in the NLL. Always outshined by bigger names, Davis always brings amazing outside shots and explosive dunks to each game. Like Artest, Davis had his best season yet on the Bulls, hitting 22.8 points per game. Though he will never be an NLL great, Davis will always bring it each game, just like he did to help push the Bulls through to the Semi-Finals.

Goat

- Dan Gadzuric, C/PF –

On 11/9/05 Gadzuric signed a lucrative deal with the Los Angeles Lakers to be their starting center. Flash forward to July 2007 and this guy is only on the bench of the Bulls because their other options are even worse. As part of the Ray Allen, Gadzuric was supposed to replace the inside-the-paint force that left with Brad Miller. Instead he provided 43 games of sub-par play. Even though he battled injury for most of the season, Gadzuric's 3 points and 6 boards per game led the Bulls to start reserve Steven Hunter in his place. The Bulls will be hard-pressed to find a team to pick-up the remainder of his four-year deal.

Looking to the future

Going into the offseason the Bulls find themselves without a GM. Artest will take the summer to decide if he wants to come back to Chicago. They still have the problem with too many point guards. But despite all of that, the Bulls have a strong core of Marbury, Davis and Marion. Since the Bulls traded away their first round pick, only shooting guard Adam Haluska was selected. He is going to have a hard time making a squad made up of mainly guards.

Perhaps the biggest issue in Chicago right now is financial in nature. Going into free agent season, the Bulls sit $17,900,375 over the salary cap, well into luxury tax territory. GM Scooby ran the team with no fiscal responsibility at all. Add in Artest's money and this team will be paying out more than $80 million and there's still the issue of big men needed. The new GM will probably have to initiate some sort of fire-sale, parting with either Marbury or Marion's gigantic contract. But there is good news. Right now only three Bulls are under contract beyond this year (unfortunately one is Gadzuric). A new GM can just bide his time, wait until some of these guys expire and send them on their way. It will be an interesting time in Chicago and only the new GM will know if he will go for it or enter that rebuilding phase most fans dread.

Thanks for reading Team by Team. I hope you're enjoying it. The series will continue next week, probably on Wednesday.