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NLL Insider - Team by Team: Chicago Bulls

by vt, updated on Saturday, October 18 2008, 07:22 pm EST

Chicago Bulls Review

2007-2008
Finish: 39-43

What went well

Ever the Chicago Bulls turned on longtime GM Simon and gave him the boot, the Bulls have been directionless. True, they have been a strong, strong team, but Simon had built up a squad to be good for years. The team went through a series of interim GMs, but none could give the right energy required for this team. But, at the beginning of this season, the Bulls hired GM Dazman32 and everyone agrees he is the right man for the job.

The team began the season with more or less the same nucleus as the season before where they had finished 5th seed. A lot tension surrounded the return of Ron Artest, and he agreed to sign a one-year deal. The team also brought in some other players, but all them were little-impact journeymen.

As the season progressed, the Bulls began to make changes that would change the team’s blueprint. They hovered around the .500 mark for most of the season, fighting to stay in the playoff hunt until the very end. In his first major trade, Dazman sent away longtime mainstay Jamal Crawford, Stephon Marbury and Keyon Dooling for Cuttino Mobley, Bobby Simmons and T.J. Ford. Many fans considered Crawford the heart and soul of the team and although they welcomed Mobley, he didn’t have the same intensity that Crawford brought to the court each night. Simmons for Marbury basically swapped big, useless contracts. Ford was an upgrade to Dooling, but he had a scary injury history.

The other major deal was Shawn Marion and Dan Gadzuric for Shaquille O’Neal and Darrell Armstrong. Lots of heavy-hitting contracts flying around here. Shaq came to town, vowing to take the Bulls to the Finals again….

What went worse
Didn’t happen. The Bulls didn’t even make the playoffs for the first time in five years. Dazman’s formula didn’t seem to work and no one will touch Shaq’s contract. He will need to come up with something for next season or miss the postseason until the big man retires.


The Goat

Shaquille O’Neal- C
Just the cost of his contract alone makes Shaq the goat. No one, I repeat, no one is worth that much money.


Looking to the future

Once the disappointing season came to an end, Dazman32 went about making more deals to help “fix” the Bulls. He traded away Mobley for underachieving big man Drew Gooden. He also able to unload Simmons with Joe Alexander and Steven Hunter for Shareef Abdur-Rahim (who would soon retire, providing cap relief), sharpshooter Anthony Parker and rookie project Roy Hibbert.

Next season, the roster is all about Shaq and Artest (who grabbed his player option). Parker will make a dangerous addition to the starting lineup. After that, it’s up in the air. Will Gooden snap out of his funk? Can Ford stay healthy enough to lead the team? The team has about $8 million to sign players and they really need to proceed wisely. A lot of players are unhappy with the direction of Chicago and are talking about moving on (most notably Ricky Davis, who played two great seasons in Chicago). This team is perilously thin, thanks to Shaq’s monster deal. Can he turn it around next season and be a leader? Can Dazman32 find the right players to augment this lineup? A lot of questions need to be addressed before this team can be great, ever again.

 

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