With the Bulls' 78-64 win Wednesday night over the Wizards, they tied for their best start in team history. The Bulls' last 10-2 start came during the '95-96' season which eventually turned into a record setting 72 win season capped off with a title over the Seattle Supersonics. But is this a reason for the highly acclaimed franchise to once again regard themselves as the best team in the NBA?
First things first they have the league's brightest young star in Derrick Rose. It's no shock that he leads the team with 20.7 PPG, but he has become much more than a scorer for this dynamic bunch. His standout performance against the "Lob City" Clippers(29pts, 16 assists, 8 rebounds) reminded many why he's the youngest MVP in NBA history.
But Derrick Rose's improvement isn't what gives Chicago the best record in the NBA during a rigorous 66 game season which often features back-back-back games. It's the players surrounding Rose that have made the biggest contributions. And when your talking about secondary scoring from the Bulls you HAVE to mention Luol Deng. It seems Deng has finally become the complete player the Bulls drafted out of Duke. His improved jump shot and relentless drives to the basket paired with his enormous wing span makes him one of the most underrated players in the league.
Although Carlos Boozer isn't quite the player the Bull's envisioned when they picked him up from the Utah Jazz, his offensive upside has proven to be an essential part of the Bulls' success. He's finally started hitting the 15 ft jumpers and fade-aways that made him one of the most potent mid-range scorers in the league. His defense is clearly a liability (especially in late game situations) to this style of team but other player's will continue pick up his slack in the clutch. (AKA Taj Gibson)
It's easy to talk about the good players on the Bulls given they have a 10-2 record, but what else makes them a different team than last year? Aside from the experiences they've gained from last years playoffs, the difference this year has been shot making ability. Rip Hamilton has been a great fit for the Bulls thus far and he will only get better as he continues to sink with the rest of the starters. His shot making ability has been a great complement to Derrick Rose, who has been brilliant distributing the ball this year. Another guy I want to mention is Kyle Korver. Over the past couple of weeks, Korver has become the Bulls most consistent shooter. His ability to come off of screens and hit clutch shots has been comforting to say the least.
As I said earlier, you could go on forever talking about all of the things that make the Bulls great. But they were great last year and that didn't bring a title back to Chicago. I think the shortened schedule gives the Bulls a huge advantage with the effectiveness of their bench and if they want to achieve their goal of winning an NBA title, they just need to keep getting better on a daily basis.
