The Chicago Bulls currently hold the NBA’s best record at 13-3 and look every bit as good as the team that entered the NBA playoffs as the number one overall seed last season.
The Bulls are not only completely capable of getting that number one seed again, they will.
They may not be the most talented team—the Bulls certainly do not have the star power of the Miami Heat or an individual player as good as Kevin Durant—but they are without a doubt the NBA’s finest team.
Much was made over the offseason that the acquisition of Richard Hamilton made the Bulls the NBA’s best team.
Hamilton gave the Bulls one of, if not the best starting five in the NBA with Derrick Rose, Hamilton, Luol Deng, Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer.
Additionally the depth headed up by Taj Gibson, Omer Asik, Ronnie Brewer and C.J. Watson would be the league’s best.
Again, the Bulls did not have the best talent or the most superstars, but they were 10 players deep with two legit players at each position. Nobody in the NBA can boast that.
While Hamilton has battled injuries and has only found himself in six games (12.2 points per game, 14.7 PER) the much-revered Bulls depth has helped fill the void.
Brewer is having the best season of his career and his new found three point shot make him one of the better bench players in the league.
Depth has even gotten the Bulls through Derrick Rose’s recent toe issues. While the team is certainly not good without Rose, they proved against the Phoenix Suns Tuesday that they could tread water.
John Lucas III (7.3 points per game, 14.3 PER) has stepped up admirably, and while he will find himself back on the bench when Rose and Watson return to full time duty, he is still an asset and a scoring threat when he does step on the court.
Asik and Gibson have reached the level where they, not Joakim Noah or Carlos Boozer, close out games.
This has been a much talked about issue over the past week, but even with the struggles of Noah and Boozer, the Bulls have not missed a beat.
It is troubling that two of the Bulls’ highest-paid players routinely find themselves sitting on the bench during the fourth quarter, but, really, it is a testament to the depth of this team.
The Bulls have proven through 16 games that they are more than capable of playing through injuries and are a team built for the lockout-shortened season.
They once again find themselves at the top of the NBA in defense and remain unbeatable at the United Center.
There is very little doubt that the Chicago Bulls will once again be the NBA’s number one seed in the playoffs.
This does not mean they are a lock for the NBA championship, but there is little reason to think the Bulls will regress in any way through the remainder of this season.