Rose Shines in Loss to Atlanta

Despite an All-Star-caliber performance from rookie Derrick Rose, the Bulls slipped to 3-5 after suffering a 113-108 loss to the Hawks last night.  Rose had what was probably his best game as a pro thus far, scoring 26 points on better than 50 percent shooting while dishing six assists and grabbing 10 rebounds.  It’s becoming more and more apparent that the Bulls have struck gold with the first overall selection in the 2008 NBA Draft.  Rose has made the transition from his lone collegiate season to his first pro season like few others have, especially at the point guard position.

The team; however, was unable to capitalize on Rose’s herculean effort, falling to Atlanta.  The Hawks are now 6-0 and Chicago head coach Vinny Del Negro praised the opposing team.  “They’ve been together and they’ve had some success last year, getting in the playoffs and pushing Boston,” he told reporters before the game.  “When you keep your team together and you add a piece like a (Mike) Bibby and everybody kind of falls in and (Al) Horford improves a little bit and Marvin Williams does and Joe [Johnson] does, and you keep your pieces together and you start working and you start believing.”  Horford dominated the game, going for 27 and 17, exposing the Bulls’ lack of frontcourt depth.

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Bulls in the Middle of the Pack

The Bulls come in at number 15 in this week’s ESPN.com power rankings.  “Injuries to Hinrich and Hughes make it easier for the Bulls to find playing time for all their guards … but tougher to assemble the trade package they’d need to address those well-chronicled size issues,” writes Marc Stein.  At 3-4 the Bulls look like a team that is capable of making the playoffs, but improvement is definitely necessary to make that a reality.  Improvement is likely; however, as their Bulls’ pair of rookies, head coach Vinny Del Negro and point guard Derrick Rose, will surely get better at their respective jobs as the season progresses.

LeBron James laid his second straight 41-point performance on the Bulls on Saturday to help Cleveland knock off Chicago 106-97.  The Cavaliers outscored the Bulls by 12 in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.  Derrick Rose had a good game despite struggling to hit from the floor.  The rookie connected on just 7 of his 21 attempts for 17 points, but helped the team in other ways, dishing nine assists and grabbing five boards while limiting himself to three turnovers.  Ben Gordon, Luol Deng and Andres Nocioni all turned in good games, but the team got little else from the rest of the bunch.

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Bulls vs. Suns Tonight

The Bulls will host the Phoenix Suns tonight in what should be a tough contest for Chicago.  Head coach Vinny Del Negro knows the Suns team very well, though, as he came over to the Bulls from an assistant general manager position with Phoenix.  It’s pretty obvious that for the Bulls to win this game they’re going to have to contain Amare Stoudemire, who went off for 49 points on Wednesday night.  He and Steve Nash are a deadly combination and the two are very well versed in one another’s game.

Expect to see more of the three guard lineup that Del Negro has been implementing.  Del Negro has been playing Derrick Rose, Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich simultaneously in some situations.  The team received some criticism recently when Rose seemed to be the odd out man as far as ball domination goes while this lineup is on the floor.  Del Negro said that he makes the call on who handles point duties during such situations.  “I call it,” Del Negro said in an article in the Daily Herald.  “At times, we feel like we have an advantage with Ben in the screen and roll, like when we got back in the game in Orlando. Obviously, we want Derrick to have the ball in the open court as much as we can, to kick to the shooters.”

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LeBron’s 41 Sink Bulls

The Bulls couldn’t contain LeBron James in last night’s 107-93 loss in Cleveland as the Cavaliers superstar dropped 41 points.  James rolled his ankle early in the game but was able to return and lead his team to victory.  Ben Gordon kept the Bulls close, scoring 31 points of his own on 11-19 shooting, 5-9 from three.  Derrick Rose had another solid outing, scoring 20 points and dishing out 7 assists.  Luol Deng bounced back from his one-point performance in the Bulls’ last contest, scoring 18 points.

Aside from the three aforementioned Bulls, no other players turned in a very good performance.  Drew Gooden added 11 points and 9 rebounds, but shot only 4-13 from the floor in the process.  As a team, Chicago shot only 39 percent from the field, which just isn’t going to get it done.  Some of the Bulls’ offensive woes can be contributed to the fact that the Cavs are a solid defensive team and head coach Mike Brown preaches tough defense.  But, for the most part, you can’t win basketball games with just three of four guys contributing, especially against a squad that happens to have the best player in the world on their roster.

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Rose Leading Rookies?

Bulls point guard Derrick Rose is currently in the lead for rookie of the year honors according to ESPN.com’s awards watch.  “He had a nine-assist game and a 26-point game in his first three outings as a pro, and his fingerprints are all over the Bulls’ 2-2 start. He averaged 18.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists during the first week; if he maintains those numbers for the season, he’ll be just the ninth rookie to do so in league history,” the article says about Rose.

Rose has been more impressive from the get go than even this blogger expected.  I thought the Bulls made the right selection, going with the hometown kid over Kansas State forward Michael Beasley, but I did not expect Rose to come in and contribute so much so soon.  Rose has started every game for the Bulls this season and has not turned in a bad performance yet.  He’s shown the ability to distribute the ball one night and score in bunches the next.  He’s still got so much to learn about the pro game, which makes his ceiling all the more scary.  On a side note, as of this morning, Bulls guard Ben Gordon had received 10 percent of the vote for sixth man of the year on ESPN.com’s sportsnation poll.  The Bulls visit Cleveland tonight.

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Bulls Can’t Complete Comeback in Orlando

The Bulls fell to an even 2-2 after losing to the Orlando Magic 96-93 last night at Amway Arena.  Orlando center Dwight Howard proved to be too much for any of the Chicago bigs to handle, scoring 22 points and grabbing 15 boards.  Howard also added five blocks while keeping his turnover total down to two.  Each Magic starter scored in double digits, with Rashard Lewis chipping in 21 and 11.

Drew Gooden led all Bulls scorers with 21 points.  Andres Nocioni added 20 of his own in just 26 minutes of play.  Ben Gordon chipped in 17 off the bench.  Derrick Rose had a mediocre game, going 7 of 16 from the field for 14 points.  Rose was unable to get to the free throw line even once and finished with just one assist.  The Bulls hung tough in this contest, though, playing well in the fourth quarter, but were unable to overcome a lead that had reached double digits by the end of the first quarter.  The Bulls just don’t have a guy that can defend elite centers like Dwight Howard.  Aaron Gray is the only true center on the roster and he isn’t exactly known for his defensive prowess.

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Rose Ready

It appears that Bulls’ rookie Derrick Rose is more NBA-ready than most people thought coming into this season.  Widely thought to be a competent point guard with all the potential in the world, Rose is showing himself to be an impact player right from the get go.  Just three games into the season, there is already rookie of the year talk circulating around Rose.  Rose showed that he’s going to be a franchise player Saturday night when he scored 26 points in a win over Memphis.  The Chicago native did a good job facilitating plays for teammates during the first two games of the season, but saw that the team needed him to score in their third contest of the season.  He added six rebounds and three assists as well.

Rose will be helped by his team’s record come the end of the season, as the teams of other serious ROY candidates look to be worse off than the Bulls.  The Bulls look to be a playoff contender after three games, but much of their success will hinge on Rose’s play, as exemplified by Saturday night’s game.  Rose has shown the ability to use his all-world athleticism to get to the basket and get buckets.  With the Greg Oden injury and Michael Beasley likely to be inconsistent, Rose could run away with the award.

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