http://www.suntimes.com/sports/2515430,chicago-bulls-free-agency-lebron-james-20.article Despite no LeBron James , did Chicago Bulls improve in free agency? BY MARK POTASH | Commentary Will the failure to lure LeBron James to Chicago turn into another free pass for the Bulls and John Paxson? The chance to acquire James -- and possibly Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade with him -- seemingly created an all-or-nothing scenario for the Bulls. They'd either be big winners or big losers in the offseason. Instead, the way the James saga played out, the Bulls might end up right in the middle, with the worst-case scenario -- a slightly improved team just good enough to look like they're getting somewhere. Just good enough to keep the United Center full and Jerry Reinsdorf happy. Just good enough to keep us from seeing the big picture: while this is the first year of the Tom Thibodeau era, it's the seventh year of the Paxson era and the 13th year of the post-Jordan era. The issue isn't how good the Bulls will be this season. It's how good should we expect them to be? Since winning 49 games under Scott Skiles and advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals in 2006-07, the Bulls' only real accomplishment has been keeping our interest. They've gone 33-49, 41-41 and 41-41 the past three seasons, but somehow they've always come up with something to convince us that they're getting somewhere: Firing Scott Skiles created another transition period that demanded time to pay dividends; beating the draft-lottery odds to draft Derrick Rose provided them with their best player since Michael Jordan; losing valiantly to the defending World Champion (but Kevin Garnett-less) Celtics in the first round of the 2009 playoffs became an actual marketing campaign; losing in the first round of the playoffs last season was progress -- they lost to LeBron James & Co. in five. Just wait until free agency. And even after losing out on James and the free agency bonanza in the offseason, it's almost like the fates have conspired to insulate the Bulls from scorn. The backlash against James since his the ill-advised "The Decision" seems to have painted the Bulls as the victim instead of the loser. Post-decision reports -- including an inside look at James' free-agency by Yahoo.com's Adrian Wojnarowski -- portray James as a self-centered, disconnected-from-the-real-world superstar who overplayed the best hand in the world so badly that he tarnished his image forever. Good for Reinsdorf that he didn't kow-tow to James' demand for his entourage to be part of the Bulls' travel party (a report since debunked by Reinsdorf himself). And Derrick Rose is a hero for refusing to bow to the great LeBron James, neither calling him nor joining the Bulls' group that went to Cleveland to make their pitch. Suddenly Rose is being hailed as his own man. So even in "defeat" the Bulls will go into the 2010-11 season with their ever-faithful fans behind them -- again. I'm not saying it shouldn't be that way. They could have done a lot worse than Carlos Boozer, Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer in the offseason. And a defensive-minded coach like Thibodeau could make a big difference on a team that was not as good defensively as the numbers indicated last season. But let's not re-start the clock on the Bulls -- and Paxson -- just because of a new coach and new players. Remember, Year 13 of the post-Jordan era is about to begin.
Even if you believe the Heat are going to win the next 3-5 championships, wouldn't you rather watch a solid team built around Rose? I don't believe the Heat are a lock yet. And LBJ has an out after the 3rd and could just as easily decide to leave again if his ego gets in the way. The team is better, and really just an injury or two away from being the best team in the East. I expect them to be in the mix for the East for at least the next few years. If Rose continues to improve, they could be better than the Heat with a tweak or two. But they are definitely headed in the right direction with the flexibility to continue to improve.
