<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> 20 (9) Bulls 47-35 Bulls were a big-time surprise in '04-05. It'll be a bigger surprise if they can top that run in '05-06, with the surprise factor gone and the Curry cloud to contend with.</div> <div align="center">Source</div> To say their sleeping on us is a understatement.
Some teams I just dont agree with. The Bucks, Lakers, Warriors and Knicks. Seattle is way too low as well.
Guess the Bulls have to shock the whole NBA again..We have a pretty deep squad...I think around 11 quality players...Which is the perfect sort of team for Skiles to coach...He loves competition for each position..Guys pushing themselves to be the best player they can be...Makes for an exciting 2005-2006 season.
After a great season people are underestimating us once again.... Even if Curry doesn't return I still see are team being very good. With Curry: PG-Duhon or Gordon SG-Hinrich SF-Deng PF-Chandler C-Curry Without Curry: PG-Duhon or Gordon SG-Hinrich SF-Deng PF-Sweetney C-Chandler Either way with great defense and an extremely deep bench: Ben Gordon (If he doesn't start), Malik Allen, Darius Songaila, Antonio Davis, Othella Harrington, Jannero Pargo, Eric Piatkowski, Eddie Basden, and Andres Nocioni tell me that?s not one of the deepest benches in the league. I think we will be just as good as last season, if not better.
One thing I don?t get is why we fell so much in this guys power rankings in a week when most of the teams he put ahead of us where idol this week as well. To go from nine to twenty this thing has to be flawed. ESPN needs to get some new analysts down there.
Yeah, Especially since one of the teams ahead of us is the...NY Knicks?!? I guess either its a complete mishap or the people who did them really dont like the Bulls..
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Best Kept Secret:</div><div class="quote_post">One thing I don?t get is why we fell so much in this guys power rankings in a week when most of the teams he put ahead of us where idol this week as well. To go from nine to twenty this thing has to be flawed. ESPN needs to get some new analysts down there.</div> I'm gonna get tired of explaining this to people soon. These rankings are the first of the 05/06 season. The rankings in brackets are the team's last rankings at the beginning of the playoffs in 04/05. Thought someone else would figure it would after seeing the defending champs last ranked third...
Hmm. Depth and defense get underrated again. I feel a rant coming on... I dunno, perhaps if you have a team full of great young players, veterans, one of last year's COY candidates, who got homecourt advantage last year, you'd think they deserve at least a little bit of respect? Right? I mean, we weren't TOTALLY lost without Curry. We put up a fight. And entering the season we'll have acquired good reparations for him or at least have him signed to a one year deal and have him for the first half of the season. Well, that doesn't really mean much now because we don't look as appealing on paper as some teams. But last year, did we look appealing on paper? Hell no. Even most Bulls fans expected another lottery season. The only thing we were running on pure fumes of having a young core, and hoped to build on that in the future. But what was it that saved us? Smart coaching and cold, hard, defense. Clutch play from Ben Gordon, player development through the year, depth, different guys coming through every night, veteran leadership, and many other things attributed to our win/loss record last year. Tell me, how many of those things applied to Curry? Anythign to do with defense certainly didnt. Sure sure, he's a great inside scorer, and he scored at the beginning of games for us pretty damn well, but on defense he gave a lot of those baskets back up. Trade the man, get a good defensive big man with some scoring ability and he'll have the same productivity. I remember some stat last year saying that the Bulls were least efficient with Curry on the floor. I don't know what it is, but it seems there's something about the Bulls everyone has to hate on. Then when they succeed, everyone is either shocked or pretends they had a feeling that something like this would happen. I understand chemistry is hard to predict, but this is just plain terrible. We drop avout 10 spots from last year just because we haven't resigned the big man we went 23-21 without I believe. That means that we went 24-26 with him. But losing him propels outta the playoffs. We're going to have to show everyone what we're made of, again. End rant.
The Bulls ill do as good as if not better than last year, I see no reason for them not to. Curry played a big role offesively but was no powerhouse defender or a great presence on the boards. Antonio Davis is a seasoned veteran who can do much for a young bulls squad and Tyson Chandler is severly underrated, he deserves the money he got if JJ gets payed 14 a year. Chandler can play D with the best of 'em, has a decent offensive arsenal and is still quite young. With increased minutes Chandler could do much more than Curry did. I totally disagree with ESPN's power rankings, there quite off.
