Central Division

Chicago Bulls Power Rankings - 2011-12

Power Ranking
WEEKRECORDRANKCOMMENT
Week 1748-162Foot. Ankle. Groin. Back. Toe. Derrick Rose has missed time because of injuries to all of those body parts and conceivably can't be 100 percent when the playoffs start. Because the same goes for Luol Deng, I can't make Chicago my favorites to win the East, no matter how stubborn it's been (17-9) when D-Rose sits.
Week 1646-141One of my favorite Bulls watchers insists that D-Rose is getting his groove back and that Deng's tender wrist is the only issue that can derail them from winning the East. My outlook for Chicago wouldn't be as sunny as that, though, because the road to the Finals might actually be tougher for the No. 1 seed.
Week 1543-144So they've manufactured 15 wins (in 22 games) without D-Rose in the lineup and have about 20 days to go until the playoffs start to get the NBA's reigning MVP back to peak form. As long as there are no further health setbacks in a season filled with them, something tells me Chicago can live with those sorts of numbers.
Week 1442-123Can't speak for Bulls fans, but the committee (of one) is prepared to pardon a blowout loss at OKC without D-Rose because the team has generally been so resilient without him, going 14-6 in those 20 games. The Bulls lose me completely, though, when it comes to their handling of Tom Thibodeau's contract. Completely.
Week 1340-101First team to 40 wins. First team to clinch a playoff spot. Know-it-alls like me keep saying the Bulls can't get too giddy about their 12-4 record sans D-Rose, because they're going nowhere in the playoffs unless he's fully healed, but all the winning without him has to mean his supporting cast is better. Right?
Week 1237-101Before Friday's fall-from-ahead L to the Blazers, Chicago had won 49 straight games when leading after three quarters, good for the NBA's longest such streak since Utah won 67 games in a row when taking a lead into the fourth quarter from 1997 to '99. In a related story: D-Rose was sitting out with a groin injury.
Week 1134-91Thursday's TNT loss to Orlando was the Bulls' first with D-Rose on the floor since Feb. 1. Something tells me that Miami's visit to Chicago on Wednesday will attract a decent amount of attention, even as it falls amid March Madness and on the eve of the latest trade deadline in NBA history.
Week 1031-81Big win in San Antonio to start the second half. Six straight wins overall. Best average nightly point differential (+9.4 ppg) in the league. And Derrick Rose is back in full flow after that five-game shelving to get his back right. Put it all together and the Bulls are safely back up in the stratosphere where they belong.
Week 927-84The Bulls haven't started this well since a 31-4 launch in '96-97 led to a tidy 69-13 mark, but concern persists about D-Rose's back, Rip's limited impact as the Bulls' marquee offensive addition and three games with Miami before we even get to the playoffs: March 14 (home), April 12 (home) and April 19 (road).
Week 825-85We keep sayin' it: Outside of San Antonio, maybe no team plays through regular-season injuries like Da Bulls. A 7-3 record sans D-Rose, though, doesn't provide much joy because back injuries are so unpredictable. The East's No. 1 seed has to be secondary now to get Rose as right as possible for the playoffs.
Week 723-73When does churning out a league-leading 23 wins from an absolute grind of a start, which called for 20 of those first 30 games to be played on the road, provide precious little comfort? When an ailing D-Rose is moved to come out and announce the following: "I just know my back is not right." (Gulp.)
Week 620-62Luol Deng is apparently determined to be the Kobe of the East by pretending he's not playing with a mangled wrist. And D-Rose's toe must be holding up OK, too, given that his recent run of three straight games with at least 34 points is something no Bull had done since Michael Jeffrey Jordan in late February of the 1996-97 season.
Week 517-54D-Rose became the youngest MVP in NBA history last season largely because of the way he kept the Bulls rolling even when Noah or Boozer was out of the lineup. The worry for him this season is the Bulls' apparent destiny to be even more banged up as a team than those 2010-11 Bulls, D-Rose included.
Week 415-31As long as this turf-toe deal eventually heals, Rose and the Bulls are bound to be grateful later that he's getting rest now and that they're getting away with it in the short term against a string of sub-.500 foes. Think you already know what it means if the toe isn't healing properly.
Week 312-21Of the many reasons they're up here now: The Bulls have played five games at home, and in precisely none of those five did the visitors manage to score 75 points. As long as D-Rose's toe troubles don't linger, they'll be hard to dislodge from this perch.
Week 27-22It's the Bulls' best start since MJ's 1996-97 team went 8-0. And if it's possible, Chicago's D -- particularly the bigs -- looks even more imposing than it did last season if you throw out Saturday's egg in Atlanta, with four of its last five foes held under 85 points.
Week 14-12If point differential means something to you -- and by now it really should -- it should be impressive to hear that the Derrick Rose-led Bulls now have three 40-point wins since December 2010 ... in a league with only nine such scores total in that span.
Preseason62-204Are the Bulls on the short list of teams, along with Miami and OKC, that can win 50 games when the schedule only offers 66 tries? Definitely. Did the Bulls do enough roster-wise to give D-Rose the playoff help he needs? Doesn't look like it.
Training Camp25-80We keep sayin' it: Outside of San Antonio, maybe no team plays through regular-season injuries like Da Bulls. A 7-3 record sans D-Rose, though, doesn't provide much joy because back injuries are so unpredictable. The East's No. 1 seed has to be secondary now to get Rose as right as possible for the playoffs.

Chicago Bulls