Central Division

Chicago Bulls Power Rankings - 2012-13

Power Ranking
WEEKRECORDRANKCOMMENT
Week 2443-3714Correction: Halting Miami's 27-game win streak and then New York's 13-gamer will have to suffice for Da Bulls in 2012-13. As hard as Joakim Noah, Luol Deng and the double-double happy Carlos Boozer try, Chicago just has too many injuries all around the D-Rose saga to be a real playoff factor.
Week 2342-3413Leaning strongly toward proclaiming that halting Miami's 27-game win streak was Da Bulls' championship in 2012-13. Their road mojo is gone, presumably because someone else key besides D-Rose always seems to be sitting, so how can you pick this Chicago against Brooklyn or Indy in Round 1?
Week 2240-3212The next team with the temerity to stretch a winning streak into the 20s might want to avoid Chicago. There have been four such winning streaks in NBA history ... and Da Bulls have ended two of them. They halted Milwaukee's 20-gamer in 1970-71 and, of course, caged the Heat at 27 straight.
Week 2138-3115Think we all want the same thing: Derrick Rose makes his long-awaited return when the Heat descend upon the Windy City with a 27-game win streak. Don't count on it, though. Hard to imagine, as cautious as D-Rose seems, that Wednesday will be the night to finally spring that comeback on us.
Week 2036-2913The Bulls no longer have the East's best road mark, thanks to the Heat's scalding play since Feb. 1. But the Knicks' struggles and the Nets' looming eight-game trip would suggest that it won't be long before the Bulls are alone with Miami when it comes to East teams with winning road records.
Week 1935-2813The Bulls can insist all they want in the wake of this ESPN Chicago story that they're not trying to pressure Derrick Rose into returning ASAP. The problem now is that the mere appearance of putting pressure on D-Rose is a mess of proverbial ketchup that ain't going back in the bottle.
Week 1834-2612Down by three with 13 seconds to go in Indy, Tom Thibodeau trotted out the fivesome of Marco Belinelli, Jimmy Butler, Luol Deng, Vladimir Radmanovic and Joakim Noah for the first time all season. And they clinched an L that sealed the Pacers' first triumph in the season series since 2003-04.
Week 1732-2415Something tells me that the banged-up, overworked Bulls are eager to see the calendar flip to March. They're 4-7 in February, still dealing with the Reggie Rose hubbub and just shot the ball worse than any other team in any other game this season at 25-for-86 (.291) in Sunday's loss at OKC.
Week 1630-2214Tom Thibodeau continues to maximize his team's output, but four losses in five games leading into the break raises the question: Are long minutes, mounting injuries and the continuing absence of Derrick Rose beginning to take a psychological toll? (Matt McHale, By The Horns)
Week 1530-2011It's getting harder and harder to resist projecting what the Bulls will look like when Derrick Rose comes back. One big reason for that: Chicago already has the best intraconference record in the East at a tidy 23-9. Which goes rather nicely with the East's best road record (15-9).
Week 1429-189As banged up as the Bulls are, they continue to sport the NBA's highest road winning percentage, vaulting Tom Thibodeau past Mike Woodson when it comes to the East's most worthy COY contenders. The Bulls also move back into the top 10 and, to be honest, never should have left.
Week 1326-1711Someone smartly asked this on Twitter and it's a question worth repeating even if I lost the original tweet that put the topic on the table: If Jimmy Butler can handle so many minutes when Luol Deng is out, why can't he take a few more minutes off of Deng's legs when the All-Star is healthy?
Week 1223-1610What would you say if we told you that only two players in the entire league have averaged at least 20 points and 10 boards per game since Christmas Day? They are: DeMarcus Cousins (22.3 ppg, 12.0 rpg) ... and the Bulls' late-charging All-Star hopeful Carlos Boozer (22.3 ppg and 12.0 rpg).
Week 1120-1514Even if you buy what the standings say and co-sign the idea that the Bulls really are a better team on the road, allowing 97 points at the United Center to get thumped by a Phoenix team that was just 2-17 in away games has to rank as a shocking, indefensible score line.
Week 1018-1311The Bulls' 6-2 record against Miami the past three regular seasons is pretty sparkly, but you can bet they like the look of the Carlos Boozer we're suddenly seeing in 2013. The word on Derrick Rose, meanwhile, continues to be: Don't expect to see him until after the All-Star break.
Week 916-1211We're always talking about what the Bulls are missing with D-Rose out. Let's divert from the script to wonder aloud about Chicago's suddenly crowded rotation at the 2 now that Rip Hamilton is back to share time with the better-than-expected Marco Belinelli and young swingman Jimmy Butler.
Week 815-1110Reasonably good December for the Bulls. They're 8-4 for the month, losing only to quality teams (Pacers and Clips at home; Griz and Hawks on the road) and ranking in the top five in all the categories Thibs treasures: Scoring defense, defensive efficiency and defensive FG percentage.
Week 713-910Joakim Noah has scored at least 20 points five times this season after never reaching the 20s more than three times in any previous season. Yet the numbers that matter most to panicky Bulls fans are 40.2 and 41.1 -- Noah and Deng's minutes-per-game averages with D-Rose still healing.
Week 611-88Chicago must feel a little like London right now to Luol Deng. Team Great Britain couldn't afford to take Deng off the floor during the Olympics and Tom Thibodeau has Deng playing a whopping 41.2 minutes per game nightly with Rip Hamilton joining D-Rose on the Bulls' list of unavailables.
Week 58-79More and more you hear suggestions that the offensively challenged Bulls have enough D to snag the No. 4 seed in the East sans Derrick Rose, then make a playoff run because D-Rose will surely be healthy enough to do damage come April. As wide open as the Central looks ... maybe.
Week 46-612After giving up 100 points in four straight games -- which qualifies as a bigger circus in the Thibodeau Era than anything going on back home -- Chicago just submitted its most Bulls-y effort of the season by going into Milwaukee and grinding one out against the Central Division leaders.
Week 35-511The Bulls are a shock to the system on so many fronts even after you factor in D-Rose's absence. Only five games scheduled on the shortest Circus Trip we can ever remember? And then four straight Bulls' opponents scoring in triple digits for the first time since pre-Thibodeau in January 2010.
Week 24-27Classic Thibs Era performance in that 87-80 home win over the Wolves. How classic? According to Elias, Chicago is now 20-12 under Tom Thibodeau in games in which it scores fewer than 90 points. The rest of the NBA, in the same span, has a .167 winning percentage compared to the Bulls' .625.
Week 12-16Annoyed as Coach Thibs surely was that they couldn't take care of the Hornets at home with The Unibrow sidelined, this was a bountiful Halloween for the Bulls. The numbers on Taj Gibson's extension looked particularly sweet ... and the first 2-0 start since 2002-03 wasn't bad, either.
Preseason0-012Respect for Coach Thibs is such that A) it's a virtual consensus that the D-Rose-less Bulls will defend too stoutly to fall far off the playoff pace and B) Chicago still ranks as an elite team with Vegas bookmakers even when they know Rose will miss at least half the season.
Training Camp50-1615If you think D-Rose was emotional at that adidas press conference chronicling his diligent rehab, wait until you see what happens around New Year's when he and Coach Thibs start planning Rose's comeback from that ACL tear ... and cautious Bulls management tells them it's best to sit tight.

Chicago Bulls