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Can someone explain to me why we are expected to be 5-7 in the east and are not expected to win 50 games. I was watching Tim Legler talking about how great of a add Boozer was for us and how he didn't get enough attention and then BAM...... he says 5-7 in the east. Boozer is only out 1 month for the regular season and people are acting like he's out for half the year. Heck, even without Boozer we are a better team imo than last years team. Rose is going to be better, Deng is hitting threes, JJ looking like a basketball player, Asik, Korver doing what he do, and Coach T.

Boozer is not even worth 9 wins from 41 last year? It seems like people like what we have done but feel its not all that great.

But hey why should I care about ESPN...... Legler had the Heat finishing 4th in the east

For my prediction, I don't have a lot of confidence. I have seen some big positives so far and some big concerns mixed in with unknowns.

Positives
- Thibodeau looks like the real deal as a coach. Cares about both sides of the court and can teach.
- Deng is the man
- Rose's defense looks better
- Noah looks real good
- Asik is a player

Negatives
- SG position looks horrible
- Several of the acquisitions look questionable, like Watson, Brewer, etc.
- Gibson looks bad and is reminding people why they wanted someone else
- Rose's offense doesn't look to be improved. If anything, he looks worse than he finished last year

Unknown, and this is a big one
- Boozer. How will he play? How will he fit?

I'm also going to bank on injuries. I think that the Bulls are going to miss a lot of games from key players. As such, I predict . . . 47 wins, with some bias towards the upside if the team is healthy.

My range is 49-51 so I voted in the 50-54 range, but really 48-52 I think is fine 54 wins would be a bit of a surprise to me.

From early returns, I can see why Stan Van wanted Vinnie coaching the Bulls as opposed to someone like Thibs who can better devise schemes to beat him.

Fish, 47 wins wouldn't be bad with injuries and not every player fitting in and not every player improving from last season. Lower than hopes/expectations, but 47 wins is not bad for a new team in a now tougher conference. But it is skirting on the disappointment range for me.

I said 58-24 a while back and I am sticking to it.

57-25

I'm sticking with my 52 or 53 call... despite Boozer's clumsiness/rage and CJ Watson's inability to play basketball.

This team looks to be extremely well-rounded and also won't lose for lack of effort. For those reasons, I like the Bulls to have a really good season.

For the record, I think KC and Coldfish are trying not to get their hopes up. 44 to 47 is pretty low and would be very disappointing IMO.

Fish, I agree with all your positives. As for your negatives, the only one that really concerns me is Watson. He's looked way too "shooty," way too "missy" and just plain way too "Golden-Statey." I'm not worried about Rose or the SG position...Rose's offense will be good, but maybe not particularly efficient and the SG position will be below average. As for Taj, I refuse to believe that what I saw last season was a mirage...he'll be OK, which is all we have a right to expect from him.

Injuries? If they're going to happen, they're going to happen and they can certainly change things. I don't worry about them for this Bulls team, because no one's got anything that I'd label "chronic."

For me, Deng's and Asik's play in the preseason were pleasant and extremely important surprises. Deng has always been good, but now he's better, and as you say, Asik's a player...right damn now.

50 wins? Doable.

People just dont follow the Bulls enough. People dont realize that the Bulls lost 10 in a row last season because of massive amount of injuries and still won 41. We improved on that team without Boozer. 50+ wins is definitely doable.

I think we'll win 48-49 games this season. Just too many unknowns for me at this point to get my hopes up.

67-15

i think if we stay healthy we win 55, but no boozer for the first month will be difficult but I still think we'll win 55

51-31

I voted : 50 - 54 wins

So far I'm really impressed how Deng played the preseason! Also I'm pretty happy to have Asik in our roster!

If our guys can stay healthy we should win at least 50!

I voted 50-54, and could give two **** what someone on ESPN or NBAtv says.

coldfish wrote:Good thread idea. I was going to do a "final wins projection" thread. If you don't mind, I am going to make your thread the winner. I'm going to edit the title and add a poll.

I have no problem with yall helping out my thread lol

55 - 27

Pending if we can upgrade our 2 guard spot with a legit starting SG. Can't go far with Bogans starting.

50-54

If there are no more major injuries, I could see them winning as many as 57.
If they win less than 50, I'll consider them an underachieving team; barring major injuries.

I voted 55 wins and yes I think we are that good!

50-54

I think we could win a game or 2 more than that as well. Barring any major injuries we should be able to win games. We're hungry.