What are your expectations for the Bulls?

[ccameron]

Jimmy Butler looks like a dragon. They'll go far.

[Wargreymon]

The Bulls will finish 4-78 with all 4 wins against my Craptors.

[510TWSS]

I don't think even the Bulls know what to expect.

[Vleckaron]

He's mentioned like he's in the same class as Kwahi or Paul George.

Nobody said this except you.

[nbafan341]

I think they will suck during the regular season because of their lack of spacing and 3pt shooting. However, come playoff time the bulls will probably look to upset a team with home court advantage. I coudl see the bulls being a 5th or 6th seed and getting at least past the first round because wade will hit god mode and hit more 3s than steph curry.

[RedBulls23]

Jimmy butler is so overrated. He's mentioned like he's in the same class as Kwahi or Paul George. He's not even close to being consistent enough offensively. He's no where near being a better player than Klow.

Yet he was more consistent compared to PG even with his pretty bad end to the season

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1456299&p=48044929#p48044929

Yeah, while I certainly don't think Jimmy is on Kwahi's level he is just as good as Paul George.

They have similar RPMs (with George at 4.93 and Jimmy at 4.01) and Jimmy actually has the higher PER and TS%.

PG has the better jumper, but Jimmy finishes at the basket at a higher percentage.

It will be interesting to see what Jimmy does this coming season with finally getting to be the first option like PG is.

[Salieri]

Bulls should be an interesting team to watch next season. They have one of the most unpredictable projections.

It comes down to chemistry, mainly. 3 guys such as Rondo, Wade and Butler are a bad fit on paper, sure. But the individual talent is there, and I learned long ago that talent trumps everything in basketball. If there's any possible way to make it work, these guys are gonna make sure they take the best route to find said way, I'm sure.

How will all this pan out? I can picture the scenario where they don't click soon enough, frustration takes over the overall mindset, locker room issues show up, Rondo calls it quits as he has done before and it all falls apart. But I can also see a future where they successfully tread the deep waters of the first 2 months, they refine a rogue, unconventional yet effective playbook and they start gaining momentum until becoming a serious threat to anyone in the east not named Cleveland.

The rest of the questions, albeit important, are secondary to the main issue: Mirotic, Portis and Felicio's improvement, Lopez's fit, McDermott's search for consistency.

As for posters looking for a "replacement value" over the old roster, I wouldn't trust that much that kind of reasoning. This is a new team with a completely new identity. Looking for an individual impact difference might not work as well as intended because while Rose was subpar last year, next season you might need a better performance from the PG spot to keep the boat afloat. Same can be said about Lopez: he might not reach Gasol's impact but that doesn't necessarily mean bad news, maybe the new team doesn't need use big men as a fulcrum for their offense.

Also, no offense to Raptors fans, but I would pick Butler to play for my team before Derozan or Lowry 10 out of 10 times. Kid is amazing. Of course, this doesn't mean the Toronto stars are not good players... I just think Butler is better. Well, let me rephrase it: I like Butler more.

[PhillySixers22]

The Bulls should be interesting if nothing else this year. I honestly don't like the way their main guys fit, mostly Rondo. I think Wade and Butler could have made things work together better without him. Offensively Rondo is completely worthless without the ball in his hands, but I wouldn't take it away from Jimmy and Wade to give it to him since Wade is a poor shooter. I think how far they go is going to be determined by the progression of Butler mostly but also from Mirotic and McDermott. I also really like Valentine and expect some solid contributions as a rookie.

[jcuuofd]

This roster is a huge upgrade over Rose and Noah. Good riddance to bad rubbish. The Bulls will make the playoffs but probably will go no further than second round.

[AndriPerdhian93]

5-8 seed and 2 round exit.

[ingvald]

I'm not sure what to expect- are they a Super Team?

[shangrila]

The thing with talent trumping all is that it depends on the talent being overwhelming. The Big 3 HEAT weren't a good fit when they came together but Lebron and Wade were just too good to see it fail.

I don't think that applies to the Bulls. They have talent in Rondo, old Wade and Butler, but it's not good enough to completely dismiss the fit.

[Kswiss]

I mean I think its possible they make the playoffs because Butler is a stud, Wade is underrated but he's getting older and may not be able to play hard defense a full season. On top of that they don't have a starting PG unless they start Rondo but with his lack of shooting and defense and general winning impact that seems like a bad call. I see them winning 30 games if Rondo starts

[bwgood77]

This new look Bulls team is interesting to say the least..... they are lacking spacing; can they make it work still though?

Your thoughts?

Depends on how they can spread the floor with McDermott, Portis and Mirotic, allowing room for Wade and Butler to drive. Would obviously help if Butler improved on 3 pt shooting. I think West might be too tough to make the playoffs, but the olympic experience they both have, and playoff experience Wade has should help them be mentally strong. Not sure it will be enough though because east will be pretty tough and deep this year.

[The_Hater]

People keep saying that they don't like the way the team is constructed but they have 2 All Stars on the wing and a pass first point guard in Rondo, they'll find a way to make it work. No they're not the greatest shooters but all three (Wade, Butler, Rondo) have extremely high BBIQs, and they all know what it takes to win. If they are healthy, this is definitely not a team I would want the Raps to face in the playoffs. Their success will ultimately be determined by the competence level of Hoiberg who has yet to prove himself as a head coach.

2013 is the last season Wade played at a legit all star level and Rondo is a below average starting PG.

I see it this way too. They have 3 perimeter players that all project to start and they play best with the ball in their hands. The positive is that they're all really good passers and slashers, the negative is they'll have trouble spacing the floor and need touches to do what they do best. Dragic was already minimalized in Miami playing beside Wade. Rondo has frustrated his last 3 coaches. Butler was frustrated playing with Rose and now plays beside two such players (albeit they're both better than Rose).

They all have talent and could find a way to make it work, but how long will that take? And what's the ceiling of a lineup that doesn't space the floor and shoot a lot of 3's.

[bigmandinky]

I mean I'm a Raptors fan and I'd say the Bulls arguably have a better frontcourt and backcourt then the Celtics, who are getting a lot of love this offsesaon. I'm sure they'll have to adjust during the regular season, but come playoff time I'd be more scared of Chicago than Boston.

[alucryts]

I really have no idea what this Bulls team is going to do. I can't imagine that they will be great or contenders in even the best of projections, but at least it'll be entertaining to find out.

[Ballah]

All but basically two teams in the East expect to make the playoffs, and other than the top three spots everything else is wide open. Two-three years ago this team was basically guaranteed homecourt in the playoffs, right now it is impossible to predict who is going to end up where.

[NZB2323]

I could see the Bulls winning anywhere from 25 to 55 wins this year.