NBA: Contender Or Pretender?

Chicago Bulls

Contender:

If the Bulls can get even 90 percent of MVP Derrick Rose, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with in the East. Even LeBron James thinks so. Don’t forget, the last time we saw D-Rose fully healthy, the Bulls finished as the top seed in the Eastern Conference two years in a row over the Miami Heat and their Big Three. And that was before Chicago added Pau Gasol, Nikola Mirotic and Doug McDermott, not to mention watched Taj Gibson turn into a monster off the bench.

Joakim Noah has also grown into one of the best centers in the NBA since then. Jimmy Butler is only going to improve and you know Tom Thibodeau’s defense is going to be stingy once again. Scoring points seems like an annual issue for this team, but if Rose and the Bulls can just stay healthy, they’re very much a contender.

Pretender:

Then again, the last time Derrick Rose was fully healthy was at the end of the 2011-12 season. Rose has looked as good as he ever has post-ACL injury in the preseason, but it’s preseason. Don’t forget, he looked tremendous in the preseason last year and we all remember how that turned out. As much as Chicago’s core has a ton of chemistry, they haven’t played together fully healthy in months and the edge of the roster is rounded out with new faces.

Chicago’s status as a contender depends fully upon Rose’s health. The Bulls can still be one of the better teams in the Easter Conference if he goes down again, but they’re not beating the Cleveland Cavaliers without him. For now the Bulls are a contender, but their status quickly reverts back to pretender if that Rose has those same injury thorns.

Verdict: Contender