2007-2008 Chicago Bulls

Well there is only one word to describe the turn this team took this season and that word is disappointment. The Chicago Bulls had finally begin to build a level of respectability over the past few years including a trip to the playoffs in each of the last three seasons. In 2004, the team made its first trip to the postseason since the last championship run in 1998. The Washington Wizards defeated them in the first round 4-2 despite taking the first two games of the series. A return trip to the playoffs the next year pitted the young Bulls against the Miami Heat in the first round but they were again defeated in a highly competitive series in six games. Last year they finished third place in the Central Division at 49-33, one game behind the Cavaliers and only 4 behind the division winner Detroit Pistons. The Bulls surprised everyone (including themselves probably), in soundly beating the heat in a four game sweep and advanced to the second round of the postseason. Although they would fall in six games against the Pistons, the team seemed destined to take the next step up in the years to come or so we thought. This year the team began with its trademark slow start of 9-17 that resulted in the firing of head coach Scott Skiles. In addition to that, contract talks became a distraction as two of the team's core players Loul Deng and Ben Gordon turned down 5 year/50 million dollar deals. Other trade talks begin to surface regarding Kobe Bryant shortly after the assistant coach, Jim Boylan was promoted to interim coach for the remainder of the season. Despite the coaching change, the team did not perform any better than when Skiles was at helm going 24-32 the rest of the way and the team finished a dismal reason with a woeful record of 33-49. While they completed a mid-season trade sending Ben Wallace and Joe Smith to the Cavaliers for Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden, it was still not enough to help turn the team's fortunes around. As most of us know at this point, it is time for General Manager, John Paxson to begin re-tooling the core of this team in order turn things around and become a contender in the Eastern Conference again. The Celtics managed to pull the trigger on a trade that bought in all-star players Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen which resulted in a 42 game turnaround from last year and the green team finished with the league's best record at 66-16. The Los Angeles Lakers made a mid-season trade for Paul Gasol and the presence of an inside game helped the team from Hollywood capture a number one seed out in the West with a record of 57-25. The Bulls however did not follow their competition in acquiring a player that would help get this team over the hump. As a Chicago native it is very disappointing to see a team come so far over the past few years only to return to the basement in almost every statistical category at both ends of the floor. While a championship is certainly a few years away even with making the right personnel moves in the future, it will continue to only be a nice conversational piece if they don't.

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