Chicago Bulls’ Road to a Championship in the 2016 Season

Health. The biggest question Chicago Bulls fans have been asking themselves for the last several seasons is will the Bulls be able to stay healthy all season to make a strong contention for the title? When Derrick Rose tore his ACL in 2012, their playoff run was over, losing in the first round to the Philadelphia 76ers. Rose missed the entire 2012-2013 season and when he returned the following season, he tore his meniscus within the first 15 games and crushed Chicago fans chances to take the title. The 2014-2015 season was looking like the year until Derrick got injured for a third time. He returned for the playoffs only to fall short to Lebron and the Cavaliers in 6 games.

• If the Chicago Bulls want to have any chance of winning a championship this year, Derrick Rose must remain healthy and return to his MVP level back in 2011.

• Each player’s minutes must be conserved throughout the season so every player is healthy come playoff time. No player should be averaging 40 minutes a game.

New Coach Transition. After head coach Tom Thibodeau was terminated from his position, Fred Hoiberg, the former head coach of men’s basketball at Iowa State will take over. The last few years under Thibodeau has given the roster a defensive mindset but Hoiberg will be focusing offensively.

• Coach Hoiberg plays at an up-tempo that will compliment Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler’s style of play to attack the basket.

• Attacking the basket will spread the floor leaving three-point shooters open such as Dunleavy, Mirotic, and McDermott.

• Steve Kerr, a rookie coach at Golden State Warriors just proved last year that it is possible to win a championship without coaching experience.

Depth. The strongest argument that makes the Chicago Bulls a championship contender is the amount of depth they have in their roster. With four all stars on the team and a bench composed of starting-quality players, anyone is capable of making a big impact for the game.

• In 2011, the Bulls made it to the Eastern Conference Finals almost entirely based on Derrick Rose. However, with the Bulls current roster, Rose no longer has to do everything. Jimmy Butler had his best season last year and signed a max contract with the Bulls. Gasol has proved how much of an offensive threat he is. Nikola Mirotic was brought over from Spain last year and he has shown that when he gets minutes, he performs exceptionally well. And there are many other players the Bulls have that can turn on their offense instantly.

• In 2011, the Bulls announcer gave the nickname to their bench, “the bench mob.” Although Gibson and Butler are the only players that were part of the bench mob that are still on the Bulls roster, the Bulls bench has only gotten better including Mirotic and McDermott.

If the Bulls roster remains healthy, the players are able to easily transition into new head coach Fred Hoiberg’s offense, and they utilize arguably the best bench in the league, the Bulls will have no problem beating Lebron James’ Cavaliers and taking on their opponent in the NBA Finals. Whether that be the Golden State Warriors or the San Antonia Spurs, the Bulls will return the trophy to its rightful home in Chicago to go alongside the titles Michael Jordan brought to the city so many years ago.

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