A 3-4 Circus Trip

Okay, a quick warning, this is another Bulls based post right here, so if you don't want to have anything to do with that, turn away right now.

This post is based on the fact that the Bulls have finished their circus trip, which is usually a point in the season when things seem to fall apart, with a 3-4 record. The last time they finished with a similar record during this trip is when they went 3-3 during the '05/'06 season when they finished at 41-41. I must remind everyone that they went through a tough season that year, including an 8 game losing streak, but they were a playoff team that really grabbed the attention of a lot of teams at the time. Outside of that, the team's been embarassed by this Circus Trip.

The big difference that I see this year is that the Bulls have a go to guy. Derrick Rose simply has the passion and motivation to not let the team lose. This was seen by Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, and Chris Duhon during that miracle '04/'05 season (which carried on for two years after that), but with Rose it's different in that Rose is showing signs of being an elite player. The other guys knew they were good, but Rose knows that he can control a game. He knows that he's the difference in games, he knows that he can take a team as far as he wills them to. Well, at least he thinks he can, which is more than enough. The problem with guys like Deng is that he knows his limitations, and while he often won't try to play too far above them, he also won't try to beat what he thinks he can do. He doesn't have that passion to play above himself. However, that can change with a guy like Rose as well.

Tonight Derrick Rose showed why he was picked above Michael Beasley. His block, his ankle breaker, and his alley-oop were all the things that stars are made of. However, Rose played above the highlights. He put together a game where he scored 18 points and dished out 10 assists on top of his 5 rebounds. He shot the ball well, scoring efficiently, and his teammates actually suddenly started to make some of the shots he set them up for. I can only hope that this is a sign of things to come.

This leads me into what I'm really looking to talk about. What does this mean to Bulls fans? The last time they finished close to this on this road trip they barely made it into the playoffs. However, once in, they showed that they were more than worthy of being there. At worst, this means that Rose will hit the rookie wall and the other players will start to find their game at the time they start to figure everything out...well, it could be worse than that, but that's what I predict. This will lead the Bulls into a tough 20 game stretch or so, but it won't kill the team off or anything like that. Luol Deng, Andres Nocioni, Ben Gordon, and Larry Hughes (yeah, can't believe I'm saying that) have no excust for letting this team fall off if Rose hits that rookie wall.

This means that the Bulls should be a playoff team this year. Even after the horrid Circus Road Trip they are right there in contention. They have another 6 game road trip to go through pretty soon before another 4 gamer after that one. Looking at that, this is a team that can at least will itself into the playoffs. If they don't make it, at least it will be close. However, once they get there, if they do, I can't tell you how it'll wind up, although I don't see any team outside of the Celtics or Cavs being able to sweep them right now.