For the second time in four seasons, the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers met to play on Christmas Day and once again there were major story lines underlying the action. On this day in 2011, the two teams kicked off the NBA season after a long, seemingly endless lockout. This year, the game marked the first time Pau Gasol and Carlos Boozer would face off against their old teams- the Lakers and Bulls, respectively. The game was to also serve as a game between two superstars who have finally made their returns to the court after various injuries (though, this story didn’t come to fully come to fruition as Kobe Bryant sat out the game).

Unfortunately despite all of the underlying plot narratives the game, unsurprisingly, fell flat due to the glaring difference in abilities between the two teams. Behind Gasol’s 23 points, Jimmy Butler’s 21 points, and Derrick Rose’s 20 points, the Bulls trounced the Lakers 113-93. The game was marked characteristic up and down play by Chicago, due in part because the team would play down to their opponent’s level after building a lead. When engaged Chicago fired on all cylinders and were seemingly unstoppable. Otherwise they looked uninterested and ready to pick-up the egg nog Joakim Noah had asked the crowd to put down before tip-off.

Due to difference in both teams’ abilities and their current trajectories, all the story lines weren’t exactly enthralling. While fun for Bulls fans to see Gasol continue to play at a level former-Bulls Carlos Boozer would occasionally deliver, without fierce competition his first game against the Lakers fell flat. Boozer’s fight against Chicago was only interesting because it was difficult to determine whether the crowd was chanting “boo” or “Booze.” Or even when trying to figure out…

Are Chicago fans saying “boo-urns” or “boo-zer”?

— Pro Hoops History (@ProHoopsHistory) December 26, 2014

The Bulls will have the day off before hosting the New Orleans Pelicans on December 27th. Both Derrick Rose and Chicago will hope to keep their incredible level of play (when engaged) going forward.

The post Santa Pau Gasol Delivers a Christmas Win Over the Lakers appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

After missing the previous game due to sprained ankles, Derrick Rose made his return last night to help the Chicago Bulls beat the Milwaukee Bucks by a score of 95-86. The Bulls were once again without starting center Joakim Noah as he continues to deal with illness. The win improves the Bulls record to 4-1 on the season.

In old-Thibodeau fashion, the minutes distribution in the game was heavily skewed in favor of a few players. Taj Gibson and Jimmy Butler were both on the floor for over 40 minutes of game time while Pau Gasol saw 36 minutes of action. Despite the overload of minutes on the tail end of a back-to-back stretch on the road, the trio made the most of their time on the floor. Gibson and Gasol made mincemeat of Milwaukee’s big men as the repeatedly took advantage of soft post defense. Butler cooled off somewhat scoring wise but still managed to contribute heavily on the offensive end by distributing the ball efficiently. Additionally, Butler managed to wreak havoc on defense. At one point in the third quarter, Butler managed to create three turnovers in the span of just over three minutes.

The game was a fairly easy win for Chicago, as expected. Though the Bucks managed to keep pace in the first half, Chicago finally clamped down defensively only allowing 33 points in the second half. Though there is a clear difference in team ability, it is nice to see the team shut down their opponents as a unit, something that has been seldom seen thus far this season. As the team continues to gel, the defense should return to the previous, suffocating form that we have all become accustomed to seeing.

The Bulls continue their circus road trip on Friday, November 7th, against the Philadelphia 76ers. Despite saying he wasn’t at 100% and that he may have tweaked his ankle in a collision in last night’s game, Rose believes he will be fit enough to suit up for the game.

The post Chicago Bulls Defeat Milwaukee Bucks 95-86 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Flickr | Keith Allison

Jimmy Butler made his season debut for the Chicago Bulls in a big way as he lifted the team to 106-105 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on two clutch free throws with 0.2 seconds left. After Kevin Martin hit a three pointer to give Minnesota the lead with 2.9 seconds left, Butler took advantage of his matchup with Andrew Wiggins to force the rookie phenom into making a silly foul.

The free throws capped what was an excellent premiere night for Butler. Without Rose, Butler took over the role of aggressor and finisher with repeated drives to the rim. In addition to strong finishing ability, he got various Timberwolves into foul trouble and went to the line early and often. It was a pleasant turnaround for a guy that seemingly became overly passive over the course of the previous season.

That the game ended up going down to the wire isn’t entirely too surprising. Without Derrick Rose, the Bulls were without the focal point of the offense . Additionally, the Bulls fell into their usual trap of hitting a massive roadblock coming out of halftime despite playing excellent basketball throughout the entirety of the first half. Somewhat surprisingly though, Chicago’s struggles continued through the fourth quarter when they couldn’t generate any offense outside of Pau Gasol and free throws.

Overall the game wasn’t the prettiest, though Chicago was able to pull out a win that should help the team gel faster during the growing pain period every team with key members suffers through. Most importantly, the Bulls were able to pull off a win in a high scoring offensive game, demonstrating their new found ability to keep pace even when their defense fails them.

The post Chicago Bulls Edge Minnesota Timberwolves 106-105 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Starters

Player	Grade	Reason
Joakim Noah	B+	Noah didn’t live up to his defensive player of they year billing due to his lingering foot issues, but he still played well. His physical play and presence in the paint caused various Cavs to settle for jump shots when they could have easily driven to the paint. Offensively Noah wasn’t fully there but his passing ability created many opportunities for Chicago. For someone hobbled and on a minutes restriction, it was a solid game.
Pau Gasol	B	This grade may seem a little generous. Gasol repeatedly lost positioning to Tristan Thompson on the boards and shot a poor 33%. Though the poor positioning is inexcusable, Gasol’s offense is. He made all the right passes, was in all the right places, and was dominant working one-on-one. The only issue was he put too much power into his shots all night. He’ll improve vastly in the near future.
Mike Dunleavy	A-	Dunleavy came through on offense by spacing the floor with his strong three point shooting. But more importantly, Dunleavy really came through on defense. Though he was burned by Lebron James on various occasions (expectedly so) he did hold his own on many occasions and forced Lebron (and others) into some ill-advised shots.
Kirk Hinrich	A	National TV Kirk showed up for the world once again. Under the spotlight, Kirk played solid defensively and lit it up on offense. Towards the end of the fourth, he put the team on his back and forced overtime with 8 points in the final 2 minutes.
Derrick Rose	B+/INC	Two grades for Rose. When he played in the first half, he was looking great. He pushed the pace and really got the Cavs rotating on defense trying to keep up with him. Unfortunately he landed on Kyrie Irving’s foot in the second quarter and didn’t play much to at all in the second half of the game.

Bench

Player	Grade	Reason
Taj Gibson	B	Gibson played well defensively as usual, so I have no qualms there. Offensively he did kill several possessions as soon as he got the ball in his hands. Gibson had opportunities to pass the ball for a much more open shot but would often choose to settle for a contested mid-range jumper or would try to work in the post against what would eventually become double teams.
Aaron Brooks	B-	In the absence of Rose, Brooks filled in admirably and created opportunities for himself and the offense as a whole. Unfortunately he didn’t take advantage of all the opportunities he made for himself. Defensively he seemed average, but against Irving things could have been worse.
Nikola Mirotic	INC	Mirotic didn’t play enough to get a grade
Doug McDermott	B-	McDermott was exposed a little bit on defense and wasn’t able to convert the shots he took on the night. However his presence did space the floor a little more. Additionally his constant running in circles created fits for the defense.
Tony Snell	B	In his second year, Snell is looking much better already. Defensively he was strong regardless of who he was matched up against. Offensively his shot is looking much smoother. Additionally he demonstrated far more aggression which led to some second chance opportunities and/or trips to the line.
Jimmy Butler	N/A	Butler did not play in this game

Team

A-

Despite the team losing in overtime, there’s a lot of positives to take away from this game. Though the defense was porous at times, it could have been much worse. Thibodeau’s defensive system is renowned for having a very steep learning curve. In last night’s game, four of the ten who played were new to the system and are in the midst of learning on the go. Despite this the defense was still sound. Offensively, the team looked better than it has in years past (granted the bar was set very low). There is far better floor spacing (41% three point shooting), the team isn’t so one dimensional with point guard play, and things just look more fluid. As the team gels in the coming months and cuts the silly mistakes, it should improve. But most importantly, the Bulls kept it together and stuck around despite the early obstacles. Without Rose for the second half, no Butler for the entire game, and Noah hobbled by his foot (and on a minutes restriction until the end of the fourth and overtime), the Bulls could have been taken out of the game very early. That they were able to keep pace despite all the early season growing pains is very encouraging.

The post Game Grades- Chicago Bulls 108 – Cleveland Cavaliers 114 (OT) appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

From Flickr via Eszter Hargittai

1. Deja Vu

Right now as I’m sitting here typing away on my keyboard I’m listening to OK Go’s “Here We Go Again.” Not just because it’s a good and catchy song, but because I occasionally enjoy listening to music that fits the situation and/or my train of thought. And right now “Here we go again” is just about all I can think of.

As per usual the NBA season comes chock full of intriguing plots and narratives that dominate the headlines. This year we’re lucky to get the return of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James’s return home to Cleveland, the rise of the Unibrow (Anthony Davis), and many others. But while these exciting and new stories circulate around the league, the Chicago Bulls are stuck having to deal with the same old stories- Derrick Rose returns, how will he perform in his return, and how will Chicago, as a team perform with their leader back.

This isn’t to imply I don’t find the story or Rose’s return exciting. I’m ecstatic that we all get to see him on the court again. It is completely unfair to see such an explosive and exciting player forced off the court for what can only be described as freak injuries. And after seeing his steady improvement from the World Championships through the offseason, it’s becoming harder to contain the excitement.

But despite my enthusiasm for his return, I remain fearful… and perhaps that is what is most exhausting. Rose’s return right now brings forth a sense of deja vu. Both a year and a half ago and at this exact point last year everyone discussed Rose’s return and how he would propel them back into the discussion of title favorites and both instances ended with some sort of obstacle getting in the way of Rose’s comeback. Given his now shaky health history (keep in mind the entire 2011-2012 season was filled with various injuries that he played through), it is a little nerve-racking to think about Rose’s and Chicago future since he is such a question mark now.

2. Exit Carlos Boozer, Enter Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic

The Bulls made some minor tweaks to the roster, most notably letting DJ Augustin walk and bringing in Aaron Brooks. The move makes sense really. The Bulls brought on Augustin as a cheap replacement for their former cheap bench player (Nate Robinson) and now they feel they can replace Augustin’s production. Given that Tom Thibodeau’s system heavily features point guards that can create the offense and the excess of point guards in the league now, it’s likely the wise move. Brooks is a very intriguing replacement. In addition to playing better defense than Augustin, Brooks has shown that he can be a much better offensive player. In recent years Brooks has bounced from team to team, but like Robinson and Augustin before him he now has a chance to resurrect his career.

But most importantly the moment all Bulls fans were waiting for for years has finally come… Carlos Boozer is no longer with the the team. The front office finally exercised their amnesty provision and cut Boozer and his salary from the books (they still have to pay him). With the move the team opened up cap space for a potential run at Carmelo Anthony. While it may have been great to land Anthony, the Bulls did end up in a better position than they started off in as they put the newly available money to Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic.

Though sour Lakers fans may say otherwise, Gasol is an upgrade for Chicago at power forward. Not only is Gasol likely going to be able to produce just as much offense as Boozer did in his best years with the Bulls, but Gasol will also actually play defense. Think about it… a power forward not named Taj Gibson who can defend. Crazy concept… right? But the upgrade will be most evident when Gasol flexes his passing abilities out of the high post. By adding him, the Bulls have now created one of the most potent passing front courts in the league. The lineup and production possibilities are astounding… which brings us to…

3. Lineup Flexibility

If by now you haven’t realized Tom Thibodeau is a coach that likes to stick with his lineups, well… Tom Thibodeau likes to stick with his lineups. In previous years he has been incredibly inflexible with who he plays, when they play, and the minutes distribution. And though he is likely to remain rigid this season, adding Gasol gives him room to work with. Gasol can play both center and power forward. This, coupled with his ability to pass out of the low and high post, will give the Bulls a little wiggle room to rest Joakim Noah and his oft-injured feet without sacrificing production.

Like Noah, Gasol will be able to run the pick and roll in the high post with a guard while one player cuts and another spots up. Furthermore most everyone on the team has a similar play style to at least one other person on the team which allows Thibodeau to swap the moving parts of the plays at will.

Admittedly there are some roster issues (where does Mirotic get his minutes with the logjam in the front court and small forward?), but there is nothing that the team can figure out.

4. It’s A Marathon, Not a Sprint

Each year we all hope Thibodeau and the Bulls realize that there are 82 games (plus playoffs). But every season we all see the Bulls exhaust themselves on a daily basis. While an admirable mentality, there is a lot wrong with it when the ultimate goal is to win a title. I get that Chicago wasn’t going to win a title without Rose the past few years anyways, but excessive wear and tear have been added onto the team’s body. Though I don’t expect the “We have enough to win” mentality to go away at all, ideally the aforementioned lineup flexibility will let the Bulls rest up their major players (Rose, Noah, Butler, Gasol) even more. In the most ideal situation, the Bulls would take a page out of Gregg Popovich’s notebook and simply rest the studs against the lesser teams.

5. Avi’s Prediction

It’s hard to make a prediction for the season since there are just so many possible variables. But assuming health it’s hard to imagine the Bulls won’t be up there with the best of them. My guess is that Chicago lands the second seed in the East playoffs.

The post 2014-2015 Chicago Bulls Season Preview appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Image from Flickr via Tobyotter

Happy opening day everyone! After a brief hiatus in the midst of the incredibly boring and uneventful part of the offseason, we at Bulls by the Horns are back and ready to go for the regular season. With the new season comes some new and exciting changes we would like to announce.

1. We will be continuing our partnership with the ChiBullsZone podcast. Podcasts will generally come out once per week on either Sundays or Mondays with the occasional multi-podcast week.

2. We will be continuing our partnership with NumberFire as well. Keep an eye out for analysis based on advanced statistics/metrics as well as articles from their site that we think you should take a look at.

3. This year Kelly Scaletta will be running a mailbag in which he answers your reader submitted questions. The mailbag will run every Friday morning so get your questions into our CONTACT FORM by 8 PM Eastern time on Thursday nights to get your questions answered.

4. On the topic of the contact form- we always look forward to hearing from you so if you have questions, comments concerns, or want to do a guest post- shoot us a message!

5. In addition to previews & recaps, the morning after games we will be running “Game Grades” where we grade how the team, including the coaches, performed. Warning- I’m a vicious grader.

6. All the site pages- schedule, roster, and salary- have been updated to reflect the 2014-2015 NBA season.

7. Finally, in addition to everything above, we’ll continue to produce commentary and editorial pieces to promote discussion about your Chicago Bulls.

Thank you for being continued and loyal readers. We hope you’re looking forward to the season as much as we are!

The post 2014-2015 BbtH Updates appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

The Fort Wayne Mad Ants will be holding an open tryout this weekend on September 14th for the 2014-2015 season. The tryout will be held at the Quest Multi-Sport Complex at 2641 West Harrison Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60612. Check in for the tryout will begin at 1 PM while tryouts will begin exactly at 2 PM and will wrap up at 6 PM. Those selected from the open tryout will be invited to the team’s training camp and could earn a roster spot for the following season.

Those who are interested can submit an application and release form as well as a $150 non-refundable registration fee to the Mad Ants office by Thursday, September 11th. Registration will continue past the 11th, however a late registration fee of $200 will be required. Payments must be made by money order or cashier’s check.

The post Fort Wayne Mad Ants Open Tryout in Chicago appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Hello everyone,

Hope everyone is enjoying what is now the dead part of the NBA offseason. Only 93 more days to go until the NBA season tips off. While things have been fairly slow on the Chicago Bulls news front lately, we at Bulls by the Horns have been working behind the scenes to figure out how to keep bringing you quality Chicago Bulls related content. To accomplish this goal, we’re excited to announce we’ve come to partnership agreements with the Chicago Bulls podcast “Chicago Bulls Zone” and advanced sports analytics company, numberFire.

Chicago Bulls Zone

Run by Jason Hall and Will Miller, Chicago Bulls Zone has been running for 61 successful shows at this point and continues to be going strong. Producing high quality work, Jason and Will discuss various topics about the Chicago Bulls as well diving into some discussion about other teams around the league. At times the duo play the host to high profile guests such as Chicago Tribune beat writer, K.C. Johnson. The podcast generally comes out once per week though there may be some instances where multiple shows are produced in a single week. Just below we have embedded the most recent episode of Chicago Bulls Zone (episode 61) for . I’ll leave Will and Jason to summarize the day’s topics:

Nate Duncan stops by to discuss Jimmy’s contract, Bulls offseason, and Team USA. KC follows up his interview with an update on Team USA, Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler update, and how Doug McDermott feels after day one of playing on the Team USA select team.

numberFire

We’re also excited to announce Bulls by the Horns will be teaming up with numberFire, an advanced analytics platform that also works with ESPN, NFL, Sports Illustrated, SB Nation, Cantor Fitzgerald, DraftKings, and others. numberFire works to uniquely interpret various kinds of data and statistics in order to better project how a player and a team will perform in the future. Through this partnership, we at Bulls by the Horns will have access to numberFire’s immense amount of data and will be putting it to good for you, our loyal readers. Additionally, we will occasionally be sharing Chicago Bulls related content produced by numberFire for your enjoyment.

————–

We hope you all will enjoy the benefits of these new partnerships in the coming future and the changes to Bulls by the Horns they bring with them.

The post BbtH Announcement- New Partnerships with the Bulls Zone and numberFire appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

After a long Las Vegas Summer League we’re finally coming to the close. The Chicago Bulls, the number 1 seed in the playoffs, took on the Philadelphia 76ers. After sitting the past couple of games for rest, Nerlens Noel made his return and went up against Cameron Bairstow in the post. The Bulls ended up winning the game 79-68

The Bulls played an up and down game as they would exchange runs with the 76ers. It wasn’t until a run towards the end of the third quarter that the Bulls took command of the lead for good with a 9 point run. Bairstow contributed 7 points in the fourth quarter to secure the win for Chicago. Bairstow played a big role in the win as he dropped a team high 18 points overall. Tony Snell shared this honor with him also dropping a team high 18 points.

Overall it was a fairly quiet night for Snell and first round pick Doug McDermott. Both weren’t able to hit their shots from the floor despite getting the looks they wanted. As a whole Snell and McDermott looked good for Chicago and their performance in the previous game shouldn’t be of much concern.

With the win the Bulls move into the next round of the summer league playoffs.

The post LVSL Game Recap #4: Chicago Bulls 79- Philadelphia 76ers 68 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

The NBA’s annual Las Vegas Summer League kicked off today for the Chicago Bulls as they faced off with the Los Angeles Clippers. The Bulls started out the game with strong Thibodeau-esque defense against the Clippers and uncharacteristic offense firepower. But from there any semblance of defense dissolved and both teams began scoring at will. The Bulls eventually won the game by a score of 86-70.

We could bore you with a more detailed recap of the game, but we won’t. The importance of LVSL is to get the draftees practice and evaluate any potential talent to see if they’re worthy of getting a roster spot on the 2014-2015 Bulls roster. This year’s team notably features sophomore Tony Snell and rookies Doug McDermott and Cameron Bairstow, all of whom stood out amongst the roster in tonight’s game.

Tony Snell:

Snell was by far the most impressive player on the court for either team. From the outset Snell demonstrated an aggressiveness we have yet to see from him. He was shouting instructions on both sides of the floor, calling for the ball and clapping whenever he got a good opportunity, and was aggressive taking the ball to the basket. His aggression was rewarded quite handsomely. Using his improved physique (he’s added 10 pounds of muscle mass thus far this offseason), Snell pushed around anyone who got in his way while using finesse and an improved dribble to crossover opponents and beat people with his first step. His three point shooting was also on point today as he hit 5 of 7 attempts, both misses occurred in the opening minutes of the game. Snell finished with 27 points on 10 of 14 shooting. Overall it was an excellent performance.

Cameron Bairstow:

When the Bulls drafted Bairstow, my initial reaction was, “Who?” While I had seen him play a little bit I was far from familiar with his game. Though it’s only summer league and any production should be taken with a grain of salt, I can now see what the Bulls see in Bairstow. While he wasn’t an offensive savant he did have some nice post moves that he went to to get a shot off. Additionally, he worked well off of the ball making several nice cuts and rolled into the paint beautifully. Defensively is where he really impressed. Bairstow barely bit on any pump fakes and played incredibly physical and made his opponent fight for his shot. He could learn to show some restraint but as a raw product it’s a solid start. It’s easy to see why the Bulls could see Bairstow as an Omer Asik type player who is better on offense.

Doug McDermott:

Aka- McBuckets. McDermott is perhaps the player Bulls fans are most interested in. First it should be noted that McDermott is much smaller looking in person than I would have imagined. Looking at images of him at Creighton University, it seems the camera either added 10 pounds or he’s dropped some weight. Our guess is it’s the latter. McDermott’s body as constructed seems more suited to play at small forward rather than at power forward and indeed that’s where he spent most of the night for Chicago.

Offensively McDermott was great. Though he only scored 10 points on 2 of 8 shooting, McDermott’s abilities shown through. His shot form was excellent (he should have had a few more buckets but they rattled out of the rim), his passing was crisp and clean, coming off of screens he was quick and decisive thus allowing him to get open, and his movement off the ball was strong. Defensively was another matter. Though McDermott put in effort, he was, to put it kindly, vulnerable on defense. At various points he showed poor defensive awareness (on one fast break he followed the ball handler who was fanning out to the 3 point line thus opening up an easy layup for another player) while at other times he would get lost, get beaten on the first step, and/or get caught in screens. Thibodeau is a genius on defense, and obviously Thibodeau is not coaching this summer league team, so it’ll be interesting to see how Chicago makes it work and if McDermott can show improvement over the next 4 games.

The post Las Vegas Summer League Player Evaluation Game 1- Bulls vs Clippers appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.