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Are The Chicago Bulls Overrated?

By Michael Whitlow

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Since the conclusion of the 1997-98 season, the Chicago Bulls have yet to win the organization’s seventh NBA title. The expectations are always high, but are they sometimes too high for the organization?

When you would ask any common basketball fan on the first thing they think about when they hear the words, “Chicago Bulls“, around 90-95 percent of the answers you’ll hear are Michael Jordan-related.

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The Bulls were the team of the decade during the 1990s, winning all six of the organization’s championships in an eight-year span. Led by head coach Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan and running mate Scottie Pippen transcended the game of basketball during one of the most dominant runs in the game’s illustrious history.

On a recent episode of TrueHoop TV, ESPN NBA insiders Amin Elhassan and Ethan Strauss had roughly a six-minute discussion on the Eastern Conference’s outlook for 2015-16, and both agreed that the Cleveland Cavaliers are the odds-on favorite to win the conference title again this season.

During the discussion, Elhassan asked Strauss on his thoughts of the Bulls being predicted by ESPN as the second-best team in the East.

“The Chicago Bulls are always overrated,” Strauss said. “Every year, we walk in saying, ‘Are they a potential title contender?’ Back in the Thibodeau days, the answer was usually no, and it’s probably because they’re a big market and we have a lot of warm and fuzzy memories from back in the ’90s when America was roaring economically and Michael Jordan was king of the world.”

Bulls fans don’t want to hear it, let alone admit it, but Strauss is right. As good as the outlook for the Bulls looked entering the 2014-15 season, there were still plenty of questions about the Bulls, along with the obstacle of LeBron James still in their way. Not only is Tom Thibodeau gone in Chicago, the Bulls have hired a college coach with no pro coaching experience after a treacherous season that had rumors and speculation at an all-time high.

Plus, as a society, we look at and use the word “overrated” at a highly frequent basis. I don’t think Strauss thinks the Bulls are bad. The Bulls are a good basketball team. I think he’s holding off and saying a team with concerns, along with a rookie head coach, can take down LeBron James. Did Golden State do it? Sure, but not with the main parts of their roster playing 36+ minutes a night.

Also, the Warriors possessed the game’s best backcourt, which included the league’s most valuable player.

Along with Strauss mentioning Jordan’s rule over the NBA in the 1990s, he mentioned the big market that is Chicago. Obviously, in a bigger market, there’s more room for optimism and belief. But, that’s how Chicago’s always been. It may not be the most peaceful place in the world, but Bulls fans in Chicago and all over the globe, are as optimistic as any NBA fan base. Why? Because of what Michael Jordan did in the 1990s.

Personally, I’ve been a Bulls fan for as long as I can remember. There are the days of Tim Floyd and Marcus Fizer; a dismal, simply pathetic era of Bulls basketball. Then, optimism made itself noticeable during the Scott Skiles era, where the Bulls competed as hard as any team in the league and made the playoffs during the 2004-05 season for the first time since Jordan retired the second time.

Yeah, I was just as shocked as you were when the Bulls — who had a 1.7 percent of winning the 2008 NBA Draft Lottery — won the pick and took the homegrown Derrick Rose from Simeon Academy in Chicago, who has just come off a tremendous season at Memphis. The full-blown optimism was back. The Bulls had their new savior and the titles would start to come in like UPS packages once again.

But, despite Rose’s promising start that included a rookie of the year award and becoming the league’s youngest MVP ever, the injury bug has bit him harder than anyone in recent years and the Bulls have been left scrambling for answers with a toxic coaching situation and players who had nothing in the tank by the end of the season.

For those that don’t like hearing bad things about their team, it’s not called being a “hater”. It’s called, “being realistic”. It’s OK to have criticism about your team. Not everything that goes on with an NBA organization is all peaches and cream. 72-10 seasons don’t happen often, folks. (Actually, they don’t happen at all. Except that one time. That team was fun.)

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    • Do I think the Bulls can make it to the NBA Finals in a weaker Eastern Conference? Absolutely.

    Do I think they will? Honestly, at this point, no.

    Cleveland missing Kyrie Irving until possibly January is a big blow, but let’s face it: they still gave Golden State all they could handle in June despite losing in six games without Irving and Kevin Love. With a healthy roster, the Miami Heat (yes, the LeBron-less Heat) could make some noise in the East.

    And newsflash, the Atlanta Hawks are still really good without DeMarre Carroll.

    The Bulls have plenty of questions just like everyone else. As fun as Fred Hoiberg‘s offense looks, can the Bulls get production consistently in year one? Will Derrick Rose’s possible legal issues and health be concerning? I expect him to bounce back, but will Joakim Noah be his pre-knee injury self again?

    You’re going to hear many questions and concerns about the Bulls heading into training camp, the preseason, and the regular season opener in October against the guy the Bulls simply haven’t beaten when it matters most. Even as a long-time fan, even I sometimes question how good the Bulls can be.

    Next: Jimmy Butler and Nikola Mirotic: Back-to-back Most Improved Player winners?

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