The Chicago Bulls Must Value Health Over Playoff Positioning

With less than a month before playoff time, the Chicago Bulls are preparing themselves for a post-season run. But unlike previous years, they could possibly enter the 2014-2015 NBA Playoffs with their entire roster.

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One of the many questions that should be asked is this: will seeding matter in how far the Bulls go in the post-season? In the 2010-2011 season, not only were the Chicago Bulls fully healthy, but they also finished with the best record in the NBA overall and had home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.

Things will be a bit different for the Bulls this year, as they have battled through injuries throughout the season. As a result, their record has suffered a bit, and Chicago will enter the playoffs without home-court advantage guaranteed against everyone. They will need a confident Derrick Rose if they plan on advancing deep into the post-season, but recent reports on his progress has built optimism for Chicago fans.

Much has been made about who the Bulls will play and where the team will seed, but in all reality, does home court really matter? History has shown us that regardless of who has home-court advantage, the best team always finds a way to win, regardless of the environment. In the 1994-1995 NBA Playoffs, the Houston Rockets were seeded sixth in the Western Conference, and the Rockets became the first team in NBA history to win the chip as a six seed. They were without home court in each series, including the NBA Final series against the Orlando Magic.

The 1998 Chicago Bulls won their sixth championship without home-court advantage in the NBA Finals and clinched that series on the road in Salt Lake City, which was one of the toughest places to win at that time in the NBA. In the 1998-1999 NBA Season, the New York Knicks became the only eighth seeded team to advance to the NBA Finals; that team also played without home-court advantage for four consecutive rounds. The Knicks would lose the last series 4-1 against the San Antonio Spurs, but they made a deep run.

There are also moments in NBA history where a team has had home-court advantage throughout the postseason and went on to lose in the first round. Like the 2006-2007 Dallas Mavericks losing to the Golden State Warriors after a 67-win season. In most cases, home-court advantage would matter, but in today’s NBA, teams are more comfortable on the road. This is partially because of the new rules, and also the way the game is called.

This season, the Bulls are 20-15 on the road. Monday at the United Center the Bulls clinched their NBA Playoff berth for the seventh consecutive season. Wednesday night, the Chicago Bulls are in Toronto to face the Raptors, a team which the Bulls are currently battling for third place in the Eastern Conference.

With the recent return of Taj Gibson this past Saturday, the return of Jimmy Butler on Monday night against the Charlotte Hornets, and the news of Rose’s progress to return by mid-April, the Bulls are getting healthy at the right time and have discovered new weapons in Nikola Mirotic and Tony Snell.

It is ideal for any team to have home-court advantage, but it is also ideal for a team to be as fresh as possible for the playoffs. With the Bulls completely healthy, maybe that is all they need to make a deep playoff run.

Next: Fred Hoiberg Would Be Terrible Fit As Bulls Coach

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