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Chicago Bulls Quarter-Season Awards: Butler, Felicio, Taj and More

By Daniel Coughlin

Nov 15, 2016; Portland, OR, USA; Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson (22) and guard Dwyane Wade (3) and forward Jimmy Butler (21) and guard Jerian Grant (2) react after a dunk by Wade against the Portland Trail Blazers during the third quarter at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 15, 2016; Portland, OR, USA; Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson (22) and guard Dwyane Wade (3) and forward Jimmy Butler (21) and guard Jerian Grant (2) react after a dunk by Wade against the Portland Trail Blazers during the third quarter at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Chicago Bulls are just over a quarter of the way through the 2016-17 NBA season. We’re handing out some awards to celebrate the occasion.

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There have been player suspensions, league awards, terrible losses, good wins, and all kinds of a weird. Let’s get right into it.

Most Valuable Bull Award: Jimmy Butler

This is the most obvious choice. He’s been genuinely good in a way that is impressive, even for him. He’s always been one of the better two-way players in the game, but with a little freedom from the shadow of the Thibodeau Bulls and the addition of Dwyane Wade, he’s taken himself to another level. His amazing play has been the lone consistently great thing about the 2016-17 Bulls. Given the ups and downs of the season, Butler is what we have and can be sure of through 22 games.

Wow, I’m Surprised Award: Rajon Rondo

He’s been terrible on defense and already earned a suspension from the team. He didn’t get the hook from the league, he was suspended by his own team. Rondo has spent no time proving that he’s Rondo.

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He’s also been terrible at defense. It’s kind of wondrous. He’s simultaneously acting as the enabler of opposing backcourts while glossing over those terrible moments with empty triple-doubles. You know, I’m starting to think this might be the wrong name for an award. Maybe I should revive my old Carlos Boozer Memorial Award. Or we could update it to the Pau Gasol Memorial Award. Whatever we call it, Rondo is the perfect player to win an award that was designed completely around sarcasm. Like when I end this section by saying, “Hey, thanks Rondo. You’re really knocking it out of the park this year. Keep up the great work on both ends of the floor. Chicago isn’t way better with you on the bench.”

Hatebreed’s Proven Award: Taj Gibson

“You want to see me fail, you won’t get your chance.” – I’m not sure that anyone ever wanted to see Taj Gibson fail. I never want to see Taj Gibson fail. I hope you don’t want to see Taj Gibson fail. For the few people reading this who might want Gibson to fail, I have just one thing to say – You won’t get your chance.

“Stood strong throughout the years.” – This is clearly Taj. Chicago has been going through a lot of roster turnover, but Taj has been here all along. And he’s had to stand strong to survive the gruel of the Tom Thibodeau years.

“You can’t put a price on it.” – Boom. And there you have it. Gibson is about to get paid. He’s in his final season on his current deal and he’s set to hit the free agent market in a tricky position. He’ll be a wanted commodity in an ever-increasing salary cap market and he’s also past his prime age where any team pursuing him will be paying for a contract that likely won’t look good by the time it ends. Still, he looks that much better when compared to the other Bulls power forward on an expiring deal, Nikola Mirotic.

You Deserve Better Award: Spencer Dinwiddie

Dinwiddie may not have lit the world on fire, but he is a solid point guard as his recent deal with the Brooklyn Nets confirms. Looking at the current Bulls backcourt with Rondo, Isaiah Canaan, Jerian Grant and maybe Denzel Valentine as point guard candidates, it seems perfectly reasonable that Dinwiddie could have made that rotation. He was acquired via trade, waived, with the Summer League team, received a training camp invite, cut, signed with the Windy City Bulls and now is finally headed back to the NBA – where he belongs. He wasn’t going to be a starter in Chicago, but he probably should have been on the team in a rotation minutes position. Best of luck to Spencer.

The People’s Champion: Cristiano Felicio

Dwyane Wade requested a recall and received one, but he still couldn’t edge out Felicio. Wade has produced some great moments in his short time with the Bulls, but he hasn’t generated anywhere near the amount of grassroots activity as Cristiano. For example, Felicio has his own hashtag: #FreeFelicio. When Wade sits, we all agree that it would probably be better if he was in the lineup, but also accept that we aren’t getting prime physical condition Wade, we’re getting the savvy veteran Wade. When Bobby Portis is first off the bench, or Portis and Mirotic are used in combination and Felicio gets the dreaded DNP-CD, there is some outrage. And when then people spoke, Fred Hoiberg was forced to listen. Portis, playing poorly, is out of the rotation and Felicio is getting good minutes and contributing, including some critical offensive rebounds and scoring in Chicago’s big win over the San Antonio Spurs. Well, fine. Hoiberg probably didn’t listen to the bloggers, but the outcry for Felicio to be freed was real and it has been heard.

And that’s that for now. Chicago still has 60 games to go, before the game against the Heat on Saturday night, and there will be new storylines, new heroes, new villains and much, much more.

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