2. Derrick Rose & Joakim Noah (2010-11)
You didn’t think you’d get through this without seeing Derrick Rose at least once, did you? Joined by soon-to-be Defensive Player of the Year Joakim Noah, this tandem had all the makings of a championship-caliber roster. A horrible series of injuries to Rose would ultimately cut those dreams short, but before all the bad that was to come happened, these two players defined everything we love about Chicago basketball.
Busting onto the scene by earning Rookie of the Year in 2009 and his first All-Star selection as a 20-year-old sophomore in 2010, Rose took things to a whole new level during the 2010-11 campaign by averaging 25 points, 7.7 assists, and leading the Bulls to the best record in the NBA at 62-20. Under the leadership of their homegrown talent, the future of the NBA looked like it was Chicago’s for the taking.
As we now know, that’s uhh, not exactly what happened.
Despite never reaching their full potential, Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah deserve to go down as the second-best duo in Bulls’ history.
While Rose was certainly the star of the show, Noah showed tremendous growth this season and truly deserved to be the franchise’s starting center moving forward. He averaged 11.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, all while dominating on the defensive side of the ball. Noah was also an oddly capable playmaker, often taking the ball up the court and dishing out pinpoint passes, something we never saw of big men at the time.
After battling it out and losing to the superteam Miami Heat in 2011, the Bulls were determined to bounce back better than ever. Unfortunately, injuries cut short what could have been an all-time great rivalry. For several teams around the league, these two would undoubtedly be at the top of the list. In the Bulls’ case though, there’s only one duo who deserves to reign supreme at the top.