Ranking the 13 Worst Bulls starters of the Derrick Rose era

10. Drew Gooden (2008-2009)

If you’re like me and grew up spending as much time playing with the Bulls on 2K as I did watching them play actual games, you’d probably think Drew Gooden was a lot better than he really was. In the virtual world, Gooden was a dependable post-up option and dominated the boards. Plus, he wore a cool headband!

In real life, however, things didn’t go quite so smoothly for Gooden. Despite posting respectable averages of 13.1 points and 8.6 rebounds, he was relatively inefficient and a sizeable defensive liability. Gooden had a negative offensive and defensive box plus/minus with Chicago in 2008-09, and the Bulls were actually 6 points worse per 100 possessions with Gooden on the court. This resulted in him being included with Nocioni in the trade package for Salmons in 2009.

This ineffective duo was a byproduct of the Bulls’ failed Twin Towers experiment.

9. Kurt Thomas (2010-11)

Brought on to presumably replace Gooden in the rotation a year later, Kurt Thomas ended up actually being even less effective than his predecessor. Thomas started 37 of 52 games played with the Bulls in 2010-11, and averaged an insignificant 4.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.

As it turns out, signing a 38-year-old big man with the intention to play them heavy minutes is not actually a great idea. Unlike Gooden, however, Thomas was surrounded by a much more talented supporting cast that could hide his deficiencies, as the Bulls went 62-20 and won the East that season. That team was truly great, but it wasn’t because of Kurt Thomas, I’ll tell you that much.