Unlike most NBA teams, the Chicago Bulls have had a fairly quiet off-season and were not poised to make any major moves. However, despite their struggles early in 2008-09, the team around Derrick Rose managed to get their act together as the season went on.

Therefore, one is lead to believe that the franchise from Michigan is very confident that their young team will continue to mature and make another post-season appearance this year. In fact, the only players acquired this summer were rookies Taj Gibson and James Johnson on draft night, as well as veteran point guard Jannero Pargo. While Gibson and Johnson are still wild cards heading into training camp next week, Pargo has proven to be a reliable scorer off the bench in the past. After one year in Russia, he appears to be ready to play some NBA ball again and could also turn out to be a great locker room presence. In 2007-08, Jannero Pargo averaged 8.1 points, 2.4 assists and 1.6 rebounds in just 18 minutes per contest for the New Orleans Hornets.

Nonetheless, the Chicago Bulls lost their leading scorer Ben Gordon in free agency as he opted to sign a lucrative multi-year deal with the Detroit Pistons. While his scoring might be missed one should also take into account that his decision making and shot selection left much to be desired. Often regarded as a selfish shooting guard, he was able to shoot out the lights on some nights, but equally hurt his team on other days. Thus, letting Ben Gordon walk might not have been such a bad idea, especially due to his hefty price tag at $10 million per year.

Taking everything into consideration, the Bulls will most likely be in the playoff race again but their success rests to a large extent on the development of their young players. Even though rookie point guard Derrick Rose has showed that he is ready to play a leading role, Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah have yet to prove that they can perform consistently night in and night out.

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