Bulls Are Unbreakable, But Very Beatable

The Bulls and Jimmy Butler might look great on the eye-test, but we know their ceiling. (Credits: Joe Skipper/Reuters)

There are times when the Chicago Bulls are playing great basketball and then there are times when the Bulls are highly overrated by the overanalyzed sports society we live in. Most of time there is a synergy between the Bulls playing great basketball and the public over crediting the Bulls. Confused? Let me make it simple, no matter how great the Bulls play we know where their ceiling lies.

Chicago plays an intense, smart game with a plethora of effort. They're the kind of team that makes the basketball purists cheer and their style of play is a perfect role model how most people want their kids to play ball. Coach Tom Thibodeau is somewhat of a genius, not so much a genius of the game of basketball, but a genius of his own system. He's perfected the art of getting the most out of his players, turning their hard work and effort into actual results. Sometimes it works so well that his players are mistaken as talented players, when they're really just playing their hearts out. But that's the problem. It's not that he creates the ceiling for his players, but his players have created a ceiling for him.

Thibs has gotten the absolute best out of Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, Jimmy Butler, Kirk Heinrich, Luol Deng and formerly C.J. Watson and Ronnie Brewer. We mistook the pick ups of Watson and Brewer by the Nets and Knicks as shrewd moves, when really they were ultimately products of Thibodeau's system, similar to the way a college football player can be considered great even though he's actually just a perfect product of a system. Is Jimmy Butler really a guy that puts up 21 points, 14 rebs all while hounding LeBron James into a mediocre game like he did in Game 1? Maybe, but the way Thibodeau increases performance makes me believe Butler's no better than a decent NBA starter.

Joakim Noah is probably the most interesting emanation of Thibs' system. His game is still so raw, so wild and yet it grows ever better every year. Noah posted his best point and rebound totals of his career this season on the heels of the Derrick Rose injury. Is that a product of Thibs or an indication of Noah's true growth? I'd say a little bit of both. The 28-year-old center is definitely coming into his own, but it's hard to think a guy with that ugly of a jump shot and still such a wild game is without some legitimate help from the guru of effort.

If you're screaming at me about Derrick Rose and how much he would change this team, let me tell you this. Yes, the Bulls are much better off with Rose. That's a given. However, I don't think their ceiling really changes as much as one would think. Anyone remember the 2011 ECFs? The Bulls had the #1 seed going into that series, though they entered as the underdog facing the new look Miami Heat. Surprisingly they took Game 1 at home in dominating fashion (much of a similar level of surprise was abound after Game 1 of this current Heat, Bulls series). It looked as the Bulls were going to take the series with ease, possibly discarding the Heat in five or six, instead the Heat reeled of four straight victories and sent the Bulls home in relatively easily fashion.

Think back to that Heat team. They relied too much of guys like Joel Anthony and Mike Miller instead of Chris Anderson and Ray Allen. They had a banged up Dwyane Wade. LeBron James wasn't yet of the full mental fortitude to win an NBA Championship. Simply put, they were half the team they are today. And yet they still took care of the Bulls with Derrick Rose quite easily. I fully expect the same to happen in this series and it will be done so with great vigor.

The Bulls are a team and most importantly a team. But their ceiling is a lot lower than how some people fathom it to be. With or without Derrick Rose they wouldn't beat the Heat. Thibodeau knows how to get the best out of his players, but when his players' talent doesn't match up to his opponents it's eventually a case of "Talent triumphs effort."

That's the case with these Bulls. Heat in 5. The Derrick Rose "what-if" stories abound. Another season where the people proclaim the unworthy Bulls a great team.