The Bulls outscored the Pistons 34-9 in the fourth quarter to surge to victory after playing three pretty poor quarters to start last night’s game. Derrick Rose led the way for the Bulls last night with 39 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots. Joakim Noah filled up the stat sheet with 15 points, 17 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 3 blocked shots. Taj Gibson scored 11 points in only 18 minutes as he fouled out. The Bulls are now 1-1 on the year.

The Bulls outrebounded the Thunder 51-44 last night but they were outscored 24-13 in the 4th quarter and it killed them. Derrick Rose led the way for the Bulls in this game with 28 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists. Joakim Noah had a monster line of 18 points, 19 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots as he dominated the paint in this game. Taj Gibson also was solid filling in for the injured Carlos Boozer as he finished up with 16 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals last night. Luol Deng pitched in with 13 points and 2 rebounds last night. The Bulls are now 0-1 on the year.

The Bulls were 41-41 last season and they are going with a rookie head coach (Tom Thibodeau) in 2010-11 so the skeptics are going to be out there. I would focus more on C.J. Watson, Carlos Boozer, Kyle Korver, Ronnie Brewer, Kurt Thomas and Keith Bogans who were all brought in over the summer to improve both the starting lineup and the bench. I would bet on the over for the win total of the Bulls this year and I would definitely consider placing a bet on them at 20-1 to win the NBA Championship this year.

52-year old Tom Thibodeau will be a first time head coach in the NBA this year. He was a long time assistant coach most recently with the Boston Celtics last season. I lot of coaches don’t get gigs like this one where the Bulls expect to be a winner right away. Thibodeau is a defensive minded coach with a offensive minded roster so he will have his work cut out for him. I wouldn’t feel too sorry for him though as the Bulls are a very deep and talented basketball team.

25-year old center Joakim Noah is a player on the rise for the Chicago Bulls. He played in 64 games (54 starts) for the Bulls last season and he averaged 30.1 minutes, 10.7 points, 11.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.6 blocked shots per game. Noah played most of the second half of the season with a bad foot. He is healthy this year so look for improvement in his numbers. Noah has now played in 218 games (140 starts) in his 3 years with the Bulls and he has averaged 24.8 minutes, 7.9 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 blocked shots per game. Noah is going to get better than he is right now and that should be scary to the rest of the league.

38-year old Kurt Thomas will be Noah’s primary back up this year. He played in 70 games (9 starts) for the Bucks last season and he averaged 15.0 minutes, 3.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. Thomas has now played in 996 games (593 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 25.7 minutes, 8.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. Thomas should do a decent job as long as he doesn’t have to play more than 15-20 minutes a night for the Bulls.

24-year old rookie Omer Asik will likely be #3 in line for minutes at center for the Bulls in 2010-11. Asik was acquired from the Blazers during the 2008 NBA Draft but he decided to play overseas. He has nice size at 7’0″, 255 pounds but the Bulls will probably bring him along slowly.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE BULLS CENTERS IN 2010-11: B+

28-year old Carlos Boozer was the Bulls’ free agent prize this summer but he will miss the first month of the year due to a broken hand. Boozer played in 78 games (all starts) with the Jazz last season and he averaged 34.3 minutes, 19.5 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Boozer has now played in 510 games (469 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 32.7 minutes, 17.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.0 steal per game. Boozer is one of the best power forwards in all of the NBA so the Bulls hope he heals soon.

25-year old Taj Gibson will start at power forward until Boozer is ready to return to action. Gibson played in 82 games (70 starts) as a rookie for the Bulls last season and he averaged 26.9 minutes, 9.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 1.3 blocked shots per game. He’s more than capable of doing a solid job while Boozer is out of action.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE BULLS POWER FORWARDS IN 2010-11: A

25-year old Luol Deng will be the starting small forward for the Bulls once again in 2010-11. He was rumored to be going everywhere from Cleveland to Denver in trades for guys like LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony but he’s still a Bull and that’s not a bad thing. Deng played in 70 games (69 starts) for the Bulls last season and he averaged 37.9 minutes, 17.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. He has now played in 403 games (357 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 34.2 minutes, 15.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.0 steal per game. I look for Deng to have another solid year for the Bulls if he can stay healthy.

23-year old James Johnson will back up Deng at small forward. Johnson played in 65 games (11 starts) as a rookie for the Bulls last season as a rookie and he averaged 11.6 minutes, 3.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. Johnson might also have to play some power forward until Carlos Boozer returns to action.

Sharpshooter Kyle Korver will get most of his P.T. at shooting guard this year but he will likely log some minutes at small forward too.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE BULLS SMALL FORWARDS IN 2010-11: B-

The Bulls have waived 25-year old power forward Chris Richard. Richard played in 18 games (0 starts) for the Bulls this year and he averaged 12.4 minutes, 2.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. He has now played in 70 games (3 starts) in his two years in the NBA and he has averaged 11.1 minutes, 1.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. This is absolutely no loss for the Bulls.

Starting power forward Carlos Boozer said that he tripped over some luggage trying to answer his doorbell and he broke his hand because he landed wrong. Boozer will be out of action for the next 8 weeks meaning that he will miss the first month of the regular season. This is a huge blow for the Bulls as they were depending on Boozer to team up inside with Joakim Noah so the Bulls could own the glass. Second year man Taj Gibson will replace Boozer while he is out of action.