Hakim Warrick, Flip Murray and Acie Law are off to good starts with the Bulls. Warrick has played in 2 games off the bench for the Bulls and he is averaging 28.0 minutes, 12.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 blocked shot per game. The Bulls might even think of giving Warrick more minutes going forward if he keeps playing like he is right now. Flip Murray has played in 2 games off the bench for the Bulls so far and he is averaging 23.5 minutes, 10.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. The Bulls like that Murray gives them instant offense off the bench. Acie Law has only played in 1 game for the Bulls so far in which he played 4 minutes, scored 3 points, grabbed 1 rebound and he dished out 1 assist. Law will have to earn whatever minutes he gets the rest of the year but he does have a decent upside.

Veteran center Brad Miller is not getting much playing time this season with Joakim Noah stepping up. Miller has played in 45 games (10 starts) for the Bulls this season and he is averaging 20.8 minutes, 7.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. A lot of trade rumors have come up with Miller involved in them. But, unless the Bulls can make the team better for the rest of the year it just doesn’t make sense to trade Miller.

The Chicago Bulls seem like a whole new ball club after some very impressive performances on their recent 7-game road trip against some strong competition in the Western Conference.  They dropped the first two to the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers, but went on to win the next five games against the Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the New Orleans Hornets to finish the road trip at 5-2 and bringing their season record to 23-22.  That is good enough for the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference at the moment, but it is only 1.5 games back of the 5th spot which is currently held by the Toronto Raptors.  If the Bulls continue their winning ways, they will definitely get that 5th seed come playoff time, and possibly even better.  Derrick Rose has been playing great, and he has been getting great support from his role players, but head coach Vinny Del Negro deserves a lot of credit.  After rumors were swirling that Del Negro would be fired only a few weeks ago, he has gotten this young Bulls team to play great.  Analyst and Hall-of-Famer Charles Barkley agrees, saying “Vinny has done a good job,” and that he thinks the Bulls disrespected him for not backing him up amongst the firing rumors.  He has turned the Bulls into a dangerous team.

The Chicago Bulls had won four straight games coming into the dreaded seven-game road trip they are currently on, but after losing the first two games of the road trip to the sub-par Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers things were not looking good for the Bulls.  They really bounced back after those two games though, and have gone on to win three straight road games against top-notch Western Conference teams.  They handled the Phoenix Suns pretty easily on Friday with a 115-104 win, and followed that up with a 104-97 win over the Houston Rockets the very next night.  Monday they went into San Antonio and beat the Spurs 98-93, who are one of the best teams of this era.  The Bulls are in Oklahoma City tonight to take on Kevin Durant and the Thunder, and they follow that up with a trip to New Orleans against Chris Paul and the Hornets to wrap up this long road trip.  A lot of Bulls players have been stepping up, but their current winning ways can mostly be attributed to Derrick Rose.  In the past six games (4 wins) Rose is averaging 26.3 points, 5.3 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.0 steals on 51% shooting.  Rose is really starting to mature before our eyes and is taking his game to the next level.  The All-Star reserves will be announced tomorrow night and I expect to hear Derrick Rose’s name called.  If the Bulls come out of this road trip with a winning record it will be huge and it could give them the momentum they need going into the second half of the season.

I must admit, when the Chicago Bulls took Joakim Noah with the 9th pick in the 2007 NBA Draft I was not happy with the pick.  I thought he was an over-hyped annoyance, who flailed around the court always whining or yelling.  In his first two seasons he showed some progress, but I was still not a Noah fan.  Noah sure has turned my thoughts on him around, as he has improved so much since last season.  He still plays with a lot of passion, but its a more controlled passion as Noah has obviously matured (both physically and mentally) and his professional approach to his game is really paying off.  He has nearly doubled his scoring, rebounding, and assist averages this year compared to last, averaging 11.1 points, 12.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.7 blocks.  His 12.4 rebounding average is the 2nd highest in the league, trailing only the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard (13.0 rpg).  Noah has been a huge asset for the Bulls this season with his monster rebounding numbers and strong defensive presence, along with an improving offensive game.  Don’t be surprised if you see Joakim Noah playing in Dallas for the All-Star game.