According to Bulls.com, Derrick Rose has been named as a reserve for the Eastern Conference in the 59th All-Star Game, to be held in Dallas.

Bulls guard and Chicago native Derrick Rose has been named as a reserve on the Eastern Conference All-Star team, which will play in the 59th NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010.

“I was in awe just thinking about it,” said Rose after the announcement was formally made on TNT. “I’m happy for the organization and I know they’re happy for me. My teammates, I wouldn’t be here without them. The coaching staff has been doing a good job. I’m just in awe right now.”

Rose becomes the first Bulls player to attain All-Star status since Michael Jordan in 1998.

It is nice that the Bulls finally ended their streak of not having a representative in the All-Star Game. The Bulls really should have had an All-Star in 06-07, when the Bulls were one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference, and Ben Gordon and Luol Deng were putting together good seasons. I think those two guys were hurt a lot by the Bulls never really marketing them as star type players, rather elevating players like Kirk Hinrich and Andres Nocioni to their level. With Rose, it was the complete opposite, Rose was marketed as the star from day one. Rose was being marketed as the star last season, even when Ben Gordon was clearly the best player on that team.

While I think this marketing of Rose as a star helped him over Gordon and Deng in years past, Rose still deserved his All-Star spot. When trying to come up with players who should be selected for a reserve role over Derrick Rose, I came up with: Rajon Rondo, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson, Gerald Wallace, and David Lee. That is only five players and there are seven reserve roles, which meant Rose should be an All-Star.

David Lee is the one guy who I feel got snubbed. I think that Al Horford should have been left off the roster in favor of Lee. Here is a comparison of the two players’ stats.

David Lee: 19.6 PPG 11.6 RPG 3.4 APG 1.0 SPG 0.3 BPG
Al Horford: 13.6 PPG 9.8 RPG 2.2 APG 0.7 SPG 1.3 BPG

David Lee is nearly better than Al Horford across the board. The only thing that Horford is outproducing Lee in is shotblocking, and Horford isn’t exactly a great shotblocker himself.

Reflecting more on Derrick Rose, it really is amazing that Rose is an All-Star. For the beginning of the season, Rose looked like he had regressed as a player from year one to year two. In addition the Bulls were horrible as a team. Just a little over a month ago, there were whispers of Vinny Del Negro being fired. Now the Bulls are at 22-22, and any thought of Vinny deserving to be fired is crazy now. And this Bulls turn around began with Derrick Rose starting to take over more. After his poor start, Rose is nearly averaging 20.0 PPG on the season. It is truly amazing that Rose has managed to put together an All-Star level season this year after the poor start, and we can only hope that Rose keeps the ball rolling towards super stardom.

Just a day after blowing a 35 point lead, the Bulls attempted a daring comeback of their own, whittling a once 22 point Knicks lead down to one point with 1:41 remaining in the game.

The Bulls comeback, unlike the Kings, came up short, and the Bulls lost the game 88-81.

The Bulls had their opportunities down the stretch, but once again failed to come up in clutch situations.

First, with the Bulls down three, Kirk Hinrich ignored the inbound play called by Vinny Del Negro, instead attempting an idiotic alleyoop to Joakim Noah, but the Bulls got the ball back.

Derrick Rose then bounced a pass that was meant for Taj Gibson out of bounds. It was a good idea for the Bulls to get a score, as Taj Gibson was standing there wide open. The problem of course is that Gibson is a string bean who can’t hold position in the post, which forced Rose to do a bounce pass (which Gibson wasn’t able to catch for whatever reason) instead of a regular pass for the easy dunk.

Even then, I don’t like the idea of passing it into Gibson at that point in the game. At that point, the Bulls were down by 3 points with 29.8 seconds left. The score would have been quick, and would have allowed the Bulls to go for the stop, and try to get the win with a one point game instead of playing the foul game, but the Bulls still would have had to score once more, likely with only a few seconds left, as the Knicks probably would have burned down the clock. You have to play to tie the game in situations like this, not to put yourself down 1.

Of course early on, it didn’t look like the Bulls were even going to be in late game pressure situations, as they were getting blown out early. But Derrick Rose led a comeback, scoring 16 points in the third quarter. Rose finished the game with 26 points.

Once Rose got the comeback started, Deng helped out a bit, getting going himself. Deng finished with 23 points on the game, although he took 23 shots to do it.

The Bulls defense was fine in the second half of this game, holding New York to only 35 points. But the Bulls continue to lose because they cannot score the ball.

Everyone in this game, except Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson, had poor scoring efficiencies. When only 34 of your team’s points are coming from efficient scoring, you’re offense is going to be terrible, as the Bulls offense was last night, and you are going to lose a lot of games, as the Bulls have been doing all season long.

The game saw some big rebounding numbers from Joakim Noah and David Lee. Noah finished the game with 10 points and 21 rebounds. Noah struggled scoring the ball, going 4-13 from the field.

However, David Lee outplayed Noah, finishing with 18 points and 21 rebounds. Lee hit the shot to put the Knicks up five points with 5 seconds remaining in the game.

John Salmons and Kirk Hinrich continued their poor play. Salmons finished with 7 points on 2-9 shooting, and Hinrich finished with 5 points on 2-7 shooting.

Del Negro actually decided to bench John Salmons and Brad Miller to start the third quarter. Both players have played horribly for the entire season.

Danilo Gallinari finished the game with 11 points on 2-13 shooting, but also had 3 blocks. I think Gallinari is a guy that a 2010 free agent like Lebron might want to play next to. He seems like a good fit next to a ball dominant player because of his ability to make the three point shot.

Al Harrington gave the Knicks 20 points off the bench, and Wilson Chandler added 16 points. Jared Jefferies finished the game with 10 points.

With the loss, the Bulls fall to 10-17 on the season.

According to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, the Knicks like Kirk Hinrich, but the Bulls would likely push Tyrus Thomas in a sign and trade deal.

The Knicks were hoping to get Robinson and David Lee signed at the same time and that is still a possibility if Lee is willing to agree to a one-year deal worth between $7 and $8 million. If Lee isn’t signed, the Knicks will try to work out and sign and trade. The Bulls have always been high on Lee and may try to work out a deal. The Knicks like Kirk Hinrich but Chicago would likely push Tyrus Thomas.

The whole Knicks situation is quite interesting. I think it is pretty classy of the Knicks to be offering these guys much more money than their qualifying offers on these one year offers.

I find it interesting that the Knicks may be willing to pay Kirk Hinrich long term money, but not David Lee (or Nate Robinson). That must show that Mike D’Antoni truly believes that Kirk Hinrich can run his system.

I find this to be laughable, as Kirk Hinrich is a bit of a fastbreak killer. Just analyzing the Bulls last year, they had Derrick Rose who was blazing fast on the fastbreak and Ben Gordon who was one of the league leaders in fastbreak points. There is something that Derrick Rose and Ben Gordon understand about the fastbreak that Kirk Hinrich doesn’t, and that is that you have to push the ball. If Rose saw Gordon ahead of him on the fastbreak, he would push the ball up to Gordon to attack the other team’s defense in transition. Gordon would do the same if Rose, Salmons, Hinrich, etc. were ahead of him.

Kirk Hinrich on the otherhand, feels the need to dribble the ball up the court himself, instead of pushing the ball ahead to teammates, which kills the fastbreak, as it allows the other team to fully transition back on defense, taking away the Bulls’ advantage on the fastbreak.

It is logical that the Bulls would want to include Tyrus Thomas in a trade for David Lee. Minutes would be scarce in the front court with James Johnson, Joakim Noah, Brad Miller, and David Lee up front, and with Luol Deng possibly playing some minutes at the four as well.

The Bulls also probably aren’t planning on keeping Tyrus Thomas longterm, as keeping him would prevent them from pursuing a big name free agent in 2010 free agency.

David Lee is an interesting player. He averaged 16.0 PPG and 11.7 RPG, there’s not many players that can do that in the NBA. That is a valuable player to have on your team. The problem is that the Bulls will still need to find some more star power, and trading for Lee would take away a lot of the Bulls flexibility this coming summer, which would mean that there would have to be another move made after trading for Lee to improve the team into a position where they truly have a chance to compete.

According to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, the Bulls may be in the mix for David Lee.

But one well-placed insider volunteered this tip when it comes to Lee’s situation: “Keep your eye on Chicago.”

David Lee averaged 16.0 PPG and 11.7 RPG last season. With Lee, you know you’re going to be getting 10+ PPG scoring on a very high efficiency, and double digit rebounding.

When the Bulls were trading with the Knicks in regards to Eddy Curry, they were actually trying to pry Lee away from the Knicks to no avail. So there is probably a lot of legitimacy in the Bulls being interested in Lee.

I think Lee would be a pretty good fit for the Bulls. Rebounding was a problem area for the Bulls last season, and Lee will obviosly fix it. He is a hustle player, and would likely run the court well with Rose.

If the Bulls make a move for Lee, they probably won’t have the cap space to sign a max free agent in 2010, so they would have to leverage their expiring contracts before the trade deadline to significantly improve their talent level of the team.

The New York Knicks coughed up a fourth quarter lead allowing the Chicago Bulls to escape with a 110 to 103 victory at the United Center tonight.

The Knicks led the Bulls 90 to 85 with 9:23 left in the fourth, but the Bulls started pouring in the points, at one point taking a 10 point lead with 5:16 remaining, 100 to 90.

Of course, the Bulls would let the Knicks back into the game. The Knicks got within one when Wilson Chandler sank a desperation three with 22 seconds left in the game to make it 104 to 103. But the Knicks let Ben Gordon get open, and the Knicks were forced to foul. Gordon then made both free throws to give the Bulls a 106 to 103 lead.

The Knicks needed a three in order to tie the game and bring it into overtime. They ended up with the ball in Quentin Richardson’s hands on the left wing, with Tyrus Thomas guarding him. Thomas bit, came down, but was able to block Richardson’s shot on his second jump. The Bulls cruised to victory from there on out.

Kirk Hinrich was just tremendous tonight. He finished with 25 points and 3 steals. He was making some difficult shots when the Bulls needed them, and had some big steals at the time when the Bulls were opening up the big 10 point lead.

The Bulls also got a big performance from John Salmons, who finished with 19 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 5 steals. He was probably the best Bull tonight. His steals, like Hinrich’s, were huge.

Ben Gordon was solid tonight, finishing with 17 points and 5 rebounds on 6-15 shooting. His shot was a little shaky tonight, his wrist injury is probably bothering his shot a little. 2 of his misses were late in the game though, after sitting almost the entire fourth quarter and being brought in for the last minute or so. He might have just missed those two shots because he was out of the game so long.

Derrick Rose finished with 18 points an 7 assists. Rose really didn’t have that good of a game today. He didn’t score the ball very efficiently and had some sloppy turnovers.

Tyrus Thomas had a pretty good game tonight finishing with 18 points, 6 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 steals. I didn’t think Thomas had a good game from start to finish, but he played well for most of it, with just a few dumbfounding moments sprinkled in. He came up huge in the clutch with two big blocks.

Wilson Chandler led the Knicks in scoring with 26 points. Al Harrington had 23 points. These were the two Knicks that looked really good offensively, but that might have just been because the Bulls played smallish, and were at a matchup disadvantage against these two guys.

David Lee had 17 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists.

Nate Robinson had a poor night, scoring 6 points on 2-9 shooting.

I think one big reason for why the game was so close was because Brad Miller missed so many short ones. He finished with 6 points on 1-10 shooting. If Miller puts in a few more of those close ones, this isn’t as close of a game. However, Miller did grab 12 rebounds.

With the win, the Bulls improve to 38-40 on the season, and move a half game ahead of Detroit for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference.

Closing Comments

Tonight was a win for the Bulls and that’s good enough for me. It was sloppy, but they got the job done. I don’t think it is really wise to try to draw too many conclusions from a game like this, so I won’t try to. The Knicks are one of those teams that can sloppy up a game, and that’s exactly what happened tonight.

The Bulls playoff chances are much improved after tonight. The Bobcats won, but so did the Bulls, so the Bulls magic number to make the playoffs is down to 2. That means that if the Bulls beat the Bobcats on Sunday, they will be in the playoffs.

Go Bulls!

According to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks are discussing a trade that would send Larry Hughes to the Knicks in exchange for Malik Rose. Jerome James or Nate Robinson could also be involved in the trade, as well as David Lee if the Bulls were willing to part with Tyrus Thomas or Joakim Noah.

The Knicks are in talks with the Chicago Bulls about a deal for shooting guard Larry Hughes, whose contract expires in two summers.

Malik Rose’s expiring contract is being dangled in a potential deal but the Knicks would have to include another player to make the deal satisfy salary cap restrictions. The Knicks would gladly include Jerome James, who is coming off Achilles surgery and may never play again. James’ contract also expires after next season.

There is a possibility that Nate Robinson could be included in the deal since Robinson is set to become a restricted free agent on July 1. The fans may not want to see the popular Robinson traded but the team president Donnie Walsh has made it known that his plan is to sign two All-Star caliber free agents by 2010.

The only way David Lee would be included in a deal for Hughes is if the Bulls include either Tyrus Thomas or Joakim Noah, who may be expendable now that Chicago has acquired Brad Miller from Sacramento.

Why are the Knicks willing to trade for Larry Hughes? The Knicks are likely looking at a potential trade for Larry Hughes because they realize he has a lot of offensive talent that has not been focused in his career, and they think they could bring his offense to its full potential in D’Antoni’s system. Hughes’ contract expires after next season, so it will not interfere with the Knicks’ 2010 plans.

This would be a great trade for the Bulls. The Bulls would get rid of Larry Hughes, who no longer players, and they would do it, getting some relief for next season by getting Malik Rose’s expiring contract. By unloading some salary off the cap with this trade, the Bulls will have more room to maneuver when trying re-signing Ben Gordon this summer.

This is a good trade, and I hope to see it go through tomorrow.

The Chicago Bulls fell to the New York Knicks 102 to 98 as they failed to close out the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

The Bulls were plagued with selfishness down the stretch. With the Bulls down one, Derrick Rose took a contested layup, ignoring the wide open Ben Gordon in the corner. The next play down, the Bulls called Gordon’s number to try to tie it with a three, but Gordon ended up taking an awkward fall away three in which he didn’t quite have his legs under him, making the shot fall short.

The Bulls defense was horrific, with one exception, Tyrus Thomas. Tyrus Thomas had a really nice game, putting up 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks. He altered a lot of shots, rebounded well, and put the ball in the basket. He had 5 turnovers, but it was still a very good game from Thomas.

Derrick Rose had a decent game, finishing with 20 points and 8 assists. The game was a story of two halves for Rose. In the first half, he looked good because he was making his jumpshot. In the second half, he had difficulty making his jumpshot, and really took the Bulls out of the game with his jumpshots.

One thing is clear, while the Bulls play has improved, one major problem still remains, and that is the coaching of Vinny Del Negro. Vinny Del Negro sat Gordon almost the entire fourth quarter, to bring him in with 31 seconds left in the game, asking Gordon to save the Bulls. Players who sit for entire quarters don’t usually come in and hit big shots.

Del Negro needs to not only read the scouting report on the other team, but also on his own team. Ben Gordon is a big time fourth quarter player. Kirk Hinrich was one of the worst clutch players in the NBA last season, and for most of his career. As would be expected if one were to read the scouting report of the Bulls in the clutch, Kirk Hinrich missed all three of his fourth quarter shots, and missed a free throw with 1:10 left in the game, and the Bulls tied at 97.

This isn’t to say that Ben Gordon by any means would have saved the day. He was quite awful today, but we have seen so many times, Gordon be awful for the first three quarters, catch fire in the fourth, and win us the game.

As aforementioned, Ben Gordon was terrible today. Defensively he struggled guarding Quentin Richardson in the post. Most of the time, the complaint about Gordon being abused in the post is a machination of the imagination, but today it was reality. Offensively, Gordon had some nice passes, and did all the right things, his shot just wasn’t falling, as he shot 3-15. It looks like Gordon is in his usual winter slump. Gordon finished the game with 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists.

For those who threw out the idea of ditching Gordon after the Bulls two game winning streak after Hinrich returned are clearly in the wrong. The Bulls really need Ben Gordon, and today is a perfect example why. Today, the Bulls got good games out of Hinrich, Deng, and Thomas, and a decent game out of Rose, yet they still loss. If Gordon was making his shots as usual, the Bulls would have easily won this. Once Gordon breaks out of his mini slump, given the level of play of the other Bulls, the Bulls should start winning a lot of games.

Luol Deng put in another strong showing, pouring in 20 pouints and grabbing 10 rebounds for the double double. It would be interesting to find out what happened with Deng, because Kirk Hinrich’s return isn’t a very good explanation. The most obvious answer, would be that John Paxson threatened to trade Deng from the team he loves if his play didn’t improve. Deng is back to vintage 06-07 Deng, and with that, the Bulls are a much better team.

Joakim Noah dominated the glass, grabbing 18 rebounds. Noah had 3 blocks to go along with his rebounds. Noah was a positive force inside tonight.

Kirk Hinrich had a nice 13 points and 7 assists off the bench. His defense was a big step down from his previous four outings.

Quentin Richardson had 24 points in the game. He took advantage of Gordon in the post from time to time, and was on fire from three, shooting 5 for 6.

The former Bull, Chris Duhon was great today. Duhon finished with 19 points in the game. Duhon was clutch, and key in the Knicks victory. Duhon hit the go ahead basket with 31 seconds left in the game, and then expanded the Knicks lead to three with two free throws.

David Lee scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. He shot a horrible 3-14, likely the result of an ankle injury he incurred early in the game.

Nate Robinson added in 12 points, Al Harrington had 11, and the rookie, Danilo Gallinari had 9 points.

Andres Nocioni and Drew Gooden were bad today. Nocioni shot 1 for 9, and Drew Gooden shot 1 for 5.

With the loss, the Bulls fall to 18-24 on the season.