The Bulls came up big in the first game of the season yesterday, defeating the San Antonio Spurs 92-85 at the United Center.

The Bulls won in a total team effort, depending on a strong team defense and an even distribution of scoring.

Tim Duncan destroyed the Bulls, going for 28 points, 16 rebounds, and 3 blocks. That was okay, as the Bulls shutdown every other key player on the Spurs. Richard Jefferson only had 9 points on 3-9 shooting, Tony Parker had 8 points on 4-11 shooting, Manu Ginobili had 12 points on 3-11 shooting, and Antonio McDyess had 1 point on 0-4 shooting.

The Bulls effort was led by Luol Deng, who scored 17 points on 8-13 shooting. This is an encouraging start to the season, and if Deng can keep it up, the Bulls could push into the mid to high 40 in wins. However, I don’t think Deng can keep it up. In last night’s game, only 2 of Deng’s makes were near the basket. He was making his long jumper last night, and that is why he was so successful offensively last night. He did the same thing during the 2006-2007 season. This is why it’s a little hard to get too excited about Luol’s game tonight, he didn’t display any new ways he can score. If his midrange shot isn’t elite, like it hasn’t been for every year except 06-07, then Deng is going to score inefficiently, and be a hindrance on the offense.

On the flipside, John Salmons struggled, scoring 10 points on 3-15 shooting. He will have a lot better shooting nights than he did tonight, just a bad game for him.

The Bulls got terrific play at the point guard spot from Derrick Rose and Kirk Hinrich. Derrick Rose finished with 13 points, 7 assists, and 7 rebounds and Kirk Hinrich scored 14 points. Kirk Hinrich is easily the best backup point guard in the game, and the Bulls should be one of the top teams in the league in point guard production for the year.

The major reason that the Bulls were able to knock off the Spurs was because of the play of their front court. The Bulls got good production from their main three big men. Tyrus Thomas was impressive with 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Joakim Noah had 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks, and Brad Miller had 9 points.

With the win, the Bulls start the season 1-0. They play the Boston Celtics later tonight in the early ESPN game.

Closing Comments and Season Outlook

The Bulls looked great in their season opener. Is this a sign that the Bulls are going to be a great team this year, and maybe take the fourth seed in the East? It could be, but I don’t think so.

The reason I don’t think so is because I don’t foresee Luol Deng playing like this every night, and even with good defense, other teams will score better than the Spurs did. Good offense beats good defense. I think what the Bulls will get out of Luol Deng is great defense, but very poor offensive production, and because of Deng’s lack of a three point shot, I think he might muddle up the offense a bit.

I think the big question of the season is how do the Bulls big men perform. That is, how do they perform on the defensive end of the court. If the Bulls big men step up, and play good interior defense, than the Bulls can be a good team, and challenge for the fourth seed in the East. If the Bulls big men play like they did last year, then this will be a forgettable year for Bulls fans.

Unfortunately, I don’t see the Bulls big men playing at an elite level on the defensive end all year. I think they will be better than last year, but the loss of Gordon will far outweigh the gains the Bulls make on the defensive end.

Where does this leave the Bulls? They won’t be a bad team, but they won’t be a very good team either. From what I have seen around the web, there is a general consensus that the Bulls will finish somewhere in this 35 to 45 win range. Las Vegas set 41.5 as the over/under for the Bulls record this season.

My personal prediction before last night was 38-44, but I’m going to ammend that to 39-43, because I didn’t think the Bulls would beat the Spurs last night. 39-43 is my prediction for the Bulls record this season, just missing out on the playoffs with the 9th seed. Hopefully I’m wrong.

The 2009-2010 NBA season is quickly approaching. Therefore, here are five bold, specific, quick hit predictions for the 2009-2010 NBA season.

1. The San Antonio Spurs defeat the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Finals behind a 17 rebound performance by Dejuan Blair. Tim Duncan wins the Finals MVP, while Manu Ginobili hobbles his wa through the Finals, retiring at their conclusion.
2. Brook Lopez makes his first Allstar game appearance and emerges as the top player from the 2008 Draft Class.
3. All four of the conference semi-final matchups (Cleveland vs. Detroit, Boston vs. Orlando, LA Lakers vs. Portland, and San Antonio vs. Dallas) will be epic playoff series.
4. Ben Gordon takes over the starting shooting guard spot from Richard Hamilton in November. At that point, Joe Dumars simultaneously trades Richard Hamilton for a center (it will be either Chris Kaman or Andrew Bogut). The Pistons combine one of the top producing back courts in the NBA with good interior defense to claim the fourth seed in the East. Ben Gordon has a better season than Derrick Rose and makes his first Allstar game. Gordon goes on to knock the Miami Heat out of the playoffs in Game 6 on a buzzer beating leaner along the baseline. The Pistons give the Cavs a hard fought series in the second round before being eliminated in six games.
5. Michael Beasley puts it all together as the Heat win around 46 games. Miami becomes the clear cut top free agent destination. Dwyane Wade re-signs with the Heat on the first day of free agency. The Heat also sign Lebron James or Chris Bosh on the first day of free agency.

Last night at the VMA’s, Kanye West took the microphone out of Taylor Swift’s hands as she was accepting her award for Female Music Video of the Year, to put Taylor on blast, implying that Beyonce should have been taking home the award.

Similarly, on Friday, Michael Jordan put his enemies on blast during his speech during the Hall of Fame induction. During his speech Jordan called out Jerry Krause for his organizations win championships comment. He called out Isiah Thomas for freezing him out at the 1985 Allstar Game. He called out Jeff Van Gundy for saying that Jordan conned players by befriending them. He called out Byron Russell for saying that he could cover Jordan if he was still playing when Jordan was retired in 1994.

Kanye West’s actions were obviously much worse, but both have been talked about as classless. While they are similar in that respect, they are also so very different, because of who Michael Jordan is.

Kanye West thinks he can say anything he wants about other musicians without repercussions because he has self deluded himself into thinking that he’s The Beatles. Michael Jordan, however, can say whatever he wants, because he is The Beatles.

Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player to ever play the game. Not only that, he is the greatest athlete to ever play in any sport, and that is why it seemed okay to do what he did last Friday.

Him being the greatest athlete of all time, as well as donning the Chicago Bulls uniform is also why it’s now Monday, and this is just being written. The fact that Jordan is the GOAT and also wore a Bulls uniform makes this a hard post to write, because I want to make it a good one. I want to make it a perfect one, just like Jordan, the perfect basketball player.

And I know I’m not alone in this. Kelly Dwyer explains the same difficulty in writing about Jordan that I have.

At least Dwyer know completely what Jordan meant to him, as he got to witness it all. Doug Thonus of Chicago Bulls Confidential and Matt from Blog-a-Bull are admittedly indifferent about the entire thing. I am the in between, which is incredibly difficult to write about.

As a sports fan, I root for all of the same professional teams that my Dad did. That is the Packers, Cubs, and Bulls. So I was out there watching the Bulls when they were out winning these last three championships. But it wasn’t until after Jordan retired from the Bulls that I really got into basketball (I started becoming a hardcore basketball fan in 1998).

While I was watching Jordan win these championships, it wasn’t with the same fervor that I watched Ben Gordon lead the Bulls to the second round of the playoffs or Rusty Larue lead the Bulls to 17 wins. The Bulls winning a championship now would mean a lot more to me than the ones they won in the 1990’s.

Just off the top of my head, here are some of the athletes that mean more to me than Michael Jordan:

Sammy Sosa, who was the only exciting thing about the Cubs for a long while, and one of the greatest home run hitters to ever play baseball.

Dwyane Wade, who graced us with his presence for two terrific seasons at Marquette, culminating in a Final Four appearance.

Ben Gordon, who helped in re-energizing the Bulls, leading them back to the playoffs for the first time since the guy I’m writing this article about.

And also Aaron Rodgers, the new face of the Green Bay Packers, and one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.

But this list is still very small. Michael still means a lot.

The first video game I ever owned was Bulls vs. Blazers and the NBA Playoffs for Super Nintendo.

While I was more excited for Bugs Bunny at the time, Michael Jordan is the reason why Space Jam is still one of my favorite movies of all time. (Although I still find Bugs hilarious!)

The first jersey I owned of any athlete was Michael Jordan. Elton Brand, Derrick Rose, and Ben Gordon are the only other Bulls that I have owned a jersey of.

When I used to wear headbands when playing basketball (before deciding it was tacky), about half the time I would wear a white Air Jordan headband. I owned a pair of those butt ugly Jordan Retro 5’s, but thought they were cool because they were Jordan’s shoes.

My basketball card collection, which I stopped collecting for during the 2004-2005 (just enough time to get some Ben Gordon rookies!), has a massive pile, dedicated to just cards of Jordan.

When NBA 2K3 came out, in quickplay games I often played as the Wizards (although Jay Wiliams was sick in that game too!). In franchise mode, Jordan would curiously be traded for (or fantasy drafted) time and time again to the Bulls, and I would try to win the championship before Jordan retired in the game.

I also watched a lot of Wizards games that year. Anytime they were on national TV, I would watch them, although I never brought myself to get a Jordan Wizards jersey. I’ve gotten jerseys of guys on other teams in the past. I had a Shaquille O’neal and Penny Hardaway Magic jerseys, a Chris Webber Kings throwback, and a Tim Duncan Team USA jersey. But getting an MJ Wizards jersey just seemed wrong, and I never ended up purchasing one.

During the offseason I will often find myself watching one of the documentaries or games on the Ultimate Jordan collection. It’s also not uncommon to be on youtube re-watching some of Jordan’s greatest moments on youtube.

But my memories of Jordan when he was actually playing for the Bulls are thin. My memories of Jordan are more from the culture Jordan created than anything Jordan actually did in a Bulls uniform.

So now, at the end of the article, I still cannot say what Jordan meant to me in exactness. He probably means more to me than both Doug and Matt, but less than Kelly Dwyer. Maybe I will never know how much Jordan means to me, or my basketball fandom, but I can tell you one thing, Michael Jordan was the greatest athlete to ever play a sport.

As many readers of Yahoo Sports, such as myself, have probably noticed that Kelly Dwyer has been posting top 10 lists for the 2000’s in his Balls Don’t Lie blog. Today he did top 10 defenders, and I felt obliged to comment on this, not only because of the number of the Bulls on the list, but also, how low he ranked a certain defender.

His top 10 defenders list is:

10. Kirk Hinrich
9. Eric Snow
8. Jason Kidd
7. Bruce Bowen
6. Ron Artest
5. Dikembe Mutombo
4. Tim Duncan
3. Ben Wallace
2. Shane Battier
1. Kevin Garnett

(You can see Dwyer’s analysis on the list here)

It’s neat to see so many Bulls on the list. Three Bulls, Kirk Hinrich, Ron Artest, and Ben Wallace made the list.

I agree with Dwyer’s inclusion of Hinrich, and also his analysis. In 06-07 and 08-09, Hinrich was definitely one of the top perimeter defenders in the league.

However, the main reason I am posting this, is because of how low Ben Wallace is ranked. There is no reason why Shane Battier should be ranked higher than Ben Wallace. Because Battier is a perimeter defender, his potential impact on defense is less than Wallace, who is a big man. A perimeter defender can only affect their man, for the most part. An interior defender can affect the other team’s entire offense.

In the list, Dwyer is more concerned about the players’ primes, and not their prolonged impact. Ben Wallace was the best defender of this decade in his prime.

Looking at the top 10 best seasons in terms of defensive win shares and defensive rating, we get the following:

1. Ben Wallace, 2003-2004 - 8.9 DWS
2. Kevin Garnett, 2003-2004 - 7.9 DWS
3. Dwight Howard, 2008-2009 - 7.6 DWS
4. Ben Wallace, 2002-2003 - 7.5 DWS
5. Ben Wallace, 2001-2002, - 7.2 DWS
6. Tim Duncan, 2003-2004 - 7.1 DWS
7. Tim Duncan, 2001-2002 - 7.0 DWS
8. Shaquille O’neal, 1999-2000 - 7.0 DWS
9. Tim Duncan, 2002-2003 - 6.9 DWS
10. Tim Duncan, 2000-2001 - 6.9 DWS

Based on DWS, Ben Wallace and Tim Duncan are the two names that pop out. Kevin Garnett had an elite 2003-2004 season, but that’s about it. Garnett’s second best season was 2008-2009 with the Celtics, which was the 24th best DWS season of the decade. Ben Wallace and Tim Duncan each have 7 seasons that are better than Garnett’s second best defensive season based on DWS.

Now a look at the top 10 defensive seasons based on D-Rtg. The following is the top 10 D-Rtg seasons for players that playd 24 or more minutes per game.

1. Ben Wallace, 2003-2004 - 87.5
2. Tim Duncan, 2003-2004 - 88.5
3. Ben Wallace, 2002-2003 - 90.0
4. Marcus Camby, 2000-2001 - 90.6
5. Kevin Garnett, 2003-2004 - 91.6
6. David Robinson, 2000-2001, 92.1
7. Rasho Nesterovic, 2003-2004, 92.2
8. David Robinson, 1999-2000, 92.2
9. Ben Wallace, 2001-2002, 92.9
10. Manu Ginobili, 2003-2004, 93.1

What conclusions can be made from looking at both of these rankings? That Ben Wallace, in his prime, was the best defender of the decade. His 2003-2004 season is both the best DWS season and also the best D-Rtg season. His 2003-2004 season is actually the best D-Rtg season in NBA history, 16th best DWS season in NBA History (all that are better are from 1973 or prior), and he followed that up with the best D-Rtg postseason in NBA history.

Kevin Garnett is an elite defender as seen by these rankings. However, putting Shane Battier ahead of Wallace is a complete disrespect for everything Wallace has done on the basketball court.

Shane Battier’s best defensive season based on D-Rtg was 101.6 in 2003-2004. That was good for the 306th best D-Rtg of the decade, behind seasons by defensive prodigies, such as Antoine Walker. Battier’s best DWS season was 4.5 in 2006-2007, which is again, worse than defensive prodigy Antoine Walker’s best season.

Battier doesn’t belong in this top ten list, let alone ahead of some of the best defenders in NBA history in Ben Wallace, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett. Battier’s inclusion also knocked Shaquille O’neal off this list, who definitely belongs there.

Ben Wallace should have been #1 on this list.

With 33 seconds left, and down by 6, the Bulls needed perfection to pull off the win. The Bulls needed to make a quick three, and then get a stop on the other side of the ball. Within 2 seconds, the Bulls got the ball to Nocioni off the inbound play, and he was fouled by Parker. Nocioni made all three free throws. Bulls were now down 90 to 87. Now just to get the stop. The Bulls forced San Antonio down in the shot clock, Ginobili is in a bad situation, he pump fakes, gets Nocioni in the air, foul, three shots. Ginobili makes two free throws, and the Spurs win 92 to 87 at the United Center.

The biggest positive that can be taken away from tonight’s game is that it looks like the Bulls are back. The team has that same intensity that it did in 2006-2007. If the Bulls continue to play with this level of intensity, they will begin to steamroll the easier teams and get over .500 rapidly.

The shooting slump is over for Ben Gordon. He came out firing, hitting his first 5 shots in the game. Gordon finished with 20 points on 9-16 shooting and had 4 assists. The offensive performance was better than it looks from the box score, given that the Spurs were allowed to maul Gordon all game with no repercussions. Gordon also initiated some successful fastbreaks. On one, he had the ball in a two on one fastbreak, threw it up to Tyrus Thomas for the alley oop dunk. On the other, he found a cherry picking Luol Deng for the easy lay-in.

Derrick Rose had a really bad night, something that is becoming a trend. Rose finished with 12 points on 6-21 shooting and 8 assists. Rose has become an inefficient scorer, chucking up a lot of bad shots every game. He will make a pretty move, such as a spin into a layup over Tim Duncan tonight, that makes the fans forget about how bad he is doing on most offensive possessions. His assist numbers seem to just be the product of handling the ball so much, nothing special that he does in terms of creating for his teammates. His defense is an abomination. The only players that I’ve really seen that are as bad as Rose on the defensive end in the NBA are Adam Morrison and J.J. Redick. Comparing him to a rookie Gordon on the defensive end is just being nice.

If you are a Bulls fan, you have to be scared about what you’re seeing out of Rose. He is playing really bad basketball. He is an inefficient scorer and can’t defend a chair. Someone needs to hold him accountable for his poor play, and soon. Back in November, Rose looked like a near allstar and has since regressed a ton.

For the first time since coming back, Kirk Hinrich really struggled on the offensive end, scoring 4 points on 2-9 shooting. I have strong doubts of Kirk being the highly efficient scorer that he looked like in his games this season. I think it will be the same inconsistent Kirk that we’re all used to.

However, Kirk’s defense was dynamite. He locked down Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili during his stints in the game. When he was on them, they couldn’t do anything. Kirk’s defense since coming back has been simply amazing. Kirk over the last few games has been better defensively than Ron Artest or Bruce Bowen at their best over the last decade. If Hinrich keeps up this defense all long, you have to call him the best defender in the NBA. Hopefully there is more great defense from Hinrich to come.

I think Vinny made a bit of a mistake during the stretch run with his Hinrich and Gordon subs. With Bruce Bowen in the game, the Bulls could have hid Derrick Rose on Bowen, put Hinrich on Ginobili, and Gordon on Parker, and get away with it. If Vinny didn’t think a three guard lineup was a good idea, than at the very least, Rose should have been the guard on the bench down the stretch.

Andres Nocioni had a really nice game, finishing with 17 points and 15 rebounds. His intensity was great, and he was actually playing smart defense, and attacking the boards. He played more within the offense. So the question has to be raised, why hasn’t he been doing this all year? Why was he just being a chucker and playing lazy, stupid defense for most of the year? It’s just not tonight, his defense has looked better in a few other games this week.

Luol Deng also had a solid game, putting up 12 points 10 rebounds. Not a spectacular game, but solid, which is better than what the Bulls have gotten out of Deng most of the season. He made some really good jumpshots which kept the Bulls close.

For the Spurs, Tony Parker had 20 points and 8 assists. He got whatever he wanted against Rose. Gordon slowed him a little, and Hinrich completely shut him down. But when Rose was on Parker, he really torched us.

Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan both had nice games. Ginobili had 21 points and Duncan added in 18 points and 14 rebounds. They just did what they usually do. With all three of the Spurs big three playing well, they are a tough team to beat.

Matt Bonner had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Michael Finley and Drew Gooden both had 11 points in the game.

I really hate moral victories, because to get a moral victory means that you lost the game. But this was a good moral victory for the team. Just getting the team to play with a lot of intensity against a great team for 48 minutes is a win at this point.

With the loss, the Bulls fall to 18-23 on the season.

The best rookie in tonight’s game wasn’t Derrick Rose, but instead someone named George Hill. As you might imagine, with that reality, the Bulls lost tonight. The San Antonio Spurs downed the Bulls 98 to 86.

George Hill finished the game with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists. Derrick Rose had trouble staying in front of Hill and when Gooden was at center, Hill met little to no resistance at the rim, allowing him to score easily.

The other rookie, Derrick Rose, finished the game with 10 points, 6 assists, and 6 rebounds.

Ben Gordon was the Bulls best player tonight, scoring 23 points on 9-16 FG, grabbing 5 rebounds, and dishing 3 assists. Gordon caught fire in the third to give the Bulls a small lead. However, against the San Antonio Spurs, you need multiple players to step up, as the Spurs are great at making in-game adjustments. The Spurs shifted the defensive focus to Gordon, meeting him with double teams, and no one else bothered to step up, causing the Bulls offense to stagnate for the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth quarter.

That is where the Bulls have problems with one of their top players being a rookie. Derrick Rose has been great so far this season, but he isn’t going to be able to step up every game, and this was one of those games where Rose didn’t step up and take over, only scoring 2 points in the second half. Rose by no means had a bad game, he just didn’t have a great game.

Larry Hughes was also a big component in our loss. Hughes finished the game with 8 points onf 4-14 shooting. Hughes wasn’t taking bad shots, they were all good looks, he just has trouble making his shots whether they are bad looks or good looks.

Andres Nocioni was dreadful tonight. He had 5 points on 2-6 shooting, and had a costly sequence where he got a flagrant foul and followed it up by a technical.

Drew Gooden had a solid game, scoring 20 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Unfortunately, Gooden’s interior defense was soft, and his help defense was non-existent.

Tim Duncan had 21 points and 8 rebounds. The game from Duncan was a lot better than it looks, as he let the other Spurs take over in the 2nd half. Duncan had 18 of his 21 points in the first half.

The Bulls played sloppy in the 2nd half. The Bulls only had 4 turnovers in the first half and played a nice controlled game. In the 2nd half, the Bulls turned the ball over 9 times.

Manu Ginobili had 15 points, and scored effectively for the Spurs.

Luol Deng had 10 points in the game on 4-7 shooting. That is a good indication that the Bulls might get something out of Deng in the future, but most of his scoring was in garbage time.

The Bulls are now 2-4 on the circus trip and 7-9 on the season. The Spurs are now 8-6 on the season.

The Bulls next game is against the Philadelphia 76ers.