Chicago Bulls Major Player in the Eastern Conference Again

So the Chicago Bulls didn’t get LeBron James. Or Dwyane Wade. Or later, Carmelo Anthony.

It doesn’t seem to matter.

Sitting pretty atop the NBA‘s Central division at 12-8 heading into Friday’s huge�8 p.m. match-up with the Los Angeles Lakers at United Center, the Bulls should be right in the thick of things for the Eastern Conference championship despite not landing one of the biggest names in basketball in the off-season or via trade.

Let’s take a look at some things to like about Chicago:

• Defense, defense, defense. It’s tough to find many teams in the league who appear as set for the long haul defensively as the Bulls. It’s actually downright scary to think about how ridiculous the team’s defense would be had�LeBron come to�the Windy City.�First-year�coach Tom Thibodeau�was regarded as one of�the game’s top defensive assistants while in Boston.�Center Joakim Noah has become a rebounding machine and one of the league’s�best young defensive big men.�Free-agent acquisition�Carlos Boozer, who�missed the first 15 games of the season�with an apparent broken hand, has�averaged 5.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in his first five contests of 2010-11.��Point guard Derrick Rose is capable of locking down opponents on the perimeter. Speaking of whom …
• Derrick Rose. It really astounded me to hear analysts worry about the Bulls’ lack of�a legitimate No. 1 scoring option heading into the season. Rose is that guy. His�30-point effort�in the Nov. 23 meeting with

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Source: http://www.thesportsbank.net/nba/chicago-bulls-major-player-in-the-eastern-conference-again/

Nate Robinson Paul Fiercer Rasheed Wallace LeBron James Ben Gordon Josh Howard