Chicago Bulls 1st Game Breakdown

Copyright 2008 NBAE (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)



The Bulls came out with a starting line up of: Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, and Drew Gooden.

First off, before I get into any details, I would like to speak on Larry Hughes. Here are some of his comments:

"I came in ready to go, and I've been on the second team from Day One," Hughes said. "Maybe that's how [coach Vinny Del Negro] sees it. I'm not sure. I haven't talked to him about it because it's camp. And camp is usually pretty fluid. I don't know what the reasoning is behind it. We'll have to see if this is how it's going to be, I guess. You never know."

I think the reason why he got teardrops tatted on his face is because it's stands for how big of a crybaby he is. Larry Hughes needs to be shipped out of Chicago. He made me sick last night. Taking bad shots, dribbling out the clock, the usual Larry Hughes stuff.

Back to more Bulls.

Derrick Rose played like any rookie point guard would in his first game. He had a lot of turnovers, but most of those were not his fault. If Tyrus would of caught that alley-oop I would of crapped my pants. That would of probably brought the crowd alive. Other than that I saw some flashes of brilliance from Rose, and so far so good.
Grade: C

Kirk Hinrich looked like a journeyman out there. He really didn't do a good job of asserting himself at the 2. He passed up shots, etc. It might take a while for Hinrich to get back into the flow of being a 2 guard.
Grade: C-

Luol Deng came on late in the 2nd half of the game. In the beginning he looked like an average joe. He looked like he didn't care. He has 71 million reasons to care. If I were Lu, I would command the ball more. He didn't do that.
Grade: C

Quick Note: Brandan Bass killed the entire Chicago Bulls on that dunk.

Tyrus Thomas has worked on his game in the offseason a lot. If he can get that jumper to hit consistently, watch out.
Grade: B-

Drew Gooden held his own against a bigger Dampier. It's going to be more of the same from Drew 12ppg 10rpb.
Grade: B

Andres Nocioni needs to do 2 things; 1)Cut his hair, 2) Play like he does for Argentina.

Larry Hughes (see above)

Aaron Gray aka "sheep herder" needs to play more. He's got some low post game. Hate if you want. Also looks like someone put a bowl on his head, and cut around it.

Thabo Sefolosha looked more like a Chevy Thabo rather than a ball player last night.

Joakim Noah showing off his fright fest look.

Vinny Del Negro looked lost sometimes, but no matter how nervous he was his hair was never nervous.
(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)