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Chicago Bulls Predictions: 2012 NBA Future Lines & Gambling Analysis

Chicago Bulls Season Preview — NBA Predictions

The Chicago Bulls have become known as of late as perennial championship contenders, but heading into the 2012-13 season, health could cause a serious setback when it comes to challenging the Miami Heat for supremacy out East. NBA megastar Derrick Rose is expected to miss most of the year following his torn ACL in last season’s playoffs, and consensus No. 2 option Luol Deng is dealing with a wrist injury, himself.  

Odds to win (By bovada.lv)
2013 NBA Championship: 16/1
2013 Eastern Conference: 13/2

This team has been touted as deep in the past, but this season will test just how much depth is truly on the roster.

Head coach Tom Thibodeau has been praised for his defense since taking over the lead job in Chicago, but another area where he deserves credit is his ability to get the most out of his role players. This season, that’s going to be a crucial element to the team’s success. If Luol Deng is healthy, he is the clear-cut first option on offense. He has difficulty creating his own shot, and his PER was a career low 14.13 last season, but he is an All-Star who can use his size and athleticism to make plays. The problem comes if he is unable to take over that scoring role.

Behind Deng, the team has low-post options in Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah. Both have shown flashes of brilliance throughout their careers, but with Noah as a primary defensive stopper and Boozer as a popular amnesty candidate down the road, it would be difficult to rely on either of them as a go-to scorer.

Finding somebody to replace the scoring of Derrick Rose is virtually impossible, but establishing somebody to bring the ball up the floor mistake-free is crucial. Nate Robinson and Kirk Hinrich have been brought in this season to do just that, as well as rookie point guard Marquis Teague.

Whether or not this team can produce offensively will be important, but when it comes down to it, Thibodeau will have his bread and butter to rely on either way—defense. The Bulls allowed the fewest points of any team in the league last season (88.2 per game) and they swallowed up the most rebounds as well (46.7 per game). Thibodeau is a hardnosed leader, and if his offense can’t produce the fifth most points in the league as it did last year, it will be the defense where he turns. [ad-6571516]

The Bulls won’t be tested too early in the season, which is good for a team trying to find its sense of direction. They open up with seven rebuilding opponents in their first 10 contests, and even after that, they don’t face the Indiana Pacers—the team most likely to contend within the Central division—until the first week of December. The problem for the Bulls is that they, too, can be considered a rebuilding program unless Rose makes a miraculous midseason return and leads his squad into the second half of the year.

The Miami Heat are the biggest challengers in the Eastern Conference, but if the Bulls struggle without their star—as they did in their first-round elimination last year—they’re going to be looking at an uphill battle when it comes to simply making the playoffs. A strong 2012 draft class has allowed bottom feeders all over the league to improve, and with the Bulls avoiding desperation acquisitions, they are essentially the same team as last year, minus Rose and plus Hinrich.

The New York Knicks are looking for a bounce-back year, the Brooklyn Nets are bringing a much improved rotation into their new arena and the Philadelphia 76ers could prove to be one of the best teams out East if Andrew Bynum and the rest of the young roster continue to grow. Even the Cleveland Cavaliers could contend in the Central Division if Kyrie Irving proves to be as good of a leader and as elite of a point guard as he looked last year.

Bulls Prediction

The Bulls are no longer as safe a bet as they were just two seasons ago. A championship is essentially out the window at this point, and their spot in the playoffs is no longer guaranteed. Fans in Chicago are anxiously awaiting the season’s commencement, but if things go downhill early, the 2013-14 season won’t be able to get here quickly enough.

By Cappers Picks

Articles on CappersPicks.com are written by Q (the Head Honcho) at Cappers Picks or by our resident "in house" handicapper Razor Ray Monohan! Enjoy the free picks folks! "Pad that bankroll one day at a time!"