Chicago Bulls feel they can be successful without Derrick Rose as the 2012-13 NBA season looms – NBA News
As the Chicago Bulls prepare for the upcoming regular season, they know that they are not being considered one of the favourites out of the Eastern Conference because their all star point guard Derrick Rose is expected to miss half of the season as he recovers from an ACL injury. However, the Bulls have no problems with being the underdogs, as they believe that they can still compete, even if Rose is missing from the line-up.
"That's all right. I think we've been in that situation before. We don't really care what everyone thinks. We're putting in the effort, we're putting in the work. When you keep doing that consistently you're going to get good results. We're really working and making it happen,” said Bulls forward Luol Deng after Sunday’s practice.
The Bulls played without Rose for 27 games last season as he struggled with a series of injuries. Still, the Bulls won 19 of those games and went on to clinch the top seed in the Eastern Conference. It is the belief that they can pull out the same type of performance next season which has the Bulls sensing that they can once again finish in the top four.
Their head coach Tom Thibodeau relies on the team playing together and to their strengths, rather than relying on any individual player. That has been the strength of this Bulls line-up for the past two seasons and that is what they plan to play on next season as well.
“I think the fact that we played half the season without him, I think they understand what we have to do. It seems like we've dealt with this for two years now. So I think the responsibility falls on guys accepting and embracing their roles. Whatever their job is, you got to go out and get the job done,” said Thibodeau.
The Bulls will be without Rose next season, as well as their bench mod that wrecked havoc in the NBA the past two seasons. The offseason saw Chicago lose key back-up players in the roster and have since added new players to maintain their strength as one of the deepest teams in the league. However, the new group of back-up players are still untested and it remains to be seen if they can live up to the expectations that have been set by the earlier group.
For the Bulls to be successful this season, players such as Luol Deng, Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer will have to step up to the challenge.
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