Joakim Noah and Nazr Mohammed holding down the fort to give the Bulls some much needed interior presence.
As the Chicago Bulls wind down their preseason schedule and get ready to open their much talked about regular season, there is some good news. After a devastating 5 months, in which the team surrendered in the first round of the playoffs, lost Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah to injury and parted ways with much of their bench depth in the offseason, the Bulls finally have some positives to take away from their preseason games.
The first positive is the fact that the Bulls starting centre Joakim Noah has played good minutes in the preseason games till now and looks like he has fully recovered from the ankle injury that he sustained during the playoffs. Noah looked in good form against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night, and ran the court well meaning he is fully healed from the injury that haunted him all offseason.
"I feel pretty good. I'm still trying to feel comfortable out there. We have a lot of new faces playing within the system. I do feel like my running is good. I want to get better at sealing my man, things that have never been my strength,” said Noah on Saturday.
Noah is one of the most crucial players in the Bulls line-up owing to his strong rebounding skills that make the Bulls a defensive force, as well as the energy he brings to the game. Against the Wolves, Noah scored 14 points and 13 rebounds including 5 offensive boards. He seems to be on a roll since the preseason started and is adjusting well to the Bulls new line-up and Coach Tom Thibodeau’s new strategy in the absence of Derrick Rose. And with Nazr Mohammed to back him up, the Bulls could have a strong centre presence in the upcoming season.
Mohammed, the veteran centre added to the Bulls line-up during the offseason, is showing no signs of old age or diminished performance, and seems to be responding well to Thibodeau. So far in the preseason games, Mohammed is averaging 9 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 21 minutes of playing time. In the game against the Wolves, he had 10 points and 6 rebounds in 15 minutes.
“I go out there and do whatever the team needs, whatever the coaches ask me to do. I've been in some good positions to do some good things offensively. So I'm trying to better concentrate on my defensive responsibilities,” said Mohammed about his new role in the Bulls line-up.
The Bulls have been labelled the underdogs for the upcoming season with Rose missing almost 6 months of action as he recovers from an ACL injury. However, the Bulls players have repeatedly said that they are not concerned with how they are being perceived, and will answer their critics once they get onto the floor. For a team that lacked superstars in the first place and is now reeling from the loss of one of the biggest superstars in the NBA, the Bulls seem to be on a good track.
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