Kobe Bryant believes the Chicago Bulls are a strong force even with Derrick Rose injured – NBA Update
Chicago Bulls have been at the top of NBA rankings for the past two seasons and despite the recent speculation that their championship aspirations will see a drastic demise following Derrick’s Rose knee injury, Kobe Bryant of the
Los Angeles Lakers believes that the Bulls will be coming back strong as ever next season.
"You look at what they did without Rose in the lineup, you plug him into that mix what are they going to look like? No question (they still are.)" - Bryant
One of the main reasons for Bryant holding such a high opinion of the Bulls is Tom Thibodeau, who he believes is one of the best coaches present in the NBA. Bryant says that Thibs can work things around despite having no star player
present among the ranks.
"I felt like the Bulls did a fantastic job this season in terms of kind of holding the fort down while he was out. You're missing such a big part of your team (without Rose), but I felt like Thibs did a great job of putting guys
in a position to be successful and they really held it down for as long as they could, man.”
The opinion of Bryant, to some extent, might be based on the little time he spent working out for Thibodeau in his teenage years. But largely, Thibodeau’s record is a mere proof of the fact of how great a coach he has been. He
is the fastest coach ever in the NBA to cross the 100 wins mark (in 130 games) and has also led the Bulls to the best record in NBA for two regular seasons running.
In the 2010-11 season, many analysts argued that the Bulls record was courtesy of a MVP season from Derrick Rose, however that notion was proved wrong last season, when Rose missed 27 of the 66 games played, and the Bulls still
were the team to beat.
Thibodeau manoeuvred with a bunch of over age players, but designed a strategy based on his team playing immaculate defence, one which even the likes of Miami Heat and Boston Celtics were not able to break.
With Bulls not making too much of a noise in the free agency, coach Thibs will have nearly the same cast next season, and it would not come as a surprise if the Bulls continue with their winning ways.
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