An Early Look at the Bulls - Raptors Series By Richie

Since you have set forth the challenge of breaking down the Bulls, let me get it started.

PG

Kirk Hinrich - An undersized point guard with a great shooting touch when hes hot. Capable of scoring in the mid twenties on those nights. His backup Duhon is very solid and can make big contributions from time to time at either spot in the backcourt. A versatile duo. I like Ford and Calderon better though.

SG

Ben Gordon - A traditional Raptor killer who has had plenty of huge games matchin up against Toronto. Makes plenty of circus shots and is the team's best scorer. However, as the leading scorer on the team he is not exactly overly intimidating on the superstar scale. More concretely, he is not as good other possible first round matchups like Wade, Arenas or Lebron. He has plenty of nights where his game is completely invisible. If Anthony Parker can get his ankle healthy enough to defend, Gordon does not worry me too much.

SF

Luol Deng - Definitely the real threat on the team to the Raps. They have absolutely no answer to his game. He is not quite a superstar, but is a great number 2 or 3 guy on a championship calibre team. Nocioni was good in the playoffs last year and could step up if he regains his full health. The Raptors are severely outclassed at this particular position.

PF

PJ Brown/Tyrus Thomas - Solid defence from these two and extremely limited offence. Thomas is simply too raw to be able to contribute much come playoff time.

C

Ben Wallace - Good defender, no offence and can't shoot free throws. Thus he won't even be on the court to play defence in plenty of close games. Why they gave up on Tyson Chandler for an older version of him I will never know. Skiles and Paxson were foolish in my mind to sign him to such big money.

Bench

Sefolosha, Sweetney, Griffin, Allen, etc are all crap. They will not get playoff minutes for this team. Thus the 8 players mentioned above will need to carry the load.

Wrapup

The Bulls seem to always beat the Raps. While their 15 game winning streak has been put to an end, it still seems to me that the Bulls hold a psychological advantage were they to meet in round one.

Overall I think the Bulls would win simply based on the experience they have gained over the past two seasons. The Raps are a bit too young in my mind. Other than MoPete, Rasho and Ford, the Raps have no NBA playoff experience.

I do think it would be close though and I see the Bulls to be a deeply flawed team with a stagnant offence. They could be knocked off if the whole Raptors team shows up healthy for round one. I actually think it would be quite an attractive first round matchup.