Former Utah Jazz Center,Kyrylo Fesenko will be attending the Chicago Bulls training camp. The Bulls have  been searching for an established big man to come to training camp on a non-guaranteed deal because league rules prevent the hard-capped Bulls from handing out any guaranteed deals heading into the season. Last year, the Bulls had Omer Asik coming off the bench to back up Joakim Noah, but he is now with the Houston Rockets. Fesenko isnt the best offensive or defensive player in the world. But, you cant coach 7 foot 1. His only problem in his four years in the league, is staying out of foul trouble and having his presence felt on the offensive end. In Fesenko’s career he has averaged 2.3 points and 2 rebounds per game.

The Chicago Bulls open up training camp tomorrow October 1.

On Thursday September 13th, Adidas were unveiling Chicago Bulls superstar Derrick Rose new shoe. What they didnt know was how emotional he would get after showing a video of Rose going through his rehab process. D.Rose tore his left ACL in the first round of the playoffs last season. Rose recently returned to the court to do some light shooting drills. During the launch of the shoe Rose said, “I’m starting to shoot now, I started to jump a little while ago, like a couple of days ago, where I’m still improving every week. My leg does get sore sometimes, but I’m able to fight through it, but my trainers and the people that have been working on me have been making sure that I’ve been doing a great job … I’ve been good.”

Derrick Rose had surgery back on May 12th, and the expected recovery time for him was a full 12 months. Bulls  chairman Jerry Reinsdorf has made it clear that he will not let D.Rose play until he is 100% ready to go. While fighting back tears Rose said, “It’s truly a blessing. With all this stuff that’s going on in this city, a kid from Englewood got something positive going on. That makes me feel so good man. The shoe is great, all this is great, but I can’t explain this. I can’t.”

The official release date worldwide for the “D Rose 3″ is October 4th.

http://www.youtube.com/user/adidasbasketball?feature=CAwQwRs%3D

Video courtesy of Adidas #TheReturn

April 28, 2012; we all were watching the Bulls take game 1 in the first round of the Eastern Conference Play-Offs. With a little over a minute to go in the game and the Bulls up 12, Derrick Rose went down…and did not get back up. This was a sad day in Chicago for Bulls fans. Not just for Bulls fans, but basketball fans across the globe and even his peers in the league. Several players took to twitter to show there support for one of the league’s best. In a post game interview 76ers head coach, Doug Collins said, “When i saw the kid go down, it crushed me because I happen to love the kid.”

Here we are almost 4 months later as Rose recovers from ACL surgery, they say he is 2- 3 weeks ahead of schedule of stepping back out on the court. Although that sounds very promising, dont get your hopes to high. Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said he wont be rushing back his franchise player. Smart man, seeing that D.Rose did sign a 5 year $94 million extension back in December. D.Rose is not just any franchise player; he went from rookie of the year in 2008 to NBA all star the next 3 years. Id say thats a wise decision to shelf him for the year no matter what the Bulls record is. Of course Derrick is going to want to get back on the court no matter what. Thats what you expect from one of the games brightest and young stars. In a interview on Comcast SportsNet Chicago yesterday, former Bulls wingman and Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen said, “He’s going to be a bigger, better, stronger player…I think it’s great to have something like this happen if it’s going to happen at a young age. He’s going to heal fast, and he’s going to push himself now to be better than he probably would have ever been.” With that said, Bulls fans relax. Let your Rose heal…because when it does it is a beautiful sight to see.

Video is courtesy of Adidas #TheReturn

As we all know, Derrick Rose will probably be out for the season. You can not replace your franchise player, you just can’t. All you can do is simply build a team that will compete in each and every game. The Bulls started the off season by bringing back Kirk Hinrich. Since then they have gone on to add veteran center Nazr Mohammed, sharp shooters Marco Belinelli and Valdimir Radmonavic. They also added Nate Robison who will serve as a spark plug off the bench. It will definitely be a up and down season for the Bulls, but I still feel like they will make the playoffs.

The Bulls organization didnt blow the team up like they could have. They simply took a step or two back. I’m not sure how they will be defensively this year, but with Coach Thibodeau at the helm, I’m sure he can get his newest players to buy into his system on defense. The only problem is, how long will that take? The Bulls were the best defensive team in the league last year but I honestly dont think they will be in the top 10 this year. If the Bulls were to end up in as a top 10 defensive team this year, it wouldn’t surprise me.

My only question is where will the offense come from this year? With Rose being out, every team in the league will be keying in on Deng and Boozer when the Bulls step on the court. The supporting cast need to make themselves a threat when they are on the court, so opposing defenses can stay honest. Hopefully going into training camp this year everyone is healthy, so that way they can have some consistnecy with their roster and rotations. If they don’t have a great season, you can always say this; Derrick Rose will be back next year!

The Chicago Bulls and Kirk Hinrich have come to a verbal agreement, for 2 years $6 million.

Kirk was drafted by the Bulls back in 2003, and played his first 7 NBA seasons with them before being traded to the Washington Wizards. With Derrick Rose being out of the lineup for the season, Hinrich will probably be the starting point guard at the start of the 2012-2013 season.The earliest we could see D.Rose in the lineup is January, but i wouldn’t rush him back. Also, this means the Bulls wont bring back point guard C.J. Watson. The Bulls have $3.2 million option on Watson, but they also drafted Marquis Teague in this years draft with
the 29th pick. The Bulls still have a few decisions to make this off season.The first decision is if they will bring back Omer Asik and match the offer sheet of the Houston Rockets of $25 million for 3 years. Also, if they will bring back Ronnie Brewer or Kyle Korver. Korver will be the likely candidate because of his deadly shooting from 3 point land. This is just the beginning of the summer, things can only get hotter.

“With the 29th pick in the 2012 NBA draft the Chicago Bulls select Marquis Teague from the University of Kentucky.”

Those were the words from David Stern on draft night. While some people thought the Bulls would draft a wing player, with Deng pushing back his wrist surgery to play in the Olympic games in London and Rip Hamilton having various injuries last season you would think they’d try and get a little youthful at the wing position. Drafting Teague was a good move to me because of the injury D.Rose suffered in the first round of the playoffs last season. The other things that come into play is, C.J. Watson has a $3.2 million option that I dont think the Bulls will use. Also, John Lucas III is an unresticted free agent. He gave a good spark for the team throughout the season and playoffs, but I think the Bulls will try to upgrade at the point guard position in the off season.

Overall, I think the Bulls did a good job with the pick they had. Teague has a huge upside. You have to think, he’ s only 19. As they say, “you cant coach speed” and Marquis has plenty of that. In college he was a very effective penetrator, finisher, and a good passer. It will take some time for him to learn the NBA system as it does with any rookie, especially with him being a guard. I like the pick and we will see what they do in free agency throughout the course of the summer.

Chicago Bulls Draft Grade:
B+