It’s crazy how karma works. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s Michael Jordan dominated the Cleveland Cavaliers and in the 2010’s LeBron James did to the Chicago Bulls what he did to the Cavs.
It all started in James’ first stint with the Cavs as he defeated the Bulls in the opening round of the 2009-2010 playoffs. Then Cavs went on to win 4-1, and the Bulls showed a lot of heart in the series. As James departed Cleveland, many felt that the Bulls were next in line to be one of the more dominant teams in the East. After striking out on LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in summer of 2010 in free agency they ended up signing the pre-bigen Carlos Boozer.
With the new era of the Chicago Bulls was born in the 2010-2011 NBA season and James going to south beach it was a given that they will continue to cross paths in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. During that season, Derrick Rose had a breakout year by winning the MVP and the Bulls were the No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference. With new coach Tom Thibodeau bringing his championship pedigree from the Boston Celtics it was an instant success when Thibs landed in Chicago. At the time the Miami Heat formed the Monstars for a roster, but many experts still pegged the Bulls as a favorite to win the East. The Bulls had a masterful regular season, but in the playoffs they fell to LeBron James and the Miami Heat in 5 games in the playoffs.
No matter what the Bulls did, LeBron James was the common denominator of why they couldn’t get over the hump. Fast forwarding to 2015, James and the Cavs ousted the Bulls out of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. In four playoff series in James’ career he is 16-5 against the Bulls and during that time frame they have been coached by Vinny Del Negro and Tom Thibodeau and players such as Derrick Rose, Pau Gasol, Luol Deng, Jimmy Butler, Rip Hamilton, and last but never the least Joakim Noah have all been victim to the Kings greatness.
This season seems like the Bulls are headed in the opposite direction rather than moving forward. Rumors have surfaced that Tom Thibodeau will likely be out of the door as the head coach. Jimmy Butler is expected to break the bank in free agency, Pau Gasol is getting older, and Joakim Noah has too much Luster’s pink oil on his hands to the point he forgot how to make lay ups. That leaves Derrick Rose and Nikola Mirotic as the youngest players left. It’s still remain to be seen if Rose can sustain his level of play for a full season, and Mirotic is an all-world talent if used correctly, but he still has mental lapses as a player.
It’s crazy to think that the Bulls was just regarded as a title contender just a few months ago and since falling victim to the great LBJ things aren’t looking great as of now.
Only time will tell how the Bulls will shape up for the next few seasons. In the five years they were expected to rise to the top, and they have failed to do so. The writings are on the wall and it seems like the end is near for the Chicago Bulls.
With that said R.I.P to the Chicago Bulls it was a great five years of regular season success and playoff shortcomings. On behalf of LeBron James, I would like to send my condolences.
