Derrick Rose Spreads Christmas Cheer

Almost there folks.  Two more days until the return of DRose and friends.  The Bulls won their 2 pre-season games against the Pacers, but what was there to learn from them?  It was good to have 2 games to shake some rust off as the guys haven't played with each other since losing to the Heatles in June.  DRose had 2 decent games and was able to play with new addition Rip Hamilton in Game 2.  He already looked like he is a great compliment to the team as he was running around all over the place and was able to help the team in transition and get some good looks in the half-court offense.  Teams won't be able to double team off from the SG spot because Bogans won't be standing in the corner anymore and DRose won't have to completely carry the offensive load the whole season.  As long as this team doesn't get bit by the injury bug (I'm looking at you Jo, Booz, and Deng), this looks like a hard team to beat.  The depth on the bench is a luxury.  Having CJ, RonRonJuice, TajMahal, Asik, and HotSauce come off the bench is great for the team.  We will probably see a lot of them because of the crazy scheduling.  HotSauce and Jimmy Butler probably aren't going to see a ton of minutes (HotSauce sucks at defense and Jimmy is a rook) barring any injuries.

The first game against the Lakers is an interesting one.  Kobe's divorce just went public.  His team had a trade for CP3 in place, then got nixed by David Stern.  Then CP3 went to the Clippers and handed the Lakers' ass to them on a platter.  Lamar Odom was traded for cap space and the Lakers picked up Josh McRoberts and Troy Murphy as his replacement.  Ouch.  Tough couple weeks for Kobe and his degenerating knees.  To top it all off, he injured his wrist/thumb and may not play (but he probably will).  Kobe and Pau are still formidable, but their surrounding cast is a pu-pu platter of poop.  Bynum is suspended for 5 games because he clotheslined JJ Barea in the playoffs last year.  Derrick Fisher has been negotiating for the players union all off-season and didn't even play in the pre-season games because he was working on his fitness.  Metta World Peace is, well, Metta World Peace.  That leaves Luke Walton, Steve Blake, McBobs, and Troy "JourneyMan" Murphy.  The Lakers are going to play more white dudes than black dudes this year, and that is never good.  Bulls shake the rust off and win the Christmas Day Season opener.  They will have the 2nd best record in the NBA (behind the Heatles, yuck) and face the Heatles in the ECF for the 2nd year in a row, BEAT THE HEAT and get into the finals against OKC.  Bulls win the Larry O'Brien Trophy.  Cue the parade and awesome white boy dancing from Omer.  This is the ultimate jinx by the way...


DRose also signed a contract extension that goes into affect next year.  They signed him to the max contract of 5 years for $95 million.  Best thing about it is that he didn't request any player options to opt out and he is fully committed to the Bulls for the entirety of the contract.  That's pretty awesome and as Thibs said, "Wish it was a 10 year contract".

Hawks are still number 1 in points in the NHL with Philly and Minny hot on their heels.  They suffered a loss against the Crosby-less Penguins, but came back with a win against the Habs.  Time to end this post with a great holiday video from the Blackhawks production team.  To the six people who view this site, Merry Christmas.