The Return of the Bulls

[Atilathehun]

This is the story of the Return of the Chicago Bulls to former glory(or at least i hope so).
I'll keep it (very) short. I have to, because my english won't allow me much more.
I'm still a beginner (just got the game) so be indulgent to all my fooleries.

I play with 82-Games (8 Minutes calculated/ 7 Minutes played) most of them i don't play by myself. In the season i just intervene in the last quarter, if the score is close (and they don't play against teams like milwaukee - just can't stand those jersey colors)
The Playoff-games i play during the whole length (it's set to 5-5-5-5)

[Atilathehun]

Season 2005

Chicago Bulls 2005 Roster:

Starters:
C - Curry 6'11"'(66)
PF - Chandler 6'9" (64) / Davis 6'9" (63)
SF - Deng 6'8" (59, Rookie) / Nocioni 6'7" (61, Rookie)
SG - Gordon 6'3" (66, Rookie) / Pippen 6'8" (65)
PG - Hinrich 6'3" (67)

Bench:
C - Trybanski 7'2" (46)
PF - Harrington 6'9" (52)
SG - Piatkowski 6'7" (48) / Robinson 6'9" (53)
PG - Pargo 6'1" (55) / Williams 6'3" (50) / Wilks 5'11" (46)

The Roster in the first season seemed to me quiet jumbled up. (My knowledge of the actual NBA is quite limited, so i don't know the reallife team) I liked Curry and the two young Guards (Hinrich & Gordon) but there was no real franchise guy. As you see above, the starter-position for PF. SF and SG wasn't set, the starting players always changed.

In the first half of the season the team was able to keep a positive record, but after about 30 games they began to lose more and more and i wasn't able to turn the tide (i lost most of the games i intervened)

So the team ended up with the following record:


Chicago Bulls 2005 Record

Games Won: 36
Games Lost: 46

The Bulls did not qualify for the Playoffs

(i would show you the player scores, but i lost them)

[Atilathehun]

Playoff 2005



3 - Sacramento
0 - Clippers
.............................. 3 - Sacramento
.............................. 0 - Memphis
3 - Memphis
0 - Dallas

............................................................ 3 - Sacramento
............................................................ 0 - Denver

3 - San Antonio
1 - Lakers
.............................. 2 - San Antonio
.............................. 3 - Denver
3 - Denver
0 - New Orleans


..........................................................NBA FINALS: ....Sacramento Kings vs. Detroit Pistons 51:32(1:0), 35:54(1:1), 49:48(2:1), 45:54(2:2), 58:60(2:3)



3 - Detroit
1 - New York
.............................. 3 - Detroit
.............................. 1 - Indiana
3 - Indiana
2 - Orlando

............................................................ 3 - Detroit
............................................................ 1 - Philadelphia

0 - Miami
3 - Philadelphia
.............................. 3 - Philadelphia
.............................. 1 - Boston
1 - Toronto
3 - Boston



NBA Champions 2005: Detroit Pistons
Starters: C Ben Wallace, PF Rasheed Wallace, SF Tayshaun Prince, SG Richard Hamilton, PG Chauncey Billups

.

[Atilathehun]

Offseason 2005

Salaries and contracts after 2005 Season:

Davis 12M/ 1y - much too expensive
Robinson 6,7M/ 1y - 7M for a bench player?
Pippen 5,4M/ FA
Chandler 4,8M/ FA
Curry 3,9M/ FA
Gordon 3,4M/ 3y
Harrington 3,2M/ FA
Hinrich 2,3M/ 2y
Deng 2,3/ 3y
Trybanski 1,8/ FA
the rest of the roster is below reckoning

so i had to wait one more year to get rid of Davis and Robinson, who, both no regular starters, used about 20M of my salaries.

i signed new contracts with following Players:

C Curry - 4,07M for 4 years
PF Chandler - 4,1M for 4 years

those two were quite young and i hoped for some improvement so i decided to keep them.

i could find no use for the rest of the free agents and pippen resigned anyway so following players left the team:

C Trybanski
PF Harrington
SG Pippen
PG Pargo
PG Wilks



Draft

I got position nr. 9 in the 1st round. I did not really prepare for this draft (just a little) so i had to chose players i did not really know very well:

1st Round - PF Whiteside (quite good at dunks but a poor rebounder)
2nd Round - C Nzingah (Just a center)

[Atilathehun]

Season 2006

Chicago Bulls 2006 Roster:

Starters:
C - Curry (66, very strong)
PF - Chandler (67) / Davis (63, still good on the inside)
SF - Deng (63) / Nocioni (63, Good for Rebounds)
SG - Gordon (72, go-to-guard)
PG - Hinrich (73, slow but shoots and passes quite well)

Bench:
C - Nzingah (49)
PF - Whiteside (54, Dunker, can't grab any rebounds)
SG - Piatkowski (49, shoots accurate, but doesn't master the rest of the game) / Robinson (54, nobody likes him)
PG - Williams (54, still in the team, because of his contract)

Other than in the first season, the two guards (Hinrich & Gordon) soon evolved as the leaders of the team. Curry was getting weaker game by game (in the first season i liked him, but that had begun to change). I began to prefer Nocioni(because of his close-to-board-abilities over Deng and Chandler over Davis(but Davis was still the man for the crunch-time)

But the team did very bad, they lost game after game, after about 50 games i abandoned my last hopes for playoff qualification.

Chicago Bulls 2006 Record:

Games Won: 33
Games Lost: 49

The Bulls did not qulify for the playoffs

[Atilathehun]

Playoff 2006 (without the Bulls)

West:

3 - San Antonio
1 - Houston
.............................. 3 - San Antonio
.............................. 1 - Memphis
3 - Memphis
2 - Dallas

............................................................ 3 - San Antonio
............................................................ 2 - Minnesota

3 - Minnesota
1 - Seattle
.............................. 3 - Minnesota
.............................. 1 - Denver
2 - Sacramento
3 - Denver

..........................................................NBA FINALS: ....Boston Celtics vs. San Antonio Spurs 60:77(0:1), 60:56(1:1), 63:55(2:1), 62:60(3:1)


3 - Boston
0 - Toronto
.............................. 3 - Boston
.............................. 1 - Miami
2 - New York
3 - Miami

............................................................ 3 - Boston
............................................................ 1 - Charlotte

1 - Washington
3 - Charlotte
.............................. 3 - Charlotte
.............................. 2 - Indiana
1 - Detroit
3 - Indiana


The Finals:


NBA Champions 2006: Boston Celtics
Starters: C Raef LaFrentz, PF Al Jefferson, SF Ricky Davis, SG Paul Pierce, PG Gary Payton

.

[Atilathehun]

Offseason 2006

In the summer of 2006 the hyper-expensive contracts of Robinson and Davis, that costed about 20M a year ran out. i was very happy about that and released the two into freedom. Suddenly there was very much cap space (about 20M).

Draft:
The Bulls got the third position in the draft. The No.2-Team picked our favourite pick so we decided on a talented chinese Guard(btw. I changed the rookie names per DB, couldn't stand those spaniards with finnish names and vice versa) i chosed mainly by talent, age and height(if PF or C):

1st Round (#3) - PF Shan Hsu 7'1" 20y Talent: Good (57)
2nd Round - PG Alan Francisco 6'1" 18y Talent: Good (42)

.

[Atilathehun]

Season 2007

First Days of the Season:
Because i had that much cap space and that few players (only 10) i decided to trade(last years team wasn't good enough) and to hire some FA's(reliable bench players)



The two guards are the heart of the team, so i have to build around them. I realised, that curry, despite being a strong and assertive guy, was quite lazy in defense(and he declined during off-season). Chandler as PF was OK, strong in Rebounds, no go-to-guy but a solid starter (and he had a contract for 3 more years) but SF was also weak. Nocioni, declined during off-season and Deng who so became starting SF was a reserved defender.

So i decided to do something with my SF and C Positions.

i soon found the ideal target. The Dallas Mavericks kept all the guys i wanted. First i traded lazy curry against the quite much older, but defensive stronger Erick Dampier . But much more important was my trade with Deng and Nzingah for Jerry Stackhouse. (Deng may will be strong in some seasons, but i didn't liked him and i wanted to go to the playoffs immidiately). There was an other center involved in the trade (because dallas had no roster space left) very weak and of no recognizable use, Eschmeyer his name.
Stackhouse was a major reinforcement for the team. i think it's because of him that the bulls made the playoffs that year.
After those achievements i signed some FA's as substitutes:

C Rebraca (56, medium and versatile center)
SG Barry (58, accurate Shooter)
PG Claxton (because Rookie Francisco is still to weak for a regular substitute)


Chicago Bulls 2007 Roster

Starters:
C - Erick Dampier (65, Good in Rebounds, sometimes he scores quite well)
PF - Chandler (67, Gets a littlebit better each season, but is now possibly the weakest in the starting 5)
SF - Jerry Stackhouse (76, hits if the others don't)
SG - Ben Gordon (75, quick and surehanded, team is built around him)
PG - Kirk Hinrich (75, hits more and more of the important 3-Pointers, the fans just love him)


Bench:
C Rebraca (56) / Eschmeyer (45, usually among the audience)
PF Hsu (58, Rookie, 20years old, improving rapidly) / Whiteside (57, loses ground against Hsu)
SF Nocioni (61, he won't ever be more than a substitute in this team)
SG Barry (58, can hit from downtown;-)
PG Claxton (speedy is a good substitute) / Francisco (42, Rookie, very young maybe he will be worth something in a few years)

The Regular Season:

This season was different than the preciding. The Bulls were on the winning path (almost) constantly and finished with a 47:35 Record. Especially strong in the 4th quarter (when i involved myself and Stackie rocked the house;-)

The Starting Five (Gamelength 4x8/ 4x7)
C Dampier 7,2pts/ 7,4rbs
PF Chandler 5,8pts/ 6,3rbs
SF Stackhouse 11,7pts/4,3rbs
SG Gordon 13,3pts/ 3,6rbs
PG Hinrich 13,2pts/ 2,4rbs

[Atilathehun]

Playoffs 2007

1st Round
Indiana Pacers vs. Chicago Bulls 1:3

The Bulls demonstrate their superiority over the Pacers in this series. The Chicago Offense seems partly a bit unstable, but if it works it works very well: Stackhouse, Gordon and Hinrich are able to hit, while Dampier sweeps the Paint.

Chicago @ Indiana 69:56 (1:0)
- The Bulls score from the outside. Indiana seems sometimes quite helpless. Chicagos tall Board Defense secures the victory

Chicago @ Indiana 70:53 (2:0)
- The Game is decided in the first half. Indiana with a miserable quote from the field. Chicago PF Chandler is hot and scores 18 points. Dampier gets 13 Blocks.

Indiana @ Chicago 72:65 (1:2)
- A back and forth for both teams. with the luckier end for Indiana.

Indiana @ Chicago 51:57
A close game until the end. Indiana appears to be stronger and more organised than before. But Stackhouse and Gordon are able to shoot Chicago into the second round.

2nd Round
Cleveland vs. Chicago

[Rommas]

do you have nba live 2006? coz those rosters look really old

[Atilathehun]

i just realised, i posted in the wrong folder(they look that similar). no i've got nba 2005

[Rommas]

ah ok, well im doing the bulls to and i got nba live 06, if u need help then just leave me a message in my dynasty forum

[Atilathehun]

thank you i will