All Bull - Chicago Bulls

I'd say the target number for Bulls wins on the circus road trip is 2. Accomplish that and they would be 7-10 at the end of November after playing the league's toughest opening schedule.

The thing is, their two most difficult games might come right off the bat, because the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland have so much size inside. The Bulls' lack of strength, experience and talent among their big men was unmistakable in the 106-99 loss to the Lakers on Tuesday night. Keep in mind, the 7-point final margin was the closest the game had been since the opening minute of the third quarter. The Bulls spent most of the second half trailing by anywhere from 10-20 points.

The Bulls decided to add some help in the backcourt after all and signed veteran Lindsey Hunter today, prior to hosting Dallas at the United Center.

The 6-foot-2 Hunter, who turns 38 on Dec. 3, will begin his 16th NBA season once he signs with the Bulls. He spent the past five years with the Pistons, averaging 2.4 points in 24 games last season.

Originally drafted as a point guard, Hunter became more of a 3-point shooting specialist early in his career, then in recent years turned into a savvy defensive stopper.

The Bulls will be without Kirk Hinrich until mid-February because of a torn ligament in his right thumb. Larry Hughes has been out with a dislocated right shoulder, but is expected to return Saturday against Indiana, if not sooner.

Two weeks into the NBA season and already I'm disgusted by a lack of respect shown to fans. I'm talking about a new trend of players on the bench feeling an inexplicable need to stand up for long stretches of games.

The Cleveland Cavaliers provided an atrocious example of this on Saturday at the United Center. Their entire bench, which included 7-foot-3 center Zydrunas Ilgasukas at the time, stood for most of the fourth quarter, thoroughly blocking the view of a couple hundred fans who spent a hard-earned $155 for their tickets (this was a premium game, after all) so those players could build an extra garage to store their collection of Range Rovers and Rolls Royces. Or some similar expenditure.

Former Bulls center Tyson Chandler blogged last month about a chance encounter with presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Chandler's New Orleans Hornets were in Indianapolis for a preseason game and an Obama rally was being held across the street from their practice site. So he and a few teammates checked it out.
A large number of NBA players seem to be in Obama's corner, but one of the Illinois senator's most repeated promises is to raise taxes for the richest Americans, those who make more than $250,000 per year. The subject came up at the Indiana rally.
“He says, 'If you make under $250,000 a year, raise your hand,'” Chandler wrote. “And everybody there raised their hand, except for this one small section of guys. That was our section.”

Pistons general manager Joe Dumars announced at the end of last season that he didn't think the team could get back to the Finals with the same successful nucleus it had carried for the past five years.

So does Dumars believe Allen Iverson will be able to boost Detroit beyond the Eastern Conference finals? I doubt it.

Monday's surprising deal that sent Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess to Denver for Iverson appears to be more about the Pistons creating flexibility for the future.

That's because Iverson has a 21.9-million expiring contract. Add in the fact that Rasheed Wallace's deal also ends this year and the Pistons have the potential to free up around $18 million of cap room next summer.

The Bulls playing in Orlando on Monday offered a chance to reflect on visits to Central Florida in the past year.

Over the summer, my family visited Disney World for the first time and every day was hot and rainy, yet magical.

Then there were the two Bulls-Magic games last season, which were sad and miserable experiences. The game in Orlando last Jan. 15 was probably the low point of the Bulls' transformation from rising contenders to Team Misery.

Before dissecting the Bulls' brutal loss in Boston on Friday, I should mention e-mailer Larry pointing out that "Disco Gino" is not an every-game occurrence at the Garden. The Celtics gave Gino the role of victory cigar last season, which means they only play the "American Bandstand" video when a game is well in hand, the same way legendary coach Red Auerbach would light his cigar when he smelled victory.

One of the Boston papers wrote that Gino never danced during the opener against Cleveland, because the game was close well into the fourth quarter. To me, that's no way to run a basketball franchise because no one wins if Gino doesn't dance. But it wasn't a problem with the Bulls in town. The Bandstand timeout occurred with 2:35 remaining and the Celtics ahead 95-71.

The trip to play the defending champs and the Kevin Garnett scream machine on Friday is bound to draw more attention. But Bulls fans shouldn't overlook the home date with Memphis the following night at the UC.

Barring a late injury, it will be the league's first meeting of top-flight rookies with Derrick Rose and O.J. Mayo on the floor. This has the potential to be a memorable season for NBA rookies.

Last year was not rookie-friendly. Seattle's Kevin Durant made a big impact with a bad team, averaging 20.3 ppg. The second-leading rookie scorer was Clippers forward Al Thornton at 12.7 ppg, while four others barely slid into double digits – Memphis' Juan Carlos Navarro, who fled the NBA over the summer; Seattle's Jeff Green, Houston's Luis Scola and Atlanta's Al Horford.

One of the more ridiculous topics I've heard this month is whether this is a rebuilding season for the Bulls.

When Minnesota got rid of Kevin Garnett, that could be considered rebuilding. But mostly that's an exercise for college football. Rich Rodriguez is rebuilding. The Bulls, with just two new players, are not.

The Bulls were certainly at a crossroads when last season ended, finishing 33-49 after most observers expected them to challenge for the Eastern Conference title. But winning the draft lottery and having Derrick Rose fall into their laps changed everything.

In the empty space between meaningless and meaningful games involving the Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks, I thought I'd share a conversation I had with Bucks forward Richard Jefferson following Friday's preseason finale at the United Center.

To set the stage, Bulls rising star Derrick Rose was shaken up in the first quarter when fouled by Jefferson. Rose was driving to the basket, fell awkwardly after the foul, then left the game with a hip flexor strain that turned out to be minor. Jefferson committed a solid foul, designed to prevent Rose from making the layup, but there was nothing dirty or unnecessary about it.