Rozner: Odd Bulls season leaves much to be decided

A national sports show led its program Friday morning by suggesting the Bulls are the team to beat in the Eastern Conference.

A week ago, the same program informed us that the Cavs were once again the club most likely to come out of the East.

A month before that, they had the Bulls as the favorites not just to win the East, but the team with the best chance to win the NBA title.

And when the season began, they picked the Cavs with LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving as the beast of the East.

Such has been the story of the Eastern Conference through the first four months of the 2014-15 NBA season.

Good luck figuring it out.

The feeling going into Thursday's game with Cleveland in town was that the Bulls had played about as bad a month of basketball as that team can play, while the Cavs had turned it around from what had been a dreadful month for them.

But the Bulls played a terrific game at both ends of the floor Thursday night against a Cleveland team that looked like it started its all-star break early.

Derrick Rose was aggressive and dominant, getting up for a game against one of the NBA's best point guards, and the Bulls were in control from start to finish.

But it still feels like a different season, that time a month ago when the Bulls were on fire and a popular pick to win it all and the Cavs were as cold as ice and buried by many, considered at best dysfunctional and poorly constructed.

What a difference a trade or two makes.

Of course, having the greatest player on the planet return to the lineup helps just a tad, and since James came back from injury and Cleveland made the move for Tim Mozgov, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert, the Cavs have been running roughshod over the NBA.

Now 14-2 in the last month, no longer is Cleveland coach David Blatt hanging by a thread and gone are concerns of a quick playoff exit.

On the flip side resides the Chicago NBA franchise, unable to get healthy, mired in a little difficulty and watching its coach feud daily with players and management.

So icy is coach Tom Thibodeau's relationship with his bosses that questions about possible roster moves are met by the coach with one-word answers - and sometimes fewer - and management politely declines interview requests as it hopes to avoid throwing butane on a bonfire.

Thus, the Bulls went into the extended break wondering about their health, chemistry and long-term prospects after a drama-filled first few months of the season.

"It's a hard team to judge because of all the missing parts," Thibodeau said when asked how he would grade his club. "We just have to be ready for the next game. Step by step. Not skip any steps.

"But honestly, with all the games and practices we've missed, I'm a little surprised to be where we are."

Now that's something of an upset, Thibodeau crediting his team for a 34-20 record, albeit in backhanded fashion. It's better than his usual attack on the roster, no overreaction worse than going after Pau Gasol last week for suggesting the Bulls' window for winning was now, while the veteran forward was simply admitting that their effort should have been better.

Thibodeau can't seem to take "yes" for an answer, no matter how generous the answer.

It has been a strange season that shows no signs of normalizing, relationships seemingly beyond repair, but subject still to the end result.

Should the Bulls go far in the playoffs - say the NBA Finals, for example - it will be more difficult for the Bulls and Thibodeau to part ways, knowing Jerry Reinsdorf's penchant for requiring his employees to act like adults.

Reinsdorf forced Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan to work with Jerry Krause for years, and he insisted Ozzie Guillen and Ken Williams stick it out as long as possible.

He can't like the public acrimony between Thibodeau and management as both sides use national outlets to air their dirty laundry, and he will be very reluctant to allow a breakup after the season if the Bulls go far, Thibodeau still possessing two years on his deal.

So this odd season has much left to decide - and it extends far beyond the basketball court.

Stay tuned as it will not be dull. How unpleasant it becomes is up to them.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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