Bulls have no regrets as Melo comes back to town
Carmelo Anthony's first trip to the United Center since his July recruiting visit comes at an opportune time for the Bulls.
They're at a point where there are no regrets about what happened this summer. No. 2 free agent option Pau Gasol is playing well, Jimmy Butler is showing unexpected improvement and Mike Dunleavy has regained his 3-point shooting touch.
It doesn't hurt that Anthony and the New York Knicks will carry a 5-22 record into the UC for Thursday's national cable broadcast.
This outlook could change in a few years or even by next week. For now, though, the Bulls are doing fine without Anthony. Whether they're better without him than they'd be with him is a question no one can answer with certainty.
“I'm a live-in-the-moment kind of guy,” Joakim Noah said after Wednesday's practice at the Advocate Center. “I don't try to dwell on what could have happened. I'm really happy with what we have now. We're a deep team and we're striving for something pretty different than what (the Knicks) are striving for, in terms of goals for the year.”
The same question was posed to Dunleavy: Have you ever considered what your life would be like if Anthony had joined the Bulls as a free agent?
“Umm, not really. I'd be playing basketball … somewhere,” Dunleavy said. “Obviously I'm really happy to be here, but we've got a pretty good team. Sometimes it's nice to have a Bentley, but a Honda Accord will get you there as well.'”
Dunleavy acknowledged that the Accord probably would have been banished from the garage — traded to another team — if Anthony agreed to sign with the Bulls.
Dunleavy's analogy makes sense when considering how this Bulls team is shaping up.
First of all, Gasol has been everything the Bulls could have hoped for, averaging 18.7 points, 11.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks. He accepted the Bulls' offer a few days after Anthony decided to stay in New York.
“We're very fortunate to have a guy of Pau's caliber playing on this team right now,” Noah said. “He had a lot of (free agent) options. The fact that he picked here was big for us.
“He definitely brings a good attitude, positive attitude to the team. Good guy to have around, somebody who's seen it all, experienced it all.”
When the Bulls chased Anthony, it was with the belief the team could use a top-flight perimeter scorer to pair with Derrick Rose. As it turned out, the Bulls filled that need with Butler.
Through Tuesday's game, Butler was averaging 21.0 points and 5.9 rebounds, while shooting 48.4 percent from the field. Anthony was at 23.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 45.7 percent shooting. The numbers aren't much different, and there was no chance Tom Thibodeau would ever turn Anthony into an all-defensive second team player.
As it stands, the Bulls have the potential for one of those trendy three-star systems, using Rose, Gasol and Butler. Add Noah, a two-time all-star, plus Dunleavy's outside shooting, a deep bench, and it's easy to conclude the Bulls are better off without Anthony.
Not surprisingly, Thibodeau wasn't interested in comparing potential scenarios.
“I don't want to look backward. It didn't work out. But it worked out for everybody in the end,” he said. “We feel really good about the opportunity to get Pau. It's worked out well for us.”
Regardless of how things turned out for the Bulls, it's probably safe to say fans at the United Center will have Anthony's summer snub on their minds Thursday.
“Well, it's always a fun atmosphere in the United Center,” Noah said. “Bulls-Knicks is always a good one. Being a native New Yorker myself, it's always exciting when your loved ones can watch you play.
“You can't have any resentment for someone making the right decision for himself. He's happy in New York. And we're happy in Chicago.”
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