Did the Bulls overachieve last regular season? Phil Jackson thinks so

[insidehoops]

The Bulls led the entire league in regular season wins in 2010-11.

And, Derrick Rose, despite his youth, won MVP.

Did the team as a whole overachieve? Are they not quite THAT amazing a squad?

Phil Jackson thinks so.

Read this, and share your thoughts:

http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=8517

[Celtics4ever]

The Bulls led the entire league in regular season wins in 2010-11.

And, Derrick Rose, despite his youth, won MVP.

Did the team as a whole overachieve? Are they not quite THAT amazing a squad?

Phil Jackson thinks so.

Read this, and share your thoughts:

http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=8517

The Bulls are as worse as the Bucks without Rose. Lets hope they give him some help. Don't want this to be the LeBron situation in Clevland.

[SCdac]

Could probably say that more so about the Spurs, who also finished with 60+ wins, but with a mostly veteran lead cast of players who have alot mileage. At least the Bulls had a young player like Rose as the heart of the team, and player like Boozer who per-36 minutes averages close to 20 ppg. None the less, I don't think failing in the playoffs necessarily means a winning team "overachieved" in the regular season. It just means they (as a team) weren't ready for the intensity that is playoff basketball and had weaknesses that could be costly in a 7 game series.

[tpols]

It just means they (as a team) weren't ready for the intensity that is playoff basketball and had weaknesses that could be costly in a 7 game series.

I mean.. that pretty much means they overachieved. The playoffs usually show the true strength of a team, and they showed that the Bull's regular season record was not indicative of how good they really were.

[MichaelCheazley]

I believe so. But as long as they find a way for boozer to get lost and rose to get better. Maybe even throw in a decent sg there theyll do fine for the next couple of years.

[SCdac]

I mean.. that pretty much means they overachieved. The playoffs usually show the true strength of a team, and they showed that the Bull's regular season record was not indicative of how good they really were.

I guess I don't agree that a teams record is an exact representation of how good the team will be come the playoffs, that would cause some real black and white "over/under achieving". Rather, "over achieving" to me is more of a team that suspiciously and awkwardly falls flat in the playoffs, like say SA last season. The Bulls made it to the ECF for the first time since 1998, which in it of itself is an achievement IMO. Given their knack for defense, their MVP's level of player, and their relatively well rounded cast of role players, I think their 61 win season wasn't that strange (relative to other 60-win teams).

[Pointguard]

I said this all season that they overachieved. As a young team with key injuries for a prolonged period of time, whole new situation and starting consistency from only two positions, no player of distinction in any area outside of Rose. Outside of Rose the team lacked dribblers and was deficient in creativity. Not loosing to a top 8 team since Dec. 3rd? 22 year old leader. A lot of close games and 4th quarter wins with Rose not getting calls. No vets to win games on simple know-how. They could have had more excuses than anybody in the top eight, but they came away with the best record.

I'm glad Phil said something cause folks were dieing to ignore this.

Phil also said Rose was unstoppable and could be better on the pick and role.

[OmniStrife]

Well I doubt they could achieve such a record in the western conference.

[Pointguard]

Well I doubt they could achieve such a record in the western conference.

And why might this be important?

[EnoughSaid]

The Bulls were never an ELITE team. I wouldn't put them up there with the Heat, Celtics, Lakers and OKC. No body expected them to do that well and no one expected Rose to get MVP. I think they just got lucky and everyone fit in. Their bench helped tremendously too.

[Go Getter]

The Bulls were never an ELITE team. I wouldn't put them up there with the Heat, Celtics, Lakers and OKC. No body expected them to do that well and no one expected Rose to get MVP. I think they just got lucky and everyone fit in. Their bench helped tremendously too.

WE beat those teams handily and the Lakers got swept by the Mavs.

Why wouldn't we be "up there" with them?

To answer the OP:
1.) Yes. We overachieved.
2.) No, we weren't THAT amazing of a squad we played grind it out, improvised, often sloppy ball (esp. on offense).
3.) With a few tweaks I truly believe we can be champs in 2-3 years.

[icewill36]

last years bulls were not much different than the cavs a few years ago. one superstar and a great defensive team. bulls D is championship level but they need more scorers, d. rose cant do it alone.

[Lebron23]

Heat, Bulls and The Celtics were the only real elite teams in the Eastern Conference Last season.

[Vienceslav]

I think they did as much as the possibly could with that team.
Overachieving implies that they had no business to have 60 win season, which is a bit of an overstatement i would say.
Playoff wise only Celtics,Heat and Chicago had a realistic change of being in the ECF and the way the seeding turned out Chicago v Heat is what we got.
So no overachieving to see here.

[knicksman]

most defensive teams overachieve in their first season and regress next. Thats what you get from playing through hustle(defense) instead of skill(offense). Once players get tired of playing defense, they will regress because they dont have the offense to fall back.

Most teams have second gear during playoffs and thats because they increase their efforts on defense. While bulls are already playing with their second gear during the regular season because they are a defensive team. Its good to play defense but the effects of it to players makes it ideal to play as less as possible and use it only in the playoffs. Because defense is the major cause of injuries. Just look at the defensive anchors in this league, you can only find few of them which are healthy and 1 of them is dwight but it requires for him to have that kind of body if you want to survive the contacts hes taking. So I predict bulls to regress next season. In fact their defensive anchor(noah) already hinted not liking thibs and he missed so many games due to defense. Once players quit playing defense, its over.