Maybe the Bulls aren’t as good as some anticipated they would be this season, but at 1-5 after playing a fairly easy schedule, they certainly aren’t this bad. Things won’t get easier any time soon, as the Bulls start their annual circus road trip on Thursday at Phoenix.

The source of the Bulls struggles has been easy to identify- shooting. For a team without a true back-to-the-basket scorer, the Bulls get most of their baskets off of jump shots. So far, the team is shooting just 38 percent, better only than the Wizards, and good for the second worst mark in the NBA. Surely, shots for Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich, and Andres Nocioni will begin to fall; that is a given. Skiles hinted that Nocioni could be added to the starting lineup at small forward, moving Deng to shooting guard, to help give the offense a boast as the road trip begins.

While poor shooting has caused a 1-5 record, it might be underlying a bigger, more long term problem: maybe this is roster isn’t as good as people think it is. The Bulls core was mostly drafted in the top ten. Until now, Hinrich, Deng, and Gordon have been allowed to struggle because of their youth. But with Deng and Gordon now in their fourth season, and Hinrich in his fifth, maybe it’s time to stop blaming inexperience. It’s possible these guys just aren’t that good. That can be said for veterans like Ben Wallace too, who has been a non-factor thus far.

It starts with John Paxson, who has gotten a pass locally, but has been criticized by the national media. The reason the Bulls never pulled the trigger on a trade for Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant, or Kevin Garnett is because Paxson wanted to see what his young, homegrown crew could develop into. We might know now, and the results don’t look very good.

While Paxson has done a phenomenal job of rescuing the Bulls from the doldrums of the league, where they stood when he took over as general manager in 2003, he has made a fair number of miscalculations. The most notable may be trading Tyson Chandler in order sign Ben Wallace to a long term deal. Chandler is eight years younger than Wallace and has taken off since arriving in New Orleans, even playing for Team USA over the summer. Still only 25, Chandler looks to be his way to Defensive Player of Year status, an award category Wallace used to own.

But the Chandler/Wallace debacle isn’t Paxson’s only mistake. Take JR Smith, for instance. Coming to the Bulls with PJ Brown in the Chandler trade, the Bulls refused to let Smith be a part of the roster. The 22-year old shooting guard was traded to Denver for multiple second round draft picks because Paxson thought Smith, known for being a malcontent from his day in New Orleans, would have a negative effect on his other young players. On Monday, Smith scored 29 points in under 24 minutes for the Nuggets, shooting 10-of-13 from the field and making 7-of-8 three pointers. The Bulls could surely use a scorer of Smith’s ability right now.

One of the lone bright spots in the young season has been the play of Tyrus Thomas. Thomas has had two spectacular games thus far, and has shown signs that he my become an all-around tour de basketball force. But even the decision to acquire Thomas could be scrutinized. With the second selection in the 2006 draft, the Bulls took center LaMarcus Aldridge out of Texas. Aldridge was traded to the Portland Trailblazers minutes later for Thomas, Viktor Kryapha, and cash, so the Bulls could more easily sign their second first round pick, which ended up being Thabo Sephalosha. While Thomas is a fan favorite with unlimited upside, Aldridge is easily the more polished player at this point. After averaging 9 points and 5 rebounds per game as a rookie, Aldridge is averaging 19.6 points and 8 rebounds so far this season. He has emerged into a viable interior scoring option this season, something the Bulls need desperately.

It’s not that the Bulls are a bad team or that John Paxson is an incompetent general manager. The Bulls will still end up with around 50 victories, but during a period when the Eastern Conference was their for the taking, Paxson may have messed up multiple times. While the Bulls are better then the way they have this season, maybe they aren’t as good as they could have been.

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Also on the Network: √ In Mo We Trust [Depressed Fan] √ Yankees Fizzle Out On The Fourth [Green Pinstripes] √ Road Trip Part One [Beantown West] √ Beckett Beats Rasner [Depressed Fan] √ Memories of Shea Stadium: The 1964 World's Fair [Loge 13] √ Lester Lays the Hammer on Yanks [Green Pinstripes] √ Not Quite The Start I Was Looking For [Depressed Fan] √ Either way, this Brett Favre business will likely end gloriously [Tremendous Upside Potential]

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