Bulls Take Commanding Lead in the Central

Before you read my crap, read this. To go along with that, a few random thoughts from opening night...

- With the Cavs and Bucks losing, and with Detroit and Indiana inactive, the Bulls have sole possession of first place in the central division (already!).

- Fast break points: Bulls - 20, Bucks - 1

Like, damn. They're running a little bit.

- According to the AP recap, the Bulls' captains are Hinrich, Deng, and Drew Gooden.

- Derrick Rose was one assist away from debuting with a double-double.

- There's a huge drop in excitement whenever Rose leaves the court, that's the negative.

- The second unit will typically be led by one Kirk Hinrich. It's crazy, I remember in the Miami series a few years back when Kirk got into foul trouble. As he was sitting on the bench, I just kept thinking "this team is nothing without him." It's just a whole different story now. A whole different team, really. Still, Hinrich, while not elite, is a serviceable option at point guard (at least top-25 in the league, right?), and having him run the offense when Rose is tired, hurt, or in foul trouble isn't the worst thing in the world. And that's the positive.

- It was a delight seeing Noah come off the bench and contribute a little bit. He's as fiery as ever.

- Rose and Tyrus Thomas are going to be mega-super-fun-kickass to watch on a regular basis. Think Nash and Amare at 75% intensity.

- While Thabo did start, it wasn't, you know, all that legitimate (very evident by his total game minutes). 

- The Milwaukee Bucks' staff is comedic gold. You've got Skiles and Boylan -- two guys who head coached the Bulls last season... which has to be an NBA first -- along with the one, the only, Kelvin Sampson! The random shots of their bench were killing me.

- Stacey King and Neil Funk are a major change up after so many years of Red and Dore, but I think once they smooth out some of the edges, they'll be a slight upgrade over last year's crew. Even if the pro-Bulls bias shifts from 95-5 to 85-15, I'd call that an improvement. Funk even sided with the Bucks on at least two calls tonight, which shattered last year's Siding With The Opposing Team single game record of zero.

- Finally, what are your expectations of this Bulls team? I'd like the 8-seed and around a .500 record. If the Bulls win one of every two (with improvement and progress coming from the players... and by "the players," I mean Rose), I'll be sound as a pound. But am I setting the bar too high? Too low?