2015-16 NBA Season Preview: Chicago Bulls

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Chicago Bulls

2014-15

Offseason Roundup

• Re-signed Jimmy Butler (5/$94.3M)
• Re-signed Mike Dunleavy (3/$14.4M)
• Re-signed Aaron Brooks (1/$2M)

Projected Starting 5

• PG Derrick Rose
• SG Jimmy Butler
• SF Mike Dunleavy (injured)
• PF Pau Gasol
• C Joakim Noah

MVP

Butler snagged the NBA's Most Improved Player award last season, and was arguably the Bulls' MVP - despite Gasol putting up one of the best years of his career. A two-way stud who shone defensively under Tom Thibodeau, Butler should now flourish even more on the offensive end under new coach Fred Hoiberg.

Breakout Player

First-round draft pick Bobby Portis is the only notable new addition to the lineup, and he's an interesting one. He's a passionate player who pumps himself up for games by envisioning his mother being attacked, and he's a workman who can contribute. But he'll have to fight for minutes in a crowded frontcourt.

That's why it's more likely Doug McDermott becomes the Bulls' breakout player, a year after losing most of his rookie season to a knee injury. With the starting small forward Dunleavy out 8-10 weeks after back surgery, and a run-and-gun, 3-pointer-loving coach like Hoiberg, the time is now for the man known as Dougie McBuckets to step up.

He only played in 36 games last season, but performed incrementally better the more minutes he played. He and Tony Snell will likely split starting minutes while Dunleavy is out, but McDermott should be a capable rotation player by the end of the season.

Season Expectations

The most fascinating thing about the 2015-16 Bulls is that they are pretty much the same team as the 2014-15 Bulls - with one major exception. Thibodeau is gone - a casualty of a long-festering relationship with the team's front office.

Whereas Thibs' defensive acumen brought the Bulls their greatest success since the Jordan era, coach Hoiberg is an offensive-minded bench boss who will bring more creativity and a faster pace. The curse of constant injuries, which had a hand in derailing some aspect of each of the Bulls' last five seasons, could always rear its head again, but part of the organization's logic for the coaching change was, theoretically, to combat that.

With Thibodeau's hellish practices and perceived overuse of players a thing of the past, does this team have what it takes to unseat the Cleveland Cavaliers? There's little doubt the Bulls are still a top-four team in the East, but the answer is debatable. Bigs Gasol, Noah, and Taj Gibson are all now north of 30 (in Gasol's case, 35). While there's youth and floor-spacing ability behind them in Portis and Nikola Mirotic, it remains to be seen how Hoiberg's up-tempo offensive system will employ the group in a league currently enamored with small ball.

There's also the case of Rose, who should be back from his fractured orbital bone in time for opening night Oct. 27 against the Cavs. The latest injury again highlights some roster issues, and the Bulls' failure to deal with them. The point guard, who has missed 228 of a possible 328 regular-season games in the last four years, is still backed up by Brooks and Kirk Hinrich. While Brooks easily moved ahead of the long-declining Hinrich on the depth chart last season, the team is not deep there.

Related: Derrick Rose and the downside of promise

Could a trade be fashioned, exchanging some of the team's depth up front? Perhaps. It's also to be expected that Butler will be seen in longer stretches handling the ball, even with Rose on the floor. He views himself as a point guard too, after all.