If you weren’t following the events of the off-season, but you’re ready to jump right into Bulls basketball, we have a cheat sheet for you. In this article, I’ll summarize all of the main events that happened over the summer so you can hit up the water cooler, and catch up with your Bulls buds.

Of course, the big news is still about Derrick. He’s out until 2013, working hard, doing and saying the right things. What else is there to say? Other than check out the DRose-Produced “Return” videos. Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

The big changes occurred with the bench. We’ll miss you Bench Mob! But maybe not as much as we once thought. The new faces aren’t necessarily a downgrade.

2012-13 Player Position 2011-12 Player Kirk Hinrich PG/SG CJ

Watson Marco Belinelli SG/SF Kyle Korver Jimmy Butler* SG/SF Ronnie Brewer Nate Robinson PG John Lucas III Nazr Mohammed C Omer Asik Vladimir Radmanović F Brian Scalabrine Marquis Teague PG Mike James

Jimmy Butler was a Bull last season, however his role was so limited, that you may have missed him. He was sharp in Summer League, looking polished and ready to go. While SL is not a good measurement of how he’ll transition his skills at the highest level, his execution did show that he did work and keep improving throughout the off-season, performing among the best of the rookies and other under-developed players in the NBA.

The similarities of Hot-Sauce and Belly(Marco Belinelli) are astounding. They are both very similar players, from a player role perspective(sharp-shooter). They both are an NBA look-a-like, Belinelli has a reputation of looking like Sylvester Stallone. Not quite as striking as the Korver-Kutcher mirror, but it’s still kind of odd to replace Kyle with Marco. Belinelli isn’t as accurate as Kyle, but his range is further. His defense is also better than what Korver’s defense was at before he was coached under Thibs. This is a fairly lateral move on paper with more potential upside. I can’t wait to hear Stacey King’s new nickname for this guy.

In fact, there are a lot of similarities between the roles of the old and new players.

Nate Robinson is more likely to dunk on a player, than get dunked on. That’s always a bonus. Radmanović and Scalabrine are the most different, yet perhaps equally useless players. Marquis Teague is a long ways from being NBA confidant, where Mike James was maybe over-confidant. But all in all, Teague has hops, speed, vision. His ceiling is very high, just remember, he is going to take most of the season to develop into a serviceable rookie.

Injuries:

Noah skipped the Olympics to heal that gruesome high ankle sprain. He should start off the season 100% for the first time in a while. Boozer has stayed healthy, Hinrich has also recovered. Luol Deng is the only question mark. A question mark that wont go away until we see him in action. Rose’s status has not changed, although reports suggest that he is well ahead of schedule on his rehabilitation.

The Cigar:

Brian Scalabrine wasn’t coming back as a player. He had an offer to take the sixth coaching spot for the Bulls and then Boston offered him a commentators gig, where he’ll be on air for the Celtics. He took the Celtics job, just so you know where he went. The pay is better, and it was a dream job of his to work the mic, so there was no real blame over the decision.

Kirk, Luol, and a few other Bulls players will inevitably move up some of the Bulls all-time ranks. If you’re someone that likes to keep track of franchise stats, this is going to be a fun season. Some guys on this team are going to move into the conversation about getting a retired number in the rafters. Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

Also, any good fan needs access to the 2012-13 TV Schedule.

As for the rest of the questions. 2015, 2016, and Tom Thibodeau hasn’t signed his extension yet. (First question was, when is Nicola Mirotic’s contract up, and second question, when is the Bobcats pick unprotected.)

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