At this time last year the Bulls were setting such lofty goals as a winning home record and 30 wins total. Well, they got to 30 and even posted one of the best home records in the league. The next logical plateau would seem to be 40 wins and perhaps even a playoff berth. But here are five simple
reasons why the Bulls will win at least 47 games in 2003-04.

5. KIRK HINRICH: I totally bought into the idea of taking Hinrich with a lottery pick. Any other year it would have been a letdown. But this year it actually made a lot of sense. The Bulls had filled their roster with underdeveloped potentially-flashy players in previous drafts. There was simply no more room for another “project.” I actually screamed for the Bulls to trade their pick because they couldn’t afford to get any younger than they were. The only way you keep that pick is to use it on a four-year
player who actually won in college. Kirk Hinrich did that.

Assuming Hinrich doesn’t have a chronic flu, he could be a perfect addition to this team. If you listened to even one radio broadcast last year you heard John Paxson vehemently lamenting the fact that the Bulls’ point guards were utterly clueless on the fast break. Hinrich is a coach’s kid and you
know he was taught properly in the system at Kansas. Hinrich is the kind of player who is willing to do the things like defend and even pass the ball.

The seventh pick in the draft is a good place to take a guy like Hinrich. He never was flashy, so the growth process won’t be so topsy-turvy. The things Hinrich did well in college aren’t subjected to slumps. He may not have a headline-grabbing rookie season, but chances are his struggles won’t
be catastrophic either. That Jamal Crawford is clearly the starting point guard is great news for both players. It takes a great deal of pressure off so each can settle into his role.

They say that Hinrich is a pure shooter type-even from distance. That wasn’t evidenced by his preseason numbers. However, if he can eclipse the 38% field goal percentage of last year’s “designated shooter” Fred Hoiberg, he will prove very valuable off the bench. When he was drafted I said aloud, “John Paxson just drafted himself.” Is that a good or a bad thing? Well, last year’s team did not have a John Paxson. This year’s does. Time will tell if that was one of the missing ingredients.

4. JOHN BACH: It was well documented last year that Bill Cartwright was shorthanded in terms of help from the coaching staff. This showed up most vividly on the defensive end of the court–over and over and over again.

The “rehiring” of Johnny Bach could turn out to be the best thing that ever happens to the current squad. Not only did they bring in an assistant coach with an extremely impressive resume, but he is a defensive-minded old school-type coach who worked well with Bill Cartwright in the Bulls’ glory
days. Don’t underestimate the power of Bach’s immediate influence on the makeup of this team. He immediately gives the Cartwright regime some credibility.

3. SCOTTIE PIPPEN: This free agent signing signifies the end of the Jalen-Rose-as-team-leader era. Even if Scottie only suits up for 35 games, the fact that Jalen is no longer the primary veteran is worth a handful of wins by itself. Don’t look for impressive offensive numbers from Pippen, but just by accident he will play better defense than anything we saw last year. Pippen and fellow veteran defender Kendall Gill (who already made defensive “specialist” Trenton Hassell expendable) could easily be reason enough for the Bulls to increase their road win total by 10 or 12 games. These two alone can make John Paxson look like a genius from the get-go.

Another intangible that Pippen brings to the table is respect from the officials. That’s something Jalen will never have, and something that victimized the Bulls repeatedly last year. Perhaps with Pippen on the floor even Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler will start to get a few calls here in there. Furthermore, I doubt that Pippen will put up with the ridiculous whining and pouting from the team after every single play. If that stuff stops, Pippen will already have earned his money.

Scottie has never missed the playoffs. He seems to be determined to stretch the streak to 17 seasons. This could be his biggest challenge yet.

2. MARCUS FIZER: Here’s hoping the Fizer-as-trade-bait talk is over for good. He could and should be a main link in this Bulls team for years to come. Last year he started the season out of shape and as the 12th man. But by the time an injury ended his season prematurely, he was one of the
most consistent threats the Bulls had. His absence was felt very severely as the season progressed.

Take 75% of the second-half losses, and this was the scenario: Chandler and/or Curry would come out and dominate for about 15 minutes in the first half and the Bulls would jump out to a lead. Chandler and/or Curry would get into foul trouble and have to sit. The Bulls would forsake their inside game
altogether in favor of jacking up quick perimeter shots. The Bulls would then lose.

That doesn’t happen if you still have Marcus. In the first half of the season, he was the ONLY inside presence with whom you could feel comfortable posting up. At that time Chandler and Curry were non-existent. BUT, if you had Fizer coming off the bench in the second half of the season, you could
continue with your game plan without missing a beat. He has a true sense of how to get his inside shots to fall. We have never seen a healthy Marcus on the same roster as an effective Chandler and Curry. I can’t wait.

1. EDDY CURRY: Even before Brad Miller was shipped out West, Eddy Curry was hands down the best center in the Eastern Conference. If he developed any sort of passing game in the offseason he will be deadly. If not, he can still be good.

Sometime after the All Star break last year, Curry discovered that he could take over a game and score a great amount of points in a very short amount of time. His 59% shooting percentage led the NBA, and he scored in double figures in the final 13 games of the year.

Even his free throws looked good at times in this preseason. The only thing that can keep him out of the All-Star game this year is if he gets constantly double teamed. If opponents find out that he still hasn’t learned how to pass out of the double, then its back to the drawing board.
Until that happens, Eddy Curry will score when he wants to.

Not making the playoffs this year is absolutely unacceptable. Fifty wins is something of a pipedream, so that’s why they will probably win 47. Of course most of this is subject to health, but it’s hard not to be very excited about this team. When guys like Donyell Marshall, Kendall Gill, and Marcus Fizer are coming off the bench, you know you have come a long way. The first four games are very winnable. It all starts tonight against Washington.