Raise your hand if you believed the Bulls would be 7-9 at Thanksgiving.
Not you, Vinny Del Negro, whose intense optimism might elicit a comment on the pretty rotation of a Ben Gordon air ball.
I predicted a 5-12 month and a 35-47 record overall, although I get predictions wrong about as often as Joakim Noah gets winded. (I’m proudly clinging to my call that Derrick Rose will win rookie of the year. Rose is making a lot of people around him look good.)
After the brutal and selfish collapse Wednesday night in San Antonio, it might not be the best time to write this, but the Bulls are more competitive than most imagined. This isn’t to excuse lie-down losses in Boston and Portland or the late-game cluelessness against Denver and San Antonio that looked like so many stretch runs from last season.
This is to say that Rose is really, really good. And that the Bulls — at least for now — are fulfilling one of general manager John Paxson’s main objectives: regaining their reputation as a team that brings effort and energy and doesn’t quit.
Moral victories don’t count in sports, but what made last season’s ugly 33-49 record even uglier was the massive selfishness and give-up nature of so many losses.
Again, the loss to the Spurs conjured up many bad memories because first the team ignored Gordon’s hot hand late in the third quarter and then Gordon and Larry Hughes appeared to engage in a battle of who could take the worst shot or commit the goofiest turnover.
But the Bulls also rallied late to take the Nov. 3 loss in Orlando to the final possession. They overcame a brutal start and 19-point deficit to blow out the Mavericks at home on Nov. 13. Rose took over late in victories at Golden State and Utah.
Rose is averaging 18.4 points on impressive 48.4 percent shooting, 5.8 assists — and roughly 2.7 compliments from opposing players and coaches in every city to which the Bulls travel.
“He’s already really good, and he’s going to be really awesome,” Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups said. “He has something you can’t teach, and that’s that speed, man. Him being 6-3 and strong, explosive as he is, he’s going to be a special, special player for a lot of years.”
These are more idol than idle words, not mere pat-on-the-back stuff as a parting gift after a Bulls loss. Everyone from Phil Jackson to Kobe Bryant to Don Nelson to Stephen Jackson to George Karl to Tony Parker praised Rose on the recent West Coast trip.
It’s easy to see this trend continuing.
What can’t continue, if the Bulls really want to shock people and sneak into the playoffs, is the massive underachieving of Noah and Tyrus Thomas.
There are other trouble spots. Luol Deng, again battling injuries, is shooting an uncharacteristic 39.5 percent and has been slow to acclimate to playing alongside Rose. Andres Nocioni, who has fallen in love with the three-point line, is shooting 38.7 percent. And the defense has been poor, particularly in rotating and guarding the three-point line.
But an argument can be made that the Bulls have survived one of the more difficult stretches of the schedule and done so without Kirk Hinrich and, for part of the time, Deng.
So there’s hope for the future, if not for my predictions.
“The guys have been working hard,” said Del Negro, in one of his favorite cliches.
Except this season, it’s true.
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kcjohnson@tribune.com
