A Sleeper, or Not

The Bulls kicked off their season last night, beating the Pistons 115-114 before a packed house at the United Center. They almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, only to think better of it. This is an odd team, one where the second unit looks nearly as talented as the starting five. That’s either a good thing, or bad; only time will tell. But nobody seemed to miss guard Coby White, expected to be out another two weeks with a calf strain. In which case, thank goodness Arturas Karnisovas decided to keep Tre Jones around for another three seasons. The 25-year old scored twelve points while dishing out eight assists, the sort of performance he gave on a regular basis last season after being acquired from the Spurs. A smart move by Karnisovas—who knew? Sort of like Nikola Vucevic, the human tree on skates, scoring 28 points to go with fourteen rebounds. Now, if the big tree can do that in March and April, there may be cause for hope. I’d also trade some of the 50 or so guards Karnisovas has collected, but that’s just me.