Welcome to the inaugural edition of eDraft’s NBA Season Preview. We turn our attention on to the Central Division, covering everyone from the pretenders to the contenders. Today we take a look at the Bulls, the team with the best record in the NBA the last two seasons, but can Chicago win without their superstar?

Key additions: Kirk Hinrich (G), Vladimir Radmanovic (FA), Nate
Robinson (G), Marquis Teague (29th overall, G), Marco Belinelli (G),
Nazr Mohammed (C)

Ah, the luxury tax! How little I care about thee. For I am not an NBA owner and I don’t really concern myself with the finances of the corporations I choose to root for. So long as my team puts an entertaining product on the floor I am happy. I have my own financial problems and basketball is my chief escape from them.

Cheap owners take note: you should find another business!  If you own a sports franchise you ought to be both reckless and filthy rich. When the Bulls, the team with the best record in the league last season, decided this summer to dump salary, replacing excellent role players with cheaper, less talented versions of said role players, they essentially conceded to tanking the season before it begins. A thought experiment: imagine if Coke or McDonalds or Ford announced that this upcoming year they were going to make an inferior product to cut costs. This is an absurd scenario, one that could never transpire, but one that happens all of the time in the world of sports.

But professional sports is a planet all its own, where markets fail to be efficient due to irrationality of the consumer—us fans. This cannot and will not be otherwise, but fans, please, whatever you do, don’t sympathize with your team’s owners. Don’t rationalize away the painful decisions they have delivered upon you. Demand a better team. Chicago fans have already lived through this sad story once before with the brutal dismantling of Jordan’s dynasty in 1998, and they suffered through years of bad basketball only to get back to this point.

Now, of course this time is a little different; indeed, history only rhymes with itself. Rose isn’t going anywhere, he will be back on the floor after recovering from his knee injury sometime in January, but who of his current teammates will be left when he returns is anybody’s guess. Already notably gone from last year’s team are Kyle Korver, John Lucas III, C.J. Watson, Ronnie Brewer, Omer Asik, and Mike James.

These are substantial losses. Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer remain upfront, but both were slightly disappointing and very expensive (not that I care about cost!) last year and could be shipped out before the trade deadline. The versatile small forward Luol Deng (15.3 PPG- 6.5 RPG) rounds out the front court, but he shoots poorly (41 FG%) and  isn’t the true second option on offence that the Bulls need him to be. Starting across from Rose when he returns will be Richard Hamilton, who may be able stay healthy the entire season but will find starters minutes to be too taxing. However, the options behind him are unappealing: Nate Robinson? Kirk Hinrich? Marco Belinelli? But, alas, this is a fan,s dilemma, ownership has other things to worry about.

Reason for optimism: Noah is due for a big season. Usually a source of energy, hustle, magnificent passing and intelligent play Noah will get more opportunities to score this year with Rose out. Count on him to bounce back from a rare off-year.

Reason for pessimism: Kirk Hinrich may very well be the starting point guard for the Bulls for the next three months.

Projected record: 41-41 (3rd in Central Division)