Jeff Hanisch – USA TODAY sports
Most Chicago Bulls fans will be focusing on the health of Derrick Rose this season, but Rose is hardly the Chicago player that needs to be monitored. Instead, Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau must try his best to keep both Joakim Noah and Kirk Hinrich on the floor and healthy for a Chicago team that is expected to compete for an NBA title.
Last year was a crazy one for anyone following the Bulls as their fearless leader — Rose — was apparently to afraid to play on his previously torn ACL, despite both personal and team doctors clearing him for play. Meanwhile, Chicago earned a rather hard-nosed perception as its entire roster was banged up. While the rag-tag narratives are cute; if the Bulls hope to dethrone the Miami Heat then they are going to need all hands on deck, which means Noah and Hinrich.
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In the last three years Noah and Hinrich have combined to miss 102 games, with each averaging over 15 DNP’s a season.
Now, injuries are a nature of the beast when dealing with NBA teams, yet Noah plays such a big role on this Bulls team that he can’t afford to miss upwards of 15 games like he did last season. In case you forgot; Chicago is currently backing Noah up with Nazr Mohammed and Dexter Pittman, who both have shown that they aren’t starters in this league.
As for the 32-year-old Hinrich? His injury was so depleting to this team in the post-season considering he was the lone “point guard” left on this roster after Rose decided to skip out. At the end of the day; Bulls fans should be keeping a close eye on the health of Noah and Hinrich before they start to get frantic of Rose.
Devin O’Barr is the Content Commentator for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @DevinOBarrRS, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
