On The Come Up

I know basketball's in an off-season, but I have one random question that desperately needs to be answered.

Who's going to make the playoffs first: the Miami Heat or the Chicago Bulls.

The reason I ask is because both teams have been relatively quiet since draft night when the Bulls went with hometown hero Derrick Rose leaving the Heat to choose Michael Beasley.

Sure, the Bulls re-signed Luol Deng to a deal reportedly worth up to a cool $80 million, but the team's major issues have still yet to be resolved.

Vinny Del Negro is still an unproven coach and under his watch he needs to find the following:
  • A go-to-guy who can score at will in crunch time.
  • A low-post scorer in the front court.
  • A guard to team with Derrick Rose in the starting line-up.
The team's best scorer, Ben Gordon, will likely jump ship (literally?) to the Euro league. Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas' next low-post scoring move will be their first. And a back court of Rose and Kirk Hinrich doesn't solve the Bulls lack of height at the guard position.

As for the Heat, they have the go-to-guy, the No. 2 guy and now they have the low-post scorer. All they need is a true-PG to run the show and ease the burden Pat Riley has put on D-Wade.

Could the Bulls' draft strategy have catapulted the Heat back into the playoff hunt at a quicker rate than their own team?

In a back-asswards kinda way, maybe.

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