Sam: The Bulls have one of the league’s deepest teams with a half dozen new players. Maybe it takes more than a half season to develop that chemistry and consistency it took the previous group a few seasons. Also, with Rose coming slowly for good reason, both gaining confidence in his ability to play healthy and conditioning, which isn’t as simple as it sounds, the Bulls really never have had their top players playing at a top level the same time. That’s presumably to come,

Sam: I think Derrick is as well. You know he sees the same thing you do and is taking names. But he also knows he cannot extend himself yet. You’ll see glimpses, like his 17 first quarter points against John Wall on national TV Wednesday. But he is being very smart in not taking the bait from his coach or the fans or critics to push too hard yet. Instead, he is building as the season becomes more important and it makes sense that the longer he’s healthy and gaining confidence the better he’ll be. He’s said to watch him later and he’s serious. It’s good that at least someone is taking care of his best interests and the team’s along the way. It just so happens it’s Rose.

Sam: Just because someone was handsome/pretty it doesn’t mean they always will be. I believe that Bulls defense of the past few years is a thing of the past because this is a new team. It was going to be a new team for a lot of reasons. If they had gotten Carmelo Anthony, as they hoped, it would not be a defensive team as Anthony isn’t much known for his defense, and they wouldn’t have had the depth. Plus, they tried it for four years and it wasn’t good enough and didn’t always get out of the first round or much into the second. So it was time to try something new. It’s a more offensive team to change with the way the games is played in the NBA now. Look at the teams with the best records in the NBA this season. Do they look like defensive teams? They move the ball, shoot and push the ball. The Bulls are in transition toward that. They have a much improved offense with the additions of Gasol, which has been a coup, Mirotic and Brooks and a better defense than most with Noah, Gibson and Butler, though not the defense it was. Though the Bulls have in theory the pieces for excellence with size, speed and scoring, it’s still in the test phase with the recovery of Rose and addition of new players in varying roles. We never will again see the defense the Bulls played the last few years. But that also was a slow down, walk it up, everyone get back game with Noah before knee surgery and Luol Deng, a perennial all-defensive player in addition to Butler. So there will be games like the one against the Magic with a fast, young team. The Bulls have put together on the fly a different formula to adjust to the new NBA without completely sacrificing what they had. We’ll see how long it takes to be complete.