Thaddeus Young has been saying all the right things.
The Bulls’ free-agent forward was smart enough to hype up his new roster earlier this week, but at the same time let everyone know that there was a certain unknown with the group because of all the injury problems the past few seasons.
“Just from playing against them in Indiana, they played us hard as hell,’’ Young said about the Bulls. “Every time we’ve seen those guys, they play so hard. And those are the kinds of guys you want to play with. You want to play with guys that come to work every day. The only thing that kind of hurt them this past season is they had a lot of guys that were injured. Guys missed 20, 30, 40 games.
“You never know what a team can do when they have so many guys, especially key guys, injured. That’s something that you want to see. You want to see what their potential growth is. And me being a veteran, being a leader, I can bring that presence to this team and help this team potentially get back to the playoffs.’’
With the key word being “potentially.’’
Yes, the Bulls should be significantly better than a 22-win team, but it isn’t like the rest of the Eastern Conference decided to take the summer off in the improvement department. Of the eight teams that made the postseason last April, only Toronto seems to have taken a major blow to the roster, as Kawhi Leonard bolted for Los Angeles to be a Clipper.
Even with his departure, however, the NBA Champions have enough talent to still finish with a better record than the up-and-coming Bulls … healthy roster or not.
1. Milwaukee Bucks – The top seed won 60 games last season, but did lose Malcolm Brogdon to the Pacers. A talent hit? Yes, but with league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo still doing Greeky Freaky things, as well as keeping Khris Middleton, and adding former Bull Robin Lopez, the Bucks are still a problem for the rest of the East to deal with.
2. Toronto Raptors – Are they still a 58-win team? Maybe. After all, they played 22 games without Leonard last season, so are well-versed in covering up his departure. Not a lot of star power up North anymore, but a ton of depth and an up-and-coming force in Pascal Siakam.
3. Philadelphia 76ers – No team in the East had a better summer. Lose Jimmy Butler? Keep Tobias Harris, while adding Al Horford and Josh Richardson. The Sixers have the best starting five in the East, and maybe the NBA, making them the clear favorite to jump the Raptors and Bucks.
4. Boston Celtics – Gone are Kyrie Irving, Al Horford and Terry Rozier, but adding Kemba Walker in free agency to go along with wings Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Gordon Hayward is still a lot for opposing teams to deal with on a nightly basis. Are they a No. 4 seed again? Maybe not, but definitely a playoff team.
5. Indiana Pacers – Brogdon was a great get for them, while a healthy Victor Oladipo could be in the MVP discussion. Nate McMillan has this team grinding the opposition on a nightly basis, and don’t expect that to change.
6. Brooklyn Nets – Having Irving this year and then both Kevin Durant (Achilles injury) and Irving next year? The new “Mecca of basketball’’ in the Big Apple.
7. Orlando Magic – Coach Steve Clifford pulled off some smoke and mirrors with this roster, and this is the one group that the Bulls should jump from a talent standpoint. Problem is so could the Miami Heat and the Atlanta Hawks.
8. Detroit Pistons – Is this a .500 team again? If everyone stays healthy, maybe. But when is the last time Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin stayed healthy?
