Bulls hoping to get healthy for playoff run

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

The Chicago Bulls have seemingly been dealing with never-ending injuries to key players for the last four seasons. Derrick Rose’s knee problems are well chronicled, and Rose is currently on the shelf after surgery on a torn meniscus, although this injury isn’t expected to keep him out for the rest of the season.

Joakim Noah hasn’t been healthy at the end of a season in quite some time, and restrictions on Noah’s minutes in an attempt to keep him healthy are a major point of contention within the Bulls’ organization at the moment. Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson are both hurt right now, although both players could return to the lineup this week after practicing on Tuesday:

Thibodeau said Butler and Gibson practiced fully. Rose did part of practice.

— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) March 17, 2015

At any rate, the Bulls haven’t had a healthy roster for a postseason run in years, and they’re hoping that’s going to be a different story this year. Because, obviously, Chicago can’t win a title with these guys not at or close to 100 percent.

The Bulls sans Rose, Butler and Gibson over the past few weeks have been a rough watch, as they’ve lost five of their last six games. The one victory was in overtime against the Philadelphia 76ers in a game that needed a miracle effort from Aaron Brooks and some pathetic free throw shooting by the Sixers.

Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau likes to say the Bulls have “more than enough” even when they’re short-handed, but right now, they simply don’t have enough. The offense isn’t consistent without its starting backcourt, and the defense isn’t good enough without two of the team’s better defenders in Butler and Gibson.

But when the team has been healthy (rare this season), they’ve looked the part of a championship contender. The Bulls stood at 25-10 at one point in the season, and that was even with some smaller injury issues and Noah trying to round into form following offseason knee surgery. Many a good team has been beaten by these Bulls.

The question is if these Bulls can get and stay healthy enough to actually make a push for the title. It almost seems like way too much to ask at this point, because every time an injured Bull comes back from an injury, somebody else goes down. Again, it’s a never-ending cycle of injuries.

Vegas hasn’t completely written off the Bulls, but their odds to win the title this season have dropped somewhat significantly over the past few month or two. There was one point this year where Chicago had become the favorite to win it all. Now, the Bulls have 20/1 odds to win the title, per Bovada, which is still the third-best in the Eastern Conference. However, it’s just eighth-best in the entire league.