Chicago Bulls Schedule Leaked

[DuckIII]

19 back-to-backs seems a bit high.

I counted 22. So nearly 54% of our games are back to backs... just doesn't seem right at all.

But the thing that stood out to me most was that at one point we have 3 back to backs in a row, and at another there are 4 back-go-bakcs in a row.

If you exclude the all star break, February is almost all back to backs.

The schedule to me doesn't seem the typical easy finish we usually get.

Damn, you're right. I buzzed through it quickly and missed a couple. In fact, one of those I missed turns that 4 back-to-back stretch into a 5 back-to-back stretch. That's crazy.

One thing I forgot to mention about the schedule that I like though is the return of the Knicks home-and-home. I'd like to see that every year.

As for the January road trip, that's been a staple for awhile now, but sometimes its only 5 or 6 games long. If I recall correctly, its when the Ice Capades (sp?) are in town.

[DuckIII]

I'm looking forward to all the schedules coming out later today. The Bulls have no one to blame for the long road trips, because they book those conflicts to earn money. That's on them and I'm used to it.

But that stretch of 14 road games in 19 games is just nuts, and some of that falls on the NBA schedule makers. As does the 22 back-to-backs. When the other schedules come out later today I'm going to take a random sample and see how out of whack that number of back-to-backs is. Maybe its not as unusual as it seems.

[DanTown8587]

Quick thoughts on the schedule:

1. Not an easy start or easy finish. Four of the first five to start are against playoff teams. Last five are either against top teams at home or road games.
2. As Duck said Bulls from 1/14 to 2/9, Bulls play 11 road games and only three home games.
3. Bulls have FOUR sets of four games/five nights/four cities. Those are brutal.
4. Bulls have two 6+ road game trips and only one 6+ home stand. On that home stand, they have Boston, LA and Atlanta. No favors with any stretch of winnable home games.

[DuckIII]

Quick thoughts on the schedule:

1. Not an easy start or easy finish. Four of the first five to start are against playoff teams. Last five are either against top teams at home or road games.

I think the finish is pretty soft. Here's April (8 games). Half road, half home, and only two games against teams that, in my opinion, will be better than Chicago. And March is one of the softer months on the schedule as well (along with December).

@ Washington Wizards
3rd - vs Charlotte Bobcats
6th - vs Milwaukee Bucks
8th - vs Cleveland Cavaliers
9th - @ New Jersey Nets
11th - @ Toronto Raptors
13th - vs Boston Celtics
14th - @ Charlotte Bobcats

3. Bulls have FOUR sets of four games/five nights/four cities. Those are brutal.

Good catch.

Bulls have two 6+ road game trips and only one 6+ home stand. On that home stand, they have Boston, LA and Atlanta. No favors with any stretch of winnable home games.

I don't know about that. There's a very favorable stretch of 21 games, mostly in December. 14 at home and 7 on the road. Only one road game against a clearly superior opponent - Cleveland. One against a team that is roughly our equal - Atlanta. One against Detroit. And the other 4 are against bums - Bucks (x2), Bobcats, Knicks.

The other 14 are at home, with only three games against clearly superior opponents (Lakers, Celtics, Magic). Conversely, 6 are against bums, with the remaining 5 against middling teams.

30th - @ Milwaukee Bucks

December:

2nd - vs Detroit Pistons
4th - @ Cleveland Cavaliers
5th - vs Toronto Raptors
8th - vs New Jersey Nets
9th - @ Atlanta Hawks
11th - vs Golden State Warriors
12th - vs Boston Celtics
15th - vs Los Angeles Lakers
17th - vs New York Knicks
19th - vs Atlanta Hawks
21st - vs Sacramento Kings
22nd - @ New York Knicks
26th - vs New Orleans Hornets
29th - vs Indiana Pacers
31st - @ Detroit Pistons

January:

2nd - vs Orlando Magic
4th - vs Oklahoma City Thunder
5th - @ Charlotte Bobcats
8th - @ Milwaukee Bucks
9th - vs Minnesota Timberwolves

That's a pretty soft stretch where the Bulls will need to bounce back after what will be a predictably rough start.

[Ralphb07]

With all the back to backs, this is why we can't go 7 deep and why we will go 8 strong with a 9th player playing spot minutes

[DuckIII]

With all the back to backs, this is why we can't go 7 deep and why we will go 8 strong with a 9th player playing spot minutes

True. Though if you ask me, its never a good idea to go 7 deep during the regular season except in isolated games or perhaps the last few weeks leading up to the playoffs.

[The ROY]

Have some damn faith in your team fellas.

With improvements from TT, Noah, Derrick & Luol, we shouldn't be a walk in the park either.

With JJ, Kirk, Pargo and Miller off the bench, we're a good team with good depth to face any team with 2 or 3 all-stars.

Call me optimistic. This will be one of our better starts of the season.

Although..........

I'd feel better about it if B.G. were with us

[Posey H8er]

The circus schedule is only 6 games this year. On paper we should get at least 2 wins

17th - @ Sacramento Kings W
19th - @ Los Angeles Lakers L
21st - @ Denver Nuggets L
23rd - @ Portland Trail Blazers L
26th - @ Utah Jazz L
30th - @ Milwaukee Bucks W


I guess having a tough schedule to start the season is good since historically the Bulls are always below par at the start.

[The ROY]

IMO, Utah without Boozer isn't as scary of a team as they are with him.

They're still good, but not AUTOMATIC LOSS good.

[DuckIII]

Call me optimistic. This will be one of our better starts of the season.

Okay: You're optimistic. I can't look at this and predict one of our "better" starts:

29th - vs San Antonio Spurs
30th - @ Boston Celtics

November:

1st - @ Miami Heat
3rd - vs Milwaukee Bucks
5th - @ Cleveland Cavaliers
7th - vs Charlotte Bobcats
10th - vs. Denver Nuggets
11 th - @ Toronto Raptors
14th - vs Philadelphia 76'ers
17th - @ Sacramento Kings
19th - @ Los Angeles Lakers
21st - @ Denver Nuggets
23rd - @ Portland Trail Blazers
26th - @ Utah Jazz
30th - @ Milwaukee Bucks

8 of those games are against superior teams. 10 of those games are on the road. I agree with you that the Bulls are no walk in the park, and as I've said I consider them to be, at worst, the 5th best team in the East. But even if I take an optimistic look at that first 15 games, I see the Bulls being about 6-9. Fortunately, the next 20 games are much softer.

[Ralphb07]

With all the back to backs, this is why we can't go 7 deep and why we will go 8 strong with a 9th player playing spot minutes

True. Though if you ask me, its never a good idea to go 7 deep during the regular season except in isolated games or perhaps the last few weeks leading up to the playoffs.

I totally agree. I was just proving a point to people who have been saying 7 man rotation. 9 man rotation is good with the first 8 getting the majority of the playing time.

Imagine going 7 deep all season, it would be brutal.

[jax98]

8 of those games are against superior teams. 10 of those games are on the road. I agree with you that the Bulls are no walk in the park, and as I've said I consider them to be, at worst, the 5th best team in the East. But even if I take an optimistic look at that first 15 games, I see the Bulls being about 6-9. Fortunately, the next 20 games are much softer.

If we can get by october and november with a .500 record, then we'll have a great fundament in going forward. Obviously, that's going to be hard. But if we have any wish of being a playoff team, we need to surprise some people early on, IMO.

[Posey H8er]

IMO, Utah without Boozer isn't as scary of a team as they are with him.

They're still good, but not AUTOMATIC LOSS good.

I agree, but I put down wins for teams we should absolutely beat.

[DuckIII]

If we can get by october and november with a .500 record, then we'll have a great fundament in going forward. Obviously, that's going to be hard.

That would be sweet. Won't happen though.

But if we have any wish of being a playoff team, we need to surprise some people early on, IMO.

I don't agree. The Bulls routinely fall way behind and then make the playoffs. Its happened in 4 of the 5 last years. Anything below 5-10 in the first 15 games will be scary. Anything equal to or better than 5-10 is liveable so long as the games are competitive and the Bulls look good.

One thing I always agreed with Skiles about: Its about how the team plays. The wins and losses will sort themselves out over the course of an 82 game schedule. I just want to see the Bulls playing well during this rough patch that begins the season.

My target record for the end of November is 6-9. That would be reasonable start to put the team on fair footing going forward.

[sdeezy]

What.The.****?!

that was my reaction with a cursory glance at the schedule..the back 2 backs are ridiculous and they come in clumps. We start the season off against San Antonio and Boston?..really NBA?

[BullsKY]

I personally love how the Bulls have to play the Celtics rematch in Boston the 2nd game of the season. It's not even going to be a good match up and it's irrelivent without Ben Gordon here.

I hope Hinrich or B-Mill busts open Rondo's face.

[Grand Champ]

Didn't we have like 27 B2B's last year?

And if that schedule is true, man talk about a brutal beginning! If we finish November with a .500 record we could win 50 games this season!

[jax98]

That would be sweet. Won't happen though.

Agreed.

I don't agree. The Bulls routinely fall way behind and then make the playoffs. Its happened in 4 of the 5 last years. Anything below 5-10 in the first 15 games will be scary. Anything equal to or better than 5-10 is liveable so long as the games are competitive and the Bulls look good.

This is where I feel we'll miss Gordon. He's always been a big part of getting us back into the playoff picture. Salmons and Miller will definitely help, but if we start off slow, we really don't know their mentality on how to adjust.

I'm not saying it will go down that way, of course. I just think over the past years we've relied a lot on Gordon to make that final push for the post-season. With that factor now gone, it's going to be interesting to see if we can over a likely slow start.

One thing I always agreed with Skiles about: Its about how the team plays. The wins and losses will sort themselves out over the course of an 82 game schedule. I just want to see the Bulls playing well during this rough patch that begins the season.

Agreed.

My target record for the end of November is 6-9. That would be reasonable start to put the team on fair footing going forward.

I suppose. It's a good thing the schedule becomes significally easier in 2010.

[Benedict Miller]

Our schedule always sucked, but I don't understand all the back to back games we have against contending opponents.... we're gonna have alot of losses this year.

[DNP CD]

Bulls have 23 back to back games. </OCD>