coco blog: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: The Chicago Bulls

The 2012-13 Chicago Bulls have been a garden of blossoming and wilting flowers. Through an entire season and the Opening Round of the NBA Playoffs, this team has survived without their Rose. How long will it last?Written by Brian Charles I assume we’re all familiar with the epic childhood story, but just in case you’re one of the few who were robbed of growing up on Disney classics, allow me to give you the cliff notes. It starts with a beautiful and wealthy prince who is cursed by a witch. The curse turns the prince into an ugly, ferocious beast and his underlings into ordinary household items. To break the curse the beast must find true love while he protects a magical rose. If the rose wilts its last petal before the beast is able to kiss his true love, then he and his help will remain cursed forever.It’s a beautiful children’s story and it also happens to be the story of the Chicago Bulls. True love represents winning a championship, the prince/beast represents the team with/without Derrick Rose, the workers/household items represent the Bulls individual players, and lastly the rose represents…well the health of Derrick Rose, duh.

Currently the Chicago Bulls are in the final act of the NBA season that is, the NBA Playoffs. And to the dismay of Chi-town fans everywhere the Bulls are without their super star: the youngest MVP ever, Derrick Rose. Still out from the ACL tear he suffered in game one of the first round of last year’s Playoffs, Rose finds himself not only battling his rehab but also angry media and fans who are beginning to question his loyalty to winning at all costs.Who hasn’t uttered one ill word however? His teammates. Each one has stood by him through out this media circus, even back when Reggie Rose (Derrick’s brother and manager) openly stated the teams overall merit didn’t warrant his brother returning this year. Just as the beast’s workers tried to help him find love in the movie, the Bulls’ supporting cast is holding down the fort and doing every thing they can until Rose returns. They don’t question Rose’s character and believed he has more than earned the benefit of the doubt.Now, with that in mind, let’s not make the mistake of under estimating the beast. The prince may be smooth and good looking, but the beast has proven more than serviceable. Opposite Reggie’s beliefs, the facts tell a different story. With Rose sidelined for more than a third of the season last year the Bulls still managed to host the best record in the NBA. This season with him out all year they still achieved the fifth seed in the East with an overall record of 45-37. Its worth pointing out that had it not been to numerous injuries that spanned the entire roster, the Bulls might have at least held home court for a first round playoff series. Also noteworthy is the Bulls record against the top seeds of the Eastern Conference – they swept the Knicks and split the series against Miami. But no matter how much the Bulls over achieve, at the end of the day they are no more than your regular household items that Tom Thibodeau has coached up into the beast. They become more than household items only upon the breaking of the curse which happens once the Bulls find true love and anybody who watches basketball knows they cant do so without a healthy Rose.So to sum up, if Chicago wants to win a title they need to watch Beauty and the Beast. I’m kidding. No, but seriously as good as a story as the scrappy Bulls beating the more talented teams makes, if they want to bring home the ring to the people of Chicago they must do so with a healthy Derrick Rose. With their super star at the helm the Bulls become legitimate contenders to win the coveted championship - without him the Bulls chances of winning it all are about as likely as a beast’s is to find love (which, unfortunately, only happens in the movies).