2009–10 Chicago Bulls season

The 2009–10 Chicago Bulls season was the 44th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Key dates

• June 25: The 2009 NBA draft took place in New York City.
• July 1: Start of the free agency period.

Offseason

On May 20, the Bulls promoted Gar Forman to General Manager. Former GM John Paxson accepted a new role as executive vice president of basketball operations.^[1] Forman's top priority for the offseason was to re-sign Ben Gordon.^[2] Ben Gordon signed with the Detroit Pistons on July 1, 2009.^[3]

NBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	School/Club Team
1	16	James Johnson	F	United States	Wake Forest
1	26	Taj Gibson	F	United States	USC

Free agency

On July 13, 2009, the Bulls signed guard Jannero Pargo to a one-year deal, helping to fill the void Ben Gordon made in leaving the team.^[4] On July 14, the Bulls re-signed guard Lindsey Hunter with a one-year contract.^[5]

Regular season summary

On January 25, 2010, the Bulls traded center Aaron Gray for guard Devin Brown of the New Orleans Hornets. On February 18, 2010, the Bulls traded guard John Salmons for forwards Hakim Warrick and Joe Alexander of the Milwaukee Bucks. Meanwhile, the Bulls traded forward Tyrus Thomas for guards Ronald Murray and Acie Law of the Charlotte Bobcats.^[6]

Roster

Chicago Bulls roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY-MM-DD) From 4.0 !F 20 USA ! Alexander, Joe (IN) 7000203200000000000♠6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 230 lb (104 kg) West Virginia 2.5 !G/F 32 USA ! Brown, Devin 7000195580000000000♠6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Texas–San Antonio 4.0 !F 9 UK ! Deng, Luol (C) 7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Duke 4.0 !F 22 USA ! Gibson, Taj 7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Southern California 1.5 !G 12 USA ! Hinrich, Kirk (C) 7000190500000000000♠6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Kansas 4.0 !F 16 USA ! Johnson, James 7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Wake Forest 4.0 !F 31 USA ! Kurz, Rob (IN) 7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Notre Dame 1.5 !G 0 USA ! Law, Acie (IN) 7000190500000000000♠6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Texas A&M 5.5 !F/C 52 USA ! Miller, Brad 7000213360000000000♠7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 261 lb (118 kg) Purdue 1.5 !G 6 USA ! Murray, Ronald 7000190500000000000♠6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Shaw 5.5 !F/C 13 USA ! Noah, Joakim 7000210820000000000♠6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 232 lb (105 kg) Florida 1.5 !G 2 USA ! Pargo, Jannero 7000185420000000000♠6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Arkansas 5.5 !F/C 35 USA ! Richard, Chris 7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 256 lb (116 kg) Florida 1.5 !G 1 USA ! Rose, Derrick 7000190500000000000♠6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Memphis 5.5 !F/C 21 USA ! Warrick, Hakim 7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 219 lb (99 kg) Syracuse	Head coach Vinny Del Negro (North Carolina State) Assistant coach(es) Bernie Bickerstaff (San Diego) Bob Ociepka (Quincy College) Pete Myers (Arkansas–Little Rock) Mike Wilhelm (Southampton) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Pre-season

Regular season

Standings

Game log

Playoffs

The Bulls managed to clinch the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference over the Toronto Raptors near the final day of the regular season. This marked the fifth time in six years Chicago has made the playoffs. With the lowest seed they faced the number one ranked Cleveland Cavaliers. Poised to win a championship LeBron James and the Cavs defeated the Bulls 4 games to 1 with the over-matched Bulls making a valiant effort in game 5, losing 96-94.

Game log

Player statistics

Season

¹Stats with the Bulls.

Playoffs

Awards, records and milestones

Awards

Week/Month

• Joakim Noah was named the Bulls CDW/HP Solutions Player of the Month for November.^[7]
• Derrick Rose was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the week of December 28.^[8]
• Derrick Rose was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for April. During this month, he averaged 25.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 7 assists.^[9]

All-Star

• Derrick Rose selected to Eastern Conference All-Star Team as a reserve.

Season

• Taj Gibson was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.^[10]

Milestones

First team to win five consecutive games over opponents over .500 on the road

Injuries and surgeries

• On September 29, Aaron Gray suffered a stress fracture of his left fibula. This was determined after he developed a lower leg pain the week of September 26 and he was projected to miss six-eight weeks.^[11][12] On November 16, Gray, still out because of the stress fracture, was admitted to the hospital because of fluid build-up in his right knee.^[13] Gray returned to the line-up to make his season début November 26 against the Utah Jazz.^[14]
• On November 6, Tyrus Thomas fractured his left radius during a weight training session. He underwent surgery on November 7 and is projected to miss four to six weeks of the season.^[12][15]
• On November 25, Kirk Hinrich sprained his left thumb during practice. Though initially feared to be a similar injury the previous season where he tore the ligaments of his right thumb, an MRI and subsequent examinations confirmed it to only be a sprain and he will only miss one to two weeks.^[16][17]

Transactions

See also

• 2009–10 NBA season

References

External links

• 2009–10 Chicago Bulls season at Basketball Reference
• 2009–10 Chicago Bulls season at ESPN