NP: The Cult, Pure Cult: The Singles 1984-1995

Yeah, it's another Bulls post. Watching last night's ugly win over Utah, I was struck by something that reinforced some of my ideas as to why this team has been successful. Chris Duhon and Antonio Davis, both starters, scored a combined 2 points, and only just barely, as Davis slammed home the capper on a fast break in the closing seconds. Three guys who don't start are ahead of Davis in points per game, while an astonishing five bench players are ahead of Duhon.

When Chicago was starting this resurgence, I was curious what the commentators were saying about them, whether or not they thought they were for real. They didn't. The reason stated was that the team didn't have "veteran leadership" to show them what winning was all about. In NBA marketing-speak, what they were really saying is that the team has no marquee players, nobody they can hype in one of their U2-fueled commercial spots.

What we seem to be finding out is that this isn't a bad thing. The current model of an NBA squad is a couple of superstars surrounded by role players. The Bulls, on the other hand, have very good, but maybe not great, guys at every position, and even three guys deep onto the bench. The starters come out to set a defensive tone, knocking opponents out of a scoring rhythm, and sets things up for the first rotation, where Ben Gordon, Tyson Chandler and Andres Nocioni -- the guys all ahead of Davis on the scoring chart -- come in and boost the offense.

Other teams have come in and played solid team basketball lately, but there was always somebody at the heart of it, like Chris Webber in Sacramento, Steve Nash in Dallas, and both Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups in Detroit. What the Bulls are doing is fundamentally different, and is almost anathema to the modern NBA. They're playing real team basketball. With their recent success, we can only hope it catches on.

Incidentally, I've got to learn to pad my TiVo when I record games. Fortunately, I finished the recorded part while the buffer was still able to make it back to the final minute of play. This is the second time that's happened, but I think the first time was an overtime game, so it was sort of excusable.