When the Chicago Bulls won the first pick in the NBA draft this last summer it was truly winning the lottery. This was one of the best draft classes ever, rivaling those that brought us Michael Jordan, Lebron James, and Magic and Bird. With the first pick, Chicago was guaranteed a superstar, or were they?

Derrick Rose was one of the best players in college last season as a freshman but was not picked to make a huge splash as a rookie. He was exactly the type of player the Bulls needed, however, and was a good fit being from Chicago’s South Side. Nobody was surprised when he was selected first overall, but some thought the Bulls could have found a better player elsewhere. It turns out, for once, that Bulls GM John Paxson made the right choice. Rose has proven to be the type of player that can take over a game at will. After 23 games he is averaging over 18 points and 6 assists per game.  It will not be long before he is in the same breath as premier point guards Chris Paul and Deron Williams.

Not only is Rose far and above the best rookie in the league, he is probably the premier point guard in the Eastern Conference. No other player has done more with less around him and been able to completely dominate a basketball game. A little over 2 months removed from his 20th birthday, it will be a long time before this Rose wilts.

The lovely, sexy, multitalented Bulls’ cheerleaders are the best thing going for our once-illustrious franchise. It’s been a season of disappointment and heartache for Bulls faithful who have come out in droves despite the team’s poor performance.

The Bulls, plagued by poor overall performance and injuries to starting forward Luol Deng and former 6th man of the year Ben Gordon and have regressed from last year’s 49-33 mark. Following an especially lackluster outing, Vice President of Team Operations John Paxson fired coach Scott Skiles, effectively ushering in an era of re-building for the lowly Bulls. Skiles, who during his 5 year tenure with the Bulls had a satisfactory overall win-lose margin of 156-156, proved his skeptics wrong taking the Bulls to the playoffs in from ’04-’05 to ’06-‘07.

Jim Boylan has done nothing to improve the Bulls. Nor has he had an opportunity. This opportunity will arise only once at least one blockbuster trade has been negotiated.

As of right now, no member of the roster is off-limits as far as trades go. Ben Gordon has had a mediocre season thus far. He’s done well coming off the bench but than again, his average is down to 19.6 from last year’s 21.4 and his shooting percentage is down from .451 to .421.

Deng has been a disappointment. Though his stats have almost all increased, he hasn’t lived up to expectations. Heinrich is in the midst of his worst season to date. His production has been a non-factor. Big Ben is as bad as they come—and I don’t mean this in the street sense. When Wallace is on the court, the Bulls are force to go into a 4 on 5 mode on offense and lately, he hasn’t been rebounding either. The question of where the $60-million man has disappeared arises.

The Bulls are likely to miss the playoffs for the first time in four years. They won’t get a high draft pick either because they will finish with a decent record for a non-contender. It’s imperative that the team’s higher-ups: the Jerry Krause’s and John Paxson’s salvage something of a season gone terribly wrong. There’s ample time before the trading deadline. No one should be spared. If this were a poker game, I’d say “quadruple the stakes!” Because Chicago fans are loyal only to a certain point and this year they’ve been ripped off.