NFC North
Teams: Chicago Bears, Minnessota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions
This is a two team race between Brett Favre’s Vikings and Aaron Rodgers Packers.  I think the Packers are the more complete team this year– I just don’t see Favre repeating his “magical” season from last year.  Without Chester Taylor Peterson (a year older and closer to the running back expiration date) HAS to carry the load, and now their top reciever is out for half the season.
My Pick: Green Bay Packers

NFC East
Teams: Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles
Philly will be down without McNabb.  I don’t see the Redskins as being there yet, especially with all the drama involving Albert Haynesworth– McNabb makes them better, but a year ago they were 110% awful, and he doesn’t make them great.  That leaves the Giants (who no one is talking about) and the Cowboys (who everyone is talking about).  I think the Giants have the edge in the race– better quarterback (Eli Manning over Tony Romo), better offensive line-play, better front office– I’m not worried that we aren’t hearing names of “stars” at the skill positions the way we do for the Cowboys– all those skill guys can’t get you there when the line is a mess.  I think the Cowboys will still be a very good team, but I don’t think they win the division.
My Pick: New York Giants

NFC South
Teams: New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
This is a hard division to figure out.  There’s never been a repeat champion, and typically the last place team moves up to first.  I don’t see that happening this year, because the Bucs were oh so bad, but I give the Saints basically no chance to repeat as Division winners– they got lucky with a ton of defensive take-aways last year, that won’t happen again.  They got every possible call (in the playoffs, in the superbowl, in that horrendously officiated Washington Redskins game).  On the flip side, I think Matt Ryan’s sophemore slump will be over, Turner will turn it on rushing again, and that the Falcons are the most complete team beyond the Saints.  Meanwhile, the Saints WILL have a serious injury that greatly affects their chances of winning the division again.  That’s a garauntee– both superbowl winning and losing teams almost always do (and only the absolute best can overcome these to be in the play-offs again).
My Pick: Atlanta Falcons

NFC West
Teams: Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams, San Francisco 49ers
The “sexy” picks here are either the 49ers (who’ve been on the rise) and the Seahawks (who people assume will be). . . but I just don’t see either of those situations coming to pass.  I still don’t trust the 9ers quarterback, and while I’d like to trust Matt Hasselback, I think at his age with as little surrounding him as he has it just is not in the cards for him.  With Matt Leinart as the QB in Arizona, I’d probably expect one of those teams to pull the division out with an 8-8 or 9-7 record.  But Leinart’s gone.  I know Derek Anderson hasn’t led a lot of people to trust him with his play, but he’s done it before– he took the Browns in a much tougher AFC North to 10 wins, throwing 30 touchdowns along the way.  He’s got weapons– LArry Fitzjerald, Steve Breston, Beanie Wells, he’s got a defense that has been improving under the current coaching staff, he’s got an arm that is going to put balls downfield– and while Braylon Edwards typically dropped those balls, Larry’s gonna get the catches for him.  The schedule the Cardinals will face is far easier schedule than the Browns did two years ago– look for them to win at least 4 Divisional games, but don’t be surprised if they win all 6 to lock it up.
My Pick: Arizona Cardinals

NFC Wild Cards:
The west won’t have a wild card.  The South only has two concievably strong teams, and I think the Saint’s won’t get to 10 wins.  That leaves the Wild Cards coming from the North, and the East.  I don’t think the East is deep enough to take both, so I’m going to consider the second best team from each as getting in.
My Picks: Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings

AFC Second Wild Card
I realize I only called for a single AFC wild Card team (the Patriots).  For my second pick it has to come down to between the Ravens and the Steelers, and I’m going with the Steelers– I think the Raven’s are going to be the odd man out, I know they updated their offesne a lot, but I see their defense as being the weakest of the three (behind Pittsburgh and Cincinatti)– I mean, Ray Lewis was old 5 years ago.

AFC South
Teams: Houstan Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans
Two words: Peyton Manning.  I won’t ever pick against the Colts to win this division while he’s there.  While the injury situation with future hall of fame Center Jeff Saturday is troubling, the Colts will win 11 or more games and have things wrapperd in time to lay down the last 3 games of the season like they always do.  I like the Texans and Titans to make some noise towards wild card, but not to out-right beat the Colts.  No way.  DO NOT BET AGAINST PEYTON MANNING.
My Pick:  Indianapolis Colts.

AFC East
Teams: Buffolo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New York Jets.
This is a tough one, with 3 competitive teams (everyone but the Bills).  I think New England is on the down-side.  I’m saying this now– the Tom Brady/ Bill Belichek Patriots will never again win a Super-Bowl.  They haven’t done anything to show otherwise, or to upgrade at all- it’s just a matter of the slow progression towards out-datedness, and they need more play-makers on the defensive side of the ball and in the running game to get back to form.  The Revis situation is a bigger deal that the Jets want you to know– their success last year was built on defense, and with Revis out they need help.  They have a good o-line, and an otherwise good defense, but Mark Sanchez was uninspiring last year during his good times, any kind of sophemore slump and they are done.  Also, I don’t think they’ve lucked out to get to play the Colts and Bengals in back to back rest the starters give away the game games.  No Curtis Painter on your schedule Gangrene, I’m sorry.  I’m picking the Doplins– they have the pieces, best running game, decent defense, upgraded reciever in Brandon Marshall, young talented quarterback, and most importantly an identity (the Wild-Cat offense) which New England has been drifting (their best teams were defined as defense first run based, and their last superbowl team  was defined by blatant lack of respect for oppanents and the drive for those touch-down records) and the Jets identity is just not going to work (knowing Revis wont get burnt so you can blitz 60% of the time).
My Pick: Miami Dolphins

AFC West
Teams: Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers
Here I feel that San Diego has lost too much to continue to compete.  They’ve dominated the divison for so long, but the other teams are all on the rise, and I think the hold-out distractions and Norv Turner’s general worthlessness will finally get the best of them.  I’ve said for years that he has been holding Phillip Rivers back and i think this is the year that they will finally have a losing season, fire Turner, then get onto building a team that can truely contend to win super-bowls.  The Raiders have barely started rebuilding and I don’t think things have turned all the way around in Kansas City.  When you’re rating NFL teams you look at three things– 1. Quarterback, 2. Defense, 3. Offensive line, 4. Coaching (I lied, four things).  The Broncos edge the Chargers on Defense and o-line in my opinion, and blow them out of the water on coaching (Norv Turner is a bad coach.)  Chargers have the edge on quarterback, but as I like to say– no one can play the Quarterback position from their back, and I think Rivers is in for some beatings this year.  Also– its in San Diego’s bets interest to suck this year so that they can get rid of Turner.
My Pick: Denver Broncos.

AFC Wild Card
Teams Contending: New England Patriots, New York Jets, Tennesse Titans, Houstan Texans, Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers.
We can all agree that the Wild Card isn’t coming from the West (a division won back to back years by 8-8 teams).  I think Matt Schaub is trash at quarterback so I write off the Texans.  I think having no Big Ben for four games is damning for the Steelers so they are out.  That leaves the Ravens, the Titans, the Pats and the Jets.  I’m going with the Quarterback on this one– sorry I’m not picking Vince Young or Mark Sanchez.  I think it’s going to be close, but I gotta go with my gut.
My Pick: New England Patriots
I’ll hit the NFC later on, till then- ciao!

1. Tiger Woods: He’ll get right sooner or later– keep in mind he hasn’t really reasserted himself and been the Tiger we know he can be since the US Open he played on one knee.  This is definitely just a case of everything compiling in on him– an injury, swing troubles, personal troubles, all of it happening back to back to back.  To top it off, he’s been facing stiffer competition in some newcomers like the trio that was almost tied at the PGA last weekend– its not like he’s triple bogeying every hole here, he’s just not playing like the best player in the world right now, and sooner or later when he gets around to practicing enough to get his swing right with whoever who uses as his new swing coach he’s going to win again, and when he does he’s probably going to pull off the last 5ish majors he needs to beat the record.  Put your money on that prop bet, because I would– just like when Federer looked wrong and it seemed like Nadal had taken over, he kept at it and bam, one sport’s majors record falls.  Golf’s majors record is next.

2. The PGA Bunker issue: One thing I haven’t heard anyone say– Dustin Johnson bogeyed the 18th hole of a major he went into with a one shot lead.  He bogeyed it– before the penalty was assessed.  Sorry guys, golf is a game of concentration and the 18th hole in the last round of the major is the time to be at your best, not to make mistakes, and not to slip a shot.  If he had just hit par on the hole then he would have been in the playoff.  Or if he had done what great players who deserve to win majors do and birdied that hole he would have won outright without the playoff.  Point is: the rules didn’t rob Dustin Johnson, Dustin Johson did.

3. Chicago Bears: I watched some the preseason game against San Diego the other day.  Not to repeat the obvious but– we’re in for a long season.  We still have Lovie Smith, we still have a terrible offensice line, we still have no recievers, we still have an at best average running back, we still have a quarterback who can’t handle being pressured and won’t win with the afore-mentioned circumstances in Jay Cutler.  Thing about Cutler is this: put him behind a great offensive line, like say- the Colts line and he could be a really good quarterback, but put him behind the Swiss Cheese thing the Bears have out there and he’s just plain awful.  We’d have been better sticking with Kyle Orton behind our line– that guy never cracks under pressure, he’s not worried about being destroyed– he’s just worried about winning football games.  Cutler’s definitely worried about being destroyed, and this season with a Mike Martz flavored shit-fest of offensive play calling he’s going to be.  The best thing Bears fans can hope for is that Cutler gets a season-but-not-career-ending injury in Game One of this year, that in the offseason every member of the coaching staff is fired (as they should have been for the last three years), that we trade the remnants of our used to be good defense for extra draft picks, sign one good veteran for the o-line and use 3-6 draft picks to infuse youth along the rest of the line and get to a chance for Cutler to suceed– because lets face it, he won’t this year.  And I fear that if he plays to a losing record like we’re headed for he may be out along with Lovie Smith and then we would have wasted 3 years of drafts for nothing– I’ve said all along Cutler has to survive in the Bears Organization long enough for a turn over of coaching/gm staff to someone with at least a quarter of a working brain who will think to fix the O-line which has been an issue since FOREVER or else it was the dumbest move of all time.  Still applies.  Bears had a chance to fire Lovie last year and didn’t.  Bears fans– take note– THE OWNER’S HAVE TOLD YOU THAT THEY DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT WINNING OR THE TEAM, OR THE CITY AND THAT THIS IS 100% ABOUT THEM POCKETING MONEY.  BOYCOTT THE CHICAGO BEARS– SEND THE NFL A MESSAGE THAT WE DON’T WANT OWNERS WHO DON’T WANT TO TRY TO WIN IN THIS SPORT AND THAT YOU WON’T HELP A LOSING TEAM WITH OBVIOUS DEFICIENCIES THAT HAVE BEEN LEFT UNADDRESSED FOR WHAT IS NEARING FOUR YEARS MAKE MONEY. /End Rant

4. Kyle Orton: I will never cease to be an Orton fan.  This guy is great.  He won most of the football games the Bears have won over the last four years despite only being “the starter” for one full season.  He just wins.  He doesn’t have a “big arm”.  He doesn’t have the look.  Hell, he looks like an undersized offensive line-man with a hockey playoff beard, but this guy is good.  I only wish that he’d end up somewhere that could appreciate him and not waste draft picks on bad-tight ends (I mean you Tim Tebow, because you are not a quarterback in the NFL) and just put him in with some winning guys.  Wouldn’t the Broncos picks have been better off getting, I don’t know, a play-making reciever like Dez Bryant than Tim Tebow?  (I mean, I guess that Bryant himself went one before Tebow did, but for god’s sake Denver– you could have singed this guy the day after he went undrafted, you didn’t need to trade-up and throw away a first round pick on him!) 

5. NBA Super-star Trades: New Orleans started in the right direction trading for Trevor Ariza.  I like that guy, he’s gutty.  I like gutty NBA players.  Also, they got rid of Collison which was a move in the right direction (letting Chris Paul know he’s the guy and they don’t have a back-up plan and that they are using every ounce of resources to try to win with him).  That said– Paul’s comment swere disingenuous and gilted sounding.  Sorry, not buying it.   If you wanted to be the face of the Hornets for years to come you’d do like the only apparently stand-up superstar left in this league (sorry, one of the only– Boston players you all have my respect) in Kevin Durant and say so.  And sign the deal to back it up.  And not ask for a trade, or make it look like you might and cause drama.  And then there’s Carmelo.  For god’s sake man, don’t take your rep back to the gutter!  You just rehabbed it when you spear headed the redeem team a few years ago and now you’re going to demand out of Denver!  And why? !>!>!>!>  You were in the conference finals just two years ago and lost only to LA– a team that hasn’t gotten any better since then!  Kobe’s two years older, and they haven’t made any other “amazing” moves!  Artest isn’t better than Ariza, Phil Jackson’s on his way out, the Spurs and Jazz and Rocket’s are all on the way down (maybe not the rockets, but their seasons all hinge on the health of a certain 7 foot 6 center with notoriously bad health cough Yao Ming cough)!  Going into next year you have basically twi serious competitors in the West– the Lakers and the Thunder, why-oh-why would you want to move to the Eastern conference in New York where at BEST assuming you could get Tony Parker or even Chris Paul you’re still not going to be as good as 1. the Heat, 2. the Celtics, 3. the Bulls?  You’d be on the same level as the Hawks and the Magic– which is exaclty where you were this year only in the other conference.  You’ve got Chauncey Billups with you!  You just upgraded Kenyon Martin to Al Harrington!   You are legitimately the number two team in the West right now!  Oh for god’s sake!  Next year your coach won’t have cancer during the play-offs and all you have to do is survive one series in the Western Conference finals against the Lakers and then you’ll be facing the Eastern Conference Champ, but you want to throw it away to come out a 4 seed in the East were you could have to face a play-off run where your match-up are: Round 1 Atlanta Hawks (4/5 match-up), round 2: Miami Heat (1/4 match-up), Eastern Conference Finals: Celtics or Bulls (the two or three seed), and then in the NBA Finals you’ll run into either A. The Lakers looking for a 3-peat, or 2. Kevin Durant and the Thunder (do you really want to go into THAT place in the Finals?)  Wouldn’t it be easier to be a two seed in the West, beat up Portland and Dallas en route to the Lakers in the Western Finals and then the Heat with their lack of fan-base/ no real home field advantage because Miami could give a shit about sports home court?  Sigh.  My respect for Carmelo has ebbed and waned over the years, and its on the way down now.

Then there’s the rest of the players on the team.  Who would you rather have– Ron Harper, Toni Kukoc and Steve Kerr– or Mario Chalmers, Udonis Hasleem and Carlos Arroyo?  Lets face it– the Heat have 3 players.  That’s it.  Everyone else on the roster are virtual non-issues.  And those three players aren’t nearly as good as the Bulls big three were.

Then there’s the competition– remember that the Bulls LAPPED everyone else that year.  This was post-Bird, post-Magic, post-Bad Boys Pistons,  pre-anyone else who really mattered.  Who did they have to face in the East?  Shaq’s Magic, Reggie Miller’s Pacers, and Patrick Ewing’s Knicks– not exactly today’s Big Three in Boston, the new-look Bulls and the Dwight Howard Magic (though the Dwight Howard Magic and the Shaq Magic were pretty similar in their overall potential– good enough to get to the finals in a down year, not good enough to win).

All in All– no freaking way.  The Heat won’t beat that record.  I don’t think they’ll win the championship.  I don’t think they’ll have the best record in the NBA, or even in the East.  I don’t think they will make it to the finals, and depending on how things shake out– they may not even make it to the Eastern Conference Finals.

So what have the Celtics done so far?  Shore up the center position with Shaq and Jermaine O’neal, re-sign Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, let Tony Allen and the little used Brian Scalebrine go– and add some untested players in Avery Bradley, Semih Erden and Tony Gaffney (added in April). . . but the bench is really thin at this point– past Nate Robinson, Glen Davis and whichever of the centers are on the bench, they’ll need an additional signing, or someone who hasn’t before to step up– not outside the realm of possibility, look at the solid play of Tony Allen in this year’s playoffs– showing skill and grit he’d not shown in the past.  But who could?  One of the fresh faces mentioned above, though it’s difficult to project their talents, or Marquis Daniels who showed himself to be pretty uninspiring this last year.  Maybe some more focused/ better play from Robinson and Davis could propel the team the last win it needs to be on the top of the NBA world again.

I wouldn’t have done it that way had I been in charge.  I understand that the Celtic’s are gearing up for runs in 2011 and 2012 with this roster, then major overhauls– with Rondo, Perkins and Davis bridging the gap to the new team (Rondo and Perkins at least– Davis might be worth more as a tradeable asset.)
I’ve already mentioned the Paul Pierce/Rajon Rondo problem– and I can only hope for the Celtic’s sake that they spoke with Pierce and solved the problem before they chose to bring him back.  By solve the problem I mean “tell Paul Pierce in no  uncertain terms that this is Rondo’s team and that when Rondo’s on the court, he’s the ball handler and the go to guy, and that Pierce needs to show off his catch-and-shoot/ off the ball skills and play WITH Rondo not off/against him for the good of the team.”  Pierce can satill work as a back-up ball handler– when Rondo’s off the court and Pierce is teaming with the second unit, but by and large the Celtics need to run the offense through Rondo to win big.  (Games where Pierce lead the Celtics they tended to lose, games where Rondo was in the leasd, they tended to win in the play-offs).

I personally would have let Pierce go.  “Alpha Dog” issues are bad issues to have.  They could have replaced Pierce in some form of sign and trade sending him to Toronto for instance– where Pierce could be a newly minted alpha dog on that team, and the lead ball handler, while the Celtics could have gotten Hedo Turkolu out of his own Canadien hell– playing Turkolu at the 3 with Garnett and Perkins at the 4/5 would give them a solid line-up with all the pieces meant to be complementary to Rondo.  Just one possibility that didn’t turn out to be meant to be– but it would’ve been an interesting line-up switch regardless.

But on the Other Hand:
They NEED to do SOMETHING.  Speculation is that Antawn Jamieson (now their best player) won’t even start.  JJ Hickson showed some promise, but this would mean total rebuilding.  Pieces they have that are toxic/useless in that process: Jamison, Delante West, Mo Williams, Jamario Moon– all of whom are basically unmoveable because they are being paid too much/ have proven not to be assets to a team on the hunt for playoff wins.
What they have that’s worth keeping: Hickson, Daniel Gibson (he remade himself into a 47% 3 baller last year), and Anderson Verajao (great energy player– could fall into a role like Joakim Noah on the Bulls and continue to flourish).  Anthony Parker I consider an asset, but at his age he’s more of a bridge player to what the Cleveland team will look like in a few year.

My guess of what’s happening next: Tankapalooza.  No playoff run for this roster.  No way to flip the bad contracts of Williams, West, Jamison. . . only way to get better is to let those deals expire, and get a top 4 draft pick the next couple of seasons.  Hey– long term they could be golden– whose to say that the “next” Lebron won’t be in next years draft?  The Cavs with this roster will certainly be in the running for the number one overall draft choice for whoever that player might be.

But what if they could move a contract or two?  Say. . . Mo williams 9 mil and antawn Jamieson’s 13 mil?  Well, that would give them the cap space to pick up a true free agent– the kind of guy that when paired with JJ Hickson, et al could actually hope to compete.  It’s possible that teams who are good, but lack the firepower of Miami/Chicago/Boston/LA would be willing to trade some lesser assets and take on the contracts. . . say maybe Denver.  Denver could ship Kenyon Martin and/ or J.R. Smith (both of whom will have expiring contracts) to take Mo WIlliams and/or Antawn Jamieson– granted it’s not a big upgrade at the four spot back-up for Denver, but I do consider it an upgrade.
Meanwhile in this scenario Cleveland would get back expiring contracts and a plyer like Brian Butch (whose buried at 3rd on the depth chart behind the very popular Chris Anderson and Nene Hilario.)  This roster move would make Denver’s situation next year easier (They are set to have SIX unrestricted free agents next year– with Jamieson on board they don’t have to worry about Kenyon Martin, they could focus on the most important thing– retaining Carmelo Anthony).
Now Cleveland has one year with a terrible roster to tank, a lot of cap-space going into next year’s free agent market, and the “number 1 overall pick”, plus a prospect in Brian Butch, and retain JJ Hickson.  The year after the team could look like this– “Really Good Rookie Guard X” (probably whoever is starting for John Calipari’s Kentucky– inevitably a one and done point guard, right?), Delante West (or a re-signed at a lower number J.R. Smith?), a free agent small forward– say Shane Battier signed to add some veteran prescence and defense?, JJ Hickson, and Brian Butch– with Varejao on the bench.  Hell, in this scenario the Cavs could even offer Shaq a two year deal at the mid-level exception and still come in close to the salary cap– and depending on the talent of a few prospects be ready to compete after a one year turn-around.

OK!  That was complex.  Tons of movement, noen of which is going to happen.  But hey, it’d be a good roster– right?

The Bobcats also picked up Peoria’s own Shaun Livingston– who averaged a respectable 7 points in 22 minutes for the Wizards in a half season last year, and if his knee is truely recovered could make an impact, and at 24 could still develop further if he can be healthy.  Dominic McGuire is a pretty unappetizing piece and also has to fall into the “prospect” category– at 24 and only 3 years in its possible he could grow into more than a 6 minute bench/garbage time player he’s been at the Kings.  (Of course– MJ’s record with prospects has never been good, see “Kwame Brown”).  (Then again, Larry Brown has had better luck).

The Path Forward:
The heart of this Bobcats team which “Clawed” its way into the playoffs last year (ZING!) is Stephan Jackson and Gerald Wallace– two guys who have had some character questions in the past, but who seem to have come together to bring the Charlotte team some respectibility.  Other assets include a workable DJ Augustin at point, tag-team underachievers Tyrus Thomas and Boris Diaw at power forward, and Dampier at center (he’s said he’d give Charlotte first chance to re-sign him when they waive him– presumably for less money, but a chance to keep playing).  The rest is honestly spare parts– and not spare parts as in movable assets, but spare parts as in no one whose ever averaged more than a handful of points, and excepting a 2nd year guard in Gerald Henderson no one whose likely to.
So, the Cats seem to have two options–
1. Go into this season as is, with the best likely outcome to be a 6-8th seed and first round playoff exit,
2. Try to make a move.
I always vote for trying to make a move.  The 2, 3 and 4 spots are set– and Dampier is solid as the 5 with Nazr Mohommed backing him up they can basically be counted on the be decent if unspectacular.  That means that the point is the obvious position to try to upgrade (or at least get a solid back-up).  They could use some depth at the 2 and 3, though they aren’t desperate for it as they can basically just switch off between resting Wallace and resting Jackson and could push Diaw or Thomas down to 3 and play those two together to rest the two stars.  (As of now, Augustin is LITERALLY) the only point on the roster.
Some possibilities: There’s an elephant in the room, so let me get it out.  Two simple letters: AI.  Larry Brown coached Iverson for his most productive years, and if he could get through to the troubled player know and lead him into a productive less ball-hogging place it would be the ideal situation for both Iverson and the Bobcats.  Iverson could be a token starter, still accepting 20-25 minutes or could come off the bench for Augustin and anchor a second unit with Tyrus Thomas where the scoring would be erratic, but all individually created– a dangerous possibility.  It could rehab Iverson’s image, and give the Bobcats some serious fire-power down the stretch.  If Brown and Iverson can be made to agree and come to terms it seems like the perfect situation.

If that can’t happen the PG I’d target would be Rafer Alston– he’s shown a possibility of being great (see the pre-finals playoffs in 2009), and is availiable for what should be a fairly limited cash investment.
It seems however, like the Bobcats are more likely to fill out the roster with other young, untested players and head into another year of business as usual, but we can always cross our fingers for the Iverson deal– if nothing else, it’d be interesting.

The Path Forward:
The Bulls are one team that can look at their roster now and say that they are in good shape, and consider themselves improved.  Consider their starting line-up: All Star and Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose at Point Guard, Kyle Korver at the two (lead the league in 3 point percentage), Lual Deng (formerly the teams leading scorer, averages 16 a night) a tht three, Boozer (19 a night on a very good Jazz team, and an all-star) at power forward, then Jaokim Noah (averages a double double).  It’s a solid line-up– three scorers (Rose, Deng, Boozer), two monster rebounders (Noah, Boozer– both in the top 10 for per game and per 40 minutes boards), plus a high percentage shooter to make opposing teams pay for cheating to guard any of the above in Korver.

The Shooting guard position is obvious the weakest on the team– but with Korver and Brewer plus C.J. Watson they seem set to use a secondary guard by committee plan.  Also keep in mind that both Korver and Brewer have been primarily back-ups previously, and either could grow into the role of starter.  Also keep in mind that they won’t be asking too much of the starting two guard– just to hit the open looks they get.
Chicago looks primed for depth as well– with Taj Gibson a promising rookie from last year moving to the bench they gain a different look energy anchor for the second unit along with (presumably Brewer and Watson), Asik is listed at 7 foot, so he’ll theoretically provide a defensive presence backing up Noah whose only downside has always been his size.  The only position without a capable back-up is Small Forward, though when Deng needs to leave the game the Bulls could easily play Boozer or Gibson at the three, shifting Noah to the four and playing him alongside Asik (a “two towers” look akin to when Orlando plays Dwight Howard and Marcin Gortat together).

With all that done– what’s left?  The only thing I would have done differently would have been pushing to sign an accomplished pass and shoot shooting guard (which they did– though I would have inquired after Ray Allen or someone of his caliber).  Of course, JJ Reddick would have been ideal if Orlando hadn’t matched– also would have been a younger solution.
At this point the Bulls could add up to 5 more players, though only about 2 of them could see any kind of real minutes– I’d suggest getting another forward with one of those slots, but with the list of remaining players it’s unlikely to be anyone of much impact.
Even so, I think the Bulls are set for a monster year.

What next for the Bucks
The Bucks are set at guard with Salmons and Brandon Jennings, plus Michael Redd out with an injury set to return, though the Bucks are most likely to trade him since he’ll be an unrestricted free agent next season, it seems like they can’t till he clears medical, which he hopefully can do before the trade deadline.  Assuming Bogut returns healthy they are reasonably set at Center as well with him and back-up Kurt Thomas.  Where they are relatively thin is forward– with both starting spots up in the air as of now.
One relatively cheap option would be Matt barnes who it doesn’t look like the Magic are looking to sign, though Barnes has been mentioned a lot of different places.  They could pair Barnes with Richard Jefferson who doesn’t look set to return the Spurs, or with some lesser money free agents like Louis Amundson (Suns), or wait for it. . . . Brian Scalebrine (Celtics).
Scalebrine never gave the Celtics very much– but he has a shot (fluctuating between mid-30% to mid 40% throughout his career), he’s 6’9″, plays relatively hard and can be had for cheap (read near-minimum). . . is it a perfect fit?  Maybe not, but he’s a better player than he gets credit for at times, mostly because he’s been buried on very good Celtics teams behind Kevin Garnett, Glen Davis and Rasheed Wallace.  I’ve watched Scalebrine play (minutes in low-risk regular season games mind you), but he’s probably worth the minimum.  Hell, his red-fro is worth at least the minimum.