That's a tough scouting assignement. I wathed every Bull game this year when Kings are not playing or while waiting for the Kings (home) games.
The thing is that nobody can really tell with a very high degree of certainty how good the Bulls are. Scott Skiles has gotten them to play disciplined, especially on defence and they will hustle and hustle until the horn blows.
Starters (prbable, with Davis still out):
PG Chris Duhon. Skiles and Paxson guy. Comes from good program, coachable and therefore he quickly became starting PG while Heinrich moved to OG. Plays good defense and generally stays in Skiles' good books by not doing anything stupid. He had no offence until recently, when he started finding his range from 3pt land. Will take an open three if given chance but generally does not take too many shots.
OG Kirk Heinrich. Terrible shooting percentage jumps out immediatly. Do not let that confuse you. He is a key offensive weapon for the Bulls and will make plays for others and shoot through dry spells until he gets it going. Big fourth quarter performer as of late. A key guy in the whole Bulls revival with all hustle all the time approach to his defense.
SF Luol Deng. Future perenial all star. Mark my words. Was trusted into spotlight by Skiles just because everybody else s**cked at the start of the season and made enough contribution to become a regular starter. He is already good enough in every aspect of the game and had a break through 30 pts performance against the Mavs in Dallas. I probably like this guy too much to be objective about him. Lets' put it this way - I would love to see him on the Kings.
PF - Harrington? Probably. Just a place holder for Chandler who comes off the bench. Good hustle guy (well they all are) and can get hot from mid range. Will post up and score on week interior defence. Decent rebounder.
C - Eddie Curry. The word in Chicago is that he expected huge extension in the offseason, spent all his rookie money and when extension did not materialize decided to come out and play some ball.
He is next to unstoppable if given space in the paint to get the ball while facing the basket and take a step. He doesn't slam the ball emphatically as Shaq would, but he has offensive moves to go on the long scoring streaks. Bulls will often use him in the beginning of the games to soften up the middle and open the game for the rest of the team. Nobody knows yet if he can play with his back to the basket. The only guy on the whole squad who does not hustle hard and hence - 5-6 rpg's.
Bench:
Chander - defensive/blocking/rebounding monster. Started developing mid range jumper but does not use it often enough to make the difference. Improved FT shooter.
Ben Gordon - will kill teams for fun. Listed at 6'1'' or 6'2''. Yeah, right, maybe in his shoes and standing on the tips of his toes. He can get really hot offensively (good range, including 3pts) and can drive the ball to the basket - sometimes at will. Like Heinrich, he will go on the prolonged bricklaying excercises only to return in second half or 4th quarter and turn the game around with clutch shots. There is something of Bobby Jackson in him.
Coach Skiles is often painted as demanding disciplinarian who is always too grumpy to give his players any credit. The theory goes on to explain team's turnaround this year with all the fresh blood that came in (Deng, Duhon, Gordon) and all the bad veterans that were shipped out of Chitown, so Skiles had captive, inexperienced audience who had nothing better then to listen to him. I don't care what anyone says he clearly favours hard work and committment to diffence and insists on fundamentals. You'll see Bulls making some good plays on offense and if they keep moving the ball and use the clock they will be tough. That's another thing - despite very high number of TO's per game they are really growing into a good passing team and they don't really have primary scorer or offensive centerpiece that you can key in on.
Having said all that, I think that Kings will win this one with points to spare.
