ESPN Insider's Chris Sheridan on how good the Bulls will be this season:

[W]e'll slot them for between 55 and 60 wins and put them in the hunt with Detroit and Miami (and maybe, just maybe, New Jersey) for the race to finish with the conference's best record.
. . . .
General manager John Paxson emphasized to me how much he believes the team has gotten longer and more athletic, not only with Wallace but with draft picks Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha and third-year forward Viktor Khryapa, saying to watch how different this team will be when it comes to getting steals. The Bulls were last in the league in that category a season ago.

And on a possible contract extension for Kirk Hinrich:

It sure doesn't sound like he'll be getting one, with Paxson offering the spin that it'll be six of one or a half-dozen of the other -- Hinrich can either get a five-year extension now or a six-year contract next summer if he becomes a restricted free agent. But the reason he's spinning it that way is because what the Bulls are offering and what agent Jeff Austin is asking for are worlds apart.

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