Bold 2011-12 Preseason Prediction: Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls Will Win the NBA Championship

LOS ANGELES, CA. On the eve of the belated season opener following the lockout, the excitement is back in the Windy City when it comes to NBA basketball. As diehard Chicago Bulls fans spend time with their families on this Christmas eve, it is the feast to come on Christmas Day that we are all looking forward to.

Among a slate of 5 featured Christmas Day games, the Bulls will start their 2011-12 campaign on the road against the Los Angeles Lakers. Despite the headline Kobe vs. DRose match-up, for the Bulls and Bulls' fans, it is a long-awaited opportunity at redemption; redemption for the disappointing way that last season ended in the Eastern Conference Finals at the hands of the Miami Heat.

After a layoff that will ultimately claim 16 regular season games, Derrick Rose, the reigning Most Valuable Player, and his teammates have been chomping at the bit to get this season started. After posting an NBA-best 62-20 record last season, the young, deep core of this Chicago Bulls team grew up together and were forged by the challenges of last year's deep playoff run. And it is my prediction that DRose and the Chicago Bulls will break through and reach the promised land. THE CHICAGO BULLS WILL WIN THE 2011-12 NBA CHAMPIONSHIP.

The Bulls look to avenge last season's loss in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Miami Heat. 

Here are 5 big reasons why the Chicago Bulls will win the 2011-12 NBA Championship:

#5. Shortened NBA Season.

Ronnie Brewer and the Bench Mob will play valuable minutes in this shortened season to spell the Bulls' starters.

Following the lockout, the NBA season was not only shortened, but it was also crammed into a narrow window of time. Teams will play more back-to-backs, as well as, back-to-back-to-backs, and this truncated schedule will favor younger, deeper teams. This describes the Chicago Bulls to a T. The Bulls are deep enough at all positions to get quality minutes from the "Bench Mob" that the team will fare much better through the shortened regular season. This will also serve to keep the starters fresher for the Bulls' post-season run.

#4. Team Health
Last season, the Bulls played the first two months without their new acquisition, All-Star power forward, Carlos Boozer. Then soon after Boozer returned from his injury, Joakim Noah went out with a foot injury that let him compete in only 48 games in the 2010-11 season.

With championship aspirations and an elongated summer, Boozer and Noah will start side-by-side for the Bulls from tip-off in the Bulls' season opener. Noah is coming off an NBA All-Defensive Second Team selection. Boozer came into this season focused and prepared, as well as, lighter and quicker; he appears prepared to redeem himself for his ineffective play in last season's playoffs.

The Bulls' other major injury loss last season also affected their frontline. Omer Asik, the Bulls' back-up center, fractured his fibula in the Eastern Conference Finals series against the Miami Heat. The formidable Bulls' frontline strength was thinned some by the loss and limitation of Boozer, Noah, and Asik, however with these three back, the Bulls bring back a frontline that dominated opponents on the boards night after night.

#3. Continuity of players playing in Coach Thibodeau's system.
It is easy to forget that NBA Coach of the Year, Tom Thibodeau, was a first year head coach last season, and coming off of an NBA-best 62-win season, the young core of the Chicago Bulls will implement Thibodeau's system for a second season looking to repeat the perfection they had relentlessly pursued a season ago. With the drive and desire of this team and its leaders, it would be foolish to bet against them.

#2. Rip Hamilton is the Perfect Addition to the Chicago Bulls.

The off-season acquisition of Rip Hamilton fills Chicago's greatest need and may be the move that gets the Bulls to the NBA Championship this year.

The biggest news in Chi-town after the announcement that the NBA Lockout had ended, was the announcement that Rip Hamilton was making his way to the Bulls. The Detroit Pistons exercised their buy out of Hamilton's contract, and the Chicago Bulls signed Rip immediately to a 2 year, $10M free agent deal.

The Bulls had tried to put together a deal to acquire Rip Hamilton from the Pistons at the trade deadline last year, but Detroit refused. This year, the Bulls have the ideal scoring guard they have been looking for to run with Derrick Rose. Rip's size, spot up shooting accuracy, and career 17.7 points per game address the major lack the Bulls need to be a championship dynasty. Now they have their shooting guard.

And #1. DRose, the reigning MVP, is still playing with a chip on his shoulder.
After leading his Chicago Bulls team to a league-best 62 wins and
dominating the elite point guards in the NBA, Derrick Rose humbly accepted the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award as the youngest player to ever receive the honor. All the while, he powered the Bulls to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 1998.

Derrick Rose is the reigning MVP, but this season, it is all about the NBA Championship.

Despite all that, Rose, as the winner he is, has focused all summer not on the MVP trophy he claimed, but he has spent all summer training during his downtime thinking about the Bulls' series loss to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. He shoulders the responsibility for the Bulls' painfully narrow losses, and it has motivated him to improve his game. And so he has: the three point shot he had cultivated is now refined, he has worked on his conditioning, and he has recommited to being the leader that his Bulls need him to be.

And as a true leader, Rose's teammates have followed his example. Even new addition, Rip Hamilton, has joined the team with an attitude of putting in the practice time and putting the team first in his and the entire team's commitment to the Bulls' sole mission this season: an NBA Championship. With DRose leading the way, can anyone in BullsNation doubt the outcome of this season?