With the Bulls off to a 1-7 start it could be very easy to  jump off the bandwagon and into on comming traffic. Things may look bad, and like they can't get any worse (and trust me, they cant) but I ask you all to take a deep breath, switch to decaf and jump back on board because the Bulls season is about to shift back on track.

Comming into Phoenix and trying to win on the road is tough as it is. Comming into Phoenix and trying to win on the road with a 1-6 start seems almost impossible. And impossible it seemed for a quarter and a half. The Bulls came out of the gates in the game slow, listless and off target with Kirk Hinrich and Ben Wallace again leading the way in terms of who could drop the largest duce on the floor. The Bulls were down 15-6 in the first period, and things looked to be falling apart. At this point coach Skiles decided to start ruffling feathers, changing lineups with a frenetic frequency. I liked Skiles move here, he needed to see what he had, and what worked. What was better than doing it against the Suns (which lets be honest, is our least winnable game on this trip). Skiles lineup changes gave us a chance to see what we have, what works and what does not, and in the end I was able to walk away and confidently say that with a few minor adjustments, the Bulls can get things together, fast.

Bench Wallace: What the hell has happend to Ben Wallace. It is tough to watch a player go from being an All-Star to a complete abomination of an NBA player in the span of 3 year. Ben Wallace is playing the game with about as much energy as Steven Hawkins. This guy is 32 not 52, he needs to take his thumb out of his mouth, and the brick out of his ass and play some damn basketball! If not, Skiles needs to keep him off the floor. The Bulls team is worse when he plays. They play like him; slow, careless, and sloppy. Wallace did bring down 10 boards in only 23 minutes Thursday night (and most were on balls which seemed to come directly too him), but besides that he brought nothing else to the floor. Stoudamire scored on him at will. He repeatedly attempted to control offensive possessions and took it upon himself to create some of the most disgusting shots I have ever seen. Skiles is trying to give him a message benching him in the 4th quarter of 4 of the last 7 games, but Ben ain't getting it. I say this, start Wallace still for the next couple weeks and see if he responds. In each game the second you see no energy out of him, pull him and don't let him come back in for the evening. If this lackluster play continues into January plant his ass right next to the walking disaster himself Thabo Seffalosha at the end of the pine and simply accept that fact that your paying a guy to be a $15 million dollar paper weight. We cannot keep sacrificing the good of the team for a selfish hasbeen.

- Create Stability in your Rotation: The Bulls rotations have been about as stable as Brittney Spears parenting. I am bracing myself to see Joe Smith come in at the shooting guard with Duhon at the 4 Saturday against the Clippers. I respect the fact that Skiles is trying to find a lineup that works. Trust me our starting rotation has not been the answer, but come on! The point of the game tonight where the Bulls really feel apart was in the beginning of the fourth quarter when Skiles put Duhon at the Point, Gordon at the 2, Hinrich at the 3, Noch at the 4 and Deng AT CENTER! Come on, no team is going to take this lineup any more seriously than those Frank TV ad's that TNT subjects up too endlessly every game. I know that the Suns were playing small, but this lineup was almost mocking them, and the Bulls had their asses handed to them. This was an absolute joke! Tyrus had barely played all night (he logged 14 minutes total) and had brought energy all game! Joe Smith, though not shooting great was bringing down boards and playing with a consistent energy. Increase these guys minutes considerably! Our lineup needs to become somewhat stable. That lineup needs  to be this:

- Tyrus Thomas C - Brings you instant athleticism, speed and energy. Increases the tempo and efficiency of the Bulls offense . Thomas is the Bulls best defensive player, do not make any mistake about it. He rebounds and blocks shots like a beast, and is showing much more stability in knowing where to be on the floor. He forced Amare Stoudamire into 3 offensive fouls in 1:30 in the 4th.
- Andres Noccioni - PF - Provides spacing on the floor and an offensive spark. Scrappy enough to do a mediocre job defending smaller 4's. In games where the 4's are too much to handle swap out Joe Smith for some size.  Also Noch is one of only a few players on this team with the gonads to penetrate and draw contact.
- Loul Deng SF -  What are you going to do, play Thabo?
- Ben Gordon - SG - Listen I love Duhon, but lets be serious here.
- Kirk Hinrich - PG -  would not have said Kirk Hinrich prior to tonight, however in the second quarter tonight Hinrich decided to emerge from the life less corpse that he was, and began to play pretty well, getting 17 points on 8-16 shooting, and dishing 7 dimes. (Hinrich's disappearing act would of made David Copperfield proud. He was 3-22 over the last 3 games, and looked like he was sleep walking through most of that). Suddenly, in the second quarter it looked like we had a point guard again, who had seemingly gotten out of his funk.

Have Joe Smith or Noch be your 1st big off the bench depending on the matchup. Start giving Noah some minuets and see if he can pick up some of the defensive slack that is missing from Ben Wallace (Yea, Wallace is that bad, he needs a rookie to pick up slack). Give your back up back court duties to Thomas Gardner and Duhon. Du is always solid, and I was really impressed with Gardner's poise in his first NBA game. His stat line may look sparse, but he did not force any shots or make any mistakes in 5 minutes of play.

Increase the tempo of the offense: Until Tyrus develops a consistent post game, at the end of the day the Bulls are a jump shooting team. As such, they need to create quick shots on offense. When the Bulls run down the shot clock, they have a harder time generating shots and resort to a sloppy forced shot, or even worse, with the ball in Wallace's hands. Hinrich needs to do a better job of keeping this offense moving and trying to create quick offense at the start of possessions.

Had the Bulls had a bit more consistency last night they may have surprised the Suns. They were back to displaying the scrappy style of hard nose basketball that is their trademark. Their defense was pretty good (sans everyone who guarded Leandro Barbosa) limiting Steve Nash to 3-11 and making it tough for him to get his teammates involved. Point is, there were many positives to consider in this game. Though no one can be excited about a 1-7 start, this is still the east, and as long as we get things together quickly this season will be saved.

Go Bulls!