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No. 2: Chicago Bulls
Last Season: 50-32
3rd place in East; Lost 4-2 to Cleveland in Round 2
Just two NBA franchises own more championship banners than Chicago's six titles. But unlike the Celtics and Lakers in front of them, the Bulls' success can be traced entirely to one period of time dominated by one player: the 1990s and Michael Jordan. The rest of Chicago's NBA history has been marked by near misses -- very good teams blocked by great opponents. It's a pattern the current Bulls might replicate.
Before Jordan, the only contending Bulls teams were the rugged Dick Motta-led squads of the 1970s, but the path in the Western Conference back then was blocked by the likes of Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Rick Barry. After Jordan, the Bulls didn't contend again until Tom Thibodeau arrived in 2010. For all his success, especially on the defensive end, Thibs' teams were ultimately undermined by injuries and blocked in the East by LeBron James.
Now, in a last-ditch effort to get past James with the current core roster, Bulls decision-makers Gar Forman and John Paxson have replaced Thibodeau with the offensive-minded and ever-affable college coach Fred Hoiberg. Hoiberg inherits a team that returns a league-high 98.8 percent of its minutes from last season, so in a very real way the onus is on him to get Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler & Co. over the top. Will the shift in philosophy pay off in a 1990s-style breakthrough, or will the window slam shut for this version of the Bulls, leaving them beside their 1970s brethren in the halls of what-could-have-been?