2008–09 Chicago Bulls season

The 2008–09 Chicago Bulls season is the 43rd season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Key dates

• June 26: The 2008 NBA draft took place in New York City.
• July 1: The free agency period started.

Offseason

The Bulls re-signed Luol Deng to a 6-year $71 million contract on July 30, 2008. Ben Gordon signed a 1-year contract on October 2, 2008.

NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	School/Club team
1	1	Derrick Rose	G	United States	Memphis
2	39	Sonny Weems	G	United States	Arkansas

Roster

Chicago Bulls roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From 4.0 !F 9 UK ! Deng, Luol 7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Duke 1.5 !G 7 UK ! Gordon, Ben 7000190500000000000♠6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Connecticut 6.0 !C 34 USA ! Gray, Aaron 7000213360000000000♠7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 270 lb (122 kg) Pittsburgh 1.5 !G 12 USA ! Hinrich, Kirk 7000190500000000000♠6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Kansas 1.5 !G 11 USA ! Hunter, Lindsey 7000187960000000000♠6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Jackson State 6.0 !C 31 USA ! James, Jerome 7000215899999999999♠7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 285 lb (129 kg) Florida A&M 4.0 !F 54 USA ! Johnson, Linton 7000203200000000000♠6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Tulane 5.5 !F/C 52 USA ! Miller, Brad 7000210820000000000♠6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 244 lb (111 kg) Purdue 1.5 !G 21 USA ! Nelson, DeMarcus 7000193040000000000♠6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Duke 6.0 !C 13 FRA ! Noah, Joakim 7000210820000000000♠6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 232 lb (105 kg) Florida 1.5 !G 5 USA ! Roberson, Anthony 7000187960000000000♠6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Florida 1.5 !G 1 USA ! Rose, Derrick 7000190500000000000♠6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Memphis 2.5 !G/F 15 USA ! Salmons, John 7000200659999999999♠6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Miami (FL) 4.0 !F 2 USA ! Thomas, Tim 7000208279999999999♠6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Villanova 5.5 !F/C 24 USA ! Thomas, Tyrus 7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) LSU	Head coach Vinny Del Negro (North Carolina State) Assistant coach(es) Bernie Bickerstaff (San Diego) Del Harris (Milligan) Pete Myers (Arkansas–Little Rock) Bob Ociepka (Quincy) Dave Severns (Chico State) Mike Wilhelm (Southampton) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster • Transactions

Roster notes

• Luol Deng also holds Sudanese citizenship, but he plays for the British national team.
• Ben Gordon also holds American citizenship, but he plays for the British national team.
• Joakim Noah also holds American and Swedish citizenship, but he plays for the French national team.

Depth chart

Regular season

The 2008–09 team visits President of the United States Barack Obama at the White House on February 26, 2009.

The Bulls were having a meager year floating under .500 and on February 18, 2009 they made their first of several trades sending Andrés Nocioni, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons, Michael Ruffin to the Sacramento Kings for Brad Miller and John Salmons.^[1] Then on February 19, 2009, the NBA trade deadline, the Bulls traded Larry Hughes to the New York Knicks for Tim Thomas, Jerome James, and Anthony Roberson.^[2] Later that day the Bulls made the third trade in a span of less than 24 hours sending swingman Thabo Sefolosha to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a 2009 first round pick.^[3]

The trades brought a late-season push for the Bulls, which finally clinched a playoff berth on April 10, 2009, their fourth in the last five years. Then on April 13, 2009 they clinched the 7th place in the east by beating the Detroit Pistons and remained .5 game ahead of Philadelphia 76ers for the 6th spot with one game remaining. The Bulls though lost their last game to Toronto and the 76ers beat Cleveland, who did not play most of its best players. The Bulls finished 7th even though they tied Philadelphia at 41-41. The Bulls got matched up with a Garnett-less Boston in the first round of the playoffs.

Season standings

Game log

Playoffs

The Bulls-Celtics series became the first playoff series in NBA history to have 4 games go into overtime.^[4]

Player statistics

Season

*Statistics with the Chicago Bulls

Playoffs

Awards and records

Awards

• Derrick Rose = Rookie of the Year
• Derrick Rose won the All-Star Weekend Skills Challenge
• Derrick Rose was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team

Records

• 4—Overtime games played in this series
• 7—Overtime periods played in this series, more than any other NBA team has played in an entire postseason.

Transactions

Draft picks

The Bulls beat the odds and won the NBA Draft Lottery on May 20, 2008. The Bulls vaulted from the ninth spot to win the NBA Draft Lottery in Secaucus, NJ, and obtain the first pick in the June 26 NBA Draft.^[6] Chicago had a 1.7 percent chance of winning and were represented by Executive Vice President, Business Operations Steve Schanwald. The Heat had the best odds of securing the top selection and will pick second followed by the Timberwolves and Sonics.

Trades

Date Acquired From For June 26, 2009 Ömer Aşık Portland Trail Blazers Sonny Weems[7] February 18, 2009 Brad Miller and John Salmons Sacramento Kings Drew Gooden, Andrés Nocioni, Michael Ruffin and Cedric Simmons[8] February 19, 2009 Jerome James, Anthony Roberson and Tim Thomas New York Knicks Larry Hughes[2] February 19, 2009 2009 First Round Draft Pick Oklahoma City Thunder Thabo Sefolosha[3] Free agents Additions Player Signed Former team Michael Ruffin October 27, 2008 Washington Wizards Lindsey Hunter November 13, 2008 Detroit Pistons Linton Johnson March 11, 2009 Charlotte Bobcats DeMarcus Nelson April 9, 2009 Golden State Warriors Subtractions Player Left New team JamesOn Curry [9] July 31, 2009 None Shannon Brown [10] August 6, 2009 Charlotte Bobcats Demetris Nichols [11] November 17, 2009 New York Knicks References ↑ "KINGS ACQUIRE FOUR PLAYERS IN THREE-TEAM TRADE". NBA.com. 2009-02-18. Archived from the original on 22 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-19.  1 2 "Sources: Knicks trade for Bulls' Hughes". Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 19 February 2009.  1 2 "Report: Bulls trade Sefolosha for draft pick". Archived from the original on 22 February 2009.  ↑ "Pierce's OT push leads Celtics to 3-2 series lead over Bulls". April 29, 2009. Archived from the original on 30 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-29.  ↑ "Roster and Statistics". Basketball-Reference.  ↑ NBA.com NBA Draft Lottery 2008 ↑ "Nuggets Acquire Draft Rights to Weems". NBA.com. 2009-02-18. Archived from the original on 4 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-19.  ↑ "KINGS ACQUIRE FOUR PLAYERS IN THREE-TEAM TRADE". NBA.com. 2008-06-26. Retrieved 2009-05-04.  ↑ "Bulls waive JamesOn Curry". NBA.com. July 31, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-08-05. Retrieved 2008-08-01.  ↑ http://scoreboards.canoe.ca/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=canoe&page=nba/news/newstest.aspx?id=4169783 ↑ Bulls waive forward Demetris Nichols External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2008–09 Chicago Bulls season. 2008–09 NBA season by team 2008 NBA draft All-Star Game Playoffs Finals Transactions Eastern Atlantic Boston New Jersey New York Philadelphia Toronto Central Chicago Cleveland Detroit Indiana Milwaukee Southeast Atlanta Charlotte Miami Orlando Washington Western Northwest Denver Minnesota Oklahoma City Portland Utah Pacific Golden State L.A. Clippers L.A. Lakers Phoenix Sacramento Southwest Dallas Houston Memphis New Orleans San Antonio Chicago Bulls seasons Franchise History Seasons 1960s 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1970s 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1980s 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1990s 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 2000s 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2010s 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 Bold indicates NBA Finals victory