Without Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls must find way to score

The Chicago Bulls didn't pick up a win on Saturday, but they are still 2-1 on a young season. They failed to make it to 3-0, but that statement in and of itself isn't the troubling aspect of the 89-82 loss to New Orleans. The disturbing part is the fact that the Bulls looked totally lost on offense the entire game, and showed absolutely no indication that they might be able to come back and win it with the players they had out there.

As noted by ESPN Chicago, it's due to the absence of star Derrick Rose. Now, the Bulls have been out-gunned with Rose in the lineup before, but Saturday's game was exactly the kind of game that Rose would bring back from the brink to win it for the Bulls. He's out for a good portion of the season, and the Bulls are expected to win games without him.

Playing like they did on Saturday, that won't happen. The Bulls need their stars to come out and make things happen. As noted in the piece, Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer, Rip Hamilton and Joakim Noah combined to go just 14-of-53 from the floor. That absolutely cannot happen if the Bulls expect to win games going forward.