Top draft pick Ben Gordon became the first rookie to win the Sixth Man of The Year Award, as he and Luol Deng were both selected to the All-Rookie First Team.
This was the Bulls' first winning season and first playoff run since 1998, during the Michael Jordan era, when they won their sixth and most recent NBA championship.
These acquisitions reflected John Paxson's strategy of building around players who had already been on successful teams, a departure from what Jerry Krause had done as General Manager, drafting Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler in the same season, players who both showed tremendous potential, but were both coming to the NBA directly from high school.
However, Mutombo was traded again to the Houston Rockets for Eric Piatkowski and Adrian Griffin without ever playing in a game for the Bulls and Trybanksi was waived by the team in October.
Most notably, Eddy Curry was injured in late March, and the Bulls signed veteran Lawrence Funderburke just days before the beginning of the postseason in an attempt to add more depth to their front-court.