2013 Chicago Bulls schedule: Derrick Rose’s return makes early games paramount

The Chicago Bulls' 2013 narrative will center largely around former MVP Derrick Rose's return from his knee injury. The Bulls made it to the Eastern Conference semifinals last year without Rose, but essentially the same team had the best record in the Eastern Conference two years in a row with Rose in the lineup.

Rose will have to mesh with a few new teammates, including Mike Dunleavy, and get comfortable on his surgically repaired ACL. Joakim Noah had a breakout season last year, but one of the best two-way big men in the league should have no problem meshing with his old running mate again.

Oct. 29 at Miami -- The league-wide opener is always a must-watch regardless of the teams playing, but watching LeBron James and the Miami Heat get their rings and the banner in the rafters makes Derrick Rose's first regular season action that much more tantalizing. All eyes will be on Rose's knee, and sports talk radio will be pretty much insufferable no matter the result, unless the game's an instant classic.

Jan. 24 vs. Clippers -- Chris Paul and the Clippers make their only trip to the United center of the season, and if Rose comes back 100 percent from injury, it will be a matchup of the two best point guards in the league.

March 21 and 24 vs. Indiana -- The Central Division appears to be a two-horse race, and the Bulls and Pacers play twice in four days in the home stretch of the season. Health permitting, these games will have massive implications for playoff positioning. The teams match up extraordinarily well -- they're both hard-nosed defensive squads anchored by stud centers in Noah and Roy Hibbert -- and the games will have playoff-level intensity.

March 2 to March 17 is one of the most difficult stretches for the Bulls. Sure, seven of the nine games are at home but seven teams of the nine teams during the stretch -- New York, Brooklyn, Memphis, Miami, San Antonio, Houston and Oklahoma City -- are playoff teams from last year. They also travel to Detroit during that stretch to play the upstart Pistons who, after signing Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings in the offseason, look like another playoff team.