Happy New Year Bulls fans! With 2012 behind us, the Bulls look to take January by storm. Chicago finished off the calendar year at 16-13 and 9-6 for the month. December was a bit of a roller-coaster for the Bulls as they were able to defeat some of the Eastern Conference’s top teams, but also choked against one of the very worst.

The Bulls were a team held to very few expectations entering the 2012-2013 season, but our Bulls are fighters and have proven many of their haters wrong. It hasn’t been an easy ride thus far as every win has been a collective team effort of heart, sweat and intensity.  Let’s take a look at the good and the bad of the final days of 2012.

The Good: The Bulls did some Eastern Conference damage in December. They beat the New York Knicks twice (once at home and once at Madison Square Garden), they locked up a home win and a road win against their playoff rival Philadelphia 76ers, and to top things off they also beat the Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics.

The Bulls reserves are proving that this new crew is just as powerful as the “bench mob”. Marco Belinelli came out of his shell producing some extra offensive power when Rip Hamilton was locked down due to a foot injury and Belinelli took his starting slot.

Nate Robinson has done his fair share and is an obvious spark-plug off the bench. His additional scoring power has kept the Bulls alive in many of their close games. Jimmy Butler plays less than 20 minutes a game, but makes every minute count.

Rookie point guard Marquis Teague has shown promise with his excellent court vision and decision-making. Teague has appeared in 16 games as Kirk Hinrich has suffered a string of injuries.

The Bad: Despite the positive wins, they also had some rough losses. Chicago rode the struggle bus Christmas Day getting blown out by the Houston Rockets 120-97. Don’t get me wrong, since the addition of James Harden the Rockets have been playing well, but it’s always embarrassing to lose by 20 plus points. Apparently Charlotte has Chicago’s number, because the 8-23 Bobcats defeated the Bulls 91-81, a 10 point deficit.

Overall Assessment: Finishing 9-6 on the month is definitely a positive for the Rose-less Bulls. The last few games of December were rather rough to watch as they got spanked by the Atlanta Hawks, trampled by Houston on Christmas Day, and defeated by the lowly Charlotte Bobcats.

If only Carlos Boozer and Kirk Hinrich could get their offensive mojo flowing consistently our Bulls could consider themselves a playoff contender. It’s still quite early in the season for any serious predictions, but the Bulls are in decent shape starting out 2013.

Check out the whole December report card at SportsDivasInc.com! Bulls December Report Card: B | SportsDivas Inc..