The Chicago Bulls seem to have found their footing with the preseason wrapping up and the regular season right around the corner.

A roster that has a nice mixture of returnees and new faces may prove to be a force to be reckoned with in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls open the regular season 7 p.m. Oct. 29 on the road against the New York Knicks on ESPN.

Tom Thibodeau

Now entering his fifth season at the helm of the Bulls, head coach Tom Thibodeau has helped bring a winning culture back to the Windy City. Thibodeau has yet to miss the playoffs as the head man of the Bulls’ bench and has a 60-win and a 50-win season under his belt.

The winning philosophy — defense, thanks to Thibodeau — has stayed the same despite Derrick Rose being in and out of the lineup the past few seasons. Thibodeau-coached Chicago teams haven’t finished worse than top three out of 30 NBA teams in opponent field goal percentage, including last year’s league-leading 91.8 points allowed per game.

Joakim Noah

A huge reason behind that greatness the past four seasons has been double-double machine and defensive anchor Joakim Noah.

Thibodeau, a 2011 Coach of the Year award winner, was an assistant coach under Doc Rivers in Boston in 2008 when Kevin Garnett won his defensive player of the year award. He helped coach Noah to his first defensive player of the year honor last season.

Noah will be ready to go this year and will look to return to the first-team all-NBA level of play he displayed last season.

Derrick Rose

Back with the Bulls, Rose got his first fourth-quarter preseason action in five games during Sunday’s 101-96 Bulls preseason win over the Charlotte Hornets.

The 2011 MVP seems to be on track to return to form as he registered 17 points in almost 28 minutes of game time. That was more time than any of his nine 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup games, where Team USA won the gold medal.

What most Bulls fans are hoping is the combination of the gold medal run and the eight pre-season games will be enough to shake off any rust Rose, a three-time all-star and 2008 Rookie of the Year award winner, has before the regular season rolls around.

Other returners

The star of the night in the Bulls’ recent win, though, was 11-year veteran Kirk Hinrich. The combo guard recorded 26 points on 11-of-14 shooting and dished out two assists. Captain Kirk started 61 games for the Bulls last season and may be asked to help run the offense with Rose on some occasions this year.

Jimmy Butler, who shot less than 40 percent last season for the first time in his career, may prove to be a key piece to the Bulls during the 2014-2015 campaign. Last season, the Bulls didn’t have a ton of offensive weapons, so the defense keying in on Butler may have been a reason behind his decline in numbers, but that should not be the case this season.

The Bulls will also have Taj Gibson, Mike Dunleavy and Tony Snell returning. All three were important parts on last year’s team and will be counted on to play big this year.

Newcomers

The departure of Carlos Boozer and the addition of two-time NBA champion Pau Gasol should prove to be a positive move for the Bulls. The offseason acquisitions didn’t stop there as Aaron Brooks, Nikola Mirotic and Doug McDermott were all added and should see significant time on the basketball court.

If the Bulls’ starting five, along with their key reserves, stay healthy they can be a top-three team in the East.

But even the 16 Central Division matches they will have will no longer be a walk in the park with the likes of Cleveland, Indiana, a rising Detroit team and the Milwaukee Bucks, led by Chicago’s Jabari Parker. It’s going to be a great season.