By Brian A. Lester

Take a deep breath Bulls fans. That's it. Good job.

Now, brace yourself for the latest news blowing out of the Windy City, but please try and contain your excitement. Those with no sense of humor should stop reading now.

Chicago is thinking postseason, baby, and other playoff contenders should be afraid of a team that could do some serious damage in the playoffs.

Coach Bill Cartwright believes it can happen. As for the rest of the world, that's a different story.

Call me crazy Mr. Cartwright, but I'm still trying to figure out how in the name of James Naismith your downtrodden Bulls are going to qualify for the playoffs when they are on pace to win maybe 25 games and wind up in the lottery one more time.

Yet, the Bulls manage to piece together a three-game win streak and suddenly the hopes of the team change dramatically.

We're not talking about the 72-10 glory days here, and we're certainly not talking about a Chicago lineup that features Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and a great supporting cast of role players.

We're talking about a Bulls team that is building its foundation around a pair of high school draft picks, who sometimes look good and at other times, painfully remind us of why it might have not been a wise move for Jerry Krause to draft them.

We're talking about a team that is 10-18 as of Christmas Day, sitting 10 games back of Central Division leader Indiana.

Yet, as bad as the Bulls are, they are only three games out of the eighth and final spot in the Easter Conference playoffs. That's just not right.

But then, the Eastern Conference isn't exactly bursting at the seams with great basketball teams.

New Jersey, Boston, Philadelphia, Indiana, Detroit, New Orleans and Orlando are the only conference teams resting above the .500 mark, yet I highly doubt any of the seven could topple a foe from the West in a seven-game series.

The East isn't that good, and quite honestly, it's the reason a team like Chicago still has a prayer of going to the playoffs.

Just don't count on it happening Bulls fans, unless of course you are really buying into Cartwright's belief that it will.

Brian Lester is a sportswriter in Ohio and can be reached via email at BAL4@hotmail.com.