Blog a Bull

Open Game Thread #6 OVERFLOW: Bulls vs. Charlotte Bobcats

2009-11-08T03:00:31Z

No recap tonight, I'll be catching this one Sunday.

Open Game Thread #6: Bulls vs. Charlotte Bobcats

2009-11-08T01:00:34Z

New thread at 9.

Game Preview # 6: Bulls vs Charlotte Bobcats

2009-11-07T18:16:37Z

[Thanks to Prevenge for today's game preview. -ed.]

Which Team will get over 80?

Today, at 8 EST [probably a bit later, because of the nature of NBA games], the Chicago Bulls, currently first in the Central Division [thanks, Shaq!], face the Charlotte Bobcats in what promises to be the best basketball matchup this side of the Bulls-Bucks game.

That is to say, it's going to be awful.

Bobcats vs Bulls preview

If you're interested, here's the preview from the Charlotte fan's point of view. [That guy really likes our players. This is probably a bad sign for the Bobcats.]

Positional breakdown:

As everyone here knows already, Tyrus Thomas fractured his forearm. This would be a serious blow to the Bulls if Tyrus had played more than 20 minutes a game. As-is, imagine Tyrus sitting on the bench during all the pivotal moments of the game, and you'll get pretty much the same effect.

Who's starting in his place? Well, obviously Taj Gibson, the best PF that averages 11 and 7 ever - according to Bulls coaches. Luckily for Taj, he's up against Boris Diaw, who is slightly more temperamental than TT and will have games where he explodes for 26 points and a bunch of assists, and games where he has 0-for's. Hopefully Diaw has one of those games where he forgets what day it is, generally sleeps out at the three point line, and does nothing. The Rise of Taj indeed.

Other matchups:

Gerald Wallace vs. Luol Deng: Wallace normally would win this one running away [not only is he good, but Deng would be on the bench!], but Deng's had a pair of good performances and looks to be fully recovered from the stress fracture that had him playing so poorly in the preseason and last year before he shut it down. Hopefully this continues. He didn't exactly 'shut down' LeBron, but he stopped him on the last possession, and LeBron's stats were only 25 points [on 17 shots], 7 assists, and 6 rebounds.

... LeBron is good at basketball.

Where was I? Oh yeah. Gerald Wallace actually had a 20/20 game, much like Deng, earlier this season. He's more athletic than Deng, but ... they're both good. Seems like a draw to me.

Derrick Rose vs. Raymond Felton: We should [hopefully] see Rose continue to assert himself more after the Cleveland game. Felton's a decent defender, but he's not too large, and his sub Augustine is even shorter. Hopefully Rose's new dedication to defense will come through, too, those there may not be a need for it - Felton's a notoriously bad outside shooter.

John Salmons vs. Whoever the Bobcats are starting: As long as Salmons doesn't continue to shoot 3-for-15 [or whatever], we should have this matchup in the bag, at least. Who are the Bobcats starting? This guy ... I don't have any idea who he is. S. Graham, says ESPN. Here's a link to his ESPN stats page. He went 6-for-9 against the Knicks, but then went 2-for-11 against Boston. Not so good.

Joakim Noah vs. Tyson Chandler: It's like Joakim Noah ... vs. himself! Only if he went through a foot injury, and then didn't come back playing as well as before. Hopefully Noah wins this, but it could go either way ... though for my part, I'm going to be optimistic. Chandler hasn't played as well as he did pre-injury, and he seems on the way down, while Noah added an extremely awkward-looking but effective hook shot to his repertoire [and is 4-for-5 on jumpers! How did that happen?].

Well. Should we win this? Will we win this?

Well, let's see. Looking at the ESPN stats page, I noticed one thing about both of these teams: We're both 3-2, and yet we both have a negative points for to points against differential! I was going to call this differential the 'suck differential', but basketbawful already took that. So ... let's just say fail differential.

Charlotte has a fail differential of 2.2, while we have a fail differential of a staggering 5.2. Why? Well, look at that Bucks-Bulls game earlier. We've won two of our three games by two points or less. [Thanks, LeBron, for throwing your team's last chance to win into the stands, then whining for a foul call. Chicago salutes you ... almost as much as we salute Shaq.]

Oh, one other thing: Charlotte's on the second half of a back-to-back. I've heard those are bad for teams.

But ... before making a prediction, let me pull out the Magic 8-Ball of NBA Predictive Genius:

Will we win this basketball game?

Why?

Oh! Magic 8-Ball, I think I know what you're talking about: Look at the Boston Celtics fail differential for both teams!

The Bobcats have a fail differential of 33 against the Celtics!

Meanwhile, we only have a fail differential of 28!

Therefore, we're going to win. By 5. The Bobcats, despite their inability to score, also don't like letting other people score [they're real buzzkills ...], so ... I'll say 90 to 85. So the answer to the first question I asked in the title is [predictively] both teams, through some miracle of providence I can't even begin to try and appreciate.

Let's hope Taj does well in Tyrus's absence, even though Tyrus should have been playing more before he fell victim to a series of cataclysmic events [obviously brought to fruition by an evil spy agency]. Hey, we may even see some James Johnson this game! [I won't, since I'm working through the day ... but it would be cool to see him play more than 2 minutes a game, even through a box score.]

Oh, yeah, and Michael Jordan owns the Bobcats. ... Egghhhh. Let's forget I even mentioned that, OK?

*is now pretending MJ's post-basketball "career" didn't exist.*

Go Bulls!

Tyrus Thomas fractures forearm, out 4-6 weeks

2009-11-06T22:00:05Z

Bulls.com:

Chicago Bulls forward Tyrus Thomas suffered a fractured radius of his left forearm during a weight training session this morning at practice. X-rays confirmed the injury and he will undergo surgery tomorrow. Thomas is expected to be out four to six weeks.

Ugh, this is pretty crappy news. Tyrus was around 50% of all my Bulls enjoyment right about now (which was at about 34% overall enjoyment as it was).

I may get more into this over the weekend, but no matter your feelings on Tyrus vs. Taj (either you prefer Tyrus, or are wrong), losing Thomas exposes the lack of depth on this team, and VDN gets to do all sorts of 'coaching' to try and compensate. This isn't good.

Tyrus injures arm while weightlifting

2009-11-06T20:27:02Z

Tyrus injures arm while weightlifting

["We made a decision a year ago not to retain Tyrus. This year we were never on the same page with all season, we felt Taj played well and Tyrus was injured in the preseason, the flu, and then an injury weightlifting. By the time he returned here he had no role. We feel it was best to renounce his rights to enter unrestricted free agency" - Jerry Reinsdorf, July 2010 -ed.]

Can it be? Another cover up story?!

Bulls 86, Cavs 85: If winning ugly's the only way to win, I'll take it.

2009-11-06T05:28:31Z

More photos » by Tony Dejak - AP

Precious Orange Roundie. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Browse more photos »

	Pace	Eff	eFG	FT/FG	OREB%	TOr
Chicago	91.0	94.5	42.6%	12.5	13.0	6.6
Cleveland		93.4	45.1%	14.8	19.6	13.2

(more on the 4 factors box score)

The Cavs have been perennially one of the top defensive teams in the league since Mike Brown took over as coach. Tonight the Bulls looked like an even better unit out there.

Though it's not like the aforementioned Brown has ever had his teams looking very fluid on offense. The Bulls only had 6 TOs all night, forcing the Cavs into their ugly half-court 'sets'. And Shaq looked way too slow to be consistently effective, and playing him and Z together never made sense, and Mo Williams takes way too many rushed shots for someone who shares the floor with LeBron, and LeBron absolutely coasted all night to the point of embarrassment.

But it was Noah making life miserable for Shaq. And Deng staying in front of LeBron so well that Mike Fratello actually claimed that Deng had the size/speed combo to do so (he doesn't). Kirk Hinrich was everywhere defensively tonight, and I loved the play where LeBron was stuck in the paint with the defense collapsed on him, and Hinrich literally ripped the ball from his hands.

LeBron spent so much time looking like he couldn't care less hoisting jumpers that I think the referees forgot who he was on his final drive, and didn't give him the call as he flailed into Noah. I think LeBron lost the ball on the way up before even making contact, so while it shouldn't be praise to make the correct call, it was indeed unexpected given the circumstances.

While the Bulls defense held together all night (they shot 30% in the 3rd quarter and stayed within 5), I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and James to pull out the win with no comparable Bulls player existing to respond. It actually looked like it was going that way, with a James three-pointer followed by a block on Salmons. But Mo Williams hesitated a bit on a kick-out 3, then took an inexplicable running layup that wasn't even close. The Bulls own late-game ineptitude (didn't score with 3 possessions in the final 1:44) allowed James to still be able to be the hero down one with the ball, but Deng and Noah did the job. In fact, lets not say James didn't get the superstar call, but Noah did get one.

The Bulls offense still, more or less, blows. They weren't even able to hit the offensive glass tonight (a Cavs strength, denying that). Deng/Salmons/Hinrich shot a good percentage, but while Deng had a corner three-pointer (huge if he can do that) Hinrich and Salmons only chipped in 2 between them.

Is this the way it's going to be all year? The Bulls incapable of being even an average offensive team and having to hustle and defend their way to mediocrity? If so, even the wins will be ugly. But they have a long time to get better, and in April nobody will care how the Bulls beat the Cavs on the road, but that it was a win.

To the bullets...

I hope you 'Rise of Taj'-ers are happy. Now he's not only taking away Tyrus's playing time, but Noah wasn't in for the final stretch of minutes either (he was subbed in late for that final stand against James). With the announcing crew pumping up the rookie ('the coaching staff tells us...' said before each laudatory remark) it sure seemed like Gibson played better than a 5-12 shooting night and a pedestrian 7 rebounds (I think his OREBs are inflated due to catching his own misses) in 33 minutes. And while you can see how he helps in other areas, he's playing way way too much.
I do thank Taj Gibson for stepping up and being the new Chris Duhon of BlogABull. I heard there was a tearful passing of the torch ceremony and everything, though Duhon ruined the after party getting too drunk.
You just knew VDN would try throwin Pargo out there early to see if he was still hot from the Bucks game. Nope, the good-games streak ended at one, Pargo was 0-4 in 11 minutes.
Yet more on VDN: that 'inside trax' feature on TNT does not serve him well. I realize that it's good to keep things simple in the huddle, but 'shoot with confidence' (huh?) and 'RUN!' don't make me think he's the next great hardwood tactician. And I don't think I ever heard a single mention of defense, which isn't as much an indictment as it is just funny given the preseason hype. All that said, what does matter is that they're playing better defense, and as much as I roll my eyes at VDN's motivational ploys, they play hard. I'd think this group would play hard regardless and deep down know he's still in over his head, but still.
Tyrus Thomas wound up playing sick tonight after flying in late to meet up with the team. Wasn't quite the Jordan flu game, he hit a couple jumpers and didn't do anything else. Sure, it stinks that Taj has now risen to take his job and he'll be dealt for nothing or left to walk at the end of the season since Vinny's tired of him, but I'll enjoy the guy while we have him, and glad he gutted out this game to maybe possibly win back some of the coaching staff's trust.
Kudos to TBJ's Tas Melas for capturing the ridiculous way LeBron addressed the refs post-game, calling one over just to give a fake-confused 'let me get this straight' face while ultimately saying nothing. It's a dick move in an argument, and I know because I've pulled that move when I'm feeling dick-ish.
Luol didn't only hit a corner three tonight, but had a turnaround jumper over a Cavs guard after a defensive switch. If he can do both of those things more often, that's a new wrinkle, and it won't matter that he can't score in isolation off the dribble. Until the end of games when he's hoisting up shots barely hitting the rim, but that will be Rose time eventually (right?).
Speaking of Rose...that seemed like a quiet 14pt, 11ast night, though once again he contributed most in the 4th quarter (10 pts), which is fantastic. Only 2 TOs with those 11assists.
I don't get how the Bulls have beaten two top-tier teams while looking this bad either. Maybe the Spurs were tired and the Cavs aren't good right now. But it's so huge that they're getting these wins in the early toughest part of the schedule.

Open Game Thread #5 OVERFLOW 2: Bulls at Cleveland Cavaliers

2009-11-06T03:41:41Z

2 minutes to go, game is improbably close...

Open Game Thread #5 OVERFLOW: Bulls at Cleveland Cavaliers

2009-11-06T02:30:44Z

Defense looks good and active. Making Shaq look even slower than usual.

Open Game Thread #5: Bulls at Cleveland Cavaliers

2009-11-06T01:15:19Z

TNT! I believe I'll be tweeting this one.

Game Preview # 5: Bulls at Cleveland Cavaliers

2009-11-05T18:14:46Z

[UPDATE by your friendly BullsBlogger, 11/05/09 2:19 PM CST: Tyrus Thomas is flying commercial and going to meet the Bulls in Cleveland tonight. May or may not play. I give up.

Thanks to wjb1492 for today's game preview. My initial thoughts on this game is that the Murder Train A Comin'. Then I figured that the Bulls do have a chance to out-hustle and out-run an especially immobile Cavs team. Then I figured that without Tyrus Thomas they don't really have this especially athletic roster conducive to running. Hinrich, Salmons, Taj, Miller, gimpy Rose.... even though Deng is effective in transition he's not a superior athlete. It's basically just Noah at this point. -ed.]

So I really don't want to relive Tuesday's Milwaukee game, from which the Bulls managed to scrape a W in spite of collectively playing like garbage much of the night. The exception was Luol Deng, who has managed to silence most of his critics with his play so far this regular season. Suffice it to say that, after getting our hopes up with a nice win over a San Antonio team many have predicted to be a serious contender this year, the Bulls' next three games have fans once again predicting doom and gloom for the season. A blowout loss, a 4th quarter choke, and a slim two-point victory over a predicted cellar dweller don't exactly inspire confidence, even with the team sitting at .500 for the season.

Through four games, the Bulls offense is ranked 27th in the league, and guys expected to play key roles in the offense are struggling - Tyrus Thomas (47.1%), Derrick Rose (44.2%), James Johnson (41.0%), Kirk Hinrich (41.0%), and John Salmons (33.9%) all have sub-.500 true shooting percantages so far. John and Kirk have been particularly frightening, as our "3-point threats" are currently shooting 18.2% and 13.3% from 3 respectively. It's no wonder that people are having flashbacks to the miserable 07/08 season!

(I've left out Lindsey Hunter, since he's not expected to play a key role in anything but honorary titles this season - but for the record, Captain Hunter is shooting 0% and sporting a PER of -20. True, he's only played 7 minutes and attempted 2 shots, but anytime you can be in the "Top 5" of something deserves mention, right? Even if the category is Worst PER in the League....)

I tend to be a major optimist where my sports teams are concerned, though, and I'm far from ready to give up on the season. The optimist in me is holding onto the facts that (1) Boston is generally considered the most talented team in the leauge when healthy, and the Bulls faced them on the second night of a back-to-back while Boston was rested, (2) Miami is a good team with a superstar, and Chicago hung tough the entire game on Miami's home court, and (3) the team did not quit in spite of being down 18 points mid-way through the third quarter to the Bucks.

Meanwhile, the defense is currently 11th best in the NBA, in spite of having played 3 decent to great offenses (excluding Milwaukee). The offense is a classic chicken/egg conundrum - does the offense look bad because key guys are shooting poorly, or are key guys shooting poorly because the offense isn't great? In my humble opinion, it's a little of both. The odds of both John Salmons and Kirk Hinrich shooting this poorly all year have to be infinitesimally low, and hitting more shots will undoubtedly improve the offense beyond the mere increase in team FG%. And at least the front court is playing reasonably well.

All that said, tonight's game is likely to be rough, to say the least. After starting a surprising 0-2 (losing to Boston and @ Toronto), Cleveland has won it's last 3 games by an average margin of 13.3 points. The Cavs offense is currently ranked 16th in the league, and it's defense 7th. They have bigs our front court might struggle with, and of course they have Lebron James. Having Tyrus Thomas expected to miss the game with the flu (not "flu") won't help. Last season, the Cavs won 3 of 4 against the Bulls, with an average scoring margin of +7.5, and the W the Bulls did scrape out came on one of Lebron's worst games of the season, without Zydrunas Ilgauskas playing, and with Delonte West leaving early with an injury - and it still took OT.

For the game tonight, looking at the Accuscore simulations, Cleveland won 84% of the time, and won big (by 10+ points) 52.6% of the time, with an average score of Bulls losing 96.8 to 86.3. If the Bulls come out playing and shooting like they did to start the Milwaukee game, it's going to be a whole lot uglier than that. But I always pick the Bulls to win, even would logic would dictate otherwise. Shooting slumps have to come to an end at some point. And, even though Cleveland is predicted to do great things this season, they really haven't done much yet with two of their 3 wins coming against Minnesota and Charlotte. So until proven otherwise (which hopefully won't happen in the first five minutes of the game), I'm going to hold out hope that the near loss and comeback win on Tuesday will have galvanized the Bulls into a great effort, that Kirk and John come out hitting tonight while Luol and Joakim continue their great play, and that Derrick leads the team well even if still somewhat hampered by that dratted ankle. After all, the Bulls went 4 and 1 in Thursday games last year, while Cleveland was a mere 5 and 4 - and Chicago it currently batting 1.000 on Thursday night TNT appearances for this season!

Check out the coverage from the Cavs side on Fear the Sword.

So maybe Thomas is sick, local media

2009-11-05T14:47:51Z

Now that Tyrus Thomas missed Wednesday's practice and didn't fly to Cleveland with the team, those covering the team* have toned down linking Tyrus's flu symptoms with any issues Tyrus has had recently with VDN or pseudo-coach Lindsey Hunter (a whole separate issue, that). Everything published Thursday morning mentions Thomas's illness as just an illness.

But just days before, it was instead 'the flu', as Sun-Times beat writer John Jackson called it. Similarly skeptical was WSCR reporter David 'the rotisserie chicken' Schuster. Trib columnist Steve Rosenbloom openly doubted the story as well. Even the earliest reports of the illness made sure to tie in Tyrus' issues with his minutes and lack of a contract extension.

So believing the worst in the Bulls (sporadic and puzzling discipline in the past, plus they're liars) as well as Thomas (known to pout and skip a practice before), coupled with the media not only failing to distance the circumstances but openly putting them together, I don't blame fans (least of all myself, being infallible and all) for thinking this sick story was a smokescreen for something else. I also think the Bulls could've been more proactive and emphatic to let everyone know this was nothing disciplinary.

But since another day has passed and the story is now only about progress in the illness, I guess it's possible that it was just an illness. The seed of doubt has already been planted though, and this is yet another chapter in the tumultuous career of Tyrus Thomas, and by this point they're looking like the final few chapters. It'll be interesting to see how he and VDN handle his return, though it looks like nothing good really lasts.

*The only one who straightforwardly handled Tyrus getting sick and his 4th quarter minutes without openly tying the two together was the Bulls best beat writer, Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald. I get that beat writers have more complex jobs nowadays when they're expected to also give opinions through their blogs and columns. But that said, I should've learned this already but it's just been re-affirmed: I'm trusting in McGraw first and foremost from now on.

Tyrus Thomas not traveling to Cleveland

2009-11-04T18:24:10Z

Tyrus Thomas not traveling to Cleveland

UPDATE: Didn't catch this from Mike McGraw this morning: The Bulls said Tyrus Thomas arrived at Tuesday's morning shootaround at the Berto Center, spoke to trainer Fred Tedeschi and was sent home to get some rest. Coach Vinny Del Negro said Thomas saw a doctor in the afternoon.

That helps the 'he's actually sick' story, but I'd still like more of a statement from the Bulls. They likely know how this looks, it seems they should be more emphatically denying this is disciplinary.

"He's not feeling very well right now," Del Negro said.

From KC Johnson, who gives no indication that Tyrus is actually sick. Is it that hard to find out?

Bulls 83, Bucks 81: Bulls are bad, beat team that's worse

2009-11-04T05:49:10Z

More photos » by Gary Dineen - NBAE/Getty Images

CHICAGO - NOVEMBER 03: Derrick Rose #1 of the Chicago Bulls tries to wash the bad out of Bulls fans eyes with a good late-game performance. (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)

Browse more photos »

	Pace	Eff	eFG	FT/FG	OREB%	TOr
Milwaukee	92.0	88.0	41.8%	5.5	20.4	12.0
Chicago		90.2	42.6%	27.0	29.2	19.6

(more on the 4 factors box score)

(I won't get into the Tyrus 'flu' controversy for this one. Though there was a bit of a snarky tone when describing it at halftime, nobody provided any additional information. Speaking of that pre/half/postgame show I couldn't really share Kendall Gill's puzzlement as to how Lindsey Hunter's speech at Monday's practice didn't carry over to this game. Honestly, what the hell do Bulls 'observers' believe win games in the NBA? Is 'talent' around 56th down the list?)

What an absolutely awful game to watch. As I've said, the Bulls need wins early in any way possible. So let's take it and run (to get slaughtered in Cleveland). But the lesson of it isn't what Luol Deng said postgame, that this proves Bulls are a group that cares about winning because they came back. (he said something silly like that, trust me).

The lesson is this team is not good, and need to get better to make the playoffs this season. This is a bad Bucks team, missing Michael Redd, and the Bulls had to surge in the second half to squeak out a win at home.

Let's hope that first half is the worst we see all season from the Bulls, shooting 27% with 12 TOs on their way to 29 points. And that was actually better numbers than they put up in the first quarter. We know that no matter how undermanned they seem, any Scott Skiles team will be active defensively, but those Bulls teams he led was rarely big on forcing turnovers. But the Bucks were very disruptive tonight completely frustrating the Bulls into turning the ball over and rushing their pick/roll plays. Brandon Jennings was getting his hands everywhere, including picking Rose's pocket on one occasion.

The Bucks would've been even farther ahead at the half if they didn't have such terrible shot selection (with terrible shot-makers). Their bench was especially abysmal all game, going 5-19 on the game with 10 points. They were a Bulls-esque 4-20 on three-pointers. It was fitting that their final shot was a 3-point airball from Iylasova.

The Bulls actually didn't get going until midway through the 3rd, when it was deemed Pargo time. As is the case once every dozen games, Pargo played well: scoring 10 in his 14 minutes, and helped carry the Bulls to a quality 3-point shooting night (Hinrich/Salmons were only 1-5, not good enough). The Bucks kept missing, the Bulls owned the glass (another good DREB% result), able to run to prevent the Skiles D to get set, and the Bulls eventually made up the entire deficit with a Brad Miller 3-pointer early in the 4th quarter.

One good we can take from this game was that after being outshone much of the game by Jennings, Derrick Rose then took over the final few minutes. He was using screens set by Miller and either shooting over Jennings, or finding his way to the rim off of Miller passes (Brad Miller rules, in case you forgot). He also had a big block on Jennings in the penultimate Bucks possession. In close-ups, you could see that Rose dwarfs over Jennings, and it was good to see him recognize and use that advantage. (credit to Hinrich as well, he started out really lagging behind Jennings' speed, but started to figure him out defensively as the game went along).

The other big story was Luol Deng's night, who had a career-high 20 rebounds to go with 24 points. He even hit a 3-pointer and and went to the line 11 times. Luol Deng certainly looks healthy, and it was great to see him fighting for rebounds and moving without the ball like he used to. But while Stacy King begged for the Bulls to 'go to' Luol more, he still hasn't shown any added ability to be a 'go-to' player. He doesn't have to be that to be effective, but this game doesn't mean he's taken some major step in his game, especially considering it was against a horrible Bucks group of forwards (and we know Skiles hates rebounding from his forwards in general). But this early season has shown Deng to be healthy and productive again, and that's needed for this season to be successful

So between Rose and Deng, If you're looking at this roster as only a very small group of actually important players, then this is a nice night. But I was hoping the Bulls would put on a good home performance and they did nearly the complete opposite of that. If not for a good game from Pargo, the Bulls likely don't come back and this season's projection looks apocalyptic. So should his random spurt of good shooting and an eeked-out victory really change that projection? Not much, though seeing Derrick Rose as the one to put the game away does help my mood.

Some other observations...

Noah missed his first jumper of the season, as he made a Tornado in each of the first 3 games.
Bogut at times seemed to be able to score so easy against the Bulls frontcourt, yet at other times seemed completely unable to do anything.
It'd be nice if our color commentator offered something to describe the Bulls bad play besides 'flat' and 'lacking energy'. Also, I get the desire for the Bulls to run, but every team likes to get easier looks when running. There were lineups out there not especially suited to run nor effective enough defensively to get transition going, so when you're a 'bad halfcourt offense team' you're just a bad offensive team.
Nice graphic to show after an absolutely abysmal first quarter: Bulls lead the league in average attendance from '99-'09. Yay, us! We don't expect much and have plenty of disposable income!
In the end-of-quarter possessions, Vinny actually had them running plays. First quarter had Rose/Miller high screen which Rose penetrated to find Deng for a (missed) corner 3. Second quarter saw Hinrich use a screen to hit a floater. He's hit a lot of those this season so far. Overall, better than the usual iso-and-stand-around.
Vinny did a good job on the short rotation tonight, independent as to however he's handling this Tyrus thing. Resisted the urge to keep Pargo in too long into crunch time even after his hot shooting.
Not worried about John Salmons yet, since I never expected him to replace Ben Gordon in the first place. He has to be better than this (3-15 tonight) but while some slide was expected from last season, it's likely not going to be a complete free-fall statistically for him.
Taj may be yet another symbol of the Org.'s love of grit over talent, and he may not be good at all, but he does fight for offensive rebounds.

Open Game Thread #4 OVERFLOW 2: Bulls vs. Milwaukee Bucks

2009-11-04T03:21:59Z

Still behind...

Open Game Thread #4 OVERFLOW: Bulls vs. Milwaukee Bucks

2009-11-04T02:19:32Z

No quips, I'm actually behind on the DVR.

Open Game Thread #4: Bulls vs. Milwaukee Bucks

2009-11-04T01:00:36Z

Not must-win, but must-look-better.

Game Preview #4: Chicago Bulls vs Milwaukee Bucks

2009-11-03T16:12:38Z

[UPDATE by your friendly BullsBlogger, 11/03/09 12:43 PM CST : Tyrus missed shootaround with the flu, Taj Gibson will start tonight whether or not Tyrus is available.

Thanks to Ozzie Montana for today's game preview. Sign up if you want to do one in the future. I figure the Bulls have an easy blowout, and we all laugh at how it made sense the Bulls offense to start out cruddy against three good defensive teams. But we'll also likely be wrong then thinking the offensive efficiency problem will go away. But if they lose...real fun begins here. -ed]

You have to hand it to this team. They really know how to crush even the most mild of expectations. Fortunately, the Bulls have a chance to right the ship against an even more unimpressive franchise (For one night, at least).

The Bucks, as we all know, lost a ton of talent in the offseason letting go of Vilanueva, Sessions, and Jefferson. Also, it looks like they're already giving up on last year's lottery choice. Joe Alexander is going to the highest draft pick to be refused the rookie option, making him an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. I'm sure they would love a re-do considering Brook Lopez and Anthony Randolph were still on the board. However, it looks like they made a great addition this year with Brandon Jennings, who dominated against Detroit (24 pts, 9/15 shooting), including a perfect 3rd quarter. Too bad the rest of the team is a collection of overrated and overpaid players. Michael Redd is injured yet again (17 million dollar salary FYI), and will likely start Carlos Delfino, Kurt Thomas, and Charlie Bell to go along with Jennings and Bogut. But, since Skiles is the coach, they will somehow remain competitive in a lot of games and play inspired defense.

As for our Bulls, what else is there to say at this point? The "Derrick Rose doesn't have the dog" topic has been beaten to death in one weekend. Tyrus Thomas is already being pointlessly benched in favor of Malik Allen re-incarnate Taj Gibson. Instead, let's talk about the crapulent 3 point shooting! When you have a guy like Ben Gordon on the team for 5 seasons, you really take elite outside shooting for granted. John Salmons and Kirk Hinrich were fantastic last year from the arc, but in 3 games they are a combined 5 for 32. What's even more disheartening is a lot of these looks are the result of great ball movement, and they're still not going in. Another reason for the poor offense may be due to the fact they are playing a bunch of teams that love to slow the pace down, and the guys aren't getting into any kind of a rhythm when forced into so many half-court sets.

Expecting anything from the Bulls is an exercise in disappointment, so hopefully Derrick is feeling better today and can go toe-to-toe with the "next greatest franchise PG that hasn't accomplished anything but is still better than Rose."

Bucks vs Bulls coverage

Brew Hoop

Heat 95, Bulls 87: Derrick Rose needs to be better, or the Bulls need bigger leads through 3 quarters

2009-11-02T05:43:14Z

	Pace	Eff	eFG	FT/FG	OREB%	TOr
Chicago	92.0	94.6	42.0%	14.8	28.9	14.1
Miami		103.3	51.4%	29.2	22.9	19.6

(more on the 4 factors box score)

These two teams were expected to be evenly matched, and they proved to be. That is, until the fourth quarter, when the Heat had Dwyane Wade and the Bulls have nothing of the sort.

They do have Derrick Rose, who should be somewhat similar to the sort, at the very least in terms of a late-game role, but Rose didn't look right all game and he certainly wasn't taking over possessions late. His defense was also quite poor, and Carlos Arroyo lit him up so bad in the 1st half VDN used Pargo for a 5 minute stretch when the situation arose in the 2nd(I think that was the reason anyway...). Those were crucial stretches as the Bulls should've been padding their lead with Wade on the bench. When it got to the 4th quarter the Bulls only scored 17 points, with the set offense not doing much made worse by nobody really stepping up in isolation.

But such late-game impotence could be expected: If it wasn't coming from Rose, who can really be counted on to generate shots late? That may be a theme all season (hopefully with the happy ending of Rose maturing and taking charge) but what is something that could be changed is how the minutes were distributed in that 4th quarter and much of the game. Tyrus Thomas came off the court with 3 minutes left in the 3rd, and never returned. He wound up with 21 minutes (and fairly pedestrian production), including a stint with him at SF (should those even count anymore? It's not a good role for him). Taj Gibson somehow played 17 minutes, and for the centers, Noah had 30 with Brad Miller at 24. It's crazy that Taj is cutting into the supposedly Vinny-proof 7 man unit, but apparently Taj has been elevated to another toy for Vinny to play with. It's bad: Noah and Thomas need to play more.

What has been especially concerning in VDN's use of Tyrus in both this game and the Spurs game, is that he feels his best unit late is Rose/Hinrich/Salmons/Deng and alternating Miller and Noah. I can see why Vinny feels this is getting his best players on the floor, but I wouldn't say that the wings are so far above Thomas that it implores that you go in with a small lineup (unlike the Spurs, the Heat did not oblige and kept two bigs on the floor) making Noah do almost entirely handle the rebounding role. Luckily Noah is fairly awesome, and doing his best at just that...in fact the Bulls once again did alright overall on the defensive glass, so that's a promising sign. I can understand Vinny wanting Hinrich out there late, but he shouldn't be caught in scenarios where it's keeping Thomas on the bench for an entire quarter. I wonder if that's always the plan, or will it be on a game-by-game basis of sitting who's struggling, with Hinrich replacing Deng or Salmons (never Rose, no matter how bad he may look in a particular game) at times.

(And there's always the long-term effect of this minutes cut meaning losing Thomas mentally for the season, only to make it official by letting him walk in the offseason. But I don't think there's some conspiracy to make Thomas look unimportant in order to have fans accept his already-decided departure. That'd imply some organizational forethought and planning (albeit evil). I think it's just a case of VDN trying to win every game he can, and he genuinely feels that Tyrus isn't his best option.)

There were good signs before that 4th quarter though, a good offensive game from the trio of Salmons/Deng/Hinrich, shooting 21-46. Deng even showed an impressive post game (and more importantly, recognition of when to use it) when the smaller Quentin Richardson was matched on him. Though with Richardson in the game late (he hit a huge three), why was that matchup never exploited in the 4th? Hinrich once again did his best to frustrate Wade all night, and Salmons had his best game of the season shooting the ball.

But, a problem with this trio remains: no 3 point shooting. The Bulls were 2 of 12 from beyond the arc, and one of those makes was from Brad Miller. It was a major question going into this season as to whether Hinrich and Salmons could compensate for the loss of 3-point shooting with Gordon's departure, and so far they haven't delivered. Doug Thonus nails it at ChicagoNow: if they're not increasing their efficiency through 3-pointers or getting to the line (an area where Rose HAS to get better), how can this team have an above-average offense this season?

And if our shooters aren't shooting well enough to space the floor (and they're not really much of a running unit either with Hinrich/Salmons/Miller), what is the big advantage of going small to close out games?

Open Game Thread #3 OVERFLOW: Bulls at Miami Heat

2009-11-02T00:53:10Z

Bulls have one 3-pointer so far, made by Brad Miller.

Open Game Thread #3: Bulls at Miami Heat

2009-11-01T23:00:29Z

I expect two hungover teams.