thxfrthmmrs

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Mar 7, 2010 -> 07:36 PM) No one said rebounding isn't important, everyone is saying rebounding FROM YOUR POINT GUARD isn't terribly important. Very few point guards make a consistent impact on the boards, much like very few elite hitters are able to play shortstop. Your David Wright comparison isn't really apt because slugging is a major part of driving in runs while rebounding isn't nearly as crucial to being an elite PG as quickness, ball-handling, passing and shooting (an area where he does still need some work). Point guards are usually so far away from the basket that it's difficult to get large numbers of boards, plus the PG usually is the guy that has to get back to defend in trasition. Kidd and Steve Francis are the only point guard in recent history to consistently average 5 rebounds a game. If a SF gets less than 6 rebounds a game and big men get under 8 that's considered pretty soft because that's what they are supposed to do. Plus as I posted, the difference between Rose and the best rebounding PG in the league is 1.7 rebounds a game. Also, none of those guards that you mentioned is averaging significantly over 5 boards a game, and only Kidd and Westbrook are getting even 5. Rose is averaging 3.7. That marginal upgrade in rebounding ability isn't the reason they lost, not when they allow 122 points. Let's not forget that they're not remotely close in that game if Rose doesn't get 34 points and 8 assists in that game. If you want to gripe about the rebounding, look at your big men like Miller, Gibson, Warrick and Deng, those are the guys that are supposed to get a good number of rebounds. If you're counting on your PG to make a major impact on the rebounds, you have some pretty serious problems. More to the point, rebounding wasn't their major issue in that game. They actually out-rebounded Dallas by 4 and beat them in offensive rebounds 10-6. Allowing the Mavericks to shoot 56% was by far the biggest problem. i agree with your points, one should not demand high rebounding numbers from the PG. yes rose is averaging 3.7 rpg per game, not something to be sneeze at, but his last 5 games? 1.4 rpg in 40 minutes per game, that is an absurd, hideous numbers, and in 2 of those games the bulls got outrebounded by over 20. bulls also happened to go 1-4 the past 5 games. hey, i am not asking for Rose to pickup joakim's slack and get 10 boards every game, but at least do his part and not let the opposing pg go in an rebounding frenzy. last night's game, jkidd 11 drose 0 in rebounding match. i am not sure why, but that totally upsets me. think about it, if rose would have gotten like 4-5 boards, that is like taking 4-5 boards away from the opposition also, that is an 8-10 board turnaround, and we are talking about completely different game here. This just goes to show your rebounding is every bit important as rebounding in other positions. you just gotta expect more out of your "superstar" and "franchise player" but even if you say rebounding is not really important for Rose, if you look at all other areas of the game he isn't good at, and realize the lack of progression from last season to this season, it really bothers me.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Mar 7, 2010 -> 04:24 PM) The Mavs backcourt has probably the best rebounding PG ever. Think of it this way, for defensive rebounds, Rose should be waiting out around the 3pt line, because what happens when a forward gets the rebound? Toss to Rose, who can score on the easy fastbreak. On the offensive side, he needs to not be around the basket so he can distribute the ball to someone more in place to score. so in your sense, every point guard should have 0 boards when in the game because it's not their responsibility to rebound. Not really, because there are plenty of good rebounding guards in the league, and rose is far from one. again, like i mentioned earlier, i am not singling him out just for his rebounding, there are too many areas in his game that he need to work on, and you can't argue with that. my only concern is i am not sure if he would ever improve significantly in those areas, because the areas he needs to work on also happens to be the toughest area to improve upon, and you can see his lack of progression in rebounding, court vision, 3 point shooting, drawing more fouls, trying to disrupt the ballhandler's comfort zone by either reaching in for the steal or playing the passing lane. rose is already a good player right now, and he will be a great player, but i am not sure if he could rival CP3 and D will as the best point guard in the league like some of us had hoped

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Mar 7, 2010 -> 12:35 AM) Griping about Rose's rebounding is like complaining that The Big Hurt couldn't play shortstop. You pay your PG to drive, handle the ball and run the offense, not crash the boards. He's averaging a whopping 1.7 fewer boards than Jason Kidd (who leads all PG's) entering tonight. Even if you go by rebounds/48, he's only 2.3 behind Kidd. In other words, who gives a flying f***? when i was listening to the pre game show last night, Bill Wennington pointed out that the bulls have to rebound better with joakim out, especially the guards because they have not been rebounding well lately, specifically they have to box out better and turn their bodies back and anticipate the rebound when the shot is up. I am not sure, maybe the announcers are being too critical like myself, or people just aren't being realistic and being too protective of their favorite player. who gives a flying s*** about rebounding? well you just can't argue the fact that in some of the games (vs hawks and Memphis) if we had rebounded better, we could have come out on top at the end. dont get me wrong, i do admires parts of Rose's game, and he is already one of the best in the league at what he does well, but not helping out your team with the rebounding chore when your team's leading rebounder is out is just inexcusable, not to mention that he played the most minutes last night and failed to register a single rebound, that is absurd. some of you like to compare him to J Kidd or D Wade, but they, along with other superstar guards like Paul, D Will, Rondo, and even young guys like westbrook, evans, and curry all rebound better than Rose does. if he learns to box out other guards, and anticipate the rebound, or play the passing lane and go for the theft and start an easy fastbreak, it will do wonders for him and the team. FOR THE RECORD, MAVS STARTING BACKCOURT HAD 16 BOARDS LAST NIGHT, BULL STARTING BACKCOURT? ONLY 3 REBOUNDS. doesn't that just make you wonder if Rose had rebounded better? And Zoom Slowik, my argument is far from complaining the big hurt doesnt play shortstop, because he doesn't have the ability to. my argument is like saying david wright who has the ability to hit 25-30 HRs every season hit only 7 last season, and you say who gives a horse s*** if he is driving in runs? well he could do better if he had knocked in more homeruns. Rose has great size and is the best athlete at his position, he could easily get 6 or even 7 boards a game, and the bulls definitely need that, especially with Joakim out. Sometimes if you take a look at all phases of the game, you can easily point out where the issue is, but this is just my two cents.

i am officially sick of derrick rose's game. how can a player with his size and athleticism at his position play 42 minutes and not get a board. in the past 5 games he has averaged like 1.5 rpg per game, i didnt mind that he doesn't get steals and block if he plays acceptable defense and gets pedestrian assists, doesnt shoot threes, and doesn't draw fouls if he scores efficiently, but not getting boards when your team is desperate for it? that's no excuse even if you have 2 banged knees. for the record, he played the most minutes tonight, and was the only one failed to grab a rebound. it seems that the areas he doesn't do well outnumbers the areas he is good at, and his game has taken a step backward in every department except in scoring and "asserting more leadership" If he doesn't take a big step forward next season, i can see him being the scapegoat of the team's failure. to tell you the truth, i rather have a guy who is good all around player at the point, ie. westbrook, curry, collison, or evans, than a robotic and systematic guy like rose.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 1, 2010 -> 10:51 PM) Derrick Rose has got to do a better job rebounding the basketball, especially with Joakim and possibly Luol out for a few games. I don't blame his assist being down with no pure shooters when he passes the ball, but he's regressing in the rebounding responsibility. Defense, 3 point ball, using your strength to box out and rebound. No particular order he's got to work on this offseason. I didn't even mention drawing fouls (though that is more on the refs too) and alittle post up game (not many people talk about this but, he has the size/athleticism. Plus I love watching Billups/Davis post up other PGs though this isn't a necessity.) I have my doubts if he'll ever develop into a Jason Kidd type player (which he was projected to be if everything goes right, minus shooting) but I can see (and settle) for D. Wade part 2 in PG form as a second alternative. i think Rose's game actually most resembles tony parker's. they both are solid mid range shooters and likes to penetrate and finishes well around the basket, and are extremely quick in the open court. neither are good at 3 shooting nor racks up steals, and rebounds. Both are medicore free throw and so-so defenders. parker averaged 6 to 7 assists a game and i think rose will do the same next season after we get a couple of good players. there is no other points guards who are more similar in their game in rose and parker. but i will give rose the clear advantage in athleticism, that's why i think in this prime, rose would be slightly better than parker of last season when he averaged 22 pt, 4 reb, 7 asst, 1stl, and shot 50% from the field. rose would do a bit better in the scoring department. with that said, parker carries the championship winning pedigree, and he is a proven winner, and i can see that in rose also. while neither will win any MVP awards, i think if we sign a good big man who could patrol the paint, ie. bosh, to pair up with rose, i think we can expect to see the bulls in the deep of the playoffs every year.

QUOTE (SHIPPS @ Feb 25, 2010 -> 02:56 PM) I always look forward to baseball being played, never really look forward to offseasons. But its a valid question... since the Sox offense is still missing a big bat in the middle, i am interested in seeing which big name is available next offseason and dream of KW netting him from the yanks or the Bosox. but then again, if the young guys hudson, flowers, becks, alexei, rios and quentin perform above expection, we might still be cheering the the sox come october.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Feb 25, 2010 -> 02:47 PM) If the rotation pitches that well we'll be World Series favorites, not division runner ups. well it wont surprise anyone that our rotation is this good. thats why our rotation has been dubbed as one of the best in the league. Our rotaton is the rotation of a world series team, so the projections is pretty fair, and you can say they are a bit conservative too since they are right at the guys' career average, and of course young guys like floyd and danks would presumably make strides this season. It our offense that's holding us back, not the rotation.

since most NBA teams are already looking forward to offseason in the summer, what about baseball? With the current payroll, the Sox should have around $20 million to play with next season after arbitration given the roster stays the same over the course of this season. Any one have a list free agents available next offseason? I really hope the Sox do not resign Konerko or AJ, and use the money to pursue a big time first basemen or DH, given that they already have a solid core of young players, and 1 big bat or 2 is what is needed to put them in contention in the American League.

he hit 17 in only 280 ABs last year maybe 27HR is a reach, but given that he is the primary DH and backup outfielder, he should get at least 400 AB when healthy, so i would say he is a lock for at least 20 HRs the main problem for the sox is they do not have many good contact hitters outside of beckham, the poor contact hitters in jones, vizquel, teahen, and konerko is the major reason why they could lose out to the twinkies this year

i would project the sox starting lineup to finish somewhere along this line pierre avg .293 1 HR 42 RBI 46 SB beckham avg .290 22 HR 92 RBI 94 runs quentin avg .278 42 HR 112 RBI .932 OPS Konerko avg .266 26 HR 86 RBI .835 OPS Jones avg .238 27 HR 69 RBI Rios avg .284 23 HR 84 RBI 27 SB AJ avg .290 12 HR 57 RBI Teahen avg .275 18 HR 66 RBI 10 SB Alexei avg .296 20HR 78 RBI 23 SB Peavy 16-10 3.49 ERA 205 IP 210K 1.19 WHIP Buerhle 15-12 3.84 ERA 210 IP 120K 1.30 WHIP Floyd 18-10 3.62 ERA 210 IP 175 K 1.22 WHIP Danks 14-12 3.90 ERA 200 IP 175 K 1.29 WHIP Freddy 11-11 4.49 ERA 150 IP 110 K 1.30 WHIP Jenks 2.69 ERA 65 IP 72 K 41 Saves Jenks and Rios will have bouce back years for the sox but the twins still gonna win the divison!

QUOTE (hogan873 @ Feb 25, 2010 -> 08:06 AM) I'll add some numbers to my predictions: AVG - Beckham (.309) HR - Quentin (37) RBI - Quentin (111) SB - Pierre (42) Wins - Danks (21) K's - Peavy (195) 2B - Pierre (43) 3B - Beckham (6) BB - Quentin (lots) HBP - Quentin (many until he does his Hulk impression, rips his shirt off and charges the mound) Hits - Konerko (199) Saves - Jenks (40) Holds - Putz (37) Ejections - Ozzie (9) pierre is not a power guy, he averages like 24 doubles a season, he be lucky to have half that 2B amount. konerko will never be anywhere close to a 200 hit season, not to mention that he would bat 4th or 5th, and you have beckham leading the team in batting average and he bats 2nd