2021-22 NBA Thread

[fathom]

Playing their way into a 4-5 series, aren’t they?

[Chisoxfn]

1 hour ago, fathom said:

Playing their way into a 4-5 series, aren’t they?

The defense is so bad - like awful. Giving up 40 points in 4th quarter. Lavine very impacted by knee injury too. 

[Quin]

I really hope that flagrant by Jones against Allen was an accident this late in a tie game.

[fathom]

I miss the days of this team dominating 4th quarters.  

[Quin]

I feel like Zach is the only one trying in this fourth.

[fathom]

2 minutes ago, Quin said:

I feel like Zach is the only one trying in this fourth.

Ayo’s defense down the stretch was pathetic. 

[Chisoxfn]

I can’t wait until they get Caruso and Ball back. They win this game with them. Plus Ayo is hitting that wall and needs a break. I think the minutes are adding up for him. 

[Quin]

I will add that 33 to 11 free throws is a travesty by the refs. DJJ's dunk on Giannis is a perfect example - that's a foul if you switch the jersey colors for what the refs were giving Milwuakee

[scs787]

On 3/4/2022 at 11:06 PM, Chisoxfn said:

I can’t wait until they get Caruso and Ball back. They win this game with them. Plus Ayo is hitting that wall and needs a break. I think the minutes are adding up for him. 

Ya this team, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, needs the shot in the arm that Ball, Caruso, and Williams should bring. That's gonna be huge. 

[Quin]

 

[Jack Parkman]

The Bulls are officially Bum Slayers. 

[southsider2k5]

18 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

The Bulls are officially Bum Slayers. 

I know everyone is upset about this, but about a minute ago they were just bums.  This group actually gives me confidence that they will continue to advance this franchise and that this is just a step along the way.

[Chisoxfn]

20 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

I know everyone is upset about this, but about a minute ago they were just bums.  This group actually gives me confidence that they will continue to advance this franchise and that this is just a step along the way.

And they beat more than bums when they had a full roster. I get it - they can't beat the top 4 or 5 teams right now without their main parts. And the match up with Philly is just bad. They have no one that can control Embid so it will look bad, but against other top teams they have been in the games when they have had most of their parts and are still playing without multiple parts to the core (something none of the top teams not named the Nets can say in the East).  

Now the problem is - they just may not be able to integrate the players back properly to get to where they are effective come playoff time. The team defense though has just been atrocious for the past couple months and at this point I don't see it changing. Lavine's defense has clearly been impacted by his knee injury.  

With that said - they are missing 2 guys who play above average to elite defense and a 3rd who is a 2nd year player who has pretty high defensive upside (albeit - he's missed a massive amount of time and still green).  None of that helps against Embid - but it helps against almost all of the other top teams in the East.  

[Jack Parkman]

2 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

And they beat more than bums when they had a full roster. I get it - they can't beat the top 4 or 5 teams right now without their main parts. And the match up with Philly is just bad. They have no one that can control Embid so it will look bad, but against other top teams they have been in the games when they have had most of their parts and are still playing without multiple parts to the core (something none of the top teams not named the Nets can say in the East).  

Now the problem is - they just may not be able to integrate the players back properly to get to where they are effective come playoff time. The team defense though has just been atrocious for the past couple months and at this point I don't see it changing. Lavine's defense has clearly been impacted by his knee injury.  

With that said - they are missing 2 guys who play above average to elite defense and a 3rd who is a 2nd year player who has pretty high defensive upside (albeit - he's missed a massive amount of time and still green).  None of that helps against Embid - but it helps against almost all of the other top teams in the East.  

What are they now, 3-20 against the top 4 teams in both conferences? 

[southsider2k5]

5 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

And they beat more than bums when they had a full roster. I get it - they can't beat the top 4 or 5 teams right now without their main parts. And the match up with Philly is just bad. They have no one that can control Embid so it will look bad, but against other top teams they have been in the games when they have had most of their parts and are still playing without multiple parts to the core (something none of the top teams not named the Nets can say in the East).  

Now the problem is - they just may not be able to integrate the players back properly to get to where they are effective come playoff time. The team defense though has just been atrocious for the past couple months and at this point I don't see it changing. Lavine's defense has clearly been impacted by his knee injury.  

With that said - they are missing 2 guys who play above average to elite defense and a 3rd who is a 2nd year player who has pretty high defensive upside (albeit - he's missed a massive amount of time and still green).  None of that helps against Embid - but it helps against almost all of the other top teams in the East.  

For the first time in this century,  I also think the Bulls can land a big time player to put the team at the next level.

[Chisoxfn]

3 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

What are they now, 3-20 against the top 4 teams in both conferences? 

Well no - they have smoked the Nets and Jazz (both when healthy). I Know Nets are not a good team now - but they had 2 (maybe it was 3) good wins against the Nets (including at least one blow out win; obviously they also had the blowout loss). They have never played the Sixers anything but shorthanded (and no matter what are a bad match-up there).  Bucks have been in a number of close games (despite being short-handed).  

Haven't really played Heat with a good supporting cast; Warriors/Suns games were when the roster was non-existent.  Celtics they have beaten (including I believe short-handed - but I will caveat this is a different Celtics team right now).  Raptors they have beaten, Cavs was largely a split (and included one game Bulls were decimated).  All of the games against top 3 west foes were when Bulls were decimated and/or materially short-handed (and latest Memphis games were closer despite remaining short-handed).

So yeah - record not so great - but I think it is a bit of a flawed stat when you evaluate facts & circumstances.  

[Chisoxfn]

3 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

For the first time in this century,  I also think the Bulls can land a big time player to put the team at the next level.

This too.  

[Jack Parkman]

3 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

Well no - they have smoked the Nets and Jazz (both when healthy). I Know Nets are not a good team now - but they had 2 (maybe it was 3) good wins against the Nets (including at least one blow out win; obviously they also had the blowout loss). They have never played the Sixers anything but shorthanded (and no matter what are a bad match-up there).  Bucks have been in a number of close games (despite being short-handed).  

Haven't really played Heat with a good supporting cast; Warriors/Suns games were when the roster was non-existent.  Celtics they have beaten (including I believe short-handed - but I will caveat this is a different Celtics team right now).  Raptors they have beaten, Cavs was largely a split (and included one game Bulls were decimated).  All of the games against top 3 west foes were when Bulls were decimated and/or materially short-handed (and latest Memphis games were closer despite remaining short-handed).

So yeah - record not so great - but I think it is a bit of a flawed stat when you evaluate facts & circumstances.  

I actually found the stat: They're now 2-15 against teams with a .600 win % or better. 

They really miss Ball and Caruso but idk how much of a difference those guys will make. 

[southsider2k5]

2 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

I actually found the stat: They're now 2-15 against teams with a .600 win % or better. 

They really miss Ball and Caruso but idk how much of a difference those guys will make. 

So what. This was never meant to be a championship team.  

[Chisoxfn]

31 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

So what. This was never meant to be a championship team.  

The below teams have a .600 or better record and below is Bulls record with a bit of a side-story of the game.  Bulls would be 2-13 against those teams (Basically 12 losses between Sixers (0-4), Warriors 0-2), Bucks (0-2 - but all games close despite short-handed, Grizzlies (0-2 but shorthanded in all games).  

If you exclude those teams - against the next set of better teams in NBA, they are 10-9 collectively against Mavs, Suns, Celtics, Nets, Cavs, Nuggets, Heat (0-3), and Raptors.  And that 10-9 is despite plenty of short-handed games against these same squads.  

1. Bucks (0-2) - Close games despite them all being played short-handed. In fact - Bulls probably win both with Caruso (1st game was the Caruso injury which turned the tide of that game and 2nd one they blew what should have been a win with a bad 4th quarter that probably doesn't happen with Caruso/Ball to help the D).  Either way - Bucks are a really good team and I believe a healthy Bulls team can play with them (which is all I can ask for at this point given where the Bulls were a year ago).  

2. Warriors/Suns (0-3) - Bulls were completely depleted in their match-ups with Golden State, that said, they were either extremely short handed or short handed.  I can't even count it - other than kudos for Warriors for crushing them.  Suns game was a 3 point game, despite missing Caruso / Ball and its a game the Bulls choked with poor defense down the stretch / bad turnovers.  

3. Sixers (0-4) - Bulls lost on road by 5 points and at home by 9 points when fully healthy (early in season; 9 point home loss the shooting by Bulls was atrocious).   Bulls lost 2 more short-handed (one without Lavine, Caruso and Ball) and the other without Caruso/Ball).  But I admit - this is a bad match-up anyway.   

4. Jazz (1-0) - Bulls beat them early in the season (pretty sounding win and all teams had their main parts).  

5. Dallas = 1-1 (loss was when short-handed...but in this case short-handed = no Caruso only - so relatively healthy; but Lavine was already playing injured and would go out shortly after this game;).  

6. Grizzlies (0-2) - Bulls were either short handed or extremely short-handed (losing by 13 (extremely short handed) and 6 (short handed - i.e., no Caruso/Ball)

Other Notable Items:

Nuggets (2-0) - Bulls beat them in both games (6 & 8 point wins) 

Cleveland = 1-1

Nets = 2-1 (including a blowout by Bulls and a blowout by Nets (vs. very short-handed Bulls team - but it was first time Nets had old Big 3 and was going against nont trash Bulls lineup)

Miami = 0-3 (including a 3 point loss where Bulls blow late lead, when both teams were fully healthy

Boston = 1-1 (loss was by 2 points on the road; Vuc missed wide-open 3 that could have given them the win and this game was played without Lavine, Caruso, and Ball) 

Toronto = 2-1 (the one loss was in overtime with no Caruso/Ball).  

[Tnetennba]

 

[Chisoxfn]

31 minutes ago, Tnetennba said:

 

THANK GOODNESS!!! Fantastic news.  Hopefully this means somewhere around March 16th might be options for a return.  My presumption is this is more about him just getting cardio and seeing how his body reacts and we aren't talking about 3 weeks of contact practice before he can play where as someone like Williams might need more time given how long they were out?  

For perspective - I think there are 14 regular season games left if he can be there on the 16th (also gives context for how quickly that # starts to drop each week they are out (given you have 3-4 games per week).  

[chw42]

Let's hope this game against the Pistons isn't a trap game. Detroit has won 5 of their last 7. 

[Quin]

7 hours ago, chw42 said:

Let's hope this game against the Pistons isn't a trap game. Detroit has won 5 of their last 7. 

[Tnetennba]