2014-2015 NBA thread

[2nd_city_saint787]

Isn't Mirotic like 6'10", 210lbs. I'm worried he's not going to be able to defend the big 3's and 4's.

 

Worrying about it is valid I think. FWIW though Taj(6'9" 225) and Noah(6'11") aren't exactly huge either and they've done well.

 

Like Bmags has pointed out, reports on his D are actually quite positive. If they can get him to add a bit more muscle he should be fine.

Edited July 15, 2014 by scs787

[witesoxfan]

Worrying about it is valid I think. FWIW though Taj(6'9" 225) and Noah(6'11") aren't exactly huge either and they've done well.

 

Like Bmags has pointed out, reports on his D are actually quite positive. If they can get him to add a bit more muscle he should be fine.

 

That's the big thing. I think you'll see him do more in years 2 and 3 than year 1 defensively.

[Kyyle23]

Thibs defense is designed for help, it is a unit defense. As long as Mirotic follows his responsibilities he will be fine. You know he wont be requiring as much help as Boozer and Augustin did.

[Rowand44]

I am certainly not saying Mirotic will be the defender that Asik is, merely that his ability to adapt to the NBA game will be a lot faster than a normal rookie. Basically I dont see Thibs burying him on the bench like he had with Butler and Teague. Although Teague was more because of an inability to be any good

Ya, I'm not knocking Mirotic's defense either, I was just saying that I think the reason Omer got on the court so quickly for Thibs is cause he's a rim protector which Nikola isn't going to be. Like I said, I'm very interested to see how McDermott's and Mirotic's minutes play out this season.

[Rowand44]

It was a fun season, though can't anything end well for Jack ever?

 

My favorite part was at the end when President Heller was telling the Prime Minister his sob story about life. "I looked at this picture of this beautiful woman for 15 minutes and couldn't figure out who it was. Then I realized it was my daughter, Audrey."

 

OH BOO F*CKING HOO OLD MAN - he had that s*** going on, but he still didn't resign his position as POTUS?

 

b****, please.

 

Other than that, I enjoyed the season, though it didn't have much in the way of climactic scenes.

Ya but how's his jump shot?

[bmags]

I think Snell is the interesting player regarding McDermott. Say McDermott is competent and not godawful and people want to see him play*****.

 

He looks to be only behind MDJ on the depth at 3. But that assume Jimmy playing guard. If Snell is truly better at 3pt, ballhandling, and D, Thibs may try to take advantage of Jimmy at the 3 more often.

 

If Snell sucks, we have horrible guard depth, for one, but for two, we still have likely game-finish lineups of rose-hinrich-butler-taj-noah (yuck).

 

So McDermott will likely be a 2nd unit-second quarter player for quite a while unless he pushes himself out there.

 

******for J4L

Edited July 15, 2014 by bmags

[LDF]

I think Snell is the interesting player regarding McDermott. Say McDermott is competent and not godawful and people want to see him play*****.

 

He looks to be only behind MDJ on the depth at 3. But that assume Jimmy playing guard. If Snell is truly better at 3pt, ballhandling, and D, Thibs may try to take advantage of Jimmy at the 3 more often.

 

If Snell sucks, we have horrible guard depth, for one, but for two, we still have likely game-finish lineups of rose-hinrich-butler-taj-noah (yuck).

 

So McDermott will likely be a 2nd unit-second quarter player for quite a while unless he pushes himself out there.

 

******for J4L

 

here is a question to those who are more knowledgeable than I with re to snell. is he really a prospect to play

or is the bulls stuck with him b/c he was a 1 rounder?

 

I am trying to read up on sports site and I can't get a good feel for his potential.

[2nd_city_saint787]

I think Snell is the interesting player regarding McDermott. Say McDermott is competent and not godawful and people want to see him play*****.

 

He looks to be only behind MDJ on the depth at 3. But that assume Jimmy playing guard. If Snell is truly better at 3pt, ballhandling, and D, Thibs may try to take advantage of Jimmy at the 3 more often.

 

If Snell sucks, we have horrible guard depth, for one, but for two, we still have likely game-finish lineups of rose-hinrich-butler-taj-noah (yuck).

 

So McDermott will likely be a 2nd unit-second quarter player for quite a while unless he pushes himself out there.

 

******for J4L

 

If Rose can be the closer he used to be that wouldn't be the worst lineup in the world.

 

One of the bulls beat guys wondered if they might play Taj on SFs to close out games. Rose-Butler-Taj-Gasol-Noah would be very very interesting. Wouldn't work with some of the faster 3s out there but depending on the matchup I could see it work.

[Rowand44]

One of the bulls beat guys wondered if they might play Taj on SFs to close out games. Rose-Butler-Taj-Gasol-Noah would be very very interesting. Wouldn't work with some of the faster 3s out there but depending on the matchup I could see it work.

Talk about no floor spacing. Yes a few of those guys can make mid range j's but yeesh.

[Steve9347]

Ya but how's his jump shot?

I did not click delete swiftly enough.

 

I imagine Heller's jumpshot is quite broke.

[bmags]

Talk about no floor spacing. Yes a few of those guys can make mid range j's but yeesh.

 

The world would look a lot brighter if Jimmy could go back to being a 38% 3point player.

[Jake]

I think Mirotic will definitely struggle with strong post players that are going to throw their weight around against him. He'll probably also be relatively unproductive on the glass. I wouldn't expect Mirotic to easily defend the 3, either.

 

But that's okay - nobody really expects him to be great at those things. The key is whether his offensive game is in a place where it will make up for his other shortcomings right off the bat. This is the same question as McDermott. They're both going to put the ball in the basket, but will they be able to do it enough as rookies to make up for the things they almost certainly won't do well.

 

here is a question to those who are more knowledgeable than I with re to snell. is he really a prospect to play

or is the bulls stuck with him b/c he was a 1 rounder?

 

I am trying to read up on sports site and I can't get a good feel for his potential.

 

I think the jury is out on Snell. He's pretty athletic and has a nice jumpshot. He's shown flashes of more rounded scoring ability as well, but has always lacked the killer instinct that a scorer needs. Defensively, he looked at least solid last year and he has the athletic skillset and size to be a very valuable defender. I don't think he's there yet defensively, but there's definitely reason to be optimistic for him to become at least a defense-oriented roleplayer.

 

The questions are whether he will get that jumpshot to fall enough (I think shot selection was an issue last season) and if he can get aggressive and confident enough to contribute more than three pointers on offense. I think a reasonable expectation for Snell is that he'll be a good end-of-rotation player, if that makes sense. He should definitely be the type that provides value as a 20-25 minute, 7th or 8th best guy. There's upside for better than that, like becoming a sixth man on a very good team or a journeyman starter. His downside as a journeyman 5-10 minute per game player is also still looming.

[Chisoxfn]

here is a question to those who are more knowledgeable than I with re to snell. is he really a prospect to play

or is the bulls stuck with him b/c he was a 1 rounder?

 

I am trying to read up on sports site and I can't get a good feel for his potential.

Thibbs has really said lots of good things about him, even last year. Praised his work ethic and how he goes about playing business and likes his defensive potential. This year he's upped his shooting skills (which was something that was supposed to be a relative strong point when he came into the league, but mainly got more confident). Athletic skills are good. I think he's got a chance to be a good rotational player and that we'll see him make strides this year. He had some good games and some pretty bad games when filling in for Deng last year. Got some good experience though.

[Chisoxfn]

If Rose can be the closer he used to be that wouldn't be the worst lineup in the world.

 

One of the bulls beat guys wondered if they might play Taj on SFs to close out games. Rose-Butler-Taj-Gasol-Noah would be very very interesting. Wouldn't work with some of the faster 3s out there but depending on the matchup I could see it work.

If you wanted lock down defense on a taller team, you'd replace Hinrich w/Snell and have Snell / Butler lock up the wings.

[Jenksismyhero]

Snell reminds me a lot of Jimmy in year one - passive, didn't blow you away with any particular skill, never embarrassed himself, generally looked like he belonged as a role player. Hopefully he can make the jump in season two (as most rookies do) and can become a better threat to score.

[Steve9347]

I sure hope the Bulls are trying to solve their guard issues right now creatively. Boozer + Dunleavy + Kings Pick + unprotected 2015 1st + a whatever else is needed contract-wise to get Kevin Martin from the Timberwolves, whom no one wants.

 

I don't care if he doesn't get to the line 8 times per game anymore, we could still use that 3 point threat on the roster. You have to make a move to make THIS TEAM better. Our window is at most 2 more years with Noah reaching 30 and Pau being old.

 

Get creative for f***'s sake.

[Buehrle>Wood]

Agreed. We desperately need a wing.

[bmags]

I sure hope the Bulls are trying to solve their guard issues right now creatively. Boozer + Dunleavy + Kings Pick + unprotected 2015 1st + a whatever else is needed contract-wise to get Kevin Martin from the Timberwolves, whom no one wants.

 

I don't care if he doesn't get to the line 8 times per game anymore, we could still use that 3 point threat on the roster. You have to make a move to make THIS TEAM better. Our window is at most 2 more years with Noah reaching 30 and Pau being old.

 

Get creative for f***'s sake.

 

Nobody is taking boozer, but also they then couldn't sign Pau, and the Wolves already have Love and Pekovic as offensive forwards who cannot guard.

 

That would not really get Bulls anywhere. Also, I'm not really wanting to become the Knicks trading away our draft picks at every turn just to dump players.

[Rowand44]

A scoring wing sure would be nice.

[Steve9347]

Nobody is taking boozer, but also they then couldn't sign Pau, and the Wolves already have Love and Pekovic as offensive forwards who cannot guard.

 

That would not really get Bulls anywhere. Also, I'm not really wanting to become the Knicks trading away our draft picks at every turn just to dump players.

The Wolves have s*** and they know it. They're going to have Andrew Wiggins soon enough and be in full-on rebuild mode. That's why you give them the picks to take Boozer while also taking the contract they're trying to toss into every Love deal in Kevin Martin.

[Balta1701]

I believe the deadline to Amnesty Boozer is today.

[Rowand44]

I honestly kind of forgot about the Boozer stuff cause I assumed he'd be gone when Pau was brought in. What the hell is going on there?

[Balta1701]

I honestly kind of forgot about the Boozer stuff cause I assumed he'd be gone when Pau was brought in. What the hell is going on there?

Probably trying last-ditch efforts to trade him before the deadline and will amnesty him at the last moment because it would still have been preferable to do some sort of sign and trade.

[Quin]

I believe the deadline to Amnesty Boozer is today.

 

Nope, 17th.

[2nd_city_saint787]

Todays summer league game should be fun to watch. Twolves have Lavine and Glenn Robinson III to throw at Snell and DMD.