2014-2015 NBA thread

[lord chas]

Don't have to worry about peaking before the playoffs this year

[Chisoxfn]

Weak ass performance. Lack of energy, etc. I hope this is all going to result in the team realizing that Thibbs is right and you need to stop listening to ownership and others around the league and start f***ing playing and practicing harder. I think the players are starting to realize that though and we will see them make strides.

 

Rose had a good game but he still shot way too many outside shots. You could see the form on his shot was a heck of a lot better (largely driven from him having better lift in his legs).

[Brian]

Bulls have been getting killed on pick and roll for 8 years and they still haven't learned how to defend it and rotate.

[Steve9347]

Wtf happened to this team?

Jimmy Butler stopped playing like the 5th best player in basketball briefly. It looks like Derrick might be ready to show up, but even at his best - this team is so much better with Butler at HIS best. We'll see. They were due for a tough stretch.

[bmags]

Jimmy Butler stopped playing like the 5th best player in basketball briefly. It looks like Derrick might be ready to show up, but even at his best - this team is so much better with Butler at HIS best. We'll see. They were due for a tough stretch.

 

That's all offensive stuff, though.

[thxfrthmmrs]

The Bulls have too many one way players outside of Butler. Every lineup Thibs puts out there there's a weakness that could be exploited by the other teams. The Wizards starting 5 are just more complete than ours at the moment, I think their starters have outscored ours by 40 points the past 2 games. It's not hard to see why, all of them are respectable scorers and are capable defenders.

 

We need Rose to show up on defense, Dunleavy has a lot of value in stretching the defense and he needs to play, we need Noah playing on 2 legs not 1. Even then I am starting to warm up to the Gasol-Gibson front line.

[Chisoxfn]

I don't know, I was definitely happy with his offensive game. He went to the hole and missed a few times too many in the fourth but he was hitting every thing from outside. He was really fun to watch for multiple quarters - I can't remember the last time that happened.

 

I am thinking Noah missing a few games wouldn't be the worst. He's obviously banged up and he is either not well-enough or not-talented enough to play through it. I think getting Gibson/Mirotic regular minutes alongside Pau could help them both.

We need more of Taj, imo. Noah is just so off right now. He needs to get some time off and get some mental confidence.

[Chisoxfn]

Jimmy Butler stopped playing like the 5th best player in basketball briefly. It looks like Derrick might be ready to show up, but even at his best - this team is so much better with Butler at HIS best. We'll see. They were due for a tough stretch.

I think it is more that we have had so many moving parts that the team still doesn't know how to play with each other and that chemistry build is going to naturally take longer when the guy who runs your offense had pretty much missed the past two seasons so he himself has his own rust in terms of running and offense, etc. that he has to lose. I'd also say that the loss of Dunleavy / McDermott forcing us to have Snell and Moore log heavy minutes isn't exactly a major advantage. I like the fact that Snell seems to be aggressive but his shot has looked bad from the outside and he is not Dunleavy.

[bmags]

I think it is more that we have had so many moving parts that the team still doesn't know how to play with each other and that chemistry build is going to naturally take longer when the guy who runs your offense had pretty much missed the past two seasons so he himself has his own rust in terms of running and offense, etc. that he has to lose. I'd also say that the loss of Dunleavy / McDermott forcing us to have Snell and Moore log heavy minutes isn't exactly a major advantage. I like the fact that Snell seems to be aggressive but his shot has looked bad from the outside and he is not Dunleavy.

 

Maybe, but the bulls in the past won these games with way less. The defense is a huge concern right now.

[Chisoxfn]

Maybe, but the bulls in the past won these games with way less. The defense is a huge concern right now.

Well the Wizards are a top team and the Bulls in the past had chemistry that this team doesn't. I think against the bad teams it has been the lack of intensity but in the case of against good teams, it has been difficult because our PG is still getting his comfort back and defensively he is brutal. Noah has been slow as well and defensive rotations are just off.

 

PS: Aaron Brooks is horrendous defensively. Literally horrendous. Makes Nate look like an all pro defender. It sickens me when I see people talk about dumping Kirk because Kirk (prior to getting hurt) was playing pretty darn good in his backup role and provides much better defense than Brooks (not as good as he used to be and he can't play the above average 2's like he used to but he's still much better than Brooks). Brooks, when he's not shooting like crazy, is pretty much a major negative in the lineup.

 

The Bulls will get back on track, I assure you, and this stretch will be better in the long-run. On a sidenote, I think Bulls were 4th in Opponents FG % prior to this slump so it isn't like they had been terrible...just not near up to snuff from past metrics and a lot of that I think has to do with all the new faces in the post position and the consistent injuries this team has had (a lot of these guys have not logged heavy minutes with a lot of the players) and the bad offense can easily fall back to bad defense (missed shots lead to fast breaks and easier points, etc).

 

They got to figure out the pick and roll though. Look at Rose on picks, he's the worst player on the planet right now at defending them.

[Steve9347]

That's all offensive stuff, though.

The defense has been s*** all year, but Jimmy was running up and down the court like a mad man blocking shots and getting steals. He's a bit gassed right now and it shows.

[Kyyle23]

I didnt think losing Dunleavy would hurt as much as it has, but it seems like it really put the rotations out of whack

[southsider2k5]

I didnt think losing Dunleavy would hurt as much as it has, but it seems like it really put the rotations out of whack

 

And it has forced Jimmy to play a ton of minutes.

[thxfrthmmrs]

And it has forced Jimmy to play a ton of minutes.

 

Not sure if sarcasm. Jimmy has been playing big minutes all season, he probably played less since Dunleavy went down.

[Jake]

They're not playing great right now, but I'm not too worried about it. It happens.

[Rowand44]

I'm a bit worried about Jimmy. Hopefully it's just a slump but if this is him crashing down to earth we're going to be in some trouble going forward.

[Chisoxfn]

As many have said, the defense has just been horrible. These last two games have just been hard to watch as you just knew the opposing team would score every time down court. If Rose could defend worth anything the team would be in a lot better place. Niko and Gasol get beat far too often. Hopefully, as the season goes on we will see Mirotic adjust to a more NBA-style defense. Too many times has he taken a chance and got beaten or screens one of his one players when he's off the ball. My god is Mirotic confident on offense though.

 

Hopefully this Noah injury gets him some time off, Dunleavy returns by next week and Rose keeps taking the offensive load off Butler. As others have said, Dunleavy makes a big difference stretching the floor and contesting jump shots.

 

What is interesting is that McDermott should be back soon and there is absolutely no role for him or his terrible defense. Seems like the Bulls would have been better off trading those picks for future picks.

Don't just McDermott and write him off based upon a couple weeks of play when he was on a bum knee to begin with. That is just foolish. McDermott is very much a good long-term fit at this point in time and no conclusions should really have been reached at this point in time on him.

[Kyyle23]

I'm a bit worried about Jimmy. Hopefully it's just a slump but if this is him crashing down to earth we're going to be in some trouble going forward.

 

I think his thumb is bothering him again. It has been heavily wrapped recently. For a little while he was down to just those black tape braces and then some wrap around his wrist to keep it in place, but it is back up to fully wrapped

[Steve9347]

I'm a bit worried about Jimmy. Hopefully it's just a slump but if this is him crashing down to earth we're going to be in some trouble going forward.

Nah, he was too good for too long. This is similar to Paul George last year. Came out gangbusters, slumped, then leveled out at about 90% of the gangbusters start. Jimmy is not a top 5 player in the NBA, but I'm comfortable putting him in the top 20.

[whitesoxfan99]

PS: Aaron Brooks is horrendous defensively. Literally horrendous. Makes Nate look like an all pro defender. It sickens me when I see people talk about dumping Kirk because Kirk (prior to getting hurt) was playing pretty darn good in his backup role and provides much better defense than Brooks (not as good as he used to be and he can't play the above average 2's like he used to but he's still much better than Brooks). Brooks, when he's not shooting like crazy, is pretty much a major negative in the lineup.

 

Kirk is an absolutely dreadful offensive player at this point in his career. Just awful. For how low his usage is and based on the fact he basically only takes wide open shots it is pathetic how inefficient he is, he can't create shots for himself, and he can't create shots for other people. He doesn't play terrible defense but he is a negative on offense nearly every game.

[Steve9347]

Edited January 15, 2015 by Steve9347

[Harry Chappas]

 

So who is playing like their old self first George or Rose?

Edited January 15, 2015 by Harry Chappas

[Rowand44]

That's seriously awesome. Good for him.

[chw42]

Rumor has it that Brook Lopez is going to OKC. Stephenson's going to the Nets. The Hornets get Lamb, Jack, and some other pieces.

 

Lopez in OKC would be a hell of a get.

[Jake]

Paul George never should have missed this entire season. I think they were learning from the Rose experience and setting expectations low.