Chicago Bulls Thread

[SnitchDevil]

Do you bulls fans miss Eddy Curry?

[Andrew]

Yes, although it's made a little easier (for me at least) by the fact he hasn't pulled a Jermaine O'Neal in New York. Sweetney's also had his moments but the fact the Bulls kept Chandler for $60 million rather than Curry is really starting to sting.

[Emiliano]

Chandler has been dissapointing this season so far. You'd expect a guy with his youth, athleticism and a whopping new contract to do way better than what he's been doing.

[air gordon]

i read somewhere that scott skiles let hinrich, duhon and someone else run practice for a day because he (skiles) had the impression that the team was tuning him out. sounds like a great idea albeit it's not producing results right now

yeh i heard about that earlier in the week. Maybe that's why Paxson issued a statement to the press saying he has full confiidence in Skiles

Do you bulls fans miss Eddy Curry?

do you miss shaq?

Chandler has been dissapointing this season so far. You'd expect a guy with his youth, athleticism and a whopping new contract to do way better than what he's been doing.

lol you'd think that right? the guy entering his 5th season as a pro and i think he's regressed
...

the small lineup almost worked last nite. Personally i think Songalia was paid off by Phoenix to miss that crucial FT late in the game and to pass to the ball to the Suns a few times in OT.

[Andrew]

It's one of the things I was worried about when the whole contract year/potential issue came up about a year ago. His stock has fallen but his salary has gone up. If it ever got to the point where the Bulls wanted to deal him because it just wasn't working out, that's pretty much not an option anymore.

[air gordon]

they could trade him this offseason to the Celts if they want to go young:
hinrich, chandler, Thomas, pick for Pierce, Blount and filler

[Andrew]

That would be about the only way to trade him at the moment, to match salaries and offer a bit extra along with one or two of the Bulls' more attractive assets. They can't really play the potential card anymore.

[air gordon]

i was thinking the 3 guard lineup doesn't work against a big team like the Bucks but they almost did it. they sure pissed that one away. should have called timeout when it was 93-91 with around 15 ticks left

[Andrew]

Gordon seems to be responding well to starting and playing more minutes, at least on the stats sheet. I'm guessing he's doing OK if he's finding a way to put up 28 points.

[maes]

The 3 guard rotation works for Duhon/Gordon, but Hinrich had a horrendous night at SF, 1-7 shooting 4 boards 2 assists 2 TOs.

Only the Bulls would take one of the best PGs and turn him into a ghetto SF. 6' 4" isn't tall enough to play F in college.

It also had problems in the Phoenix overtime loss. I saw a couple of times where for whatever reason Gordon & Hinrich had to switch and Gordon had to guard Marion, and he got a lot of easy baskets and some uncontested dunks. At least a real F would have been able to send Marion to the FT line.

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

they could trade him this offseason to the Celts if they want to go young:
hinrich, chandler, Thomas, pick for Pierce, Blount and filler

Hinrich is about the only bright spot on the Bulls duringthis period. Why would paxson ship him out? Even if it would mean getting rid of Ty's contract.

[air gordon]

actually hinrich has been mediocre so i dont' know where you're getting that from. he's shown he's just as streaky as Crawford but with a little more defense

Boston would probably ask for 2 of 3 from Deng, Gordon, Hinrich and a pick if they traded Pierce. But if the Celts believe Chandler can thrive in their system, it's possible they would consider the offer above

With hinrich's departure and Pierce's addtion, finally the undersized backcourt is solved and finally they get an established star. Gordon could shift to PG and wouldn't have to do as much playmaking as Pierce is a decent distributor

[Andrew]

Another loss, but another good performance by Gordon. The small lineup may have its flaws but it is at least proving Gordon can play well given the opportunity. Which, once again, means he'll probably be back on the bench playing sparingly and sparodically soon.

[air gordon]

he should have played more last nite. he wasn't doing anything wrong yet he was yanked with rest of the lineup in the 3rd. No surprise it was Hinrich and Duhon who returned to the floor before Gordon did

[Andrew]

That's what I really don't get about Skiles. Not only does he seem to favour discipline over strategy (which only works for so long), he'll go for it even when it's not appropriate. Like any other sport games of basketball, for all their complexities, are won and lost upon some very basic principles...like, for instance, making sure the player with the hot hand is on the floor when you need to score, or putting out the best possible lineup in crunch time. I should think Gordon qualifies given his performances last season.

With the current skid, I hope Paxson shortens the leash a bit. I know, I know, there are problems in the frontcourt and they weren't expected to be an elite team heading into the season, I know they've scrapped for wins and had to basically play perfect ball for their victories. But how much of that is the strategy placing them in such a position?

I know it's too easy to blame the coach but I just feel the talent is better than this. I think the fact Gordon has been playing much better given the time and the starting job is an example of how Skiles' earlier methods are faulty.

[air gordon]

I think at this point Skiles is doing whatever he thinks it takes to end the sreak. They key words being "whatever he thinks"

Last year, we couldn't question/second guess his tactics but now I think it's justified. Deng has easily been the team's best player and Skiles himself admitted that Nocioni has been the team's most consistent player. Yet last game both of them were cemented on the bench for most of the game

Skiles needs to get over his Man crushes for Hinrich and Duhon!

Maybe the steaks ends today since the team plays better on the road.

[galvatron3000]

Well, how long do you think Gordon will remain in Chi town and who do you think would be interested and would benefit from having him?

[Andrew]

Last year, we couldn't question/second guess his tactics but now I think it's justified.

That's it. It's easier to stomach weird strategies or ballhogging or whatever when it's working. But this year...Skiles comment about Gordon was bullshit indeed. I don't buy the idea that a guy who was playing around 20 minutes per game and getting around 6 shots is having more plays run for him than anyone in the league. That was just poor.

[maes]

Deng has easily been the team's best player and Skiles himself admitted that Nocioni has been the team's most consistent player. Yet last game both of them were cemented on the bench for most of the game

Skiles needs to get over his Man crushes for Hinrich and Duhon!

TRUE.

Here's Skiles Logic:
- team is desperately short on height
- Deng is the Bull's highest PER player by a mile
- Nocioni has seem to find his shot, shooting 46% from 3 point range
- therefore, play Hinirch and Duhon 40 minutes a game.

I hate to say it, but the Bulls are one organization that need Bill Walton make some trades for them.

[Andrew]

Hey, the Bulls had one of those games where they've scored more points at the end of the game than their opponents. What are they called again? Well, anyway, they got one, whatever it is.

Only 23 minutes for Gordon, but a decent performance in his limited court time. I guess he'll be back on the bench given Duhon had a good game and they won. Feels good to see them win again...first double digit win of the season too.

EDIT: They're also in 8th place thanks to the struggles of other teams like the Wizards and Celtics. Thanks, other teams.

[Drex]

Now the thread name is appropiate

[air gordon]

thank goodness that's over.

i caught the replay of the game- it was a dogfight up until the 1:30 mark in the 4th so don't be fooled by the score

SKiles benching Duhon and going with a more traditional lineup showed that Skiles will try anything to win. Well maybe not everything...

the best thing about the win was that they played with confidence/believed they were going to win throughout the whole game. in the past few games, they've played well enough to win but they would have some kind of mental breakdown/have something not go their way and they would fold.

as for the Bogut guy, he looked decent again. he got burned a few times by the smaller big men on defense but got some back on offense. I'm beginning to think he's a better finisher in traffic with his left then right like Scot Pollard

[Andrew]

Two in a row...I'm guessing this one was pretty fun to watch. I'm going by the GameChannel here so I could be wrong but seems this one turned into a romp in the third quarter. Nice games by Gordon (21 and 3), Hinrich (26 and 5) and Nocioni (16 and 6, perfect from the field and line). I'm liking the idea of Gordon and Hinrich in the backcourt with Duhon coming off the bench so far.

[air gordon]

i think i need to stop watching their games live. this is 2nd day in a row I've missed the game live and they've won haha

sbhzMafia- i told you the Bulls would beat the Grizz

[Andrew]

I know what you mean. Each game I saw live last year, they lost.