Chicago Bulls Thread

[magius]

whats up with chandler? havent seen too many bulls games, but it seems like he's not stepping up to the challenge of a starting spot. fortunately for him the bulls have no other option but to start him. very unfortunate if last year was just a contract year surge rather than a foreshadowing of his potential coming to fruition. i really thought he had a mutumbo or marcus camby in him. at this rate the 2001 draft will go down in infamy, the big man flop. the bulls need him to step up if they want to have any legitimate claim in the playoffs. no matter how well hinrich or gordon or deng or even sweetney plays the real key is chandler. him and maybe gordon are the only two, in my opinion, that you can maybe build a franchise around or at least a team since neither have it in them to be true superstars.

[air gordon]

the first comparison was garnett
then went lower down the ladder to resheed wallace
then went even lower down the ladder to marcus camby

unfortunately for the bulls and their fans, since tyson was in contract negotions, he felt that he should have a lax offseason in order to avoid injury. now we're the seeing the results of it

i agree that tyson is the key player for the team. he has no more excuses and is being paid the highest (not counting all star tim thomas).

disappointing start for him but he does have 70+ more games to prove himself

[Andrew]

Another double digit loss today, but Sweetney did start. 13 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists in 41 minutes. However, Songaila scored 6 points off the bench in 15 minutes, so he'll probably be back in the starting lineup next game. Would still like to see Gordon or Deng starting though.

[air gordon]

a much needed win today. hinrich & duhon had some big shots late in the 4th. deng and chandler had some key stops as well, most notably on the ballhog in the final 2 posessions for the home team

looks like sweetney is the go to guy

on personnal note, this win came with some extra satisfaction since it came against los angeles at their homeplace. but wins against sub .500 team should be expected

[magius]

isiah must be feeling suicidal right about now.....poor guy, all he needs now is for curry to retire early, and to give in to a marbury trade demand to minnesota for jaric.

[Andrew]

looks like sweetney is the go to guy

Maybe Scott Skiles reads the NLSC boards after all. Anyway, very satisfying to see them break the losing streak and to withstand Kobe's 43.

isiah must be feeling suicidal right about now.....poor guy, all he needs now is for curry to retire early, and to give in to a marbury trade demand to minnesota for jaric.

While I kind of wish Curry was still around (though Sweetney's beginning to look like a real steal) it certainly does make it easier to stomach given that he's not doing much for the Knicks. If he'd exploded a la Jermaine O'Neal and the Knicks were atop the league the loss would sting a lot more.

[maes]

Sweetney is #5 in the NBA for efficiency per 48 minutes...shocking for a 6' 8" Center. Depending on how well Pax drafts w/ the Knick's picks, the Curry trade might look brilliant in a few years.

Gordon is a little disappointing...maybe he just always a slow starter?

[J@3]

He might be, it took a while for him to kick into gear last season. If I remember correctly, he was awful in the beginning of last season.

[air gordon]

Sweetney is #5 in the NBA for efficiency per 48 minutes...shocking for a 6' 8" Center. Depending on how well Pax drafts w/ the Knick's picks, the Curry trade might look brilliant in a few years.

Gordon is a little disappointing...maybe he just always a slow starter?

imagine if sweetney could maintain his numbers as a starter. that would save the team the trouble of overspending for the big man they were going to sign in the offseason. that would leave $20 million open to use on someone else (not including the thank you card to zeke)

[Andrew]

So far the only real problem with the Curry trade is the loss of Antonio Davis in my opinion. The Sweetney/Curry swap doesn't look too bad right now, given Sweetney is outperforming Curry in every category except blocks and the Knicks aren't tearing up the league.

[maes]

So far the only real problem with the Curry trade is the loss of Antonio Davis in my opinion.

You're totally right, if things had gone as planned and the Knicks waived Antonio Davis, that would have made the move all the more sweeter.

If only Tim Thomas would actually play instead of waiting to be traded :/

[air gordon]

So far the only real problem with the Curry trade is the loss of Antonio Davis in my opinion.

You're totally right, if things had gone as planned and the Knicks waived Antonio Davis, that would have made the move all the more sweeter.

If only Tim Thomas would actually play instead of waiting to be traded :/

given how skiles is such a hard-ass, thomas doesn't appear to practice hard, and skiles calling thomas not playing a "non-issue" (:lol:), thomas won't be playing. there was even a game or 2 where thomas wasn't even sitting on the players bench and skiles didn't notice.

[magius]

yeah antonio davis was the only real veteran of any repute on that team, and i like to think he added a calming factor, not to mention a good physical 10 and 8. another trade that happened during the offseason, similar to this one, that has gone unexpectedly in the other teams favor is the diaw for joe johnson deal. even without the 1st, diaw is playing very well, and seems to be more of a point guard then joe johnson can ever be. kind of bitter sweet since i like both players, but diaw deserves this. i was always mystified why atlanta didnt use him more often when healthy. again off topic, but i think phoenix just played yao ming and the rockets with no starting centre in the lineup. from the boxscore they started marion, jones, bell, diaw, nash. the tallest player on that team is kurt thomas. wow, talk about going against the grain.

tim thomas is such a dissapointment, you saw it coming a mile away, but youre still disapointed. how does a 6'10 guy with those skills find a way to suck so much? its like he actively tries to not try.

[Andrew]

Make it three straight wins, back over .500 and into sixth place in the East. My thoughts before the San Antonio game were along the lines of "At least they won't have to play them down the stretch if they need to seperate themselves from other Eastern teams to secure a playoff berth", which quickly became more positive after the game. Really nice victory from all accounts, can't wait to see it.

Houston's struggling, but given that they've lost some games they perhaps should have won on this trip. Always frustrating to see your favourite team lose to teams that really should beat and then perplexing to see them beat teams they probably shouldn't.

[air gordon]

the win against the spurs was their best game so far.

houston always destroys the bulls, i don't care who was or was not playing. it was a big win and they finished the circus trip 3-3, the first since the glory years

the team looks like it's getting back into the same groove they were in like last year, post all star break

duhon's outside shot has improved, giving the bulls another weapon on the floor. i'm very impressed by his play. he's even hitting big shots in the 4th. kudos to duhon.

some to be concerned about chandler:
http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com ... -headlines

But the Bull to watch in the coming weeks is Tyson Chandler, who has experienced shortness of breath and was diagnosed last week with a hiatal hernia, also known as diaphragmatic hernia.

"I knew something wasn't right," Chandler said. "I was feeling like I couldn't get my wind."

Chandler said he is taking medication twice a day, except on game nights when he skips an evening dosage to avoid potential side effects.

It's hard to say if Bulls coach Scott Skiles is concerned. Asked about it before the game, he said he didn't know anything about it.

The episodes certainly made Chandler nervous. He coordinated a visit to a specialist with team athletic trainer Fred Tedeschi.

Chandler has struggled with acid reflux in the past and also had lesions in his esophagus from acid buildup. The reflux is under control and the lesions have healed, Tedeschi said.

Information on the Mayo Clinic Web site says a hiatal hernia can form at the opening of the diaphragm where the esophagus joins the stomach. It causes chest pain similar to heartburn, Chandler said.

"It makes you nervous because you can feel it in your heart, it seems," he said.

The extent of its effect on his play is unclear.

He didn't start the season in great shape, but that was attributed to a poor workout regimen in the summer.

He said he often fights fatigue from the condition, especially in the fourth quarter.

[Andrew]

Not the best news. Sounds pretty uncomfortable, too.

[air gordon]

now 4 wins in a row after a win over the Magic who had a 4 game winning streak themselves coming into this contest

i hope Curry plays tomorrow. the last few games between the bulls and knicks have come down to the last play

[Andrew]

No such luck, a 109-101 loss. Ah well...at least Curry can't gloat..or shouldn't. Jamal Crawford is probably feeling pretty happy about it. Nice outburst from Gordon though, 28 including 7/11 from downtown.

[Doobie]

Tyson Chandler showed excellent sportsmanship tonight , he fouled Frye pretty damn hard , but then helped him up afterwards . I always saw Tyson as a mean person , but he gained respect from me for that . The only reason I thought he was mean was because he looks mean.

[air gordon]

even if the refs helped you guys out a little bit, good game by the knicks. they clearly stole the momentum in the late 3rd and early 4th. that ariza dunk was just nasty. the bulls couldnt recover

frye impressed me and i was somewhat happy to see crawford light the bulls up in the 4th (since he gets unfairly trashed by bulls fans).

so far this season, chandler is stealing money from the bulls

skiles had some bad coaching decisions. i bet crawford's eyes lit up when he saw piatkowski defending him. i heard pike's ankles were put on ice after crawford broke them on 2 separate occasions. and wtf was songalia doing in there...

ah well.. the bulls-knicks game are always good ones

[Andrew]

so far this season, chandler is stealing money from the bulls

Absolutely...I was hoping he'd be in double-double territory this year. But just out of interest, do you reckon it would have been better if they'd kept Curry for the same price and let Chandler go? Curry's currently banged up and his numbers aren't much better than last year's and Sweetney's been good so far (better than I had anticipated) so in that respect it doesn't look like much of a blunder, but that might not always be the case.

[John WB]

No such luck, a 109-101 loss. Ah well...at least Curry can't gloat..or shouldn't. Jamal Crawford is probably feeling pretty happy about it. Nice outburst from Gordon though, 28 including 7/11 from downtown.

Gordon was killing us.

About Sweetney, he's just like Curry. Fat and slow. I don't like the slow big men. Slows the game down too much. Hard to do fast breaks.

It's affecting the Nets now. They really miss K-Mart. Not sure if it's affecting the Bulls.

[Andrew]

That's true, but production wise Sweetney is giving the Bulls about the same as what Curry has been giving the Knicks, at a lower price.

[maes]

The Center shouldn't factor into the fast break that much, the team doesn't need all 5 guys to score fast break points. Showtime Lakers, when they ran Kareem wasn't the guy scoring.

I think it's just Skiles. With that small lineup, the Bulls should be trying to fast break more often, most of their shots end up being a mid-long range jump shot anyway even in half court, it's not like they need to slow it to half-court to feed Shaq in the middle.

[air gordon]

so far this season, chandler is stealing money from the bulls

Absolutely...I was hoping he'd be in double-double territory this year. But just out of interest, do you reckon it would have been better if they'd kept Curry for the same price and let Chandler go? Curry's currently banged up and his numbers aren't much better than last year's and Sweetney's been good so far (better than I had anticipated) so in that respect it doesn't look like much of a blunder, but that might not always be the case.

it would have been better if they kept both (they did have the means to sign both).

some people are suggesting chandler needs a scoring big man to take pressure off chandler. chandler signed that big contract, he should be producing regardless i think. and scoring big man are at a premium- so factoring in the money this guy would get, it takes ~16 million a year to get chandler to be a productive player

if the bulls resigned curry and not chandler, i don't think curry's production would be affected- he's used to playing against the opposition's starters. if anything, i think he'd be doing better since the bulls perimeter shooting has gotten better.

anyway chandler had a very good game against the celts. he needed that not only for himself, but for the fans since they are starting to call for his head.