The Game High

Separated at Birth?

Mr. Pringles, meet Mr. D'Antoni

 

Story Lines to Watch this Bulls Season

Beyond watching the progression of Derrick Rose, several other story lines for the Bulls should emerge this season: 

How about an All Star player this year?

It's been NINE years since a Chicago Bull played in an NBA All-Star game.  That player was Michael Jordan.  That stat alone should tell you how the team's been doing for the last decade.

Will Paxson finally make the "package of youth" for a proven All-Star trade?

The Bulls need to clear up the logjam in the backcourt and find a legitimate All-Star.  If one doesn't emerge from within the roster, then it's time to go find one.  The annual assemblage of youth through the draft cannot continue. 

Will a consistent starting lineup emerge? 

Due to Larry Hughes' injury and the lack of a true center, the lineups may be juggled nightly depending upon the matchups.  Aaron Gray fills up the middle, but he fits VDN's offensive philosophy as well as Shaq works in Phoenix.  Tyrus Thomas could average a double-double if he starts at power forward.  But this would require moving Drew Gooden to the center position, where his size and propensity for 18-foot jumpers is less than ideal.

Can Vinnie Del Negro coach? 

He's surrounded by experienced assistants, but is he going to be the one with the clipboard, diagramming X's and O's during the timeouts?  During the preseason games, VDN could often be seen conferring with Del Harris on the sidelines.  Harris is a good guy, but he couldn't win with teams absolutely loaded in talent in the Lakers and Mavs.  So VDN better bring some creativity.

Will Luol Deng be exposed as overrated and overpaid? 

When you sign a 6-year contract with over $70 million in guaranteed salary, that makes you the franchise CORNERSTONE.  As it stands today, Deng would be the 4th option in crunch time after Rose, Gordon, and Gooden.  Deng brings hustle and an all-round game, but he's going to have to step it up several notches this season. 

Will Nocioni find himself? 

Insane passion and maddening inconsistency have followed Noce since he joined the Bulls.  With better shot selection and foul control, he could easily become the a hustling fan favorite and off-the-bench energizer this team needs. 

Who is going to be the enforcer for Derrick Rose? 

Charles Oakely always had MJ's back.  Nocioni has the inside track, as his retaliation foul on Milwaukee's Richard Jefferson in the last preseason game had both teams ready to rumble.

How tolerable will Neil Funk and Stacey King be calling Bulls games on Comcast?

Why split up the legitimate chemistry of Funk and Bill Wennington broadcasting on the radio?  Sure, Johnny "Red" Kerr may have wanted/needed a dimished role and Tom Dore was unbearable to hear, but Stacey King isn't that much of an improvement.  King is a comedic legend in his own mind, and hearing him crack "jokes" and bust on "old" Red and Neil is mindblowingly pathetic.

What other forms of stadium entertainment do the t-shirt launching genuises in Bulls marketing department have in store for us this season?

May I suggest something involving Korean acrobats and a teeter totter?

Simple Solution To Bulls Starting Back Court

The consensus opinion is that the Bulls will use the preseason to set their back court rotation.  However, unless coach Vinnie Del Negro employs a 4-guard offense, there won't be enough minutes for the abundance of guards currently on the roster (Rose, Hinrich, Gordon, Sefolosha, and Hughes).  Someone is going to lose major minutes and someone else is headed for the trading block.

But screw the preseason.  After two games, we've seen enough.  This is at best a .500 ball club, so it's time to employ the playground pickup strategy:

VDN:  "Derrick, you're starting at point guard.  Who do you want to play with?"

Rose:  "Thabo."

VDN:  "Great.  Thabo, you're starting at 2.  Gordon, you're sixth man.  Hinrich and Hughes, please observe the fine vinyl seat padding on these folding chairs."

Problem solved. 

Up next:  Finding a pair of scissors for Nocioni.

Who The Fuck Decided It Was Basketball Season Already?

It’s been a while, amigos.  We’re talking correspondence levels of Jim Anchower proportions.  Did I miss anything? 

Besides an epic collapse in Cubbie land and the inevitable playoff ouster of the Sox, is it really that tough being a Chicago sports fan?

 

Well, put down the torches and pitchforks fellow natives because another glorious season of Bulls basketball is upon us!  On the bright side, compared to the 162 baseball games played this year by  the Cubs and Sox,  it will only take the Bulls 82 games before ripping your heart out and handing it to you.

When we last left our lovable Bulls, they were staring at the 153^rd rebuilding strategy since the departure of his Airness.  This summer, we welcomed new head coach Vinnie Del Negro and number one draft pick (no pressure) Derrick Rose to the fold.   

Annually, the Bulls roster provides a vast assortment of young, talented players, a logjam in the backcourt, and the lack of a true All-Star.  This year is no exception.

The Bulls are already two games into the pre-season and winless.  Not that wins and losses matter at this point, but the Vinnie Del Negro era could use a few feel-good victories to build some team confidence before the games start to count. 

However, it’s already clear that Derrick Rose is going to be pretty good.   Once he settles into the point guard position, his turnovers should decrease.  And from there, the success of this Bulls team hinges on its players’ desire to play defense and not settle for jump shots on every possession.  Just like last year…

4th Quarter Anti-Collapse in Cleveland

A fourth quarter comeback victory on the road against Lebron?  Surely you jest.  But tonight's heavy weight title match of coaching prowess between Jim Boylan and Mike Brown came up in the Bull's favor 101 - 98.

Joakim Noah logged 40 minutes of play tonight and singlehandedly contested Cleveland's final two shots.  First, he altered a driving fade away shot by Lebron.  Moments later, he ran out from under the basket to close out on Daniel Gibson's last second three point attempt.   Two misses later, the Bulls walked out with an improbable victory.

Trailing by as many as 17 points, the Bulls caught fire in the 3rd quarter and finished the fourth quarter with a 24 to 13 point advantage.  The rare display of offensive potency lead to a 53.5% shooting with 40% on threes. 

Welcome to the NBA.  Where Eastern Conference basketball happens.

Bulls Resign Charles Oakley For Final 10 Games

There really isn't any other choice, is there?  If this season is going down in flames, why not make it entertaining?  This Bulls team has struggled so mightily, both on the court and off, that the masochist in me wants to see how far we can push the envelope of insanity. 

Just turn on the microphone, sit back, and enjoy the fireworks.

Signing Oakley to the Bulls roster would be the equivalent of GM John Paxson tossing a live hand grenade into the Bulls locker room.  At 44 years old, the Oak Tree still thinks he can play. 

While Oakley might not start for the NBA's "All-Crazy" team, he's definitely coming off the bench.  And I couldn't think of a better mentor for Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah.  If you're going to fued with fellow players and coaches, then you better learn from a master.  Plus, he once appeared in a music video for Hootie and the Blowfish, at least according to Wikipedia.

As a much needed bonus, Oakley would administer old-school beat downs to any team that dared put on a slam dunk fest during a game (see last night's game in Philly).

His Mike Tyson-esque post-game interviews would be classic.  Back in 2001, Oakley was fined $50,000 for criticizing Tim Floyd following a franchise-worst 53-point loss in Minnesota.  Imagine what he'd say about Jim Boylan and his 4th quarter, lead-killing lineups.

C'mon Paxson, let's make this happen.

Sam Smith Condescends the Blogosphere

We sports bloggers are a deplorable lot, laying on couches in our ragged clothes, staring into our televisions, and pulling bong hits from plastic honey bears before typing up some half, no fully, baked post.

Floyd taking a break from his sports blog.

Just ask Sam Smith, for he is not blogger, as he so proudly declares in his latest mail bag.

"I am not a blogger! OK, it's time to explain this. I have expressed my opinion about blogging before and I'm told got considerable heat about it on the blogosphere. Though since I believe that is beyond Uranus, I had no idea where to find it."

While I have always enjoyed reading his columns for NBA league news and rumors, aging dinosaur journalists like Smith are increasingly belittling the bloggers of the world. 

Some of it might come down to ego.  Newspaper sportswriters typically have earned degrees in journalism and have invested a career's worth of time and energy for their voice, their thoughts, to be communicated to the world in print.  The internet gives everyone a voice now, so anyone with any idea or insight on sports can be heard.  There's also the complete freedom to write anything without fear of being fired.  For the traditional sportswriter, it must be a difficult adjustment to this reality.

Ironically, Smith's columns have become more outspoken or blog-like in recent years.  So he can condescend all he wants, but the influence of sports blogs is clear. 

Shamrock Shake Dreams

Woke up this morning in a brain fog of watered-down green beer and shamrock shake residue.  But overall I felt pretty happy considering the Bulls fired Jim Boylan on Sunday, with John Paxson assuming head coach duties for the remainder of the season.  Wait a minute... Damn you, lucid REM state dreams!

In reality, Trib columnist Sam Smith is calling out Nevade 7-footer JaVale McGee as a possible sleeper pick for the Bulls.  Oh hell no.

Pulling the covers over and going back to dreamland...

Substitution Patterns Doom Bulls

Jim Boylan's game strategy, now on display at the Art Institute of Chicago

Apparently, an 18-point lead, at home, against the 76ers isn't enough for the Bulls when their coach is Jim Boylan.  Leading 88 -70 early in the 4th quarter, the 76ers blew past the Bulls for a 110 - 106 victory.  That's a 40-point quarter if you're doing the math. 

Preceeding the 4th quarter collapse, the Bulls had built their lead with the play of Thabo Sefolosha, Ben Gordon, and Joakim Noah.   However, when Noah picked up his 4th foul near the 3 minute mark of the 3rd quarter, to the bench he went, never to return.  After hitting key jumpshots all game, Thabo wore a bewildered look as he took a seat during critical stretches of the 4th.  Meanwhile, Ben Gordon was nowhere to be found on the court, with the Bulls struggling to gain any continuity on offense.

So for the better half of the 4th quarter, Boylan shit out a lineup anchored by Drew Gooden at center and Kirk Hinrich running an ineffective point.  With no shot blocking presence for the Bulls, the Sixers penetrated at will to get fouled or kicked it out to drain open threes.  On offense, the Sixers trapped Captain Kirk on all the high pick-and-rolls, forcing Hinrich into several turnovers and the remaining Bulls into poor shots.

Despite some dubious officiating, the Bulls still gave this game away.

The 76ers smelled Boylan's stench of a strategy and knew the game could be stolen:

"Going into the fourth quarter, the Bulls' coach tweaked his lineup a little bit from the first half," 76ers forward Reggie Evans said. "He didn't play [ Aaron] Gray; he played the kid from LSU [ Tyrus Thomas]. They went small ball."

Another inexcusable loss.

Only 108 Days to the NBA Draft 2008

If you ask any Bulls player, they'll tell you how much they prefer to be in the NBA playoffs instead of the NBA lottery. Even if it's in the 8th seed against Boston, participating in playoff games is always more valuable than watching them from your couch. At least that's what the players reason.

In previous seasons, I would agree. Collectively, the Bulls were a younger (and hungrier) team that benefited from the playoff experience. Players learned the subtle and not-so-subtle differences between the regular and post-seasons: the intensity, the traditional half-court gameplay, the refs... And after each post-season elimination, the Bulls had a clear idea of how they needed to improve in the off-season. The NBA playoffs, if anything, exposes all the strengths and the weaknesses of a team.

This season, the core Bulls are a year older (seemingly less hungry) and the only player who might benefit from the playoff experience is rookie Joakim Noah. However, after attending Florida and winning consecutive NCAA championships, I doubt he'd learn much more. And unlike previous seasons, we don't need the playoffs to tell us where the Bulls need to improve. After 63 games, we all have a pretty good idea.

The greater benefit to the Bulls, and to Noah, would be a high draft pick in the NBA lottery. In an ideal world, the Bulls would do everything in their power to draft Memphis point guard Derrick Rose, assuming he enters. Whether trading up to grab Rose, lucking out with a top 3 pick, or acquiring a veteran point guard (slim pickings), the Bulls desperately need a pure guard to distribute the ball and defend against the taller PGs in the league.

One outstanding NBA Mock Draft site, currently has the Bulls pegged in at the #9 pick and taking Russel Westbrook from UCLA. The Bulls need to do better than that.

108 days and counting...