Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Remember the Bulls? They're Back!
I made a prediction about a week ago that the Bulls were going to make the playoffs this season; you can see for yourself on the sidebar. That was after watching the Bulls beat the T-Wolves. Now, after tonight's victory over the Pistons and in the midst of a 5-game winning streak, I feel very good about our chances. Let's talk about the team, shall we?
-Ben Gordon. I liked the pick when I did our shoddy draft coverage in June, and now he is coming together, hitting big shot after big shot when our inside game deteriorated late in the 4th. He's like a non-stupid version of Jamal Crawford. But the question remains, why isn't Skiles starting him, and going with Chris Duhon? I don't know.
-Luol Deng. I liked the pick here too, a hard working player that can play 3 positions. He actually led rookies in scoring for a few days, I think.
-Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry. Well, they're sort of coming together, but really, I think it's just that Skiles has found their limits. Curry will give us 20 points in 25 minutes, and Chandler is good for 8 points on putbacks and 10 boards plus a couple blocks. Curry probably won't be a 40 minute workaholic, and Chandler won't ever blossom into a KG lookalike.
-Kirk Hinrich. He's digressed a little, but still solid. If only he could shoot.
Overall, I think the Bulls are in for a bright next few months; if Skiles can get a set starting rotation and substitution pattern in, we could be this year's Grizzlies; a lot of talent but no real stars. They tend to have good offensive sets that enable a ton of alley-oops early in the game, which is always fun to watch, but they're still a young team with questionable ball handling skills. Also, we're holding opponents to really low field goal percentages, yet we're giving them an extra 10 shots a game through turnovers and offensive rebounds. And then another 10 points on free throws, since we're bottom 5 in free throws in the league. It's almost as if we have to thoroughly outplay any team in order to win.
The NBA in general looks wide open; after watching a bunch of games for the first time in probably 2 years, none of the top teams looks like top team material; Indy with the suspensions, Cleveland can't get any teamwork going on, the Pistons underperforming greatly. In the west, I just can't see Phoenix or Seattle keeping it up. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Bulls in the second round this year. And no, I haven't been drinking. Of course, this all assumes that they mature as a team a little bit. Hopefully that will happen.
-Ben Gordon. I liked the pick when I did our shoddy draft coverage in June, and now he is coming together, hitting big shot after big shot when our inside game deteriorated late in the 4th. He's like a non-stupid version of Jamal Crawford. But the question remains, why isn't Skiles starting him, and going with Chris Duhon? I don't know.
-Luol Deng. I liked the pick here too, a hard working player that can play 3 positions. He actually led rookies in scoring for a few days, I think.
-Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry. Well, they're sort of coming together, but really, I think it's just that Skiles has found their limits. Curry will give us 20 points in 25 minutes, and Chandler is good for 8 points on putbacks and 10 boards plus a couple blocks. Curry probably won't be a 40 minute workaholic, and Chandler won't ever blossom into a KG lookalike.
-Kirk Hinrich. He's digressed a little, but still solid. If only he could shoot.
Overall, I think the Bulls are in for a bright next few months; if Skiles can get a set starting rotation and substitution pattern in, we could be this year's Grizzlies; a lot of talent but no real stars. They tend to have good offensive sets that enable a ton of alley-oops early in the game, which is always fun to watch, but they're still a young team with questionable ball handling skills. Also, we're holding opponents to really low field goal percentages, yet we're giving them an extra 10 shots a game through turnovers and offensive rebounds. And then another 10 points on free throws, since we're bottom 5 in free throws in the league. It's almost as if we have to thoroughly outplay any team in order to win.
The NBA in general looks wide open; after watching a bunch of games for the first time in probably 2 years, none of the top teams looks like top team material; Indy with the suspensions, Cleveland can't get any teamwork going on, the Pistons underperforming greatly. In the west, I just can't see Phoenix or Seattle keeping it up. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Bulls in the second round this year. And no, I haven't been drinking. Of course, this all assumes that they mature as a team a little bit. Hopefully that will happen.
# posted by Stuart @ 9:20 PM 
