Chicago Bulls Thread

[Andrew]

james johnson. has not been impressive in the preseason thus far. i think i already can't stand Taj Gibson

I only saw the one Bulls preseason game, so it's entirely possible I spoke too soon.

[air gordon]

or not. i don't like Gibson's game and i was hoping to see a more aggressive offensive player in Johnson. he's put up some decent preseason numbers tho

[Andrew]

I meant as far as being impressed by what I saw. I only saw the one game, so perhaps I got my hopes up too soon.

I'll be watching the game against the Celtics later this week. I'm hoping it'll at least be competitive, I'm not expecting a classic to rival last season's Playoff series.

[air gordon]

Kg will be playing. Rasheed always gives them problems. The bulls could be 0-3 at the end of the week

[Andrew]

San Antonio, Boston and Miami...yeah, I could see them in a 0-3 hole to start the year too. If they do win one of those three, I'll say it'll either be a surprising one over San Antonio (overachieving in a home opener) or Miami (being the weakest of those three teams). I'm looking forward to watching the Boston game because I'll be able to get into it and the NBA is back and all that, but I'm not looking forward to it at the same time.

[air gordon]

they are dreadful during the regular reg season when they are on national tv...

i do have John Salmons in my big $ league so now i am excited for the bulls season to get started

[Andrew]

For whatever it's worth, Ben Gordon had 22 points in 25 minutes off the bench for Detroit. Not much else, but a more than respectable point total in his Pistons debut on decent shooting.

I mention this because I'm sure I'll continue to keep tabs on his performance throughout the season. Deng better be awesome this year.

[NovU]

It'd be interesting, if the Bulls and Pistons end up fighting for a playoff spot/seed with similar record. Right now, my money is on the Bulls though.

[air gordon]

For whatever it's worth, Ben Gordon had 22 points in 25 minutes off the bench for Detroit. Not much else, but a more than respectable point total in his Pistons debut on decent shooting.

I mention this because I'm sure I'll continue to keep tabs on his performance throughout the season. Deng better be awesome this year.

and i'll be keeping tabs on Ben Wallace. Gasol owned him last nite lmao

Deng has the excuse of sucking because of the stress fracture. he has a few weeks on that one. after that fire up the lynch mob

[adv1s5]

Amazingly low percentage from the 3 for both teams this game. It was actually fun to watch. Solid win for the Bulls though.

[Andrew]

Deng has the excuse of sucking because of the stress fracture. he has a few weeks on that one. after that fire up the lynch mob

True. Respectable numbers for his first "real" game back though and I'd much rather Deng prove me wrong so hopefully we won't have cause to grumble in a few weeks time. In any case, it's a nice start to the season but as they say, 81 more to go.

[air gordon]

embarassing loss to the Celts. finishing the week 1-2 is a win imo

Salmons looks terrible right now. there's nothing wrong with being a black hole... if the shots are falling. ironically it's Salmons who's missing Gordon at this point

i like the lineup of Noah-Deng-Salmons-Hinrich-Rose

[Andrew]

Yeah, needless to say it's early days but Salmons has been a disappointment in offsetting the loss of Gordon...especially as Gordon has been getting his 20+ in his first couple of games with the Pistons, though yesterday's 8/20 shooting was less than stellar.

Truth be told, I barely watched the second half of the game yesterday. I had a couple of friends drop by, one of them up from Canberra for the weekend so I opted for some Beatles: Rock Band instead and flicked back to the game every so often. I very rarely do that, but it was too excruciating to watch.

[Bodz]

Another loss for the Bulls... this time to Miami.

[Andrew]

That's not too disgraceful in itself, it was a winnable game but they're not a team to bet on when it comes to road games. As AG said, going 1-2 is a small victory when by rights they could be 0-3 to start the year. They've got a decent chance to go 2-1 this week, as usual November looks as though it will be a battle to stay around .500.

[NovU]

It is said that Rose isn't fully healthy yet. They're minus Gordon this year but Deng seems to be playing better, so I think the Bulls have something promising going on at the moment. On the other side, Miami has almost everyone healthy now, so I am not too surprised to see Miami escaping with a win.

[air gordon]

Deng's "post" game came out of nowhere. i couldn't believe i saw Deng faceup or fadeaway from 10-12ft...sucessfully

i'm beginning to think that Salmons does not enjoy passing... especially to Deng. They both had good games but they didn't feed off of each other... which sort of defeats the purpose of having a post scorer & perimeter threat lol

Tyrus Thomas has been playing a bit at SF with Gibson and Miller rounding out the frontcourt. i don't know what Del Negro is thinking

i agree w/andrew- they should go 2-1. knowing them they'll beat the CAvs then lose at home to the bobs

[Andrew]

i don't know what Del Negro is thinking

"This craftily unorthadox lineup will make it look like I know what I'm doing as an NBA coach."

knowing them they'll beat the CAvs then lose at home to the bobs

Yeah, that wouldn't be altogether surprising. It's become a staple of the post-championship teams.

[Dan's Brain]

Ugh. This is just... "ugh"

You could remove one of Derrick Rose's legs and he'd still be better offensively than everybody else on the team. Take him out of the cotton wool, and let him go nuts or the season will be over.

EDIT: I will just go and grab a knife and fork while I chow down on my words. Nice contributions from Miller and (!) Pargo, although Miller's free-throw shooting at the end was uncharacteristically ordinary. Noah was his usual terrific defensive self. And finally Luol Deng. A 20-20 game is usually indecent in a small forward unless they happen to be Shawn Marion, but he was just terrific. A few more games like his last 2 would be very nice, please.

On the flipside, nice to see a bit of a lift from Bogut, and Brandon Jennings is an out-and-out gun.

[Andrew]

Seeing Deng's 20-20 game in the boxscores was literally a jaw-dropping moment. His lousy game against the Celtics aside, it looks like he might be able to shoulder a decent amount of the scoring load after all and his rebounding is impressive. Not much else about his stats is particularly attention grabbing at this time but it's encouraging all the same, it's still early but I'm feeling a little less fearful that they've gambled on the wrong player.

Salmons is shaping up to be a disappointment as a replacement for Gordon, though.

[NovU]

Seeing Deng's 20-20 game in the boxscores was literally a jaw-dropping moment. His lousy game against the Celtics aside...

Salmons is shaping up to be a disappointment as a replacement for Gordon, though.

I couldn't believe score stats too. Deng is back!

Ben is really playing awesome, and it sure does make Salmons look bad, especially with his performance so far in this season. Did the Bulls have enough salary cap room to sign Gordon this off-season, I forgot. Now thinking about it, healthy Deng+Gordon+Rose line-up could have worked out to be something really special.

[The X]

Watched the 2nd half on One HD.

Thoughts:
- As expected, Pargo was a good pickup for an Eddie House like lift off the bench. The Bulls wouldn't have won without him.
- When healthy, Deng is a big factor. Issue I see is he would be a great second fiddle, not the number one option.
- Although once Rose came back on Deng seemed to disappear a little. I liked Bulls with Rose on the bench. Hinrich, Pargo, Deng, token & Miller did some damage.
- As usual, Brad Miller is effective.
- Bulls overall looked very ordinary & if it wasn't for stuttering Bucks down the stretch, they might not have got the win.
- Don't recall Salmons doing one thing in the 2nd half.

[Bodz]

I read from NBA.com that the Bulls managed to scrape through this win from the Cavaliers.

[Andrew]

knowing them they'll beat the CAvs then lose at home to the bobs

Well, you called it. I just hope you're wrong on the second part.

[The X]

Saw a replay of the game on One HD this evening. The Bulls looked a lot better in this game than the Bucks game. Although admittedly the Cavs looked pretty average. Is always amazing the way that Shaq can affect a team so negatively like Iverson. Everybody stops moving. And look, Suns are winning.

Either way, Hinrich looked good & was Bulls' best player in my eyes. But it was a team effort that got the result. Taj Gibson was solid. He's a poor man's Joe Smith. Tyrus Thomas looked mediocre as per usual. He just doesn't seem to understand the game & he needs to go back to LSU & do another 3 years. Best move Del Negro made in the game was pulling him out midway through the 4th as he was doing his best to help the Bulls lose it.