Chicago Bulls Thread

[maes]

Another reason why everybody loves the Bulls:

"Chicago Tribune - Andres Nocioni isn't interested in participating in the All-Star Game three-point shootout next month.

Nocioni, who entered Saturday's game tied for first with San Antonio's Bruce Bowen for the league's top three-point percentage--49.5 percent--said he isn't All-Star caliber and will decline if invited.

"It's by accident I'm leading the league," the second-year forward said modestly. "I'm not a three-point shooter."

Quite a refreshing change from the usual 19 year old rookie who thinks he's God's gift to the NBA.

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

Either that, or he's afraid he'll be this year's Birdman going 0/25 and becoming a laughing stock.

[Drex]

"It's by accident I'm leading the league,"

Wow, awesome quote

[Andrew]

Another loss today, familiar territory sadly.

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

Gordon was awful... I liked Songaila's effort, though.

[maes]

It's amazing what an inside presence (or lack thereof) will do to a game.

The Bulls:
- outshot denver 45.1% to 40.3%
- nailed 10-22 3's to Denver's 4 of 8
- outrebounded denver 46 to 37
- outassisted denver 28 to 17
- blocked 5 shots to denver's 3
- stole 7 balls to denver's 5

And they still lose, because Carmelo had 21 free throws to the entire Bull's team combined 12. TWELVE.

You can't survive just jacking up 3's, even if you do it well.

[air gordon]

Nocioni- what a class act

funny thing with today's game- despite all of what maes said, if Nocioni hits that open 3, the game could have went into OT

anyway- the team lacks that G/F who can defend the stud wing players of the league. Deng is ok but defense is not his forte

[Andrew]

Bulls over Knicks in OT, a guard scores 32 and hits the game winner. Sounds like something that should've happened 10 years ago.

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

Bulls over Knicks in OT, a guard scores 32 and hits the game winner. Sounds like something that should've happened 10 years ago.

Skiles is nuts. Now Gordon is on the court for 46 minutes?!!?!?!? Is this guy stil experimenting with rotations or what?

[Andrew]

I'd be concerned if he didn't try new things after another skid. Seeing as though Gordon's responded well to the starting job and an increase in minutes, no complaints here. Eventually you need stability but while the gameplan isn't working it doesn't hurt to try new things and go with whoever's playing well.

[air gordon]

it was a great contest. neither team would let up. i think there were 20 lead changes or something like that. The Bulls had the Knicks on the ropes a few times but Knicks kept on fighting back.

it looked like neither team could get a stop when they needed to. the Bulls were fortunate to have the last shot of the game. More importantly- the Bulls took advantage of it

a lot extracirricular stuff went on during the game.

i hope the networks don't just focus on the antonio davis incident. it looks like one of the NBA's best rivalries ever is back

[Andrew]

Bulls rebound from a 109-108 double OT loss to Houston with a 101-89 victory over Indiana. Tyson Chandler with 15 points (7/9 FG), 14 rebounds and a couple of blocks in 36 minutes. I wouldn't be too upset if he could do that a little more often.

[bullsfan009]

I hope John Paxon is racking his brains for a way to get Greg Oden in a Bulls uniform. He's supposed to be the next dominant big man, sort of like Eddy Curry except with defense & rebounding (big upgrade if that's true).

I know that a lot has to do with the luck of the lottery, but I think the Bulls should try to trade their 2 first rounders this year for some next year to have a chance at getting him. Then we could be REAL contenders in perhaps 3 years.

Otherwise, there aren't many appealing big men out there for the Bulls to go for. And I really think the Bulls need an excellent inside scorer if they're going to ever be for real. I suppose there's a chance of Sweetney becoming that, but he didn't even get off the bench tonight

[air gordon]

Wow- Chandler traded in his vagina for set of testicles in the Pacers game! Good job by him

interesting take, bullsfan009. IMO i think Paxson should be finding a way to get Aldridge hehe. They do have the 2 1st round picks and cap room to their disposal. They NYK pick should have good value

All of Paxson's picks have played at big name colleges with great traditions:
Hinrich- kansas
Duhon- duke
Deng- duke
Gordon- UConn

I'm not sure Texas falls into that category but as of right now IMO he should targeting this guy since the FA's pool doesn't have an "impact" player. The closest thing to that is Al Harrington. I guess I'd be open to that. He'd probably end up playing PF and be the team's inside scorer but his acquisition forces the team to look for a legit-sized Center like Mohammed or Przy. All 3 would definitely be overpaid to get them here

[Andrew]

Bulls move back into a tie for ninth place with a win over Toronto, their 12th straight over the Raptors.

[magius]

coincidence that its the best pair of consecutive games chandler has stringed together this season. the guy is dissapointing me, but theres still hope.... i hope. he has all the tools to be a serious game changer, but im starting to doubt it'll amount to anything close to what was expected. i havent watched many bulls game.... is he injured? just not working hard? or was the contract year a mirage?

[maes]

Drafting big men is always such a hit & miss, i think Paxson has been smart in avoiding drafting bigs, who always do well in college because of the size advantage and SUPER SLOW pace that disappears in the NBA.

I would hope they use Thomas' contract or its expiration to sign a veteran big who has proven he can run with the NBA pace. A top 5 pick on a big man in the draft gets you what? Olowokandi? Drew Gooden? Chandler? (ouch)

I think Paxson has been very smart about drafting strong, tradeable guys who provide value. He could have easily not drafted Hinrich and instead drafted the next best big man on the board, Zarko Cabarkapa.

[Andrew]

I think Paxson has been very smart about drafting strong, tradeable guys who provide value. He could have easily not drafted Hinrich and instead drafted the next best big man on the board, Zarko Cabarkapa.

I know it's become cliche to pin bad moves on Krause, but I'm sure that's a decision Krause would've made. If he'll draft Dragan Tarlac and Dalibor Bagaric, he'll draft anyone.

[J@3]

Chandler: 12 points, 20 rebounds. Why the fuck couldn't he do this before Legend locked the fantasy league. Maybe he stole Chris Anderson's sports bag or something.

[Andrew]

12 and 20...nice. Gordon with 26 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists as well. Great to see him performing well more often than not as he continues to start and play 30+ minutes per game. For what it's worth, he's averaging 17.7 ppg, 2.3 rpg and 3.2 apg while shooting a more respectable 44% from the field. The win's a well-timed one as well, not only do the Bulls climb a little higher but they bring the 8th seeded Wizards back a tad as well.

[Andrew]

They almost blew it but Gordon's 10 points in the final couple of minutes preserved their second four game winning streak of the year. Some good stats posted by the core guys, Gordon with 23 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists, Hinrich had 22, 4 and 6, another double-double for Chandler with 10 points and 14 rebounds as well as 3 assists and a couple of blocks, Deng with 18 and 5, Noce with 11 off the bench and Songaila with 10 and 7. Sure beats the games earlier in the year when you'd see one or two guys in double digits with everyone else struggling and the team losing badly.

[maes]

This lineup is finally clicking. Hinrich at point, Gordon at SG, Chandler at C. Wait, wasn't this what everybody wanted at the beginning of the season?

Hopefully the experiments are over.

[Andrew]

I think it was a case of positives actually being problems. Duhon was playing well and the team was above .500 through the first 25 games or so, not necessarily winning pretty but winning nevertheless. That might have encouraged the notion of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Hitting that rough patch forced Skiles to try some new things and some good has come of that.

Duhon has had some good games off the bench and because Skiles is so fond of him, he's still going to get those opportunities even if he doesn't start. Gordon's doing well now he's got more of an opportunity, and he seems to be past the rocky start. I envisioned Chandler having more games like the last couple as well. Obviously I don't see him averaging 17 boards per game as he has over the last two contests but for the money he's getting, a double-double or near double-double per game with a couple of blocks for good measure is what I'd expect, if you want to talk statistics.

It might be a knee-jerk reaction, but I'm not keen on the idea of trading Gordon at this point. The thought of a blockbuster to bring in a player like Pierce is tempting but the thought occurs that even if such a deal were likely (the Davis/Szczerbiak deal makes me think Boston is still inclined to build around The Truth for the meantime) such a swap would bring about a similar situation to the one the Celtics currently face and that isn't working out too well for them.

Obviously there's still room and need for growth with Gordon, he needs to be able to start the season strong (though consistent playing time and the starting job should help that) first of all...but I like what he's been doing of late. I don't know about giving up Hinrich or Deng either at this point. Hinrich is benefiting from the move back to point guard, Deng remains quietly effective.

I'm hoping they're starting a similar run to the one last year. I'd love to see what this team could do this year, a little more playoff experience plus the options they'll have this offseason would be fantastic.

[R.J.]

Man, I almost never come into the NBA forum and I see this 10 page long thread on my favorite team. I'll have to start posting here.

[Andrew]

The more the merrier. We're lagging behind the Knicks thread.