New Jersey away

A very rare Bulls road victory and I miss the game! Almost impossible to analyze from the stats, but here goes. Looks like Rose had another excellent game. Two in a row now for him. Ben was also solid, sounds familiar. Noc and Hughes seem to have done something positive by each netting 17. Hughes missed a lot of shots to do it though, not surprisingly.

Noah and Thomas both got minutes, 31 and 20 respectively. Neither one had great stats, although Noah had 4 blocks! A 0 point effort from Thabo, 1 rebound and 0 assists in 20 minutes! Did he just sit down in the corner and watch?

Also, it looks like the Bulls won because NJ folded at the end. Our defense or their jacking up bad shots and missing. I suspect the latter. Harris and Carter were the only ones scoring for them.

When I told my wife we beat NJ on the road she immediately asked "who was injured for them?". They have their injuries like everyone else, but my first thought was that we have three main guys missing, that is, if you can count Deng as a main guy. If Kirk and Gooden can come back soon and be as good as they can be, and if Deng could just not be so awful, then the Bulls could possibly make a second half run.

Atlanta away

Same old story, with a fourth quarter collapse on an away game. Joe Johnson seemed to score at will and no help whatsoever underneath for the Bulls.

On the plus side, Rose looked like ROY again for the first time in several games. And Ben Gordon continues to shoot well.

That was about it. Everything else was a disaster. Noah only played 5 minutes, even with so many injuries. Simmons played almost as much as he did!

Heat away

Bulls hung with them for 3 quarters and folded in the 4th. About the only positives for the Bulls were that Aaron Gray played well and Luol Deng got hurt. Sorry, don't mean to be nasty to Luol, who is most likely a good person, but he's been playing so bad lately that it is actually a positive to have him unavailable.

Noah was also particular rotten. Tyrus went back to being his usual crappy self too. Both teams were throwing up bricks left and right. Wade took over at the end. No surprises.

Pistons away

Bulls are clearly a much worse team on the road. They started out pathetically against the Pistons. At one point they let Stuckey dribble the entire length of the court and shoot a layup. Seemed like the Pistons had all the layups they wanted. Only some cold shooting on their part prevented a blow-up. AI in particular, was off. Stuckey wound up with 40 though!

On the Bulls side, Gordon was the only one who showed any signs of life. Gordon, Rose, and Noc all fouled out of this game. The other Bulls just moved out of the way when a Piston player wanted to get to the basket.

The Bulls actually put together a streak in the third quarter and pulled to within one. But then Deng and Hughes started line-driving their bricks and the Pistons quickly pulled away. Deng was horrible, as was Noah. Thomas came back and actually played one of his better games.

Utah Jazz at home

Bulls definitely play with more energy at home. They really are a completely different team. They are still bad, but they don't look as completely pathetic as they do on the road.

Rose, Gordon and Noc keep them close through the first three quarters. Thabo gets some serious minutes, second game in a row. Makes me think they are showcasing him for a trade. I hope so anyway. Deng and Hughes are as worthless as usual. Gooden is out this game, along with Tyrus, so we go small throughout.

Fourth quarter, Hughes and Thabo both make good offensive plays! Rose looks like he can get to the rim, or get fouled, at will. Hughes plays no defense though. Deron Williams doesn't look as good as usual. He's still good, just not looking like he did before his injury.

Deng doesn't even play in the fourth quarter. Missed some earlier bits of this game so I don't know if he's hurt or Vinny just got wise to him. .

Rose takes Williams off the dribble at the end to salt away the victory! He and Gordon were our main men today. I love how Rose shakes his head during a post game interview after being told that he took over the fourth quarter. It's very refreshing to see a modest NBA star.

One negative is that we only had 16 assists in this game, even though we scored 106 points. Not really moving the ball around.

Played Boston for a half

Bulls hung with the Celtics for a half and then rolled over and played dead. Fits in with what I predicted about bad teams giving up on the road.

K.C. Johnson's mailbag

K.C. Johnson received some very excellent questions this week in his mailbag:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/chi-081218-kc-johnson-chicago-bulls,0,960268.story?page=1

Unfortunately he ducks too many of them with his answers, although K.C. is far, far better reading than Sam Smith. I'll try to take an honest stab at a few.

I have read where you state that the typical NBA player's non-game work day is about 2-3 hours long. How is it possible that players like Noah or Thomas cannot find time to develop the ability to hit an open 12-15 foot jumper (i.e. shoot 1000 shots a day). Can they not find the time or is it something else? I know I'm an outsider but am I missing something? --Tony Alam, Falls Church, Va.

That's an easy one. Noah and Thomas both suck, and that's why they can't hit an open 12-15 foot jumper, no matter how many half-hearted shots they jack up in practice.

It seems to me that the biggest problem with the Bulls is their really messed up salary structure. Their four biggest salary commitments are Deng, Hughes, Hinrich, and Noce -- three backups, not one player in the top three most productive in the team. This is a serious problem that makes me want to go on an anti-Pax rant, but then I ask: How much of the blame is truly Pax's? Periodically, I read statements to the effect that the guys that get signed (Deng, Hinrich) are the ones Reinsdorf likes (Gordon does not fall in this category). How much of a role does Reinsdorf play? And please be honest. Reinsdorf already barely talks to the Trib. --Alex, Boston

Another easy one: almost all of the blame for this falls on Pax and Jerry. They are clearly very poor at salary structure. In fact, they are both pretty bad at their jobs in general.

K.C., can we get some Ben Gordon love in here?! Despite his heroics he's always been completely underrated by fans. He's less appreciated than Hinrich and Deng, and rarely complimented by the media. Here's a crazy stat: Ben Gordon already has made more career three-pointers than Larry Bird. If he makes his usual 150 three's per season this year he'll be in the top hundred by the end of this year even though he's only in his fifth season. He's quite a bit younger than every player ahead of him in this stat. There's a very good chance that he's going to finish his career in the Top 5 ever in made threes. Please tell me that the organization has finally decided that they'd like to keep him over Hinrich. --Farhan, Rio Rancho, N.M.

I'll give Ben Gordon a little bit of love, even though he is a worthless ballhandler and a poor decision maker -- the man can shoot! And linking in with the previous question, as well as the next question, I for one don't understand how the Bulls could give a long-term contract to a dud like Luol Deng and take a pass on our best shooter. If I was choosing up sides for a hoops game, I'd take Ben over Luol any time, and you'd be foolish not to.

However, Farhan, let's get real here, Ben is definitely no Larry Bird!

What's wrong with Luol Deng? He's paid as a Top 10 small forward, but he is not playing like one. There does not seem to be any leadership or toughness about him either. He reminds me of Orlando Woolridge -- a lot of hype, not as much substance. What do you think -- is he as good right now as he'll ever be? --Richard, Stone Mountain, Ga.

Richard, you've hit the nail on the head here: no leadership or toughness, a lot of hype and not as much substance. Yep, that pretty much sums up Luol Deng. Yes, I think there is hope that he can be a bit better, but he's never going to live up to expectations.

{Skipping a few bad ones, and even worse answers from K.C.}

Hello, KC. I remember from 2003-2006 the Bulls were No. 1 or 2 in the league in holding their opponents to the lowest field-goal percentage, which I think was the main reason they made the playoffs three years in a row. Then all of a sudden they can't play a lick of defense, and teams are scoring 100 points against them with ease. Without a huge difference in personnel, is it that guys like Antonio Davis and PJ Brown made this big difference, or is it coaching? Or what? --Bob, Orchard Park, N.Y.

Yes, Antonio, this is a huge mystery. I'm thinking the answer is basically effort. Deng used to be an average defender, but now he's a swinging gate. Hinrich used to be a really good defender, but now he seems to be average at best. Ben can be average when he tries really hard. Thabo is hyped as a defensive specialist, but I can't remember the last time I saw him stop anyone.

Plus, having big guys with brains in their heads like Davis and Brown did make a big difference. Those guys knew how to rotate down and our current frontcourt is completely clueless when it comes to defensive rotation.

If Paxson had to redo a signing or a draft pick, what would he redo? --Eric, Chicago

Eric, you can make a good argument that Pax should have done all of them differently except for Rose last year. K.C. brings up the best one when he says Aldrige or Roy instead of Tyrus. Noah when Thornton (or anyone else) was around is less egregious, but comes to mind. Or how about Deng instead of Kevin Martin, Josh Smith or Al Jefferson?

I know Thomas, Noah and Sefolosha haven't exactly done anything to earn much playing time, but isn't it time we just let them loose and see what happens? I think we need to find out what they can do this season so that moving forward, the team can plan appropriately. --J. Shah, Cape Canaveral, Fla.

What is the deal on Thabo right now? I thought Vinny likes the defensive part of Thabo's game. As Thabo gets some good playing time he will be productive, like last season in February. Why is he not even getting one minute at the moment? --Matt, Switzerland

I agree with K.C. about dealing Thabo and disagree with him about moving Gooden. Don't get me wrong, I'd deal Gooden in a minute if I thought we could get a better player than him, but I don't see that happening. And I think we need less playing time for Tyrus and Noah, not more. That is, unless we want to showcase them for trades. Also, K.C. earlier says he'd keep Tyrus and deal Noah. I think I might do the reverse. I think Tyrus has more trade value, since other teams are stupid like the Bulls and fall in love with athleticism. I don't think either of them is going to be great, but Noah might at least be a serviceable backup.

So much for the easy part of the schedule.

Bulls went 4-4 over the last eight games, all against bad teams. They should have won more, but the truth is that the Bulls are about equal to those eight bad teams.

They are not equal to the Celtics, who they play next away. When playoff time rolls around, I'll be cheering for Boston, since the Bulls will either be in the lottery or, if they are very fortunate, getting ready for a first round beating.

Not that the Celtics are as good a team as their 24-2 start seems to indicate. I just think there are a lot of teams playing poor basketball this year. Boston is very beatable. However, the Bulls are extremely unlikely to beat them at the Garden this year.

Trade rumors -- Miller and Kaman

Obviously we need help in the front court, but I can't say that these recent rumors about Brad Miller and Chris Kaman excite me. Don't get me wrong, I like both these players. I thought we made a huge, huge mistake when we got rid of Brad Miller (and Artest, with Kevin Ollie tossed in for salt in the wound) in the ill-fated Jalen Rose trade with Indiana. Miller's been a steady NBA performer ever since, but he's getting old and he was never fast to begin with.

Kaman is a younger player, and more intriguing, but he's been hampered by injury recently. Plus, the rumors involve us giving up Gooden, our only productive front court player in return. Doesn't seem like we gain a whole lot. Now if we could somehow swap Tyrus and a few others for Kaman, then I'd be all over that.

Clippers at home

First half -- Gooden keeps us in the game, but Ben has his moments. Rose is having another sub-par outing so far. Noah is showing some surprising energy. Noc is helping on offense, but the Clips are going at him on defense. Deng is typically MIA.

Tyrus is mysteriously announced as having a concussion. When did that happen? They are speculating last game, but maybe this explains his performance so far in the NBA.


Third quarter -- Bulls start out very sloppy and are lucky the Clippers don't catch up faster. Gooden cools off, Ben and Larry jack up some bad shots, and we don't get back on defense. Rose and Noc are the only Bulls who show any signs of having a pulse. Thornton is eating Deng alive, not quite as badly as Gay did a few nights back, but he's clearly a very weak defender. Noc is a weak defender too though, so we have few options at the 3. Strangely, they are both playing together for long stretches. Why dey do dat? I guess we want to play a small lineup to maximize the advantage the Clippers have inside.

Oh, and we run the Ben Gordon end-of-the-quarter play and get a clock violation. Rose was out though, so I guess we had no choice.

Fourth quarter -- Noc keeps up close. He has a fabulous block at the 6:30 mark. Then he scores on a jumper next time down. Then he hits a couple threes. Rose starts to show some life. He drives the lane a couple times and they foul him. Ben makes a clutch drive at 1:50. Randolph, Thorton and Camby continue to kill us inside.

We're dead in the water when their Gordon fouls our Gordon for a four point play!! Clips have the last shot, but Thornton, inexplicably holds onto the ball and then jacks up a fadeaway!! And this is with Deng pretending to guard him, Zach killing us inside, and Camby just waiting to swoop in for a tip-in. It's a miracle we got to overtime.

Actually, the Bulls have been amazingly lucky the last four games. Memphis and New Jersey missed more easy layups against the Bulls than I've ever seen. And Charlotte missed plenty of easy shots too.

Anyway, back-to-back overtime games!! Let's hope we play better at home than we did at Charlotte. Clippers have truly given the Bulls the gift of an extra five minutes.

Clipps immediately go insde to Randolph and he scores easily. Ben jacks up a bad shot. Randolph travels, Rose misses. Clipps go inside to Randolph and he gets fouled. Noc misses a tough shot and Gooden misses the putback. Clock violation for Clipps. Could they give us any more chances?

Rose sets up an easy jumper for Deng. Only his second fg of the game! Thornton blows by Deng and it seems that Noc fouls out trying to step in. Then they change the call to Randolph! Huge.

Rose gets fouled and they don't call it. Clipps miss. Then the Gods smile on us. Rose loses the ball but we don't turn it over. And Deng makes an outside shot! He's been terrible the entire game but thankfully he's made two jumpers at the end here. Randolph gets an offensive foul and then argues it, like the big baby that he is, when it was clearly a correct call.

51 seconds, one point lead, Rose takes it to the hoop, makes it and gets fouled. That's the Derrick we're used to! Then Eric Gordon throws the ball away. He's going to look like the goat, but he wasn't the only Clipper to blow this game. And aside from two bonehead plays, Eric played pretty well.

Camby ended up with 27 rebounds and 19 points! Why isn't he on one of my fantasy teams? Randolph had 30 points. Thornton had 20. Noc and Gordon each had 22 points. Gooden had 18 points, 11 rebounds.

Winning NBA games is often a really fine line. I think that is why home court advantage is more important in the NBA than in most sports. The players are often tired and need that extra boost from the home crowd. Of course, the good teams can win on the road, but the Bulls are not a good team and can only squeak out victories like this with some good fortune and a home court advantage.

Spurred on by another debacle

Watching the Bulls blow another game last night against a bad team like Charlotte has finally driven me to blogging. Also, the few other Bulls blogs that I read don't seem to ever quite hit the nail on the head when talking about the bad new Bulls. For example, I like Blog A Bull, but why is BullsBlogger so blindly down on Nocioni and so foolishly upbeat about Tyrus and Noah?

I may as well get my prejudices out in the open straight away before I launch into game commentary:

Larry Hughes -- Yes, he's been hot from the 3 point line and much, much better than usual, but this is still a guy you want playing against you instead of for you. Bottom line is that he's lazy and jacks up too many bad shots.

Aaron Gray -- I actually like him more than most bloggers, but he's too slow to play major minutes. The thing is, our other big guys are so bad that it makes Gray look good in comparison.

Drew Gooden -- I see Gooden as one of the few bright spots on the Bulls and that is a very scary thought because he should be a role player. He's our only big guy who can consistently score and not make stupid mistakes every time down the court.

Tyrus Thomas -- Yes, we all know Tyrus is athletic and he does look flash on dunks. However, he makes so many stupid mistakes, both offensively and defensively, that I'm surprised coaches can bear to leave him out there so long. Plus, it seemed like all we heard about in the summer was how much Tyrus worked on his jump shot and how much better he was going to be this year. Well, I've got some news for you Tyrus. You are a bad jump shooter!! If you want to work on something over the summer, let me suggest defensive rotation and learning how to position yourself under the basket. Tyrus and Deng are the two players who most frustrate me because they so often seem to play to their weaknesses instead of their strengths. For Tyrus, I don't want to see him shooting the ball from beyond 12 feet at this point. And if he could get a brain transplant, they might help.

Luol Deng -- Might as well get my other bete noire out of the way -- Deng's fadeaway jumper. I hate it when he all too often takes this shot and clangs it off the rim with his lack of arc. About once a game Deng does the right thing and drives to the rim, usually getting fouled. Then he figures he's showed enough toughness for one game and goes back to clanging fadeaways. Never should have given this guy a long term contract.

Andres Nocioni -- OK, Noc is the opposite of Deng, all toughness and no finesse. The Bulls are a team so lacking in toughness that you must forgive me for liking him, along with most of the United Center. Yes, he fouls a lot and can be bad at defense. Yes, he should pass more. But there are many times when I'd rather see him on the floor than Deng.

Ben Gordon -- Ben is a great streak shooter and that's all he's ever going to be. The Bulls are also a team devoid of shooters, so I'm glad he's around. Unfortunately, Ben is under the mistaken impression that he can dribble and pass, and he can do neither. My biggest fault with Ben is the infamous "Ben Gordon end-of-the-quarter dribble around until it is too late to do anything besides lose the ball or toss up a prayer" play. Why we run this play so often is a complete mystery to me. Why de Bulls do dat??? At this point it is so obvious that Rose should have the ball in his hands that you now hear chants of "Give it to Derrick" from the home crowd when Ben starts dribbling out the quarter.

Derrick Rose -- Our one true bright spot. He can dribble, pass, and shoot better than expected. He has a lot to learn about defense, but I'm thinking he'll get it. And he has a good attitude. He should actually shoot a bit more. Now, that said, he got into trouble last night against Charlotte because he tried to shoot over the double-team on the pick-and-roll, and Okafor was just waiting to swat these away. He'll figure that out though. Hopefully he doesn't get too frustrated with the other bozos on his team.

Joakim Noah -- Speaking of bozos.... As my wife says, how did someone with such good-looking parents get to be so ugly? Personally, I don't care that he's ugly, I just wish he wasn't such a klutz. Could this guy have any less body control and still be considered "normal"? He does try though, at least on the court. He's clearly out of shape and doesn't do diddly besides party in the off-season. Still, he makes less mistakes than Tyrus, just barely, but less and he's been in the league shorter. If he learns a few post moves from Gray, he could be useful, especially as a rebounder.

Kirk Hinrich -- Kirk was our bright spot for a few years and then he was awful last year and hurt this year. So, who knows what we'll get when he comes back. He did show promise before he got hurt this year, so maybe he's forgotten about last season's funk. He and Deng seemed like they were hypnotized on the court last year. We certainly need him because when Rose is out of the game Ben tries to dribble and that always gets us into trouble.

I won't even mention the other guys because they aren't worth mentioning. Thabo? How deluded were the Bulls for scouting a guy in Switzerland? And as for Vinny, I'm withholding judgement for the time being. With seven coaches already fired this year in the NBA, he's got to be thinking that he can't afford to lose too many more games like at Memphis two games back and against Charlotte last night.