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.
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