http://www.blogabull.com/2010/3/1/1332641/kirk-hinrich-is-killing-the-bulls Should have traded him to Minny last year, or dumped him this year. I never bought into his value as a defensive player. He always plays hard, he fights through screens, and generally keeps his man in front of him. However, over his career, I have consistently seen his guy get open looks much of the time and consistently miss what should be easy makes. His real value, IMO, was that when the Bulls played 3 guards (him, duhon, gordon), he'd be the guy guarding the SF. Though we saw Gordon guard SFs a lot last season, and some call it hiding him on the weaker players... Perhaps that was true for Hinrich much of the time as well. I also feel his value has been that he does not turn the ball over so much and when he does make a great pass, it's a great pass. Perhaps my biggest gripe with him all along is his poor shooting. His form is excellent and he somehow puts up decent percentages (well, maybe not this season). Yet even during the Skiles years, it sure seemed like he was intent on shooting (and missing) us out of leads. I still think we needed to trade him and Deng for expiring deals or one of them for a guy who'd be like the kind of FA we dream about signing over the summer. As it stands, we'll have the cash to sign one FA (if they choose to sign with us) and we'll have a lot of salary tied up in a guy who's not at all worth the money and the opportunity cost is a big enough factor that we can't sign 2 FAs (or have a much better player on the roster).
Well, I thought Duhon was the far better actual PG. He really ran the team well, but was a far worse shooter. He'd start off the season shooting over 50% for about 20 games and finish the season under 40%. Duhon used to guard Kobe when we played the Lakers, FWIW. But then again, we tried everyone on Kobe at some point. Hinrich has shot near 40% from 3pt a few times, they just don't seem to come at opportune times.
Wow, Denny doesn't like Hinrich. Denny, I wouldn't be surprised if you thought Bill Russell's defense was overrated, too. While the bulls could definitely do better at SG than Hinrich, they are much better with him on the floor than with any other player they've had since Jordan. At least according to the winning percentage. He's also only playing SG on defense. He's the PG on offense. The bulls offense is "see if Rose can get a shot, then give it to Hinrich and see if he can get anybody else a shot." Hinrich is the third or fourth option on 90% percent of the plays. As the third or fourth option, he isn't killing anybody.
By the way, the bulls are losing because Noah, their starting center who is second in the league in rebounding and averaging a double-double is out. And they are forced to overplay Miller and rely on a rookie PF and a D-league backup center. Their interior defense is what is killing them.
The bold part isn't debatable, it's laughable. You got the facts wrong about winning %, too. I do like Hinrich, just not for $10M+ he was signed at, and not at the expense of a 2nd FA this summer, and not at the expense of even Jamal Crawford. I even argued for keeping him and Gordon over the summer. Because having both is clearly better than having either one.
Denny, your comments reflect a consistent fundamental ignorance of what it takes to win basketball games. You were wrong about the bulls being worse than the knicks, wrong about the bulls being worse without BG, wrong about Vinny being a good coach, and wrong about this. I don't know if you wrote the original comment or some clown on bab, but it just isn't correct. And on top of that, the bulls don't need two FA's. They only need one. Rose and Deng and Noah/Hinrich are exactly the kinds of players the bulls need to be contenders. With Bosh and another big SG they become arguably the best team in the east. And next year Hinrich's deal goes from being somewhat overpaid to exactly the kind of expiring contract they can use to continue to improve.
Here's why it's stupid: Code: Min Shots Shots/Min Derrick Rose 2177 513 0.23564538356 Luol Deng 2237 410 0.18328118015 John Salmons 1695 230 0.13569321534 Kirk Hinrich 1745 209 0.11977077364 Joakim Noah 1556 203 0.13046272494 Taj Gibson 1521 220 0.1446416831 Brad Miller 1368 160 0.11695906433 Everybody on the team who plays meaningful minutes except Miller shoots more often than Hinrich. Hinrich would have to shoot a hell of a lot more to hurt the bulls. And Noah and Taj are getting Hinrich's misses. So no, Hinrich isn't killing the bulls.
As "good" as we are, we'd be better with a healthy Gordon. We'd be worse without Kirk unless we got a better replacement, just as we'd be better if we got a better replacement for Gordon. If we're a better team now, it's marginally so. And I was talking about Hinrich's career, not this past season. The words "all along" might be a clue.
It's pretty clear at this point the Bulls have a towering mancrush on Captain Kurt, and will not trade him unless they absolutely, positively have to. Consider him Jerry Reinsdorf's mascot. Which is unfortunate, because he's played pretty terrible basketball for three years, and he's got two more years left on his contract, so he won't be any more tradeable next year either. Maybe if we land a big free agent he'll get more interested in playing basketball again.
Wrong again. They tried Gordon last year and the team was worse. Denny, give it up. BG wasn't the guy, isn't the guy, and won't be the guy. I don't think the Nets would be better with BG as their starting SG.
Denny, I agree! We should have traded him! I know, I know we went on a winning streak when he was put into the starting lineup, but what has he done for us lately? We may miss some of his D, but not his offense.
Via Sam's Mail Bag So the Bulls didn't trade him when they could, and traded Salmons who's cheaper and might opt out anyway, and who has been kicking ass. Now they want to trade him again, but while he was in demand at the deadline, it'll be difficult this summer. Awesome.
About par dont you think? I agree with your "man crush" statement you made earlier in the thread. So true.
Nothing like a 10 game losing streak to prove we're better than last season. To end up with the same record as last season, we'd need to go 10-4 the rest of the way.
Consider the difference a year makes. Last season, we went on a tear to finish at .500 and took the defending champion Celtics to 7 games and many OT in the 1st round.
We need Rose and Noah to get well in a hurry and Noah to play at the high level he was earlier in the year. We need JJ to play the same as Salmons did each game last year for that to happen.
We need hinrich to put up 50 points in a playoff game and average 25+, too. Nobody else on the team can do it alongside Rose like last season.
