The Bulls have been scoring well in Q1 of games in spite of him. It doesn't change the fact we are playing a 30 year old player with a career 3PPG scoring average and PER under 10. Remember Linton Johnson the III? He is basically the same player. We've got two all-star level players in Rose and Noah and we're still a .500 team with Bogans and his +/- numbers. Thabo is putting up similar numbers in OKC. They're .500, too, in spite of an elite player (Durant) and a PG outplaying Rose (Westbrook 21.2 PPG, 7.2 APG, 6.5 RPG, 2.3 SPG). Wanting your players to play defense is fine, it's about 1/2 the game. But playing 4 on 5 at one end of the floor is costly.
What the deuce?! I've commented on this a few times and I haven't seen. In the games I've actually been able to watch, Keith has been not anything close to a net positive. Various guys (Ray Allen, Kevin Durant) have totally gone off against him, and I don't even see him consistently taking the tougher defensive assignments (that's often fallen to Lu). If you're going to be out there for defense, great, but just like with offense, the more you give up at the other end, the better you have to be at the end you're good at. As best I can tell, he's been sort of adequate (meaning he's not getting utterly blitzed on a routine basis), but not really a net positive defensively.
Last game, he was clearly an upgrade over Hinrich. He was having a good game (for him) until he had a costly turnover toward the end of Q4 that almost lost the game for us. Our defense hasn't been very good at all. Our offense has been carrying us to close games, even overcoming big deficits in games to win or almost win. Before last game, we were scoring 104 PPG and giving up 105. After last game it's a dead heat - 102.8 for both. Basketball-reference.com has us as ortg of 104.6 (18th in the league) vs drtg of 104.6 (10th in the league). Korver is 8-14 from 3pt for .571. Deng is 10-23 for .345. Rose is 6-22 for .273. Bogans is 4-15 for .267. I'm pretty sure the announcers said we're dead last in 3pt shooting. Scalabrine is still shooting .857 FG%.
Yeah, Lou's defense has actually been really good this season. I think he's a full step better. He's really having a strange year -- I think he's better at everything but since he is now playing without a wing scorer, without Ben Gordon and John Salmons, he looks like he is failing for stretches. Bogans is fine. He can hit an open shot, and his defense is slightly above average. We need more production from our two. It's not Bogans' fault, he wasn't brought here to be an allstar. It is what it is.
I mean, how good would this team be if Brewer got healthy and started hitting his outside shot consistently. That's what this team needs.
I couldn't agree more. What's the point in starting a 30 year old with no upside and little value on the court vs. a guy like Brewer who could be a 12-15 PPG scorer and who's big enough that we're not a smurf back court, and who's likely to play even better defense.
I don't think Brewer is every gonna consistently hit outside shots. On the other hand, he can do pretty much everything else
I'm pretty sure that once Brewer gets healthy enough to play consistent minutes, he'll replace Bogans. Although I get this weird feeling that Thibs might have a slightly irrational preference for him, a la Skiles and Duhon. I agree about Brewer's jumpshot.
