Last night, the Bulls dressed only 4 of their original impressive 8-man rotation. Fortunately, 3 of the 4 played very well. In general, the Bulls have built this streak on beating bad teams...their last 6 wins have come against teams who are a combined 88 games below .500. Even in their depleted condition, this Bulls team is more talented than the likes of Milwaukee, Philly, Orlando, etc. If this team is still above .500 after the next 2 weeks, I'll sign the canonization petition for Thibodeau.
THIBODEAU CANONIZATION PETITION Augustin, 48 minutes; Butler, 48 minutes; Dunleavy 47 minutes, Snell 1 minute; Gibson 48 minutes; Noah 48 minutes. /s/ Transplant
We have a guard tandem at times of DJ Augustin (who was on the streets) and old man Kirk. And last night we didn't even have that. They traded Luol Deng, the main man of the head coach, and a two time all star. We're playing a bunch of street guys, mid to late 1st round draft picks. broken down old men, 3 million dollar a year journeymen, Boozer (who is fading fast, when / if he plays) and one all-star in Noah. Its a rag tag group of drifters, weirdos and bench guys on great teams, save for Noah (who is also a weirdo). There is no way the Bulls should be 8-2 in their last 10. They have wins over Memphis / Phoenix and Atlanta for 3 of those wins.
It's almost like the Deng trade has brought the whole team into focus. You kinda get the impression that Thibs is in FU mode and has taken it upon himself to single handedly destroy The Tank all by himself. Even if it means breaking down game tape 27 hours a day. A silent benefit of trading Deng is that it's much easier to have good shooting on the floor at all times. Perhaps the Deng/Butler duo on the wings was not a good long term fit. Between Snell, Dunleavy, and Augustin we have three guys who can shoot 3's in volume that defenses have to respect. I just got done taking a look, and since Deng got traded the Bulls have made 38.5% of their 3 point-shots, while taking 20 a game. When Deng was here we were were making 33% on 17 attempts a game. That's a big difference. 38.5% is good for fifth in the league, behind only Portland, San Antonio, Golden State and New Orleans. Right now we're ranked 25th. In fact, if you subtract Jimmy Butler's shooting (he's been in a terrible slump the last 10 games) our 38.5% jumps up to a scorching hot 44.5%.
Totally agree. I think its an us against them (management) going on. In an interview with Noah and Gibson I read they were comparing it to the situation the players were in in the movie Major League. Totally agree and this was the main reason I didn't like the makeup of the Bulls starting unit this year. Rose,Butler,Deng ... who is going to stretch the D? Its nice having your 1 be able to stick the 3, Nate last year, now DJ. Butler isn't a 2 guard.
Augustin was on the streets for a very short time. He had a head-scratching awful stay in Toronto. Prior to that, he was a former lottery pick who had averaged 14 points and 6 rebounds per 36 minutes, hitting 37% of his 3-pointers in 5 NBA seasons. At 26, he is in the prime of his career. In other words, he wasn't Mike James. Butler's going through a rough patch, but many feel there's little dropoff from Deng to him. Boozer's still good enough to put up 18 points and 10 rebs per 36. Dunleavy is starting-caliber as is Gibson. Noah's a stud. This "'rag-tag' bunch of overachievers" thing makes good copy, but I don't buy it. They're not a real good team on paper, but they're at least meh. As I say, I'll take my crow medium rare if they kick ass over the next couple weeks.
