<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Thomas was just the missing element the Bulls needed to exploit the absence of Heat power forward Udonis Haslem, who rightfully was suspended after tossing his mouthpiece in the direction of official Joey Crawford during Game 1. Too bad Thomas was busy Sunday helping his new team, the Phoenix Suns, survive the Los Angeles Lakers with a tremendous performance. While the Bulls are a different animal than the Suns, a run-and-gun machine built for Thomas' offensive skills, what if he were giving the Bulls even a portion of the 22-point, 15-rebound output that made him a bigger star than Kobe Bryant? I appreciate the crusade of Paxson and Skiles to bring old-school ideals and team ball back to the NBA. I love that none of their guys runs into the stands to beat up fans, shows up late for games or throws mouthpieces at refs. I'm amazed their message continues to resonate when Larry Brown's does not in New York. But there's a danger in playing God, too. Paxson was applauded when he ate the large salary of Eddie Robinson rather than letting him disrupt the rebuilding process. While Thomas has had his work ethic questioned during a nomadic NBA career, he never has been called a cancer. Couldn't the Bulls have given him more than three regular-season games before pulling such an expensive plug? "I'm sure we could have,'' Paxson conceded. "But we've done OK.'' True, the Bulls blazed into the playoffs with a splendid run late in the regular season. But one reason they struggled so long was because they had scoring and rebounding deficiencies up front. With his inside game and outside shooting touch, Thomas might have made the difference between a quick playoff ouster and a first-round victory. Maybe it doesn't matter to Paxson, knowing Thomas didn't fit into the future nucleus and was gone after this season anyway. Maybe he was so thrilled with his heist in the terrific Eddy Curry trade -- including a first-round pick from the Knicks that could be No. 1 in the June draft -- that he viewed Thomas as a disposable diaper in the deal. But if you're paying someone $14 million, don't you try to squeeze something out of him?</div> Source
No.......just no honestly I’m getting sick of hearing this in the media. Tim Thomas is, and always will be a hack. He is playing well right now in Phoenix for no other reason than Steve Nash he will probably play well the rest of the season, and then fall off once he gets his next big contract.
Remember, the struggles began in earnest when Darius Songaila broke his foot and the rotation and his all-around solid team play, particularly on defense and error-free ball movement were lost. Sweetney couldn't get minutes and Nocioni was splitting minutes with Songaila and Deng. After several weeks of miserable play, Scott Skiles showed why he is in the NBA. Gordon replaced Duhon as the primary recipient of ball-handling duties, Sweetney seemed to have learned the hard way, and Nocioni with extra minutes was able to reach his current potential. Do they need Darius back? Oh, yeah.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TDoug:</div><div class="quote_post">Remember, the struggles began in earnest when Darius Songaila broke his foot and the rotation and his all-around solid team play, particularly on defense and error-free ball movement were lost. Sweetney couldn't get minutes and Nocioni was splitting minutes with Songaila and Deng. After several weeks of miserable play, Scott Skiles showed why he is in the NBA. Gordon replaced Duhon as the primary recipient of ball-handling duties, Sweetney seemed to have learned the hard way, and Nocioni with extra minutes was able to reach his current potential. Do they need Darius back? Oh, yeah.</div> The struggles where going on way before Songaila broke his foot we where already six or eight games under .500 when Songaila broke his foot. Darius was/is a nice role player, but he is not a difference maker who?s absence will dramatically alter a team. In fact I think his injury was actually a blessing in the sky for the Bulls, because it shortened their front court rotation, and allowed Nocioni to get more playing time, and show how much he could do offensively. The Bulls played poorly until about the last month and a half of the season. Although, the effort was always there and so was the defense they where collapsing at the end of the games, because they did not have a go to scorer. When Songaila went down Ben Gordon began to expand his game, Nocioni showed everyone he was more than just a good defender, and Deng began to play like he did early in his rookie season. Do I like Songaila? Yes he is a hard worker who hustles when on the court. Do I think he would make a difference in this series? Yes he would play well, and provide us another body to throw at Shaq. However, do I think his injury is the reason we struggled? No, because we actually started playing better after his injury.
