<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">For the past week, the talk of the NBA has been the electrifying series of moves the Bulls have made, first in the draft, then in free agency, most recently on the trading block. But Al Iannazzone says it's too early to annoint a team without a go-to man as the Beast of the East. The Pistons have lost their center, the Heat could get old quickly and never, says the Record beat writer, undervalue the role chemistry plays in winning championships...particularly when you have the Big Three.</div> Source
You can't get much from a biased article. He does have some legit points though. We can be contenders if some of our rookies can come in and produce immediately and we make some moves during the offseason.
Writes for the YES network what do you expect him to say? I know my opinion is not any better since I am a Bulls fan, but I think the Bulls are better than the Nets. The Nets need some serious help in the frontcourt Vince Carter, RJ, and Kidd are a nice trio, but will not get you far in the playoffs by themselves. Krstic made huge strides this year, but the Nets need more. They are targeting Chris Wilcox from what I hear so that would be a nice start.
The addition of Ben Wallace is great for the Bulls but I just feel, that they are still too young to do the damage they are capable of. They will be a deadly team in the near future, but I still feel like the Nets have the upper hand in this situation, at least right now.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting NbaBaller:</div><div class="quote_post">The addition of Ben Wallace is great for the Bulls but I just feel, that they are still too young to do the damage they are capable of. They will be a deadly team in the near future, but I still feel like the Nets have the upper hand in this situation, at least right now.</div> If the Nets had a frontcourt I might agree with you, but as of this point, I cannot. The Bulls have arguably the best defensive frontcourt in the league in Ben Wallace and PJ Brown. Krstic, who is the only true frontcourt option for the Nets, will struggle when being guarded by either of those people. Also although our team is very young it is also filled with winners, and guys who know who to play on the big stage. In other words, they do not choke often. Ben Gordon won a national championship, Nocioni won a gold medal, Hinrich played in two final fours, and Deng/Duhon come from the Duke program which deals out nothing, but winners. I love the trio of Kidd, VC, and RJ I will give you guys that. Your backcourt size is something that few teams in the league can match up with, and the ability of Jefferson to play point guard from the small forward position is a great option to have. However, over the last two years this trio has shown it cannot carry the Nets come playoff time. Every year they have that wait until next year approach when they lost the first season Carter was there the quotes where ?let VC and RJ get a full season under their belt? now it?s ?with a full season under there belt they will only get better?. The organization and the media needs to realize that if the Nets don?t bring in a front court star they are only getting worst, because of Kidd?s age.
i'd still take the heat to be honest. Wade is a playoff monster, and they are the returning champs. Nets vs Bulls is close. The bulls backcourt is young and undersized (not a big deal, but worth mentioning) and the nets are very experienced, but have no frontcourt. I think in a series, the nets would win because no one can hurt the nets froncourt on the bulls team. But both against the Heat, i'd go with the bulls to win over the nets.
Your picking Bulls because they have Wallace that can contain Shaq? That's wrong because Jason Collins was the best defender in the playoffs against Shaq. Shaq didn't struggle as much as he did against Collins. If that's not why your are picking Bulls over the Nets, then why? What advantage do they have? Neither can stop Wade. When it comes to scoring, the Nets are better. Bulls are very undersized in the backcourt while Nets are bigger and stronger.
^^I think that the bulls wil be a better defensive team, so could contain wade and shaq better as a team, not individually. Both will be fun to watch.
It's a tough call. I'm not exactly sure who's the better team, I think we all have to wait and see how the Bulls play with Wallace added, they should be better though. I agree with you guys that it should be a close, close series, it all depends whoever is hotter.
The bulls is a strong team but young. I feel that they will come together by midseason. the nets on the other hand does have some holes like a legitimate PF at the 4 spot dont really need a scorer at that spot just a rebshot blockerand sometimes an inside scorer (this is where we miss Kmart). If they can that type of player and move collins to the bench we would have a very sold team as long as marcus williams can blossom quick and hassan adams can provide 5-10 points a night relieving carter and wright can get some type shot going so that he has a touch. Then we have robinson, collins and boone off the bench we will be straight. But that is all up in the air right now. Still need to see the rookies play in the summer league hopefully
The Bulls have a great frontcourt, but against the Nets, they don't have a chance. Wallace is a liability on offense, and PJ Brown isn't much either. So, even though the Nets do have frontcourt problems, the Bulls can't take advantge of that on offense because their lack of big men who can score. As for the backcourts, I think everybody agrees that the Nets have the much better backcourt. So basically, in a series, I'd take the Nets. As for who's the better team overall, it's close, because the Bulls with play with 3 and a half players on offense (without Wallace and with half a player in Brown) agaisnt 5, and their defensive power in Nocioni, Wallace and Brown doesn't make up for that. But, the Bulls will still be a very tough team to score on, so that's a big advantage for them. As for the Nets, the Big Three are basically unstoppable: if you focus on one, there are 2 more, and if you manage to contain 2, there's always the 3rd. Plus, Krstic is one of the best up and coming scoring centers in the league. That means that they're much better than the Bulls on offense. Their defense is ok, with Kidd and Jefferson both capable of stopping star players, and Collins also capable himself. But, Krstic is nearly as much a liability on defense as Big Ben is on offense, and Carter is average as best (usually). So the Bulls take the defensive side. That means that there's a tie: the Nets are better on offense, and the Bulls are better on defense. So I'll add something else to the equation: experience. The Bulls are mostly young and inexperienced (college doesn't count, because it's a whole 'nother ballgame). Only Wallace has been to the Finals before, and PJ Brown has been in the league for a while, so obviously they add a lot of veteran experience to the team. But the rest of the team is very young and unpolished: Smith, Hinrich, Gordon, Deng, Thomas...nearly the whole team other than Wallace and Brown are under the age of 25 and in the league from 0-3 seasons. The Nets, on the other hand, are full of experienced veterans: Kidd, Jefferson and Collins were all on the Nets team that reached the Finals in 2001 and 2002, Cliff Robinson, who's been in the league for 17 seasons, and Vince Carter, who's been in the league for 8. Their bench is young, and so is Krstic, but the 5 mentioned above add much much more to a team, experience wise, than Wallace and Brown. Ultimately, it's a close call, but IMO the Nets are a better team than the Bulls.
Robinson isn't with the Nets anymore, is he? Bulls also had the 2nd highest scoring bench points last season.
Until the Bulls play 1 single game in the season, they are worse then the Nets. EVerybody is saying how good they are WHEN THEY HAVENT PLAYED A SINGLE GAME WITH THEIR ADDITIONS! You cant just assume stuff nowadays, in the league that is the NBA.
^^That's also true. I think the Nets are better because they will just outscore Chicago. Also, the Nets frontcourt should get better if they do get Wilcox.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting playmaker15:</div><div class="quote_post">^^That's also true. I think the Nets are better because they will just outscore Chicago.</div>Not necessarily. We've been one of the weaker teams in the past couple of years when it came to point production, but it's our defense that's winning us games.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting giftedvisionz:</div><div class="quote_post">Not necessarily. We've been one of the weaker teams in the past couple of years when it came to point production, but it's our defense that's winning us games.</div> I would place the Nets in the top 5 overall defensive teams, with that said, we don't need the nets to score 100+ point every night. Plus, once Vince Carter dunks over anyone, they feel embarassed to continue the game.
Why do people say the bulls are Too young. They were old enough to make a great sereies against the Heat. After the first win for the nets they basically got swept. And if the Bulls faced the Nets in the first round the Bulls woulve won. Chicago basically made a bluprint for the nets to beat the Heat and they couldnt carry it past game1. If the bulls were better last season, they are definatly better this season. GL Nets
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting NbaBaller:</div><div class="quote_post">Your picking Bulls because they have Wallace that can contain Shaq? That's wrong because Jason Collins was the best defender in the playoffs against Shaq. Shaq didn't struggle as much as he did against Collins. </div> At this stage I don't think Shaq will be much more of a factor anymore.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting michiganave17:</div><div class="quote_post">Why do people say the bulls are Too young. They were old enough to make a great sereies against the Heat. After the first win for the nets they basically got swept. And if the Bulls faced the Nets in the first round the Bulls woulve won. Chicago basically made a bluprint for the nets to beat the Heat and they couldnt carry it past game1. If the bulls were better last season, they are definatly better this season. GL Nets</div> What blueprint? Bulls better than Nets last season? Bulls didn't even get to the second round...or have a better regular season record. If they were so much better, they could of taken the Heat out of the playoffs but they didn't. Why didn't Chicago follow their own "blueprint" and beat the Heat?
First and foremost, there's too much to quote in here so I'm just gonna reply like this. First, to whoever said the Bulls can't stop DWade...he had his worst round in the playoffs against the Bulls. Beyond that, the bulls shut him down to a tune of 9/37 FGs, for an average of 12.33 ppg during the regular season. I'd say, if any team in the NBA can shut him down, it's the Bulls. Secondly, Shaq is showing his age. He didn't dominate at all during the playoffs with the exclusion of the deciding game against the Bulls. I think he's going to continue to decline and be less of a threat this year once again. You also have to wonder if he can stay healthy, which is going to be a question mark for him for the rest of his career. Next, the Bulls won't have the best offensive starting five, but not only should they have the best defensive team in general next year, but they'll also have probably the best bench in basketball. This team is even deeper than what they were last year, so while they won't get a lot from the starting five because of Ben Wallace, the team is going to get a ton from their bench, with people like Nocioni coming off. On the note of the bench, this has a huge advanatage over most teams in the NBA because of their ability to 10, 11, maybe even 12 deep. They don't have to play their starters in extended minutes, keeping them fresh for a lot longer than those teams with starting fives logging 40minutes or so per game. Now, as to why I think they'll be better than the Nets, but maybe not the Heat. First and foremost is balance. They'll probably have at least 4 players averaging in double figures next year (Gordon, Deng, Noc, Hinrich), maybe even more depending on how much JR Smith plays and how well PJ Brown plays. Plus, you throw in Chris Duhon, and while he may not be the best scorer, he can still score. Next is the depth of the team. The Nets bench isn't all that deep...while the Bulls aren't afraid to go 10 or 11 deep. Outside of their starting five, they have Duhon, Noc, Mallik Allen, Smith, Tyrus, Sweetney, and maybe even Songaila if he returns. That's some insane depth right there, and that's always good to have, that way you don't have to wear your starters down throughout the year. Plus, last season, the Bulls won 2 out of 3 last year, with the only loss coming by one point and at the beginning of the season when the Bulls weren't playing well. This year, the Bulls are even better, while the biggest acqusition for the Nets so far has been Marcus Williams. All in all, the Bulls are deeper, better defensively, and have plenty of offensive firepower, so in my opinion, there's no reason as to why they can't be better than the Nets.
