<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Jim (Chicago): Can you provide some insight on Justin Cage? Is he a good fit on the Bulls? David Thorpe: Put it this way-he just turned 22 in June, and if he had one more season in college I think he'd be a first round pick.</div></p> </p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> The Bulls currently have the maximum 15 players under contract, including three (Gray, Curry, Barrett) who, depending on the source, have zero, partial, or a fully guaranteed money. I assume Barrett's job is the most tenuous, as the Bulls are stocked at the midget position, and his summer league performance was poor. </p> But also reportedly attending camp is Justin Cage, who I can provide zero info on, except lame 'Mortal Kombat' jokes. </p> Until now. I recently got an email from ESPN.com's David Thorpe*, who is well known around these parts as the guy who always pimps the Bulls (especially Deng, Thomas, and Noah) in his chat sessions, angering mouth-breathing responders with his terse answers while inducing cackling delight from myself. </p> Apparently Cage has been working out this summer at the training academy Thorpe participates in, and he was so impressed he had to spread the word:</p> I wanted to give you a heads up on Justin Cage, who should be arriving in Chicago in a week. He's been here at the Pro Training Center since May, and has quickly become one of my all-time favorite players... the fact that he went undrafted never bothered me. Justin Cage is a shooting guard who can swing to the 3 with ease due to his 225 lbs of strength combined with a 6'10 wingspan. He has learned to be an effective scorer and creator as a 2, and can really shoot. And his vertical is up about 8" since he first got here. One of Xavier's coaches came to see him last month and literally did not recognize his game. Lots of NBA 3's and monster dunks. And his defense has always been stellar, being on the all-defensive A-10 team 3 straight years. He really should just be a college senior, having just turned 22 this summer. If he indeed had another year of college, based on what we've seen in our gym and in summer league in Orlando, I think he'd be one of the top guards in America. He was Mr. Basketball in Indiana in High School, and won 2 state titles and lost in the finals in a 3rd. He was asked to play a "glue guy" role at Xavier, which he did exceptionally well. But he learned this summer to do so much more when asked. I think he is good enough to play in the rotation for Chicago, maybe 5-10 minutes a night, as a defensive specialist and a 3 pt threat. Now it is up to him to show it. He's the next Bruce Bowen, but with a better slashing and rebounding game. He is a beast. Thorpe has had success training other unheralded prospects like Udonis Haslem (who like Cage, went undrafted) and Kevin Martin. He also understandably really likes 'his' guys and of course the reviews will be glowing, so keep that in mind. </p> While I'm not ready to expect Cage to make the Bulls rotation (let alone the team, although like I said I think Barrett's as good as gone) the player that's described in the email is the exact fit the Bulls need in that last roster spot. </p> The man who is supposed to be manning that role for the future, Thabo Sefolosha, led the Swiss national team against Deng's British team on Tuesday. (Be warned, that report has an unnecessary amount of exclamation points.) As much as I whine about international play, Thabo could use the experience leading an offense, as his play on that end of the court was abysmal this past season. </p> Part of the M2GwcDaS is the 'and Shoot'. Thabo needs to show dramatic improvement on offense to finally fill that hole on this team. Or at the very least keep Chris Duhon off the floor. Maybe this Justin Cage character can help in that regard as well. </p> *For all I can prove, this may have been an email from Justin Cage himself. Or his brother Johnny. But I'm pretty sure that the email from him was legit.</div></p> Source: Blog A Bull</p> A lot of positive comments about Cage, when all is said and done will he be a better player than Noah? </p> </p>
No one pimps their clients harder than Thorpe. That is my major complaint with him having ESPN.com as a platform. He should get kicked in the nuts everytime he writes about one of his clients on ESPN.com
I don't think you can necessarily compare the two, especially as they're completely different players. When Noah puts on some more muscle, he's going to be a 4/5, with minimal time at the 3. Cage, according to this arcticle, will primarily be a 2/3. Sure, both will be primarily defensive specialists, but that doesn't necessarily equate to an accurate comparison.</p> However, I'd have to say, in terms of success in the league, Noah will have the better career. Obviously, Noah won't be a star in the league, some may debate whether he was even a star in college, or merely the highest profile guy on a terrific team. But he's a big(which in itself is an advantage to getting roster spots in the short run and longevity in the long run), and an explosive one at that. Cage reminds me of a bigger Roger Mason, Jr., though he doesn't have the ball handling skills that Mason had. Noah, on the other hand, reminds me of another Cage, Michael, from the 80's. Mike Cage latched on to a lot of teams due to his ruggedness and glue-guy tendencies. </p> As a fact, those tendencies work better for big guys than for swingmen, in which there are far more guys like Michael Cage than there are guys like Bruce Bowen. </p>
I hope he's that good, it would just add another good player on the bench. We'll see how he does in pre-season I guess.
I don't know how good or bad Cage will be, probably better than JamesOn, so maybe JamesOn gets cut. But I think Joakim Noah is going to be a very good player, like Rasheed Wallace, early days Detroit type. The thing that is so special about Noah, is that while he is one of those crazy kind of players, he isn't the type of crazy like Sheed (and he's not that bad since leaving Portland) and Ron Artest that will be a detriment to the team at some point. Noah just seems to genuinely want to win...and he might just be a starter on day one at powerforward. It'll be interesting to see who wins that starting spot between Joe Smith, Tyrus Thomas, and Joakim Noah. Its anyones game imo. Ben Wallace I believe Kirk, Ben, Luol, and Ben have all been garaunteed starting spots already, so the powerforward spot is up for grabs, and I doubt Skiles will put Nocioni in there at the 4.
