Link: <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><font face="Tahoma">"It's tough sitting on that sideline watching my teammates get beat up," lamented theformer repeatDefensive Player of the Year. "If I can't go out there and help my team get stops down the stretch, then why am I here? Why don't we just go on to the house ... pack it up?"</font></div></p> I saw this via SouthSideIrish on Blog a Bull. Last night there wasn't the "we have to score" excuse since the Bulls were actually ahead in the 4th. So what's up?</p>
maybe snagging less rebounds than short ass Ben Gordon will do that to. you have no offense and you're no longer the player you've been before. He brings up a good question, what is he doing here? He's not a leader for this team like he was in Det.</p>
I'm not sure he was really a huge leader in Detroit. But whatever he was there, he sure as hell ain't leading us to anything.</p>
Bulls fans seem to be throwing the towel in. You guys have more exposure to your favorite franchise but it seems to me as though the Bulls start EVERY season weak. They'll pick it up soon.</p>
GA, you're right and wrong. We do start off every season weak, and I don't have much doubt that the Bulls will come around and be ok. But at the same time, I think Bulls fans rightly have high expectations. This is a nice team, but it's becoming pretty clear it's not going to improve beyond "nice".</p> </p>
Meanwhile, Sam Smith has picked up on the Ben Wallace story: <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Wallace clearly was upset following the game and laughed derisively when advised that coach Scott Skiles explained the matchups were bad for Wallace with the Suns playing Boris Diaw at center. "Nah, nah," he said. "I'm 6-6, 6-7. It was tough sitting on the sideline watching my teammates get beat up. We needed stops down the stretch. If I can't go out and help this team get stops down the stretch, why am I here? Why don't we just go on? Pack it up!" Some would joke that Wallace may have already done that—he's averaging career lows of 3.7 points and 5.6 rebounds after five points and a season-high 10 rebounds in just 23 minutes of Thursday's loss. Having his best rebounding game of the season, Wallace was flummoxed about sitting out the crucial last defensive stretch. Skiles denies losing confidence in Wallace, and after practice Friday he said he expects Wallace to be playing regularly in the fourth quarter, that the Suns game and some other recent games were aberrations. But with the Bulls often trailing in fourth quarters this season, Wallace's lack of offense and poor free throw shooting have kept him on the bench. "Each game has been unique," Skiles said. "They played Boris Diaw [at center] the last five, six minutes. You either go small with them or if you've got a big who is versatile and can post up and play Diaw you go that route. I went to Joe Smith, which was a little unfair since he hadn't played in the second half. "I wouldn't put a lot of stock in any of that. I expect Ben to be playing plenty of fourth quarters. It's just the way things have been lately." Skiles chose not to comment on Wallace's postgame statements, and Wallace didn't elaborate Friday. "I said what I wanted to say. That's it. We're still together. As long as we stay together as a team, it will give us the opportunity to win. That's all you can ask for."</div></p> Yikes.</p> </p>
This is going to define Skiles' legacy -- whether he is a good coach or one of the elite. DMD and I were talking about this yesterday: Wallace doesn't have any accurate value of his own self worth; which is probably a good thing. It allows you to accomplish so much more, especially as an undrafted player trying to make a roster. I can't really fault Skiles for going to Smith down the end. Wallace looks to have slowed considerably since last season. I hope it's just due to injury.</p> </p>
Seems to me that Wallace has been getting "quicker" as the games have gone one. As if he really is recovering from an ankle injury that's sapped a lot of his athleticism.</p> He sure seemed invisible last game, but he did snag 10 rebounds and did some of the things that made him worth the big bucks as FA. 10 boards in 23 minutes, 4 offensive boards, a block and a steal. He really did look lost on offense tho.</p> </p> </p>
