Point, counterpoint<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Any LaMarcus Aldridge visit brings comparisons to Tyrus Thomas because those players' draft rights were swapped in June 2006. After Thursday night's game, Aldridge is averaging 18 points and 7.5 rebounds in 34 minutes per game for the Trail Blazers. Thomas is averaging 5.9 points and 4.5 rebounds in 16.5 minutes and has played just 12 minutes 57 seconds in Jim Boylan's first five games as coach. "No one has lost faith in him," Boylan insisted. "In the short term, those [comparisons] are unfair to make. "You have to give guys a good stretch of time, several years, and then you can make those judgments. Both those guys are in their second year and I would say, probably if I had to, Tyrus had a better first year than LaMarcus did." In their rookie seasons, Aldridge averaged nine points, five rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 22.1 minutes for a bad Blazers team. Thomas averaged 5.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 13.4 minutes for a playoff team. "Now LaMarcus is coming on," Boylan said. "I'm sure Ty will do whatever he can do to get back in the rotation and prove he was the pick we should've taken." Thomas entered to solid applause at the 10:05 mark of the second quarter for Deng. Thomas, who had two points and a rebound, left shortly thereafter with a bloodied mouth. "When he's around the basket and active on both ends blocking shots and attacking the glass, he's a very good player," Boylan said. "When he drifts out on the perimeter, that's not his game." Boylan's assessment of Aldridge? "Aldridge may be the best running big man in the league," he said. "<u>He changes ends every single time</u> and runs hard."</div> Anyone care to connect the dots between this and the infamous Scott Skiles quote that eventually resulted in a (forced) apology? <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>'We ask [Thomas] to sprint the floor,'' Skiles said. ''To my knowledge, in his career, he hasn't done it one time -- not one time. You guys, sit and watch the game tonight. If he gets in there, is he jogging or is he sprinting the floor? ''I've got to not only look for, especially young guys, can someone help me win a game tonight and balance that against trying to get him to be a high, high-level player. He's not going to be if he doesn't do that one thing. If he did that, that's about <u>all he has to do -- change ends like a train.</u> ''We have not been able to get him to do that.'</div>
Really, how are Boylan and Skiles, and the teams under Boylan and Skiles, and the franchise direction under Boylan and Skiles, any different? They're not really any better. Slightly more vet minutes. Same deficiencies. I think we have to begin to prepare the fact that it very well may get worse before it gets better. Ug.
Boylan is being more consistent with riding the vets, but otherwise I don't see or expect to see a whole lot of difference strategically. I think even if they have wildly different basketball philosophies it's going to be pretty hard to change a lot in mid-season, so they're better off going with what they've been taught by and large. And of course, they're limited by the same personnel. The biggest difference I've noticed is that I think Boylan has a lot more confidence in Deng's decisionmaking. They seemed (before he got hurt) to be asking Deng to make decisions with the ball a bit more. When he got it under Skiles, Deng was almost always the endpoint in the play. Shoot it, drive it, or give it up quick. Under Boylan, he's holding it a bit more, making a move and finding guys. Notice his assist totals: 4, 7, 2, 5, 2 (the last in only 14 minutes). ------------------- I think there are some things going on behind the scenes. Purely speculation on my part, I wonder how much Ben and Kirk get along. I somewhat have the sense they don't.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (such sweet thunder @ Jan 4 2008, 09:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Really, how are Boylan and Skiles, and the teams under Boylan and Skiles, and the franchise direction under Boylan and Skiles, any different? They're not really any better. Slightly more vet minutes. Same deficiencies. I think we have to begin to prepare the fact that it very well may get worse before it gets better. Ug.</div> Probably your meaning is obvious, but "worse" in what way? Winning games? If that's what you're saying, I don't agree. Boylan is opening up the offense - a game story mentioned that the Bulls' practices under Boylan have focused almost entirely on offense because Boylan believes the defense is set. The Bulls are running new, more complex sets that Skiles never ran. Under Skiles I felt like nearly every offensive set was a pick and pop for a jumper or a double screen in the paint that led to a jumper. I'm recognizing fewer of the Bulls' plays under Boylan. The players are also looking a lot more loose and free. They are improvising, dribbling a bit more, trying more dangerous passes and going for dunks. Gordon has gone from being the worst player on the team to the 2nd best player on the team behind Deng. I estimate he's gone from a ~14 PER to a ~21 PER, which is huge. Wallace is playing hard every minute he's on the floor. He's not going to have any 20 rebound games anymore, but he's trying and is a very slight negative, rather than a huge negative. All in all, the team under Boylan is significantly better than it was under Skiles and still has room for improvement because Hinrich is in a shooting slump and Noah (highest per minute production on the team) barely plays. Making the playoffs and possibly the second round are realistic, reachable goals. I'm not happy that Paxson has opted for a doomed playoff push rather than player development or a lottery pick, but the short-term future of the Bulls is kinda bright imo.
I have to agree with rwj on most of his points. What I observe during the games is that the Bulls are using new offensive sets. I'm not sure the Bulls are executing the new plays as they're intended to be run yet. They still run the old plays a lot during the games, too. The new plays have both guards at the top of the circle, rather than Gordon in the corner or on the wing. I'm definitely seeing Gordon getting the ball at the top of the circle vs. getting it on the left wing and dribbling into the triple team. He's flourishing because of it, too. I'm seeing screens set for Nocioni and him coming off of curls more. He's getting the ball at the FT line a lot more than outside the 3pt circle. He's not taken to the new sets that well, though. His shooting/slashing type of scoring was one of the bright spots under Skiles this season, and now he looks lost. Smith is getting a lot of looks from where he's quite comfortable shooting, and he's obviously thriving in the system. They're even running isolation plays for him in the post, and he's getting some easy buckets inside. The move of Gordon to the bench to start games should kick start Hinrich's offense. There's not much else on the court in terms of guys who can shoot and score. The other options are Duhon and Wallace, or Deng or Smith. Last game, Gordon took 27 shots, and Hinrich was 2nd on the team with 18. If he made just 8 of those 18, we win the game in regulation. Duhon was having a very nice season until the coaching change. His last 5 games, he's scored 2, 9, 1, 1, and 5 points and he's shot 0-9 from 3pt the last 3 games. He shot .438 in December, including 3 games where he's sucked, but just 5-28 .179 the last 5 games. Smith's last 6 games: 19, 6, 13, 16, 16, and 31 points and 8 blocked shots. He blocked 4 against Portland. I'm a big fan of Noah, but he's been terribly inconsistent. He had his career best game, 17 points/4 steals/6 reb in 18 minutes, then followed that with 0 points/1 steal/2 rebounds in 15 minutes.
DaBullz is better at analyzing offense than I am. Regarding Noah - I think if he got playing time those bad stretches would even out. Wallace is just as inconsistent, but he's getting 40 minutes of playing time no matter what. It's just as easy to find bad efforts from him. 2 points and 1 rebound in 19:31 minutes in the first half against NYK. 0 points and 3 rebounds in 12:00 minutes in the 3rd quarter against ORL. 2 points and 1 rebound in 11:28 minutes in the 1st quarter against Portland. 1 point and 2 rebounds in 12:00 minutes in the 3rd quarter against Charlotte.
Wallace's defense was outstanding, IMO, against Portland. He was all over the court contesting shots, and came up with big plays late in the game. I've bought into him having hurt his knees and/or ankles early on and then pouting while playing for Skiles. I think he's playing his way into better playing shape and we'll see some of that old Big Ben on the glass and blocking shots more. MikeDC also frequently points out that Wallace isn't playing next to a guy like Sheed, so he's having to do more on the defensive end and is exposed without that kind of weak side help. The way Smith's been playing (4 blocks against Portland), he's starting to get that weak side help. Noah can do some of that, too, but he has to earn the veteran's trust. He's gotten quite a bit of PT, at least the last two games, for a rookie. The Bulls may be on the verge of finding themselves. They'll get better at running Boylan's new plays. If Hinrich gets out of his funk, we could be a tough team come playoff time. Hinrich's funk has to be the biggest drag on the team this season. He went from quite good on offense to downright bad. He's not been fighting through screens on defense, either, so he's not providing those other intangible things when his offense is off. Last season he was a capable 3rd option and stepped up in a handful of games to have big scoring Q4s to help us win. This season, he's not even a capable 4th option. We obviously need a healthy Deng, as well.
Against Sacramento, Thomas had an effective game, but he still was often the last one down the court, and he seldom beat his man down the court. I see where Skiles was coming from. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MikeDC @ Jan 4 2008, 07:06 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Point, counterpoint<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Any LaMarcus Aldridge visit brings comparisons to Tyrus Thomas because those players' draft rights were swapped in June 2006. After Thursday night's game, Aldridge is averaging 18 points and 7.5 rebounds in 34 minutes per game for the Trail Blazers. Thomas is averaging 5.9 points and 4.5 rebounds in 16.5 minutes and has played just 12 minutes 57 seconds in Jim Boylan's first five games as coach. "No one has lost faith in him," Boylan insisted. "In the short term, those [comparisons] are unfair to make. "You have to give guys a good stretch of time, several years, and then you can make those judgments. Both those guys are in their second year and I would say, probably if I had to, Tyrus had a better first year than LaMarcus did." In their rookie seasons, Aldridge averaged nine points, five rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 22.1 minutes for a bad Blazers team. Thomas averaged 5.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 13.4 minutes for a playoff team. "Now LaMarcus is coming on," Boylan said. "I'm sure Ty will do whatever he can do to get back in the rotation and prove he was the pick we should've taken." Thomas entered to solid applause at the 10:05 mark of the second quarter for Deng. Thomas, who had two points and a rebound, left shortly thereafter with a bloodied mouth. "When he's around the basket and active on both ends blocking shots and attacking the glass, he's a very good player," Boylan said. "When he drifts out on the perimeter, that's not his game." Boylan's assessment of Aldridge? "Aldridge may be the best running big man in the league," he said. "<u>He changes ends every single time</u> and runs hard."</div> Anyone care to connect the dots between this and the infamous Scott Skiles quote that eventually resulted in a (forced) apology? <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>'We ask [Thomas] to sprint the floor,'' Skiles said. ''To my knowledge, in his career, he hasn't done it one time -- not one time. You guys, sit and watch the game tonight. If he gets in there, is he jogging or is he sprinting the floor? ''I've got to not only look for, especially young guys, can someone help me win a game tonight and balance that against trying to get him to be a high, high-level player. He's not going to be if he doesn't do that one thing. If he did that, that's about <u>all he has to do -- change ends like a train.</u> ''We have not been able to get him to do that.'</div> </div>
Tyrus was also wildly inconsistent. I always find his big games tend to average out due to a mix of spectacularly good plays (his recovery and block of a driving John Salmons was just crazy athletic) and outrageously bad ones (stealing the ball, dribbling down court, and attempting to lob the ball Udrih to a somewhat confused looking Ben Gordon).
