I just really don't get what the Bulls are trying to do with Noah and Thomas. It seems to me that they don't think those two guys can play together. But what's really mystifying to an outsider is to see Tyrus play his best little stretch of the year (admittedly only three fairly solid games) and then get completely shut down by the coach. And then see Noah, after riding the pine for weeks, get fairly significant minutes last night. Maybe something's going on behind the scenes, but it sure looks like they get jerked around from here. Anyone want to venture a guess as to what's going on here?
He was forced to play those guys at the start of the season with Hughes hurt. Rose's assist/game figures have climbed from 3.5-ish to over 6 since he has guys he can pass to who put the ball in the bucket more than occasionally. I think he wants to play guys 36+ MPG and have a short rotation, but he wants those guys to contribute at both ends. If you want to play your best players most of the time (a good philosophy, IMO), then: Gordon, Rose, Deng, Hughes, Gooden, Nocioni should get 210+ minutes, leaving 30 to be split among the other 6 guys. The coach can't make guys do what he wants, but he can control their minutes.
I agree except on Nocioni, who's been dreadful. Mostly I agree with the general play your best players philosophy. But that's not really what I'm getting at here. Within that philosophy, you've still got minutes to go to Noah and/or Tyrus. More if you put Noc on the pine more, which I would. My problem is that there doesn't seem to be any consistent plan or pecking order. They play Tyrus 20-30 minutes for several games, he does relatively well, and then he just disappears. And vice versa with Noah. Following your logic, Denny, ok, we do this. 1- Rose 36, Gordon 12 2- Gordon 24, Hughes 24 3- Deng 36, Hughes 12 4- 5- Gooden 36 Now I don't think even you think Noc should be playing 36 minutes a night. Even if you give Gray 12 minutes as the backup C (I'd generally rather see Noah, but OK), and Noc 24 minutes, you've got a 24 minute stretch for someone at the PF spot. I'd say pick a guy and go with him with some consistency.
My logic would be: Gordon 42 Rose 42 Deng 42 Gooden 36 Hughes 36 Nocioni 30 Everyone else 18 Except garbage time Other players get PT when the above need a rest As "dreadful" as Nocioni has been, he's still 6th best player and can play 3 or even 4 positions. VDN actually played this lineup the other night: Rose, Gordon, Deng, Noc, Hughes. Who was the C?
Take Hughes out of the picture, and you'd have to play Noah or Thomas 36 minutes, or some combination of the two. It'll be interesting when Kirk comes back. You can scale back the minutes of Gordon, Rose, and Hughes to get him reasonable bench type minutes.
I think VDN wanted to get back on the winning track again and tightening up the rotation to veterans is the way to do that. Unfortunately, it should be pretty clear to everybody by now that Noah and TT are going to be inconsistent depending on the matchups. Hopefully, there is some showcasing going on with Noc and Hughes, and maybe even BG and Gooden. It's a very real possibility that BG, Gooden and Hughes are gone after this season and it would be a shame not to get Thabo some minutes to make sure he can handle the spot because Hinrich isn't the answer at 2 either, but he'd be the ideal backup guard behind Rose and whoever is the shooting guard since he can play and guard both spots efficiently. And if Gooden leaves, TT and Noah have to step up.
Nocioni is absolutely awful. He's lost several steps, does not go anywhere near the paint anymore, sucks on D and really only waits to chuck up 3s. This guy has dropped off a cliff, b/c he used to be pretty productive.
I'm in favor of less Nocioni, but Thomas and Noah aren't doing much to keep him off the court either. Noah seems to do some good things basketball wise, but is out of shape, and his shooting touch has been horrible. I'd like to see the Bulls try to turn Sefolosha into a 3/4. He has long enough arms for it, and having him as a guy who can play most nights against guys like KG, Dirk, Al Harrington, etc. is valuable, even if we have to bench him when going up against the Amare Stoudemires and Tim Duncan's of the world. Basically Rose/Gordon/Hughes = Good, Deng seems to be coming around, Gooden is good in half the games, non-existent in others, and everyone else sucks on this team.
Second that. He's been a trainwreck. At this point, he's not the 6th best player, especially how he's been used (at the 3 being asked to defend athletic players). If he is, the margin between the 6th guy and the 7th guy is absolutely razor thin. He absolutely, positively needs to be gone as soon as possible as well.
