I know conspiracy theories abound, but even Sam Smith is calling for change. I was wondering if anybody was going to post this, but I guess not so I will. Sam lack popularity around here probably has something to do with how he'd change the lineup: Interesting ideas, but while I agree with some of them I can't condone starting Noc at the 3. I'd probably wait until a trade is made or all of the injured guys are back and up to speed.
I have a hard time blasting our guards for their defense. There's not much a perimeter defender can do in the NBA besides contest shots and put in a good faith effort. With the handcheck rule, there is no lockdown perimeter D, except for Bowen...who is allowed to handcheck. The Bulls defensive problems all come from a lack of interior defensive. A guy like Joel Pryzbrilla would really shape up our team a lot, even if we had to overpay for him. We just need to get one legit offensive player in the front court, and a defensive player (Pryzbrilla, Asik, etc.). Bring in a new defensive coach to patch things up, and we should be fine. If I were John Paxson, I'd give Rasheed Wallace the MLE this summer. We could use a veteran big like him.
I don't dislike Sam at all. I do disagree with him though. He's mentioned a couple times we need to see what Thabo's got (paraphrasing). I've seen what Thabo's got... it stinks. This team needs three things: 1. Subtract Larry Hughes. Post haste. 2. Add a veteran defensive big man. Camby, Kaman, Miller, Dampier... I don't care. But we gotta get someone. 3. Fire Del Negro. I think if one and two had been done sooner, Del Negro might have had a chance. But he doesn't now. Too late. Whoever takes over needs to see if Deng can be made useful again and get the defense sorted. Because as bad as Deng and the defense have looked, it's partially the result of "schemes" that couldn't possibly work with them.
I'd disagree that you can't play perimeter defense, but I'd agree that shot blocking big would help a lot. Of the guys listed, only Kaman is worth trading for, the rest are extremely to end up like Ben Wallace and not worth the money or the assets. And right now I really think there is only one guy who determines Vinny's fate: Derrick Rose. And Sheed for the MLE? That's got no shot from either side.
Agree on Sheed. One reason I don't like what Vinnie's doing is Rose. Like every other great talent that comes into the league, there's the temptation for Rose to simply go out and rely on his talent and not learn the game. Vinnie seems to be sucumbing to that temptation himself.
Also, I would like to get some big men to pass. Yes, Thomas and Gray can dish to each other for some nice dunks, but all too often Ben Gordon, Derrick Rose, etc. will be wide open waving their arms, calling for the pass, and our bigs will not pass it. They for the most part, haven't thrown it back out to the perimeter all year, at least that I can remember. Passing out of the post to the perimeter is a staple of the Spurs championship teams, Orlando, Cleveland even. I've even seen Joakim Noah get doubled a bit this year, because the other team knows that he's not going to pass it out, so they might as well just frustrate him more, giving a crappy offensive player even more trouble.
Yeah, I whole-heartedly agree with that. The temptation to win games at the expense of development is strong. To me these injuries should be a chance for Rose, Tyrus, Noah, Thabo and Gray to take there lumps. I really don't care if they win as long as they play hard and learn. Noc yelling at Noah was a good thing letting Noah know what he needs to do to win. It's not like this bulls team would get out of the first round anyway.
I think this is a next step they aren't ready to take yet. First, Gray, Noah and TT need to be competent with the ball on the block, and only Gray has shown any signs of that yet. Passing out will only come after that. The other thing is Duncan gets the ball 50 times a game. None of our bigs get the ball in the post more than a handful of times per game. That alone should tell you why they aren't passing.
