Something I hadn't really seen mentioned before (but maybe it's because I've been busy lately) is that the Bulls traded with the two teams they're basically fighting with to get in the playoffs. Isn't that kinda odd? Even more entertainingly, the Bulls gave up the two best players in each deal, and gave up the right to swap picks with the Bucks, meaning that if the Bucks really win out and push us out of the playoffs, so much the better for them and the worse for us. I know we needed to get Salmons off our books no matter what, but if we end up getting leaped by them in the standings, it's going to look pretty ugly to miss both the playoffs and the lottery, in addition to helping out the teams that beat us out. The trades are also generating some evidence that we get less out of players than other teams. Via 82Games's "simple rating" system: Salmons with the Bulls was a +0.5 player Salmons with the Bucks is a +10.5 His PER is 12.6 then vs. 17.2 now Tyrus with the Bulls was a +4.2 player Tyrus with the Bobs is a +5.7 player His PER is 16.6 then vs. 18.7 now Our acquisitions, on the other hand, seem moderately less productive: Warrick PER 15.6 > 14.5, Simple -1.7 > -0.8 (better) Flip PER 11.5 > 10.9, Simple -1.1 > -4.6 Coaching?
I've always been one of the D'Antoni-system supporters (with D). We've got the right point guard, a few decent wingmen, athletic bigs who are willing to run up and down, as well as some spot-up shooters. At the same time, what do we have to lose? As for Del Negro, he's always been so passive in his approach to the team I wouldn't be surprised if he were reincarnated into a doormat. I'm all in favor of going after a coach like Avery, but has this team gotten too attached to Vinny and his philosophy? Those are two very contrasting styles of play.
Also, we've regressed big time in regards to our defense. I don't know what happened, but I doubt Ty Thomas and Salmons were the glue to this team, defensively.
I think the defense is mainly an issue of losing Noah and to a lesser degree Tyrus. If we had Tyrus and played him more, however, loosing Noah might now be the insurmountable blow it appears to be now.
It was clear all along that Noah was the key player on the team. You'd like to think it is Rose, but Noah was remarkable at getting the offensive boards when everyone but Rose clanked their shots. The 2nd chances meant scoring opportunities and less possessions for the opponents. As weak as our front court is, losing any one of them would have been a big blow.
I tend to think it's both of them. With Rose out and Noah healthy, we'd be getting pulverized too, just in a different way.
Tyrus peaked about two weaks ago, his numbers have come way down and he isn't helping nearly as much as it might look. Salmons is the interesting case. He seems to play a lot better without knowing the plays. And I read somewhere that the bulls swap with the Bucks is top 10 protected, but I could be wrong. The bulls currently sit 11 from the bottom. So if they keep falling they don't lose the pick. And if the prognosis for Noah doesn't improve, look for Deng and maybe even Rose to be a little more seriously "hurt" than previously expected. How sweet would Evan Turner look in the backcourt next to Rose?
Very sweet, but I think it's gonna be very difficult to pull off. Basically the only team the Bulls could really conceivably "catch" in the bottom 10 would be the Clippers, and they've lost 7 in a row themselves and are 6 wins behind the Bulls. I don't think that's doable, so I'm pretty resigned to losing the pick. What looked like an afterthought at the time of the trade is now looking like a significant move. Re: Salmons no knowing the plays... are you suggesting the Bulls have plays?
Bobcats are 9-4 since acquiring Thomas and have a six game win streak going. Silly Bobcats for playing him over 20 minutes in 9 of those games. As if he can help. Anyhow, Salmons has a 13.5 PER at SG for Milwaukee and a 27.9 PER at SF. He sure seemed to play a LOT better for us last season at SF than this season for us or the Bucks at SG. Wish our SF had a 27.9 PER.
The predominant lineup with Salmons for the Bucks is Jennings-Salmons-Delfino-MbahaMoute-Bogut with a 167 minutes. Salmons isn't the SF in that lineup. So he's only playing SF for about 10% of the time. And Tyrus isn't doing anything differently than he was in Chicago. He's averaging about two more minutes per game and shooting a lower percentage on more shots. The Bobcats just let him shoot more. Look at his last five games and tell me he's having a big impact....
82games.com says Salmons is playing 1/3 his minutes at SF. If Tyrus was playing 0 minutes, you'd have a point. Though he's certainly a bust of a pick at #2 in the 1st round.
Delfino is this SF, he doesn't have the ball in his hands and isn't the focal point or second option, or even the third. And you could argue that Stackhouse is the SF in the other lineups, especially if Salmons has a higher usage. Or you could argue that Salmons is always the SF. I haven't watched any of the games to see if Salmons is running the plays like BG or Deng used to, but I have a feeling he's spending more time in the BG role attacking than the Deng role of waiting for the reversal. That's just an educated guess. Do you think Skiles has Delfino initiating things or waiting for a kickout 3? Or an old Stackhouse? And the difference between Tyrus on the bulls and Tyrus on the bobcats is that on the bulls there was a more productive player competing with Tyrus for minutes. Diaw isn't forcing Larry Brown to play him.
No doubt about it! Noah was playing at a very high level before he became inflamed. The team needed his rebounding and blocked shots and to a lesser extent needs his scoring. As for catching the Clippers, even if we lose on out, I doubt we crack the 10th spot or above. LA would have to go an insane win streak to pass us.
