The bulls lost the game BG went for 50 and lost the series because BG couldn't guard anybody on the celtics. And what a difference losing the 3 best players on the team for a bunch of games makes. The comparison is dumb at best. If Noah and Deng don't go down, the bulls are still challenging for the 5th seed. If they even split the 10 games they lost, they'd be 1 game behind Milwaukee. With those guys healthy, they were clearly a better team. There's a whole lot of cherry picking going on in this thread...
If we had depth, losing those guys wouldn't have made the difference. Look at all the injuries the Blazers suffered, and at their record in the west.
We have players but no depth! I agree Denny. If we had depth and not just players, the recent losing streak would not have been that big!
How short someone's memory is. Last season, the Bulls finished 41-41. Deng mised 33 games. Hinrich missed 31 games. Gooden was their starting center and played in 1/2 the games he was with the team for. Same for Hughes. Bulls only had Miller and Salmons for 29 games. Boo fuckin' hoo about the injuries. This season, Rose has missed 4 games, Hinrich 8, Deng 8, Noah 18. With 15 to go.
How many games were Deng and Hinrich out together? The bulls were never missing their three best players at the same time last year. They were clearly better this year, even when one of those guys were out. And without BG the whole season.
Bogus claim. Hinrich and Deng were out together a lot of the time, along with Hughes and Brother Abe. The record speaks for itself.
I would add that I don't recall the streak of blowouts early last year when everyone weren't healthy compared to this season, nor was there a 10 game losing streak.
Denny, I don't think you or anybody should be put any faith in your recollection of things. Go look at the games, the bulls got hammered from about the start of the circus trip until mid-january. And I don't know why I bother to argue this stuff since the facts never factor into your delusions anyway, but Hinrich was out from 11/7 to 1/12 and Deng missed a few games from 12/27 to 1/11, but didn't go out until 2/28. So they missed maybe 5 games at the same time. But keep hanging onto that delusion that this team would have been better with BG on it. And don't bother looking at what BG is doing in Detroit where he isn't the focal point of the offense and is getting his minutes curtailed for his bad defense. Dollar for dollar, he's a bigger waste than anybody currently on the bulls roster with the exception of Jerome James.
The Bulls went 3-4 on the circus trip last year. They lost 3 in a row for the first time game 30. The longest losing streak was 4. They finished the season 12-4 to enter the playoffs one of the hottest teams in the NBA. The Bulls went 1-5 on the circus trip this year. They lost 9 of 10 through game 20. They lost another 10 in a row to start March. To finish the season 12-4, they have to go 9-1 the rest of the way. Lots of luck with that. You keep hanging onto the delusion that this year's team is somehow better than last year's.
Yeah, he's been hurting the whole season. Stuff like playing before you're fully healed will do that to you. He missed 10+ games twice. Yet, in games he started, Detroit was 7-11, .388. In games he didn't start, Detroit was 16-38, .296. In games he missed, Detroit was 8-13, .381.
Am I the only one who thinks this team is overachieving? I still can't believe a roster this (un)talented and injury-plagued is even fighting for this las playoff spot.
Who? The bulls? The bulls have more than enough talent to make the playoffs. It's the injuries that are killing them.
Exactly what in those numbers makes $11 mil/year look good? Detroit is screwed. Nobody is going to take Rip and his deal at this point and he's still better than BG at SG. And Stuckey is their best player, but he's the only one they'll be able to move. And if they build around BG, the best they can hope for is .500...
I think they've got the talent to make the playoffs for sure, if they're healthy. At this point they're sort of held together with bailing wire and string. Compared to last year Rose >> Rose as a rookie Noah >> Noah last year Deng hurt for 20 games >> Deng hurt for 40 games and mopey for the rest Taj >> Thabo and those make up for Older Miller < Younger Miller last year Hinrich < Hinrich last year No BG at all << BG Warrick/Flip/Law/Salmons etc this year < Salmons/Gooden/Nocioni last year I think on the whole we're not quite as good, whihc is why we're struggling to make the playoffs. We might get lucky and sneak in, I just hope it's not at the cost of long-term injuries to Noah and JJ
