http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/teams/chi/report Most Valuable Player: G Derrick Rose. Who else? The former No. 1 draft pick made the All-Star team in his second pro season, averaging 20.8 points and 6.0 assists. He was even better in the playoffs, producing 26.8 points and 7.2 assists in the first round against Cleveland. Most Disappointing Player: There are several candidates for this category. Since G John Salmons and F Tyrus Thomas were traded away in February, let's go with G Kirk Hinrich. He was back in a starting role, but didn't really take advantage, averaging 10.9 points and shooting 40.9 percent from the field. Free Agent Focus: The plan was to open up as much cap room as possible this summer, so the Bulls have plenty of free agents, including center Brad Miller; guards Jannero Pargo, Flip Murray, Acie Law and Devin Brown; and forwards Hakim Warrick and Joe Alexander. The Bulls can restrict Law by giving him a qualifying offer. If anyone from that group is likely to return, it's Miller. If the Bulls can upgrade their roster through free agency, Miller might be willing to come back for the veteran's minimum. He'll also likely consider Houston as a potential destination. Player Notes: F Taj Gibson will participate in the NBA's Basketball Without Borders program this summer. Gibson and several other NBA players will attend a four-day camp in Singapore from June 28 to July 1. G Derrick Rose might have a good chance of representing the U.S. at the FIBA World Championships in Turkey later this summer. Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Dwight Howard are among the NBA stars who have talked about skipping the tournament, which would open spots for younger players such as Rose. F James Johnson and F Rob Kurz are among the players expected to join the Bulls' entry in the Las Vegas summer league. The Bulls' summer squad will play five games, beginning July 13 against Denver.
We got some, and I emphasize some, production from Miller, Warrick and Murray. You can never have too many veteran bigs, in terms of Miller. And there are real advantageous to having a shoot first, shoot second, shoot third, pass maybe forth players like Warrick and Murray coming off the bench who can generate quick offense when things have slowed. Regardless, you are not going to win a playoff series because of any of those guys.
Seein who we can dump Kirk's (or Deng's) contract on (maybe snag someone in a S&T) and whatever big FA we sign, I see the ones that Denny named possibly returning, I liked wat flip did and id like to see more of law.
Would you disagree? My only moment of pause is that I wasn't expecting anything from him to begin with.
He was a starter. Wouldn't your most disappointing player be on the end of the bench? Like Adam Morrison ;-)
Certainly AMMO would be more of a disappointment at the end of the bench than any of the Bulls are a disappointment because he was highly touted and has been a perpetual bust. There apparently is more to basketball than crying when you lose. In most other instances, I don't believe the end of the bench guy qualifies as "most disappointing player" because there are low expectations for most players who sit at the end of the bench, so you can't be too disappointed in them if they don't produce. I think calling Kirk "most disappointing player" is fair game. He is a journeyman player who was expected to step up when Ben left and re-gain his solid Hoosiers-ness grit and execution and ended up being a bit dim in his chance to shine. The only other Bulls player I can think of to qualify for "most disappointing player" would be James Johnson, since he was a fairly high draft pick and wasn't really an impact player for most of the season. However, I think JJ dodges the bullet with the excuses that he is young, raw and has (you know I hate the word) p-p-potential. He gets a bye for now on the disappointment factor. **Does several points two fingers at eyes/points fingers at James Johnson "I will be watching you" gestures** I will bring him down to Chinatown
JJ was disappointing, but I wonder how much of that was hype from Bulls fans? I know in the summer league he looked good! Had handles, could run the break and rebound. Could finish at the basket. His major flaw as Fts and shooting. Well shooting in general. Needs to work on that. I hope he is not another TT.
James didnt really get PT tho. But I heard that was because he wasnt practicing good. I still think he can live up to his draft status, I just think he has to get his head in the game and work on his shooting. He could be a hell of a mismatch for other SFs and PFs
There wasn't much opportunity for Johnson to play, given how Deng came back and Taj contributed like a vet right away. The Bulls played 4/5 their starting 5 as 24 year olds or younger, perhaps they didn't need even more immaturity to deal with - or development minutes. I'm not particularly a fan of the guy or anything. As for Kirk, I was more thinking that he should have played himself out of a starting job and onto the bench, eventually to the end of it. He had a strongish finish to end up with a 10.9 PER, which is terrible. Only slightly better than Duhon at 150% the paycheck. Flip Murry is a better player if you think about it a little...
I might agree that Flip Murry is a better player, but you can't put him in a starting lineup. He jacks shots and monopolizes the ball, which is perfect if you're coming off the bench for five minutes, but not for anything more. Mind you, I'm not any more impressed by Kirk Hinrich than you are.
Murray would have shot 4 more shots per game than Hinrich if both played 36 minutes, and contributed 1.5 fewer assists, .2 less steals, and .2 less turnovers. That's one more shot every 9 minutes.
