It seems to be a popular topic around these interwebnets. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/464533-like-the-90s-chicago-bulls-takeover-central-division-again http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=17333
All I can say to the Bucks is "woe to anyone who looks for anything good from Drew Gooden." I will say that it is shaping up to be a nice rivalry, and a lot of fun. Nothing but respect for Skiles, and the matchup between him and Thibo should be VERY interesting, to say the least. Really a nice rivalry that highlights the team aspect of playing basketball, with good to great players, but no superstars, yet.
I'm wondering who the "several instant impact players" are that hoopsworld mentions. Boozer's a big guy, but I wouldn't call him "several." The rest are bench players or cast offs from other teams signed for cheap.
For some reason, the Bucks don't scare me at all. Maybe I'm speaking in ignorance, but I don't think they're very talented. Every Skiles team seems to have the same pattern: overachieve with moderately talented players, and then tap out from Skiles-fatigue. I think we'll see that this year. IMO Rose>Jennings Noah=Bogut Boozer>>>anyone else they have in their frontcourt. Deng >> Salmons. Am I missing something?
I wouldn't count on Skiles-burnout this year, unless Jennings flames out. And, I'd say that when healthy, Bogut>Noah, as much as I like Joakim. I don't know that they scare me. What I'm saying is that it will be a very interesting match-up for lots of reasons.
I agree with Good Hope, though I'd add that Salmons was better than Deng when he was with us and playing for Deng when he was injured. Seriously, Salmons scored more, played defense as well, and was a 3pt threat.
I don't disagree with you but this is the same type of analysis that leads people to be surprised when Team USA loses in international ball. A lot will depend on how the Bulls come together and health issues.
SST: Fair point. But I think the effect you're pointing out is less severe in the NBA -- longer season, and less heterogeneity in style of play and chemistry issues. Good Hope: Fair point, but I'm pretty sure the difference between Noah and Bogut is much less than the gap between Boozer/Rose/Deng vs. Jennings/Salmons/Bucks frontcourt. Denny: I'm calling Wolf on the John Salmons of 2010. After all.....it did look kind of familiar, right? Salmons has been good in spots his entire career, but he's never been anything more than a marginal player. Salmons has only had one year where his PER was better than Luol's worst (his rookie year). Besides, Salmons' game is not scalable. If you have a team that is scrappy and short on offensive talent he works well. If not, I don't think he adds up too much. As MikeDC astutely pointed out.....he's very Jalen Rose-ish. I concede that he seems to have a career arc that's closer to Steve Nash than the typical NBA player. Maybe I'm wrong about him.
