"Despite being mentioned in trade rumors for more than a year, Kirk Hinrich still was stunned when he learned of the draft-day deal that sent him from the Bulls to Washington. ''I was a little bit shocked,'' he said Friday night before the Bulls and Wizards met in a preseason game at the United Center. ''For whatever reason, it caught me a little bit off guard. ''Obviously, initially you have mixed emotions and things like that, but I was able to get over them fairly easily and realize I had an opportunity in front of me to have a fresh start in Washington. It's been really good so far.'' Hinrich, who spent seven seasons with the Bulls, received a loud ovation from the UC crowd. " Read more:http://www.suntimes.com/sports/basketball/bulls/2786466,CST-SPT-bullnt09.article
I'm glad Bulls fans gave him a big ovation. It's nice to know we take care of our own. I have somewhat mixed emotions about Hinrich, but those were all based on his contract and how some of our coaches used him, and not on anything he did or didn't do in particular. He represented the city well and was much better than many of the players we've drafted in the past ten years.
Also, he gets a little cred because he, through no fault of his own, was the sacrifice to the false gods of LeBron, Dwade and cb4. Sort of like the girl offered up to King Kong.
I feel especially bad for Kirk because once again he's the starting small forward on a team overloaded with good guards. It's really and truly pretty absurd when you think about how he spent his time here, especially the last two years with DRose, that he's now got to spend another couple years of his prime backing up or playing around John Wall. Kirk's been a huge victim of circumstance, and I've always thought he was also a pretty obvious victim of working too hard to overcome it. His first couple years, when he was really his best, he was lightning quick, which he never got the credit he deserved for, because he's, you know, kinda pasty. But he basically put on about 20lbs over the past few years, and I don't think that muscle really served him well. It didn't help him really defend bigger players better and it took away a bit of his agility and that really hurt him when facing bigger and smaller guys alike. On that note, I can say that I learned a lot about perimeter defense from watching Kirk play. He's technically awesome. But sort of ironically, the end results I learned diverged with his awesomeness. Especially with the new interpretations of the rules, it's much better to be quick than strong on the NBA perimeter. Also, good offense - which keeps the opponents' good offensive players working hard, excellent interior defense, great rebounding, and good team defensive contributions are much more important than individual perimeter defensive prowess.
