I've been thinking about this today, and I think it makes sense. Despite his suckitude, Keith Bogans has managed to stay in the starting unit because of the do-no-harm principle. He doesn't do anything well, but he never makes a dumb mistake and is at least passable on defense. Brewer can't score outside of 10 feet from the basket and is redundant with Deng as another wing player. They actually play together quite a bit, but almost exclusively when Deng is at the four. Neither Korver nor Deng can reliably guard shooting guards. JJ, in theory, is the only guy who could replace Bogans while doing a passably good job at all the things we'd want a SG to do, and in all likelihood do them much better than Bogans can. The only problem is he is too jittery and makes too many boneheaded plays, and violates the do-no-harm principle too often to make it worth it. However, with the addition of Boozer to the team, the starting lineup now seems like a decent place for JJ to play with no pressure and get regular minutes, which could create a safe place for him to 'relax' into his talent, and he'd have the benefit of playing with 4 other savvy players who are probably good enough to make up for his boneheadedness while he settles down. Playing him the first 6 minutes of each half seems like a good way of upgrading our SG position without having to create any other glaring mismatches, and could permanently remove the problem of Bogans' crappy play. It's a move that would be best suited until mid-December so Boozer can get back into game shape, but it seems like a worthwhile experiment. What do you guys think?
I agree in principal -- everything you say makes sense. The only problem is, you really can't rush player development by giving a young player minutes. I don't think it works. I think you have to let them learn from the bench, and when they are ready to play they demand their own minutes. JJ will have a place in this league, but it probably won't come before another off season spent working on his game and getting acclimated to the NBA. I hope I'm wrong, and the Bulls have, and should continue to, give him the opportunity to prove that he deserves a spot. But that's different than feeding a player minutes and hoping for development.
http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball/fantasy/nba/chicago-bulls/team/quarters/11/4/1 Bulls scoring by quarter We lose Q1 25.1 to 23.8 - We've led after Q1 just 5 times this season We lose Q2 25.1 to 23.9 - We've led after Q2 just 7 times this season We lose Q3 24.3 to 23.9 - We've led after Q3 just 3 times this season We win Q4 26.6 to 22.8 - We've led after Q4 9 times (7 losses) Bulls are 6-1 if leading by halftime. Those Q4 points (and defense) are scored with Korver in the game. Bogans clearly kills us in Q3. He's not helped us in Q1 (we've been behind after Q1 10 times). Any starter who gives us just 2 more points in Q1 is going to help us take the lead in games.
I wouldnt start JJ. I would start Korver and play JJ with the second team. I would split the time between he and Bogans, that is the minutes brewer wont play. Clearly we need a solid SG. We dont have one(a much better one than we have now). We need korver to play back up sf, but I am fine with him playing some SG this year. We have to address the need for a SG. Hopefully at trade deadline, but if not then, this summer.
I like the idea of putting Korver in the starting lineup....I think he'd benefit a lot from the extra space the other starters would create. However, I absolutely cannot see him guarding starting two guards with any regularity. It'd be a shit show.
True! But isnt he in the game when the game is on the line in the 4th quarter? Who guards the two gaurd then? Start him. Let's get some good leads.
