I like how Jackson took a little shot here. I think that's right for the most part. Rose still needs to get his team a better shot if you have five seconds. I don't think it's a huge mistake but it is consistent with the rotation errors we've been seeing from Thibodeau . . . comes part in parcel with hiring a rookie coach, I guess. He does that in the playoffs and I'll be screaming for Benny the Bull to cut his balls off. Whatever. This was team failure, as will happen in the dog days.
I dont buy into the idea that he wanted shooters out there. Carlos can shoot. I think Tom wanted some 'D'. We were down by 13 to start the quarter.
Gotta love headline writers. I'm sure Boozer wasn't happy about watching, but I thought his "It was a coaching decision...you'll have to ask Thibs." was appropriate and didn't necessarily signal any long-term problem. Boozer had a bad game, particularly on the defensive end and this was part of the reason the Bulls dug a hole. The smaller, Boozer-less lineup got 'em back in the game. The only problem was that they lost. Shouldn't be any big deal unless Boozer makes it one. I don't see that happening at this point.
Boozer does have some experiance sharing time with good backups like milsap in Utah. That's a good thing.
What I found interesting was that none of the Bulls looked to set a pick for Rose when he was taking the last shot. With 5 seconds left, I'm sure they knew the game plan was Rose going for a game winner, and yet they all stood on the court dumbfounded waiting for a miracle Rose shot.
I thought it was actually a sign of progress. In the Knicks game when the second team brought them back, he didn't bring any of the starters back. This time, he at least brought Rose back. The thing about Boozer is he is a lot like BG in that if you aren't actively using him offensively, he doesn't bring a lot to the table. The bulls need to run the offense through him to maximize his impact and that is hard to do against a zone. His defense was bad last night and you only need one big as a shotblocker/rebounder/post when playing small against a zone. Omer did well in that role. And it's important to send a message when guys get complacent like Boozer obviously was last night. Running out of timeouts was bad, but he needed to take them to rest the guys who had played the whole game, Deng, and the whole fourth quarter, Watson and Brewer. It would have been nice to get Korver in there for the last shot but they didn't get a chance.
He got one pick way up high. He also missed a wide open Deng standing 12 feet away just outside the arc.
That is another good point.The nets commentators(Mike Fratello) mentioned that very point immediately after time ran out. No one on the Bulls made an effort to set a pick for him. We had 5.5 seconds left, plenty of time to bring the ball up court and set a pick.
It looked to me like Rose did use a pick set for him and reversed his drive to take a 3pt range shot. I question why he didn't try to finish his drive and take it to the basket. Maybe draw a foul. Boozer is money, he belonged out there. I'd rather see him get 40 minutes than Deng. And it is great to see you, transplant (Denny Crane, the artist formerly known as DaBullz)
Thanks, Denny (I'll try not to revert to DaBullz). Disagree with you on Boozer though. Yeah, he almost always scores and boards, but he has a history of becoming disinterested on the defensive end and he had one of those games against the Nets. On that night, the team played better with him on the bench. As my guy Sloan observed, there's no physical reason for Boozer to be a sub-par defender, but too often that's what he is and it hurts the team. In his time on the Bulls, I've seen him play more-than-acceptable defense and I've seen him suck on that end. It sure looks to me that the difference is effort/focus. i don't get it and I don't like it.
I agree with everything you said except for the part that there's no physical reason for Boozer to be a sub-par defender. He doesn't really jump and he's quite slow because of his bulk. A lot of times, I think, when Boozer looks particularly egrigious on D it's because he's trying not to draw a foul and just isn't quick enough to effectively chase people playing away from the basket. You have to take the good with the bad with him. Boozer is a transcendant scorer who pushes people around in the post; but the bulk that allows him to do that also makes him a subpar defender. Noah is the cure to these ills, to a certain extent. I also think Boozer will improve as he gets better at the defensive schemes. It may sound crazy, but I really appreciate the losses like the one against the Nets. You can see how Thibodeau is forced to learn new situations, and he is a rookie coach. This wasn't the disaster that the first NY game was, but Thibodeau still didn't put his team in an optimal place to win. Live an learn, and I hope that he will.
For that game, it probably was the right move to bench Boozer. The Bulls did win the 4th quarter 29-18 and almost pulled out the game. But, Thibbs needs to be worrying about the whole season, and probably the next couple seasons too. Not just some in the grand scheme of things meaningless game in January. We don't want to lose Boozer 1/2 way through his first year of a 4 year deal. But, Thibbs wants to appear uncompromising about playing D. Sloan had the same issue with Boozer and Boozer is probably gonna keep being Boozer. A difficult situation to deal with. Good luck with that one Thibbs! Hopefully tonight Boozer comes out strong and the Bulls beat a team they should.
Hiya, SST. I hear ya...Boozer is definitely a big and kinda burly guy. However, while he's not what you'd call a leaper, he's not Paul Silas either. He's not fleet-a-foot, but he's not Aaron Gray. And he is big, strong and quick...all attributes that can be effectively used on the defensive end. Some very good defensive PFs have had less to work with than Boozer. The main reason I'm convinced that Boozer's bad defensive rep is not based purely on physical limitations is that, now that I've watched him as a Bull, I've seen him play perfectly acceptable defense more often than not. And while almost every player has bad matchups and/or occasional defensive lapses, Boozer just seems to have games where he lacks defensive want-to. In those games, he abandons the team concept and instead plays for points and rebounds. I don't like it. My observations could be faulty. I'm going to make it a point to watch Boozer's defense more closely going forward.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TfBq85K3pdo/TKnzmwP4WmI/AAAAAAAAAS8/xQ4JjMoBOXE/s1600/Hohner G3T.jpg offense, pts per 100 possessions = 110.3 on court, 105.4 off court, net +4.8 defense, pts per 100 possessions = 99.3 on court, 101.5 off court, net -2.2 (by this measure, we're better offensively and defensively with him on the court) Net points per 100 possessions = +11.0 on court, +3.9 off court, net +7.0 net 7.0 wins games. HUGE. Best on the team. Taj Gibson: http://www.82games.com/1011/10CHI8.HTM offense, pts per 100 poss. = 103.9 on court, 109.7 off court, net -5.7 defense, pts per 100 poss. = 102.0 on court, 99.8 off court, net +2.2 (by this measure, we're better with him off the court, both offensively and defensively) net points per 100 poss. = +2 on court, +9.9 off court, net -7.9 -7.9 loses games. How about Deng? Am I forgetting anyone we might play instead of Boozer? http://www.82games.com/1011/10CHI7.HTM offense, points per 100 poss. = 106.9 on court, 108.2 off court, net -1.3 defense, points per 100 poss. = 100.9 on court, 100.1 off court, net = +8 net points per 100 poss = +6.1 on court, +8.1 off court, net = -2.1 -2.1 loses games, too, though at ~80 actual possessions per game, the net is negligible.
