@ Game 53, Road Game 26 Tuesday, February 19, 2013 – 7:00 PM CT New Orleans Arena Comcast SportsNet Plus / ESPN 1000 AM BULLS VS. HORNETS ALL-TIME ALL-TIME ..................... Bulls lead 51-35 BULLS CURRENT STREAK ...... 1 Loss BULLS HOME STREAK ............. 1 Loss BULLS ROAD STREAK ............. 4 Wins BULLS VS. HORNETS THIS SEASON Nov. 3 @ Chicago – Hornets 89, Bulls 82 Feb. 19 @ New Orleans – LAST FIVE BULLS GAMES Feb. 13 @ Celtics 69-71 Feb. 11 vs Spurs L 89-103 Feb. 08 @ Jazz W 93-89 Feb. 07 @ Nuggets L 96-128 Feb. 04 @ Pacers L 101-111 Game Notes Chicago Bulls (30-22) Home 15-12 Road 15-9 Bulls Averages: PPG: 93.1 (Opp: 91.5) RPG: 43.69 (Opp: 40.81) APG: 22.6 (Opp: 18.5) SPG: 7.17 (Opp: 7.39) BPG: 5.33 (Opp: 5.65) TO: 14.71 (Opp: 13.92) FG%: .438 (Opp: .433) FT%: .779 (Opp: .748) 3p%: .344 (Opp: .341) Probable Bulls starters Nate Robinson - PG - Richard Hamilton - SG - Luol Deng - SF - Carlos Boozer - PF - Joakim Noah - C - Bulls Stats Leaders Points: Deng 16.7, Boozer 15.7 Rebounds: Noah 11.4, Boozer 9.3 Assists: Hinrich 5.2, Robinson 4.2 Steals: Noah 1.29, Deng 1.04 Blocks: Noah 2.02, Gibson 1.46 FG%: Gibson .495, Butler .482 FT%: Hamilton .886, Butler .862 3FG%: Robinson .403, Hinrich .389 Injury report Kirk Hinrich (elbow) is day-to-day. Derrick Rose (left knee) is out. Marco Belinelli (right ankle) is day-to-day. Joakim Noah (right foot) is day-to-day. For a full report and the latest on Bulls' injuries, check out the AthletiCo Injury Report. New Orleans Hornets (19-34) Home 9-15 Road 10-19 Probable Hornets starters Greivis Vasquez - PG Eric Gordon - SG Al-Farouq Aminu - SF Anthony Davis - PF Robin Lopez - C Injury report Eric Gordon (Sprained Right Hand) is Probable. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bulls-Season-Highs-2012-2013 Active-Bulls-Career-Highs
Hinrich is back. The Hornets have a chance! Seriously. The Bulls went 2-5 in their last 7 games without Kurt. Is it possible they missed him that much? I don't think so. Look at the competition: Brooklyn (31-22) L 93-89 Atlanta (29-22) W 93-76 Indiana (32-21) L 111-101 Denver (33-21) L 128-96 Utah (30-24) W 93-89 San Antonio (42-12) L 103-89 Boston (28-24) L 71-69 Boston's the weakest of that bunch at "only" 4 wins over .500. I think the difference was Plantar Fasciitis (Noah), Hamstring (Boozer), and Surgery Required (Deng). Deng made just four 3-point field goals in those games, all in the first two (we went 1-1 in those), and he had games of 6-18, 4-18, and 4-13 shooting. Boozer missed the first two, played under 24 minutes the next two, and he had 4-12, 6-15, and 5-14 shooting nights. The last time he played under 24 minutes before this stretch was on Christmas day. Noah missed the first three games, then played 23 minutes and 34 minutes the next two.
Hinrich the straw that stirs the drink? I don't know of a single person who believes that. The battleground on Hinrich is between "decent player" and "spawn of satan." As for this game, I won't mess things up by making a prediction, but I'd like to say that I'm glad to get that godawful all star game behind us.
The Bulls have a remarkable record considering the talent they shed in the offseason. Including not having Rose... but they did win a lot with CJ at PG last year. I wrote in the preseason that the Bulls would likely have a good regular season record simply because the front court of Deng, Boozer, and Noah is going to win a lot of games. I do think it's an interesting question about what Kirk's value to the team is. We're really no worse or better than with CJ at point. Think about CJ for a sec. You wrote an article about him last season maybe 25% into the season and he was on fire. He finished with rather shitty stats, so he actually played the rest of the season even shittier than the stats show (to drag down his good start). And we still won a lot of games with him as PG. To get a good feeling about Kirk's value to the team, him missing games while our Deng/Boozer/Noah front court is healthy would be a control experiment to him playing (when those three were actually pretty healthy). I don't think Kirk is the spawn of satan. I think he's way over the hill, is not the future of this team, and for $4M he was an outrageous expense. The expense only matters because the team won't pay the LT (we'll see!) and $4M is worthy of a much more significant talent for a roster thus constrained. I've written a few times that at vet minimum, Kirk is fine.
As a Rose replacement at PG, I'd still rather have Watson (by the way that article I wrote was with more than 40% of last season done and C.J.'s PER was 21.4). I thought C.J. was a bargain at $3.4. I think Hinrich's added value is that he can play both guard spots. I don't have a problem believing that $3.9mil is fair market for Hinrich.
$3.9M is fair market for what the Lakers might pay him. They're willing to pay their 12th man $4M while paying the LT. When you can't afford to keep Rip, Korver, Watson, Brewer, Asik, etc., that $4M contract means a whole lot more than "fair market value." It's opportunity cost. Opportunity as in OJ Mayo for $4M.
I think Mayo is a unique situation. He and his agent looked for a one-year big-minutes showcase and were willing to offer him at discount. Mayo's true market value will become clear next season and it will be more than twice the $4mil.
I don't have a problem with paying Mayo more than twice the $4M next season. Since BG has been gone, we've really struggled to adequately fill the SG position - it's not so easy. To get a guy like Mayo who'd pair with Rose, and along with the three forwards I mentioned all along would give us a studly starting lineup with decent reserves in guys like Butler, Taj, Belinelli, and Robinson. Even Teague.
I thought Hinrich was excellent. The starting frontcourt was also very good. And there was a Nazr Mohammed sighting!
Nice to see that they did regroup over the break. Kirk's return was welcome, at whatever the annual cost. I hope (pray) that elbow is behind him. We'll be nicely positioned for when Derrick does come back, which I fully expect to be near the end of February, beginning of March, right on schedule. Go Bulls!
