Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said Tuesday that he isn't sure Luol Deng will travel to Miami for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Heat, and Kirk Hinrich said the calf injury that has kept him out of the last four games hasn't changed. It's unlikely either player will be available when the Bulls try to take a 2-0 series lead on Wednesday. Source http://espn.go.com/chicago/nba/stor...rich-chicago-bulls-doubtful-game-2-miami-heat
The twitterverse should be abuzz about Kirk sitting out. Frankly, I really don't think we miss him, other than a very few minutes we've been playing Teague. But even then, Teague's been doing fine, IMO.
I doubt that there will be any buzz about Hinrich continuing to mend. I mean, why would there be other than some idiots pretending that they're doctors. Robinson's the Man at PG for the Bulls in this series. He puts pressure on the Heat's defense in a way that Hinrich couldn't dream of doing. Go Bulls!
Hinrich's biggest potential contribution is the ability to switch onto Wade, which would allow our other perimeter defenders to more aggressively play help defense on Lebron, and prevent Jimmy/Lu from having to play every minute of every game. I agree on offense he's not really an asset since Nate's burst is more useful than Hinrich's steadiness. Nate to me looks better suited to break Miami's pressure defense than Hinrich, who to me always seemed to have trouble getting around Miami's press. I wonder if the team would be willing to bring Hinrich and Boozer off the bench this series?
If Hinrich was healthy, Nate would have been on the bench a lot. Belinelli's minutes would be less, too. That was the back court that beat the Nets and then the Heat. When Luol is back, I hope he plays PF. If he's guarding LeBron, he's playing PF on defense anyway. Nate, Marco, Noah, Butler, and Deng. 48 minutes, if possible. Boozer 1st off the bench.
I can't argue with your reasoning. Seems solid to me. However, I've always had a higher opinion of Kirk than you, and think minute sharing between him, Nate, and Marco is best for the team. However, I am glad Thibs canned Rip. Not because he's awful or so much worse than Marco, but it was bad for the rotation and each player seems to play better when they have consistent minutes.
When Kirk plays, someone on the Heat (Wade!) gets to rest at the defensive end. Or play free safety. Every second the ball is in his hands, it's not in Noah's or Boozer's or Nate's... It's a very different deal if the ball is in Nate's hands for all :24.
Would be nice to have him in case of foul trouble, but I'd rather both Nate and Marco getting heavy minutes over Kirk at this point. If one of those guys is missing time though, I get nervous in a hurry with Teague out there.
Unfortunately, if Kirk is ready to play, he'll start and play 38 minutes. At least that's what my expectation is.
