http://www.suntimes.com/sports/bask...-make-run-at-heat-is-with-current-roster.html No one who has followed this team would be surprised by the above statement. I've heard Gar state this as well many times. Listen Gar, you can't criticize Thibbs from one side of your mouth about overplaying the players and then from the other side of your mouth use Thibbs grinding out those regular season wins by playing the players heavy minutes as justification for yet another season of "stand pat." We've seen that this core can win plenty of regular season games. The playoffs are what matter. Pick a lane GarPax. You can't have it both ways re: Thibbs.
Look, I'm not a cap expert, nor do I want to be. But of the things I've seen out there, almost all of them would involve a significant step backwards, before going forwards. For example, trade Noah/Butler for Aldridge. Bleh. I don't know that "content" is the right word to describe Gar's attitude. I think they've chosen a time table for this set of players, and the time runs out after next season. You give them one more shot -- Thibs included -- to get it right as is, including solving the minutes conundrum. Is that the right thing to do? I don't know. But I think I at least get what they're doing, and the time table they're following. If it blows up once more, for whatever reason, well, you've got Mirotic coming, a potentially high pick from Charlotte, and Deng and Boozer off the books.
The Bulls have one too many guys making $10M+, which makes it so signing a scrub like Dunleavy handcuffs us in the moves we can make. The bench went from deep to dreck when they failed to use CBA exceptions to keep the players, and failed to match Asik's offer. So instead if having guys with $5M contracts we could play or trade, we have bums like Radmanovich that nobody but GarPax wants to see play. Tick tick. 2014 and Rose us another 2 years older.
One man's deep is another man's dreck. I would say that last season, we missed Omer -- mostly because Tom missed Omer, but he would have made a difference. The others? Nope. And I dare say we won't miss Nate if he doesn't come back, though we sure would have if we hadn't signed him for last year. Marco was fun, but I think Dunleavy will help more in the role he will have, which is as bench guy. Marco was not a good bench guy, in general. He needed to start. But he's not good enough to start consistently. Maybe he'll figure it out in SA. Hope so for his sake. But I think Dunleavy is the right guy for us -- Tom willing. Could things be better? Yes. So?
So the point is you can't give Thibs a roster half full of D-Leaguers and expect him to play those guys. Marco wasn't a D-Leaguer, but guys like Nazr, Malcolm Thomas, Radman, Cook were. So we're doing a "consolidation" move by trading in Marco and Nate for Dunleavy. One less quality player on the roster.
I for one liked Nate quite a bit. I get that he wasn't ideal at running the team, suffered poor defense and was a liability when his shot wasn't falling. The thing is, when he was on he could score against anyone. And in the playoffs you only have to win 4 out of 7 games.
This has the ring of truth, though I'd feel better about it if I had ever actually heard or read a quote from Forman criticizing Thibodeau. Popovich, who is probably as secure a head coach as exists in the NBA, is willing to lose a few games for the sake of resting his key vets. Most of the other head coaches grind to win as many regular season games as possible. Thibodeau is definitely with the majority.
I will say that I have heard Pax saying "Sure, sometimes I wonder why this guy is still in the game. But my tendency is to let the coach coach the game." At least on the radio. Now, I may be remembering Pax talking during VDNs time, so... And I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think that the "when healthy" argument for keeping the team together is an "encouragement" for Thibs to be more flexible in letting his subs work into getting his system while playing, instead of waiting until the starters go down with injury and Thibs shouts out "next!" And K4E, I agree. If Gar wants Thibs to cool it with the mega minutes, then he's got to understand why Thibs does it, and work with him to provide enough continuity that he can rest his guys from the get go. I hope that Dunleavy will adjust quickly, and I also hope that Nate comes back. He just might. As I said before, Marco doesn't look like the right fit for the team, now that Jimmy B starts and Derrick is back. (God willing)
Still not a quote, but I don't think it's unreasonable to think that this is what Gar is thinking. As I said, Gar can't just bitch, he needs to work with Tom, whatever warts are there, and all. The good is worth the warts, I think If Gar (and Thibs) adjusts, they can "unite and move forward".
I was thinking more along the lines of a quote from Forman, not talk-radio guy, Dan Bernstein's unnamed source. Here's the thing. I try not to ever bash someone based on rumors, suppositions, speculation or what unnamed sources are reported to have said. These sorts of reports may put my antennae at attention, but I don't think it's right to take this sort of info as gospel and then attack a guy with it. But that's just me.
So, if there was a line in the middle between truth and garbage, you are more on the garbage side of things when gauging the legitimacy of what Bernstein (the "talk radio guy" attack the source) wrote? My experience with reading his blog is that he does take it seriously. I don't think he would have wrote it if he didn't think the source was reliable. And, like you said, it has the ring of truth as well. It was obvious from the press conference that Gar isn't going to give a meaningful direct quote on why Adams was fired and what is actually going on.
Sorry, I didn't explain myself well. I like Bernstein and trust him (and through him, his source) enough to be concerned about the possible rift between Forman and Thibodeau. I do not, however, feel that the information Bernstein provided is enough to draw a firm conclusion, and without a firm conclusion, I personally don't feel right about attacking Forman.
