So, the TANK is on, or at least it should be. Thought this would be a good place to put all things related to the TANK. I was listening to the Bill Simmons and Jalen Rose podcast and they were speaking at length regarding the draft class. They agreed with what many here have said in that there is no savior in this draft, at least not one that is apparent. This is something I agree with at this point. They said Lebron was about a 100 at this age, Durant (in college) was like a 75 and Parker is about a 50. A very deep draft class but no apparent saviors. Also, another place where I've heard that Embiid is the highest rated player (Bill Simmons) while Jalen likes Julius Randle as the highest rated player. As far as I'm concerned, good news for the Bulls as its looking very unlikely that we'd get a #1 or #2 pick but the #8-#10 could net a very productive player. Also, neither one would be surprised if Parker, Embiid or Aaron Gordon stayed an additional year in college, which would of course mess all sorts of things up.
All three turned out OK. Curry led the Bulls in scoring by the time he was the equivalent of a college senior. Our GM in his infinite wisdom played Fizer out of position at SF. When Cartwright played him at PF, he put up a 17.9 PER before getting hurt. Tyrus had become our starting PF before he was injured and then traded in a salary dump.
Random bad luck. Look who drafted them. Seriously. All three were drafted with expectation they'd perform in some pretty strange scenario. Fizer at SF. Curry in twin towers. Thomas a PF they wanted to play at SF and be the next Jordan. #4 hasn't been very good league-wide. In deep drafts, a Chris Paul or Russell Westbrook was taken. In weak drafts like the ones the Bulls had great pick positions, guys like Shaun Livingston and Drew Gooden were pretty typical. I think our guys did at least as well as those others.
This TANK is rolling in the wrong direction. 5th seed in the East right now it looks like. 2nd round playoff team perhaps. The Thibs JIB is too strong and the team was built to withstand dumping deng (Dunleavy, Snell, Butler). Can't fault the team for trying. These guys are warriors that will play hard D and Dunleavy is picking up the scoring slack.
We've talked about the tank a good deal now. The converse is that with so many East teams outright tanking, a middling team might win a series or two before facing the Heat or Pacers or Hawks. Anything is possible, I suppose. Transplant said it best: they do have to play the games. For all we know, we end up in the ECF against the Heat minus LeBron for some reason.
I'm not sure what to make of our playoff chances. Logic would dictate that we'd fall out of the race, but we're a tough bunch that plays well together. Thibs will break down game tape 27 hours a day if he could to avoid losing. I wouldn't be surprised if Thibs becomes hell bent on making the playoffs as a way to give the middle finger to the front office for giving him such a difficult hand to work with. If we suffer any serious injuries I we simply don't have enough firepower to win games, even if our heart is in it. If we don't, I think it's about 50/50 we make it. What's weird is that before we traded Deng I was kind of hoping we'd lose games in a big picture sort of way, but now I find myself rooting more enthusiastically for the team to exceed expectations. I guess it's fun being the underdog.
I love to look at my favorite teams in a big picture way, but I find myself constitutionally incapable of watching games that way. I'm convinced that my brain just isn't big enough. When I watch the Bulls (or Bears, Blackhawks and White Sox), I want them to win...can't help myself. On second thought, maybe it's an internal discipline problem. Anyway, I do agree with the underdog thing. I mean, hell, even most of the team's fans want them to lose...it doesn't get any more underdog than that.
As long as we try, and as long as we play good D, this team will be in most games. Thibs as coach is part of it as well. Signing Augustin settled us down. Had we kept Teague here as a back up and James, the story would be different.
We're now 1 game behind in the loss column for the #3 seed, and 5 games behind in the loss column for the #9. 5 losses is a lot of ground to make up in the East, where losing is easier than winning. If management really is serious about the TANK then they need to pull Teague out of D-League ASAP.
It's not going to happen, rosenthall. I think the tank dream is over. In better news, I got a chance to watch Sacramento-Cavs today. Sacramento somehow managed to assemble a team that makes sense out of a roster that was an unmitigated disaster. Gay looks like a solid fit for them, so does D Will. The remind me of the pre-trade Gay Griz. They have a couple wide intimidating players up front who can score like mad (well, at least one of the two can score like mad), a really long three, and a lightening quick point guard. Their bench isn't awful either, with Williams and Fredette as designated chuckers. I like this team. They might have been a playoff team if they started the season with this roster. I wouldn't be shocked if the Bulls get their pick . . . maybe a 40-60 chance.
It looks to me like the Bulls aren't dependent on Lu to win basketball games, and they win in spite of playing Kirk. What is happening is that the Bulls are relying more in their younger players. Snell in particular, but Jimmy, too. DJ is 2 years older than Jimmy.
The Kings' story is Demarcus Cousins coming into his own. He's averaging 23.5 PPG and 11.5PPG and 3.1 ASSISTS in only 32.5 minutes. Their big 3 of Cousins, Gay, and Thomas are indeed a core to build around. They also drafted Ben McLemore who should turn out to be a solid player.
You think the Bulls get Sac Town's pick? I think Sacramento is good enough but it's so much tougher for them in the West.
Oh, as to Boogie Cousins, it's his defense too. He's up to 1.9(!) steals per game from 1.4 and has slightly higher blocks per game (1.0). I like the way he's anchoring the defense.
