Mirotic has definitely gotten better on defense lately. Twice in the Charlotte game, he got switched onto a guard one on one, and he played perfect defense. Not letting the guard get by him, but staying close enough to keep a hand in the shooter's face. Then in the 4th, Henderson had him isolated on the right wing, and after several seconds and a few moves, he gave up and passed the ball back to the top of the key. That being said, if a guy is giving you 21.0 points and 8.2 rebounds on a .568 TS% in 31.4 minutes, even if his defense was still sub-par you have to let him play. Especially when he has consistently had the lowest Defensive Rating throughout the season. The team's defensive rating when each of the 4 bigs is on the floor: Mirotic 99.5 Noah 101.2 Gasol 102.4 Gibson 102.7 It certainly helps that Mirotic is a very good defensive rebounder, which stops the other team from extending possessions. He also has a lower TO ratio than everyone but MDJ, Moore and Butler, which helps to keep the other team from getting easy points off turnovers.
This. Mirotic could be the difference between a first-round win and an early exit, but when it comes to the one true goal, little has changed for the Bulls...a high-level Derrick Rose is the prerequisite.
The Bulls aren't the defensive monsters they've been in the past, but they do rank 4th in the league in 3-point defense. In the first half, the Raptors made 60% of their 3s. That can't hold up.
Raptors are shooting over 50% from the field and have only 3 turnovers.. Give 'em credit, they're playing one helluva clean game.
Usually plus-minus doesn't seem to particularly track player performance, but I thought it did tonight. The team was awful when Mirotic wasn't on the court. Mirotic set the dynamic when he checked in in the first, a dynamic that eventually carried them in the fourth. Yet, when Thibodeau was interviewed at the quarter, the only thing he could point to concerning the slow start was the "Team's" inability to guard opposing small forwards, basically signaling Mirotic out. I'm done. This dynamic is too strange and can only be attributed to the weirdness between Thibodeau and the front office. He's basically panning a rookie on national television who is the only person responsible for holding this season together. Who did we even get to this point?
http://chicago.suntimes.com/basketb...t-nikola-mirotic-finally-getting-hang-defense Do you think that perhaps Thibs, who pretty consistently gets the most out of the players he's given, is effectively motivating Mirotic to be the best basketball player he can be and hopefully an effective cog in the Bulls team defense along with being a potent offensive threat? This is good for both Mirotic (who will get paid more and get more playing time on any team if he's a NBA two way player) and for the team as a whole. "I need to work more" is exactly what I want to be hearing out of my NBA Basketball players. Thibs installs a discipline and work ethic in his NBA players. Mirotic landed in a good spot, even though he didn't get a boatload of who cares if we win development minutes early on. It looks like the NBA coach of the year who also has a masters degree in counselling has found effective ways to motivate him.
But the only time the Bulls have actually looked like title contenders is when Mirotic plays. When he's on the court, they're full of life. When he's not, they look weighted down by years of depressing injuries, constant in-fighting and Tom Thibodeau's raspy voice. Mirotic has become the weekend getaway that spices up a stale marriage. Without him, they're toast. The numbers bear this out. When Mirotic is out of the game, the Bulls are outscoring teams by less than a point per 100 possessions, which corresponds closest to the 35-36 Milwaukee Bucks. When he's in, that point differential jumps to over six points better than their opponents, which is better than the East-leading Hawks. The Bulls' two best big man combinations among their four power players are Mirotic/Noah (+8.3) and Mirotic/Gibson (+7.3). No other duo comes close. A good read! http://www.sbnation.com/2015/3/26/8...hicago-bulls-highlights-awkward-tom-thibodeau
Mirotic has the lowest Defensive Rating of anyone on the team, so actually the Bulls' defense has been best when he is on the floor. And it's really not all that close, either. 1.7 points per 100 possessions. Mirotic 99.6 Dunleavy 101.3 Noah 101.6 Hinrich 101.7 Rose 101.7 Brooks 102.2 Butler 102.2 Gasol 102.5 Snell 102.5 Gibson 103.0 Moore 103.4 http://stats.nba.com/team/#!/1610612741/players/advanced/?sort=DEF_RATING&dir=1 Only Brooks and Butler have a better Offensive Rating than Niko: Brooks 107.0 Butler 105.8 Mirotic 105.7 Rose 105.7 Gibson 105.3 Dunleavy 105.2 Snell 105.0 Gasol 104.6 Moore 104.2 Noah 103.9 Hinrich 103.7 http://stats.nba.com/team/#!/1610612741/players/advanced/?sort=OFF_RATING&dir=1 Of course, those numbers have been that way for most of the season - before March 1st, when Taj's injury finally forced Thibs to play Mirotic big minutes, his differential was even better: (Thru Feb 28) 105.6 - 99.1 (+6.5) http://stats.nba.com/team/#!/1610612741/players/advanced/?sort=OFF_RATING&dir=1&DateTo=02/28/2015
Not at all, just that the Bulls defense as a team is most effective when Niko is on the floor. There are many factors that can lower a team's Defensive Efficiency, like I stated earlier in this thread: "It certainly helps that Mirotic is a very good defensive rebounder, which stops the other team from extending possessions. He also has a lower TO ratio than everyone but MDJ, Moore and Butler, which helps to keep the other team from getting easy points off turnovers."