Agreed. I'm not presenting Mirotic's game as a model to immitate. I'm just surprised at how wrong my gut is at evaluating on-court efficiency. I see that 3-11 and think *warning - bad game*. His game works out to a .533 TS%, which is slightly above league median.
Taj wore a boot for a month. He's been playing himself into shape. I don't hold his numbers against him. We've seen what he can do. I don't think Thibs is ignoring Niko. He's looking for ways to get him on the court for ~30 minutes, even if at SF. We actually REALLY need a SF. We actually don't need an (advanced stats) incrementally better PF than the 3 we have. Anyhow, what I saw yesterday was they figured out the eyebrow fake and didn't bite and Niko had real troubles on anything but the 3 three point shots.
I pretty much agree with all of this. Last night was a painful reminder of the problems we've had all season long that everyone was hoping (assuming?) would be fixed by now. I don't really like the Mirotic at SF experiment. It seems like too little, too late, even though it might be playable if we get the 4th seed (he'd presumably be matched up against Pierce and Korver, two slow-footed players). It seems like Thibs decided on his best rotation at the beginning of the year and has been trying to find ways to make it work ever since then.
It's comical to think that we shouldn't play Niko ahead of Taj at PF because he is "(advanced stats) incrementally better". Niko is better at almost everything than Taj is, with the exception of offensive rebounding. But Taj is a horrible defensive rebounder, which is where the Bulls have been getting killed all year, according to absolutely everyone. Taj gets 4.9 defensive rebounds per 36 minutes. That's Eddy Curry territory (Eddy averaged exactly 4.9 def reb per 36 for his illustrious career). "Jump". THAT Eddy Curry. Taj did have a nice offensive playoff series last season. Five whole games that are a total outlier from the rest of his career. But he managed to make up for that by grabbing 2.0 offensive rebounds per game in 30.8 minutes. But hey, it's almost over. I still hold out hope that Thibs will wise up and play Niko at PF and Snell at SG/SF (ahead of Hinrich, who absolutely nobody even bothers guarding). Those two simple moves will make our defense more efficient (by giving up far fewer second shots to our opponents) and our offense more efficient (because, well, Kirk is just about the worst offensive player in the league). If he doesn't adjust, we'll be out in the first or second round, and we'll have a new coach next year. Hopefully one who will play his best players the most minutes. Maybe a Steve Kerr clone - never coached before, but has the balls to bench Lee and Iggy for Green and Barnes, and who set an NBA record for most wins ever by a first-year head coach.
Be careful what you wish for. You might just get it. And you'll be just as whiny for the next few seasons while the Hoiberg experiment fails to produce even Thibs' results.
The problem is that the truly successful teams have figured out that "Stretch 4" is the way to go in today's NBA. Last year's finalists (Miami and San Antonio). Golden State (Green). Atlanta (Millsap). San Antonio (Diaw/Bonner). Cleveland (Love). Houston (Montiejunas/T Jones). The exception is Memphis, which might explain why they are 14-11 after the All-Star break after losing in the first round last season. Thibs has one of the best, but he'd rather play a less-efficient scorer who makes our defense worse because of his horrible defensive rebounding (you don't get a stop on defense until you possess the rebound). But I'm optimistic, he'll either figure it out for the playoffs, or we'll get a new coach who understands. It's a win/win for the fans.
No, just blatantly, obviously better than Taj. Which blatantly, obviously burns you up. Which is just comical...
He played Mirotic 27 minutes last night. If he benched Taj for Mirotic, then whoever played at SF would have been a giant step down from Taj. Too funny your binary logic.
Taj and Mirotic basically played equal minutes last night. Taj wasn't subbed out for defense at the end of the game, tho. Thibs rotated Mirotic, Brooks, and DunVP with Noah, Kirk, and Snell. I see no fault in that. I think Mirotic AND Taj is a better duo than Mirotic and any one of DunVP, Kirk, or Snell.
I'm not a huge fan of the lineup at this late juncture. I find it bizarre that the Bulls have actively not looked to feed Mirotic in the post where he has had size advantages, and instead seem more than content to have him bomb away from the three, at angels he's not used to shooting from. Put all that aside: I don't think its a terrible way to play the Wiz, and I wouldn't be shocked if that's what Thibs has in mind. Dropping to the fourth or fifth seed gives Rose an extra series to get healthy before the Bulls would theoretically face the Cavs. Maybe that's the way to go.
Also, FWIW, Mirotic was outplayed by Dunleavy in the 2nd half last night. The Heat killed us in the first half with Niko in. The Bulls came back from a huge deficit to build a sustainable lead with Niko on the bench. I suspect that if Dunleavy didn't have that huge Q3 and start of Q4 (he played like 15 straight minutes), Thibs would have tried Niko. Niko played in Q4 after Dunleavy was done and the lead built up. It still boils down to Niko playing SF because his advanced stats make him a better player than any of our other SFs by a LOT. It is downright silly to bench Taj for Dunleavy, which is what you get if you bench him so Niko can play PF. The difference between Taj and Dunleavy is pretty huge.
I really don't like Mirotic at the 3, but if we get the #4 seed it might actually work out. Do you remember that Clippers game when Niko just killed Matt Barnes? I could see that happening if he gets to matchup with Paul Pierce. Basically all of his shots are assisted these days, so it's not like we have to worry about him being taken off the dribble, and I bet Niko could torch him on offense. Against Atlanta you have Kyle Korver, also slow-of-foot, but I'm guessing it'd involve Niko running around a lot of screens on defense and playing positions he's not accustomed to, so it could cause breakdowns. But I think Niko would eat Korver alive on the other end. It could also be that, sadly, this team just hasn't found any other lineups that look all that great. So it might be a sign of desperation more than anything else.
