About those minutes

Deng is averaging a tad over 41, Noah a tad under 40. Seems extreme, no? I actually have favored playing our best players big minutes like this all along.

Some of the all-time greats played big minutes. Kareem, for example, averaged over 40 minutes per game for his first 7 seasons and averaged near 37 for his entire career.

Michael Jordan averaged 40 for the first three seasons after his sophomore injury season, then averaged 39, 37, 39, 39, 39, 37, 38, and 39 before he retired the first time. He averaged 39 at the age of 34.

Larry Bird averaged 38 minutes for 10 seasons, and 39+ for 5 of those.

Why have we not played our best big minutes all along? The coach's job is to win games, not to make bench players happy. IMO.

So why not play Boozer close to 40 as well? He's averaging just 29, 3rd on the team in minutes per game.

Against Detroit, he played 39 and put up 24/6 with 2 steals on 12-19 shooting.

Against Milwaukee, he played 39 and put up 19/11.

Against Phoenix, he played 39 and put up 28/14.

That's 23.7 PPG and 10.3 RPG. Those are numbers you pay $15M a season for, and consistent with what he did before becoming a 30 MPG player for the Bulls.

Maybe Rip should be playing 40 MPG, too.

Otherwise, I don't see anyone else on the Bulls who should be getting those kind of minutes.

 

I would like to see Boozer playing more minutes, too. Not so sure about Hamilton. About 34-35 minutes would be enough for Hamilton.

 

Today's players?

LeBron has averaged 39.5, 42.4, 42.5, 40.9, 40.4, 37.7, 39.0, 38.8, 37.5, and 37.6 in his career.

Kobe averaged 38.5 last season at age 33, and has averaged over 40 at least 5 times in his career, and close to it the other seasons.

Other 40+ minute guys are Antawn Jamison, Joe Johnson, Monta Ellis, Jason Kidd, Gerald Wallace... Tim Duncan has averaged 35+ MPG for his career, FWIW, and played 38.5+ quite a few seasons.

 

I'm completely OK with the minutes Deng and Noah are playing.

As Denny pointed out, Boozer has shown that he's capable of playing big minutes and being effective. However, I don't think that he'll ever average big minutes while Thibodeau is his head coach and a defensive stud like Gibson is on the team's bench. When Boozer's jumper isn't falling, Gibson's a better player than Boozer and Thibodeau's gonna make that switch.

When Hamilton returns, I expect Thibodeau to play both Rip and Belli good minutes in the first 3 quarters and then hope to "ride the hot hand" down the stretch.

 

FWIW, 82games.com says Taj is a 13.7 PER against at PF while Boozer has a 14.1 PER against. Both pretty darned good defensive figures. The big difference is Boozer has a 16.1 PER on offense for a +2 difference while Taj has a 11.5 PER for a -2.2 difference.

I just happened to peek at Hinrich's figures. 10.6 PER on offense, 16.0 PER on defense. Seriously, what good is he?

 

Defensive PER is an awful stat...godawful...Yuck! After typing "defensive PER" I have to go wash my hands.

As you well know, NBA defense isn't simply a matter of 5 players playing one-on-one defense (if it was, teams would routinely score 200 ppg). In fact, it could be argued that what separates good NBA defenders from the not-so-good ones is how he handles defensive rotations. I have witnesses who have watched Bulls games with me who could testify that, of all the times I've screamed "Boozer you suck" at my TV, almost all of these occasions were on defense and were the result of Boozer's faulty "help" defense rather than "his man" beating him.

Also, Boozer, as with most weak defenders, is given the easiest defensive assignment. Speaking of which, I can't help but question whether when, for example, Boozer's in with Noah and Noah defends the PF rather than the center ('cause the PF's a better scorer), does that stat you mention recognize this switch. You couldn't tell from a box score or play-by-play account...you'd actually have to watch each game closely.

Did I mention that I don't like that stat you used?

 

I get what you're saying, but in spite of his awful rotations and all the other complaints you might have about his defense, opposing PFs still have the 14.1 PER against. You bring up Noah. He has a 13.3 PER against. So opposing PFs 14.1 PER against, opposing C's 13.3 PER against - where's the weakness? I mean, Noah isn't guarding both PF and C at the same time.

 

Fair point. It's similar to the point about the Bulls being an unquestionably elite defense in both the seasons Boozer has been on the team...how bad can he be? Further supporting the "Boozer ain't THAT bad on D" argument is the fact that he's an outstanding defensive rebounder and good rebounding IS an important aspect of good defense.

Just to be clear, I'm not down on Boozer. A few posts ago, I was just voicing the opinion that Thibodeau's concerns about Boozer's defensive shortcomings are what will keep Boozer from averaging 40+ mpg.

 

I'm not really all that pro Boozer. It's just that he's been an all-star, we're paying for an all-star, so let's use him like he is one. And I don't see the point in complaining about him if we're playing him restricted minutes.

Somehow, Utah with Jerry Sloan (defensive mindset coach), managed to win a lot of games with him getting near 36 MPG.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/UTA/2010.html 53-29
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/UTA/2009.html 48-34 (he missed half the season)
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/UTA/2008.html 54-28
&c

As far as the rotations go, I think Boozer doesn't get a lot of credit for making guys on the wing stop a drive and settle for an outside shot. I see this far more often than I do him escorting some player to the basket.