Well folks, for what seems like the sixth game in a row, Asik has had his best game of the season. Asik had four blocks and a steal that I counted, and three of the calls against him were questionable, including the technical after the clean block. DMD came up with this great theory about why rookies get so many questionable fouls called when we were watching FIBA ball this summer. I think it takes time for referees to get used to a player's vocabulary because their job is ungodly hard -- it's all but impossible for refs to call a clean game until they can anticipate what a player will do on the court. So rookies, especially athletic rookies, end up getting whistled on many of their best plays because referees assume that what they accomplish must be a foul, until they go back and watch the tape a couple of times. This seems to me what happened in the game against Toronto. If Asik can just improve one of two facets of his game and limit his mistakes (continue to acclimated himself to the flow of NBA ball) he will grow into a legit starter. The first facet he has to improve is he has to get used to leaving his man and chasing after balls on the boards. Charles Barkley tells this great story about how Bobby Knight, the king of fundamentals, gave him hell during his post-college Olympics because he would spend too much time boxing out, instead of just following the ball and grabbing it. I see the same issue with Asik. Secondly, he needs a solid go to move in the paint from each side of the hoop. There are so many plays where if he just had a quick turnaround go to sequence that he would be able to score at will. I don't think Asik has to improve both his rebounding and touch game around the hoop to start, but one of those two facets will allow him to demand game time. Right not Asik reminds of Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler mid-way through their second seasons, before they started putting it together in the home stretch. That's a hell of a lot of improvement since preseason began, when he was out of shape and clueless on both offense and defense. I'm feeling like Boozer getting injured was just about the best thing that could have happened. Asik has a twenty game stretch to prove he deserves minutes over Kurt Thomas and Taj Gibson. I think it could go either way. Thomas brings a lot to the table in small spurts. Gibson has looked pretty weak this season, but we all still remember how he finished out last season. If Asik can pull it together in the next twenty games he could be useful through the playoffs. Otherwise, I get the feeling he'll be riding a lot of pine until next season.
But ... from KC Johnson's half time report on the game: The Bulls committed eight turnovers and allowed 30 points in the paint, consistently getting beat downcourt in transition. Leandro Barbosa's 13 points leads the Raptors.
Maybe taj is suffering from the sophomore jinx? He has not looked like the taj of last year. Asik has a ways to go, but from I have seen from him thus far, he is a decent back up. Plays with energy. Kinda reminds me or Noah when he first came into the league.
