I saw in the RSS thread that Michael Reinsdorf says this is the best team since the championship team. That got me thinking that we've had three other teams that just might be comparable to this one. How about the one with Brand and Artest and Miller? Yeah, 15 wins, but that's 3 all-stars we could have had if we kept them. I might argue that it was as good, if not better, than this current team but only if we'd have kept them together for a few years. There's also the 47 win team. Chandler, Curry, Hinrich, Gordon, AD, Deng, Duhon, and Nocioni. That team wasn't super talented, but it was deep and balanced. Plenty of outside scoring and a decent post player as well (Curry). And there's the 49 win team. They were deep like the 47 win team. Gordon, Hinrich, and Deng all had PER over 17 (Gordon and Deng over 18), so maybe a bit better in terms of guys closer to being stars. Ben Wallace had his only good season for us. No real post presence though.
I think it has a chance to be. Curry was a post presence, but he didn't understand the game at all. He was good when AD was around, because AD knew what to do and would help him/cover for him. If only Krause had signed AD instead of Eddie Robinson! That was a bad call. I like the top four players on this team, and think they all have a chance of being above 17 per, with Derrick and Boozer closer to 19 or 20, I'd say. It'll be a very good team, and the coaching will help. So, my feeling is yes. The big question mark is what about SG. I don't know what Ronnie or Kyle will bring to that position.....If they come through, this is going to be a far better team than previous ones, but I'm not confident about that.
I think this is the best team since the titles. If Noah and Rose can both take steps forward, it will be by a pretty big margin. #2 IMO is the 47 win team, especially from the 2nd half of that season.
I don't think there's any question that it could be the best team, and probably should be, the best post-championship team. But it's way too early to make that evaluation. Unless you have a retardedly good team like the say the 72-10 Bulls, your season is going to be controlled by injuries and internal development. We have a bunch of players who should get better, given the point they're at in their careers. But as we all know, it doesn't work that way. Someone will most likely get injured; someone will most likely not improve as expected, especially given the amount of minutes Deng and Rose played this summer. It's a crap shoot, for the same reason Miami shouldn't be considered a favorite over LA and till they prove it on the court.
I think it could easily be the best team but as Denny alluded to in his post, sometimes a team takes time to get good (not that I'm suggesting this will be a 15 win team by any means -- but a significant percentage of the roster is new and we have a new head coach (both as a Bulls coach and as a head coach in general) with now assistants implementing a new system. Things very well may not gel right away.
Wait, something isn't right here.... You know, I'll say why I agree with K4E on this one. There is enough individual talent on this team that even if all the gears aren't meshing, it'll still be a good team. And if the gears mesh, Thibo figures out what makes everyone tick, and Derrick really does take a step (Noah, too), this could be a Very good team. The big issue is injuries, obviously. Fingers crossed on that one.
I agree with Good Hope. I think we have legit all-stars at 2 positions. I think we have a border line allstar at the 5. Good outside shooting (not from 3 though) from 3 of our starting 5 and two guys off the bench who can stick the 3. We can crash the boards with the best of them. A couple guys in our starting 5 that are strong on D. A dynamic point guard and a big that can score both inside and outside. A fairly strong bench. We are finally a properly sized NBA team. No major attitude problems and a coach that I think is strong. I'm expecting at least 53 wins and home court in the first round. 4 seed is totally doable. And that's without major growth from Noah and Rose. If that happens, could be a lot better. All this barring major injuries of course.
This is the first team since the title that is both projected to be good and has non over the hill guys who can play at every position
Right. Our young guys are already strong and productive and still have upside. The rest of the starters are at or entering their prime. Its really cool for once to feel that even without "growth" we'll be a very good team (#4 in the East, IMO) This is a legit very good NBA team. And there is plenty of room for upside growth as well.
Agree! On paper our best team since the dynasty. Cant wait to see them play, hope all remain healthy and uninjured.
Yeah, there's definitely now a 'win now' vs 'win later' problem like there was in some of our other talented teams. I doubt we'll win a championship with our current lineup, but I'm excited to watch this team play. It has no major weakness, and is easy to root for. I think we can give any team in the NBA a run for its money in a 7 game series.
For the record I am not disagreeing this is the best team since the dynasty -- I'm just saying it might get off to a rocky start with so much new going on.
Understood, understood...but you can't deny that someone was rolling over in his grave for just a moment there, wondering if the end was really about to come!
