http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/chi-11-bulls-bits-chicagojan11,0,1374306.story This may be the only good news after last night's embarrassment. If Hinrich comes back with about a month to go, he may actually be able to establish his trade value before the deadline. Deng should be back in time to do the same as well, in case we would consider moving him.
If it's trade value you're after, he's probably better off coming back two days before the trade deadline just to show he can play. Like a new car driven off of the lot, just about everybody who's played more than three games for this bull's team has seen their trade value drop by 20%.
Nah, I think a player coming back from a semi-major injury needs to play more games than that to regain his previous trade value.
It didn't seem to matter much for Elton Brand or Gilbert Arenas (not trades, I know, big contract negotiations seem similar in the relevant sense. I think Kirk could help on the court. Both Rose and Gordon have been put up the worst performances of their seasons as of late. And hopefully it spurs us to do something, anything, to get rid of Hughes. Hughes + $3M cash to the Knicks for Jerome James and Malik Rose would seem like a godsend at the moment. Then we worry about trading Kirk later.
Yeah, I don't think it makes much of a difference, to be honest. I think these kinda' "he's back and can now be traded" articles are good for the news cycle but probably a little less than honest.
Gordon's actually been fine. He's averaging 21.4 PPG on 57.2 TS% in January. He's scored 20 in 4 of 5 games. Derrick Rose is definitely a problem right now. He's had a crappy scoring January. His efficiency is down in the dumps.
^ won't happen....and I think there are better options than Curry. I am SO ready to see Kirk back on the court.
The key is for Vinny not to bobble this. You start Rose/Gordon, playing Gordon the most minutes of any player on the team, with Hinrich in the 6th man role. It's really simple. There is no reason whatsoever to start Hinrich over Gordon, and doing so will harm us on the court this season, but also longterm when Gordon leaves in free agency.
I feel like BG is teetering on the edge between between caring and not caring and it's really shown in his last two games. The last two games he's come out and stunk it up for the first 3 or 4 minutes, then settled down and played really well in the context of the offense for the most part (that selfish fastbreak being a notable exception) and then finished like crap. He finished 1-3 in the fourth and 0-4 in OT last night and 1-6 the night before. Both nights he shot over 75% during the middle of the game. I'm not sure what's going on, but he really isn't helping himself out there right now. And if he starts playing like Hughes he'll be hurting himself probably more than the bulls at this point.
The only real complaint with Gordon the past 2 games is he has made quite a few mental lapses. Not really because of selfishness, but just losing focus and making bad decisions, as evident by his 9 turnovers. Still, I think Gordon's struggles are the result of putting too much emphasis on him, because he's the only one playing well. Derrick Rose playing like crap is really putting a lot of stress on Gordon. January Stats Ben Gordon - 21.4 PPG on 57.2 TS% (hey, his 2006-2007 stats!) Derrick Rose - 13.0 PPG on 45.2 TS% (absolutely horrible) Drew Gooden - 18.0 PPG on 55.2 TS% (good, but only played in 3 games) Larry Hughes - 11.0 PPG on 46.5 TS% (absolutely horrible) Andres Nocioni - 9.2 PPG on 49.0 TS% (horrible) Tyrus Thomas - 11.6 PPG on 55.6 TS% (quite good) Thabo Sefolosha - 6.5 PPG on 42.4 TS% (absolutely pathetic, get Bustalosha out of the league) Lindsey Hunter - 4.0 PPG on 47.0 TS% (absolutely horrible) Joakim Noah - 5.0 PPG on 43.0 TS% (pathetic, doesn't belong in the league) Aaron Gray - 4.7 PPG on 50.4 TS% (bad) Those are our players. We have 3 guys scoring the ball efficiently in Gordon, Gooden, Thomas this month, while the rest are not only bad, but range from horrible to pathetic. Where do you go from here? Keep playing Gordon/Gooden at the minutes you have this month. Give Thomas more of Noah's minutes. When Hinrch comes back, obviously take away all of Hunter/Hughes/Sefoloshas guard minutes. If you feel that Hinrich needs some more minutes after you do that, take some minutes away from Rose, not Gordon.
Sorry but just because BG's TS% is high doesn't mean anything, in fact it's skewed because he's a great three point shooter. The fact that he is a high usage guy means that what he does when he doesn't shoot is important too, and he's been awful the last couple of games. The fact that he is still hitting a healthy amount of his jumpers is the only thing keeping him in games. Vinnie took him out at the end of the Sacramento game, ostensibly for defense, which says a lot.
Using what Vinny does during games as evidence is no different than using what Boylan did during games as evidence for why something is a smart basketball decision. What Gordon's high TS% means is that he is a very efficient scorer. Hitting a lot of threes is a good thing because threes count for more than twos.
Wrong, what Gordon's high TS% means is that he is a good three point shooter, and free throw shooter. There are better indicators of offensive efficiency, and just as importantly scoring isn't everything. So highlighting TS% as a proxy for how guys are doing is silly. Rose has actually played well the last couple of games despite his shooting numbers, at least offensively. And just because a coach benches your favorite player doesn't make him a bad coach, either.
Last year, Gordon scored 18.6 PPG on 55.8 TS%. Hinrich was 11.5 PPG on 50.1 TS% and Larry Hughes was 12.0 PPG on 46.9 TS%. Benching the best player for Larry Hughes last year does make Boylan a bad coach. Paxson thought Boylan was a bad coach as well, as did all of Bulls nation, except you apparently.
The thing about Ben Gordon is that he's not a good player...he's a good offensive player but he's not a good player . A good offensive player as I define Ben Gordon is somebody who can score and swish the net and put up point. A good player on the other hand is someone who can score and defend. Players like Joe Johnson are a prime example of what I speak of. Joe can score, pass and defend. BG can only score well with some sort of consistency...BUT his passing is iffy...and his defense is usually just as iffy. He'll put effort on defense sometimes and then slack off alot. Defense is about wanting to defend...BG could be a better defender if he'd simply put more effort in defending his man. BG can only then become a good player...right now he is only good for shooting (most of the time).
We'll trade you guys Travis Outlaw, Raef LaFrentz, and Oregonian columnist John Canzano for Hinrich and a player to be named later... deal?
I would do this deal in a heartbeat, but it doesn't work under the CBA and if the Bulls take back more salary than they have outgoing, it'd put them over the LT threshold. Bulls won't do that.
Hinrich and Gooden? What would the Bulls want in return for Gooden and Hinrich? I think Hinrich is the point guard the Blazers need, and Gooden is the ideal backup power forward to Aldridge.
The guy you want is Gordon. You'd have a deadly 3pt shooter and scorer who's ideally suited to play alongside the taller Roy at SG. Gordon's a UFA at the end of the season, so you don't have to give up anything as long as you have the cap space to sign him.
