is Taj really sorta stinkin' it up since he signed his contract? Seems like he has an opportunity to get big minutes with Boozer having a few off games in a row. But Taj has been worse. Speaking of stinking it up... Kurt's PER is below 10.
Kurt is now shooting under 30%. His OWS is negative. OJ Mayo signed a $4M contract with Dallas. I'd much rather have seen us go with Nate and Mayo in the back court. With Deng and Noah and Boozer in the front court, that's a solid enough lineup even with the gaping hole made by Rose's injury. The benefit of Kirk is that he can slide over to play the 2? So can Nate, and Nate is playing a LOT better.
None of the rest of the stats (outside of shooting/scoring) are doing much for his PER, which is about 9.1. A pretty amazing stat is that Ben Wallace has a higher career PER (15.5) than Hinrich (13.8). One of the two actually had an offensive game at one point.
Taj has been struggling, but he does this each season. He will be fine. as for Kirk, he was shooting like this the last season he was here! He is what he is.
Time to rag on Kurt some more. His PER is at 9.0. We do have guys on the new bench mob who are worse: Teague, Nazr, Radman. I think Rip is a worse player for playing next to him. Nate Robinson continues to look like our best guard. Maybe our best player. OK, ok. Our best player is Noah. Luol Deng leads the team in scoring at 17.6 PPG. Per 36, that falls to 15.6 PPG, behind Boozer, Hamilton, and Robinson. Nazr has two field goals for the whole season. Miss Omer much? Carlos Boozer is rebounding as many RPG as Noah in 10 less MPG. Boozer's taken zero 3pt shots. Noah's taken one - who drew up that play? Belinelli is shooting worse FGA% than he is 3pt%. That's an odd statistic. He's shooting just .377 overall, but .407 from 3pt. He should stop shooting the 2pt shots.
Also, LOL? http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-teague-was-a-good-move-for-the-chicago-bulls The key thing that stands out: "The Bulls could have gone with Barton or Lamb, but who would get them the ball?" The answer is... Kurt! Neither Barton nor Lamb is having a great season, but maybe they'd earn a bit more PT. It sure is looking like Teague is an outright bust.
Teague is not a bust. Kirk will get better, but yeah, probably no better than 12 per. But that doesn't matter much, if he holds down the fort and leads us to a better than 500 record, which, at 7-7 currently, is eminently doable. Hold the fort down till Derrick comes back. I respectfully, if strongly, disagree that Nate is anywhere close to being our best player. Luol is doing great, I think. And Carlos, really pretty good, as well. I worry about Rip. I'm not sure he's a winner anymore. I don't think he and Thibs get along. I do expect an uptick in performance from the bench. Marco will do better. Jimmy will do better. But Nazr is looking .... hopeless. Oh, and Taj...He is doing ok, just way under what we'd like for a guy who signed a contract as a cornerstone piece of our team. Go Bulls!
How is he not a bust? The guy plays the position we're weakest and on a team that's .500. He's on pace to play under 200 minutes for the whole season. He's made two baskets all season, and missed his only free throw. I'm not expecting him to be a superstar or anything. Taj was drafted about the same position, so it is possible to get a player who can contribute.
We could run him out there to play C so Noah can get a rest. Last time a coach played Noah a lot of minutes, he got his tie pulled and was sucker punched.
Taj heard your challenge and responded. Good for him. Go ahead, call Teague a bust. He may just get some significant playing time if Kirk is going to end up covering for Rip being out for a time, and be able to prove (improve) himself.
I think they'll give Butler starter minutes. He'll, Thibs will play him 41 minutes a game. I would. Why do we have Belinelli?
And I would really like to see Teague get serious burn. If he screws up some, let him play through it.
You'll get your wish, though perhaps not "seriouis" burn, at least some floor time for Teague coming up, Ah reckon.
