I think Shaq and Howard are both freaks of nature, but Shaq is listed at either 7'1 or 7'2. Howard is listed at 6'10 or 6'11. Shaq is one whole size bigger. It's easy to forget how dominant and how big Shaq actually is/was.
This thread seems sidetracked... Back on topic: I'm feeling great. Better than I felt in October. Course, I've been working out a little, and spending more time with my family. Work could be better, but I can't complain, given that the State of Illinois is about a year behind in payments to the University. I'm almost 50! Yikes. But, I feel about 35. Although Wii fit says that my Wii age is about 56, because I'm heavy for my height. Wii doesn't realize that's all muscle?
Topic? Oh, and I completely agree with you about the Heat, except I think the biggest problem is that James' and Wade's skills just overlap too much. It's bizarre to see them take turns. They haven't been able to figure out a better way to distribute shots. It's kinda' sad given how brilliant they both are. (Oh, and have you checked out XBox Kinect. My GF and I recently acquired one. It's fucking crazy -- completely unlike any game system I've encountered. You get a hell of a workout and time flies when you're using it.)
I'm just shocked that my 4 and 5 year olds can beat all the other neighborhood kids at Super Mario Bros. on the Wii. They're little freaks of nature, and they take turns much better than Lebron and Wade. Still the Heat are very good and only going to improve. They're getting healthier and learning to play together. For as good as we've been, we need to get better too.
Since I wasn't posting here before January, I just did a little historical research, perusing the posts from back in September and October. It gave me some perspective on the Bulls "temperature" of this board prior to the games that count. - trueblue posted about an article out of Indianapolis that predicted that the Bulls would win the NBA title this season. Predictably (and deservedly), it got seriously dumped on by just about everyone. - The question of whether this is the best Bulls team since the dynasty fared much better. Generally, folks here thought that there's a good chance. K4E was the most optimistic poster I found in any post predicting 53 wins, though this was before Boozer's hand injury. - There was a thread on basketball-reference's preseason predictions which generally had the Bulls winning around 45-47 games but placing behind the Bucks in the division. This thread didn't get a lot of action, but (surprising to me) no one said "no way the Bucks are better than the Bulls!" Edit: Denny Crane did say that "We really should be winning the division." I was hoping to find an actual prediction thread, but if there was one, I missed it. Looking over the posts on this thread and others, there's no doubt in my mind that the Bulls have exceeded most folks expectations, but as is almost always the case with fans (or at least I know it is with me), we quickly accept progress and set new (higher) expectations. The fact that we all now take a Central Division title as a done deal and no longer consider this a real accomplishment is an example. There are a lot of games to be played and then the all-important playoffs. Lots of stuff, good and bad, could still happen. This said, all Bulls fans should feel better now than they did in October. Where the Bulls are right now, despite significant time missed by our two best (and borderline All Star-quality) big men is reason for a smile if not a celebration.
At the time (and now), I liked all of the off-season moves. I think Bulls lost their shot at Lebron and Wade years ago with the hirings of Vinnie and Gar. But given that, they executed very well this off-season. I definitely expected them to be better than last year. I wouldn't have bet on it but I hoped Thibs would be this good and Deng could extend his range. Both have worked out. Rose has surprised me. He has just taken it to a level no one could have predicated. For instance, he wasn't hitting his 3's in the world games this summer. Thomas has surprised me too. Most of the rest has gone about the way I thought. Still, except for the injurys, everything has broken in our favor. Hope that keeps up.
There was a great story I heard on the radio a day or two ago. Coach Vinny and Uncle Jerry were interviewing candidates for the #1 pick a couple years back. Beasley walks in with two cell phones. Uncle Jerry was interviewing him and Beasley picked up the cell phone in the middle of the interview. Vinny told him there really wasn't anything more important than talking w/ Uncle Jerry. Uncle Jerry asked Beasley what did he like the least about NCAA basketball. Beasley thought for a while and said he didn't like road games since the refs made bad calls. When it was time for Derrick to be interviewed he came in and acted like a professional. Uncle Jerry asked Rose the same question. Rose calmly answered "Losing." The kid has a competitive fire inside him. Some of the less hardcore fans I know around the area are calling him "like MJ" left and right. I never agree with doing that to any player, but he does have that fire inside him, as did MJ, although MJs competitiveness was off the charts.
Welcome to SportsTwo, the alternative reality sports forum! Edit: I would also like to point out that I predicted one more win than K4E, albeit in a thread on the old BBF forum, as quoted in a post earlier in this thread. My reputation is at stake.
Yeah, he's showing that he's a unique specimen. Probably, he doesn't have the same MJ fire. On the other hand, MJ's fire was a little destructive until tamed by PJ. Rose is unique in that he really does like winning, more even than "proving himself." It's a remarkable trait, and Thibs seems a good choice to direct that passion and stoke the fire in a productive way.
It was a gift from friends so I'm not sure . . . I think somewhere in the $350 range, with Xbox and Kinect. I'm 32 which is about that age where things don't seem to work unless you are taking care of yourself. For me it's my back. I have all kinds of trouble from sitting in crappy chairs all day long, and the Kinect seems to make it go away. Here's a clip of Soulja' Boy from the Dance Central Game. Here's Devin Hester doing it. (Yeah, I fucking can dance Hester under the table.)
OK, I tend to lean to the optimistic side of the spectrum, but if you had told me that this team would have to play this season without Boozer and then Noah and would be 20 games above .500 on 2/13, I'd've said you were crazy. This is good stuff...just sayin'.
Miami was a .500 team through the end of November's games. They lost 1 game in December, went 9-5 in January, and they're now 25 games over. Just sayin' keep our eyes on the prize (and the competition). San Antonio 45-9 .833 Miami 39-14 .736 Boston 38-14 .731 Lakers 38-16 .704 Dallas 38-16 .704 Chicago 36-16 .692
I'm intrigued by Miami but I can't say they scare me. They've only won one game against elite talent, and they've had perhaps the easiest schedule in terms of facing elite talent. I think you look at a couple of things when you discern whether a team is built for the playoffs. First and foremost is a legitimate superstar closer, which Miami has in spades. Then you look at front lines, defense and rebounding. Miami doesn't have a Taj Gibson, Noah or Boozer (or Perkins, Garnett, Shaq or Davis). Z is playing fine for them but he looks to me like he only provides situational support. Miami plays quick defense with great rotations, but if there's no one to shut down the paint there's only so much you can do. I don't see the Heat beating the Celtics, although I think they have a .500 shot at beating the Bulls, perhaps even better. I actually like the Bulls' chances against the Celtics, so I think the team has to be looking toward locking up that 1 seed. The Celtics are not going to push through to the end of the regular season so the Bulls should be able to pass them in the standings. The Heat will be tougher, but if the Bulls can get on a roll, they may actually have a shot at facing whoever comes out of the West (and predicting what happens then is beyond me.)
The truth is that I don't care about what the competition's doing. I'm very happy with what the Bulls are doing and see no point in looking for reasons to temper my buzz. It helps that I don't need the Bulls to win the title this season for me to consider it a success. To each his own, I suppose.
Ah, but it does matter. Bulls are 2.5 games behind Miami for the best record in the Eastern Conference. I'd give the Bulls a 20% chance of winning the East if they have to play Miami and/or Boston and we don't have the home court advantage in a 7 game series. I'd give the Bulls an 80% chance of winning if they do have the home court. I'd add that our chances of defeating Miami decreases next year and each succeeding season, assuming they remain healthy and use their exceptions to add to their core and assuming we don't luck into another Rose quality player.
With all due respect, it matters to you and I'm sure many others, but I'm sincere when I say that it doesn't matter to me. This isn't a right or wrong thing. The Bulls are entertainment and I'm getting better than I expected. I also look to the team's future with some optimism because several of our young players are better than I thought they'd be. When it comes to the Bulls, I'm a happy guy right now. I want them to win as many games as possible this season. If they do that, they'll get as high a seed as possible. You may be right that the Heat are going to get better over the coming years. In fact, let's say that you are right. It changes nothing for me. I still want the Bulls to improve themselves and be as good as they can be. I happen to believe that the team's ownership and FO wants this too. I'll continue to watch them on the court and pay attention to what they're doing off the court...because it's fun.
Now we're talking! And I don't know. The pundits were sure that we had a narrow window because LBJ was going to be so good, and also Dwight Howard, etc. But maybe those guys aren't who we thought they were? And maybe DRose is more than what we thought? And to say that we have no hope unless we get another DRose level player....wow. That's just crazy, to me. DRose is going to be more than good, barring injury. And maybe just maybe he's got the drive to win it all, and the wherewithal to get his teammates to do what they need to to help him out? So, I'm with Transplant. I'm not calling this race before it's over, and I'm going to enjoy seeing it played out.
Transplant, if it doesn't matter, why'd you start this thread? I agree it's not a right or wrong thing. I've always been a big proponent of to each their own. The reason I root for a team doesn't have to be the reason anyone else does. But that being said, I confess that I understand some rationales better than others. Like, everyone agrees that we want the Bulls to win more and not less. And to do that, we have to beat the other teams. So from my perspective, feeling good about the Bulls demands understanding the competition. To put it another way, I wouldn't be very entertained if the Bulls routinely beat the Little Sisters of the Poor JV team by a hundred points. The better the competition, the greater the triumph. Sports are great and great fun because we take all of those frustrating challenges of life and channel them to something where people struggle and compete but don't get hurt at the end of the day. We can only enjoy our team from the perspective of who they play. So to me, measuring the competition is necessary Now obviously, we treat opponents differently than teammates, and our team as fans, but at the end of the day, your opponent is not an obstacle to your pleasure, he’s required for your pleasure. Because if he wasn’t there to compete against you, you wouldn’t, in any reasonable sense, be a “winner” of anything. It means something to dunk on Patrick Ewing because he was a hell of a player. It'll mean something to see Derrick dunk on the Heat, because they're a very good team. I'll mean something if we see the Bulls get trounced by them too.
