Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread Yeah, in hindsight nothing about Boozer should be much of a surprise. I think it's worth noting that his defensive fit here was particularly bad. When Boozer has to muscle up against other big buys it seems like he basically does alright. But Boozer's physical shortcomings are exacerbated in Thibodeau's defensive schemes. It's also worth noting that while his production stayed fairly constant, his efficiency took a consistent nosedive while he was here. For shits and giggles, I went and did a little comparison between Melo and Boozer up until this point. Boozer looks like he's heading into his last few years as a productive player (sorry I can't seem to figure out how to insert images from my computer into a post): Whereas Melo looks like he's currently at his peak (click to enlarge): Judging how a player is going to age seems like a fool's errand. We're definitely getting Carmelo at the backside of his career, but how much time will he still have at his peak? And how quickly will he fall?
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread The images I was looking to upload are stored on my computer and not anywhere on the web, which is why I used the attachment feature in the UI. When I click that button it asks me to submit the URL of the image. Is there a way to upload images without having to upload it somewhere on the web?
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread There is the attachment feature you used, and image galleries. You can upload your images to a gallery from your settings screen. Out of curiosity, if you remove last season from the Boozer graph, is there still a curve? And is it awful to have your peak PER be in the low 20s? If used right, I think his PER would still be upper teens, close to 20. Two seasons ago, Thibs was pushing for Boozer to be picked as an all-star. If we amnesty him, we will find out if he has gas left in the tank when he signs with the Spurs.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread Your comments are almost an understatement. Like, I liked what Boozer was doing against Washington muscling Gortat around in the paint. I'd even go as far as to say, at least when he was in those positions, he was decidedly above average, especially considering his defensive rebounding prowess. But the next thing you know, Thibodeau has him on an island trying to cover John Wall. Thibodeau's defensive schemes are brilliant. But he also has to have the right horses or it looks disastrous. Boozer's a bad fit. I also don't think Mirotic is a great fit either. That doesn't bode well. Would any of you be surprised if Boozer's amnesty/retaining Thibodeau/signing Anthony are all tied together? I wouldn't hate seeing what another coach could do with Boozer, especially if the front office is just trying to get Mirotic's feet wet. As to Carmelo, I agree that he'd be good fit in Thib's system. Thib's bigs need to be able to cover smalls, and his smalls need to be able to cover bigs. Melo can do a little of both.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread http://fansided.com/2014/05/10/nba-...g-greg-oden-jason-collins-backup-joakim-noah/ Greg Oden? Jason Collins? Yikes.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread It is difficult for me to think of a worse NBA player than Jason Collins. In his prime he was awful and now he's 35.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread Eh. Are we really going to get worked up over who is the third string center? It seems like if Collins might be an option the front office would probably want to float his name early to see if there was a large response from season ticket holders. The Bulls need to draft and develop a young center and they seem like they'll be better to do that this season than they will for s long time.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread Fair question. Last season, Boozer and Mohammed played about the same minutes at C. This is always kind of iffy since the stats only track defensive assignments and when Boozer and Gibson played together, Gibson always took the more mobile of the PF and C (which usually was the PF). Gibson can certainly play significant minutes at C, if needed. Last season, I kept reading (only on this board and only from one poster) how bad it was that Mohammed was the Bulls backup center. The facts were that Noah played all of his 35.3 at C. The impression is that this left the backup C playing 12.7 mpg. Except that Mohammed played only 7.0 mpg. Hard for me to get overly excited about who's playing 7 mpg at C. Exactly how the rotation will work next season is yet to be determined. Backup C is the least of my concerns.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread New Bulls motto: "Play hard for 48 minus 7 minutes." And I think Gibson was very undersized when he tried to play C. He had trouble posting up and shooting over big guys, and he certainly was a much worse defender at C than at PF. And 82games.com verifies my observations: Boozer is shorter, and he had trouble shooting over bigger guys, too. But he had bulk to not be pushed around on defense. According to 82games.com, he played 22% of the minutes at C. So yeah, you're going to need someone else to pick up those minutes. I don't see it being Taj, since he's in line to take Boozer's PF minutes as well as his own. So you're really looking at over 14 minutes per game from our backup C. All this predicated on Boozer being amnestied. I also think Boozer played a lot of C with Noah at PF that may or may not be reflected in the 82games.com data.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread Sorry, he'd probably be a fourth-string big/Scalabrine assistant coach type. The backup center will probably be Greg Smith, right? And I'm expecting the Bulls to draft a big with one of their picks. So Collins would most likely be a pickup for veteran leadership and the history books.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread I hope Smith pans out. Houston seemed happy to let him go, even though they're going to need him if they get rid of Asik. Rookie big. Sounds like Aaron Gray part 2.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread I'm not sure which poster you're referring to but I thought entering the season with Nazr was suboptimal. You can argue minutes all you want but I felt like he really struggled, maybe to the tune of costing the Bulls one or two wins. The bigger issue is that both Noah and Taj were remarkably injury free. The Bulls needed an upgrade going into next season. Looks like they found a player on the waiver wire and hopefully they'll find a third big in the draft.
Re: Official Bulls Rumors thread Mr. Crane. Suboptimal? That means not as good as you'd like, right? If so, we're in violent agreement. I expect that we'll violently agree that the Bulls backup center this coming season will be suboptimal as well.
Chicago Bulls have interest in Lance Stephenson Rumor: Chicago Bulls have interest in Lance Stephenson but it will depend on his asking price. Source: Rumor Press
Chicago Bulls top focus still remains Carmelo Anthony Chicago Bulls top focus still remains Carmelo Anthony and they hope he takes less in Chicago. "Re: Love--Bulls have interest but not believed to be plan A this summer. Anthony remains top focus with hope he will take less in Chicago." Source: Rumor Press
Lamarcus Aldridge to Chicago starts again Rumor: Portland Trailblazers reps still want Lamarcus Aldridge moved to a bigger market. Chicago still on top of list. "Keep an eye out for Aldridge market. Bts, his reps remain interested in moving him to a bigger market. Still has Chicago atop his list" Source: Rumor Press
Chicago Bulls also have interest in Emeka Okafor Rumor: Chicago Bulls also have interest in Emeka Okafor. [This would likely be a Vet Min contract to play Backup Center] Source: Rumor Press
