BTW, for those of us rooting for the team to win... We clinched HCA for the 1st round. The only thing in question is who we play. We're one win shy of tying the best record of any Bulls coach since PJax left who is not named Thibodeau. With 2 games to go. That's with a gimpy Rose, gimpy Noah, Taj out for 19 games, Rose out for a similar stretch, Jimmy out for 13 games, Noah out for 10+, Dunleavy out for 19, and minutes restrictions when they were healthy.
As Derrick Rose stepped to the free-throw line late in the Chicago Bulls' 114-107 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night, several fans in the United Center began chanting, ``M-V-P! M-V-P!'' It's not that the fans believe Rose -- who missed nearly two months following his third knee surgery in less than three years -- is deserving of the NBA's top individual honor this season. The fans were simply making a statement that Rose, in just his third game back, displayed many of the aggressive moves to the basket that helped him win the MVP award in 2011. Read more http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400579481
And what does that tell you? You are forever equating how good a player is to a player's PER. Dunleavy is a 3-point shooting role player who is very good at making his 3-point shots, confines himself mostly to shooting those 3-point shots he's so good at, seldom turns the ball over and is adequate at everything else. Among the starters, he is the 4th offensive option. If Brooks, Mirotic or Gibson are in there with him, Dunleavy remains the 4th offensive option. Dunleavy picks his spots to shoot. That's what Thibodeau and Thibodeau's offense wants of him. Since he's not a big rebounder or assist guy, this dooms him to a PER of under 15. Yeah, Dunleavy's PER is 11.9. Dunleavy's had a very, very good season for the Bulls.
You'd think a guy with a 12.9 PER might have an even better season. 11.9 measures his contribution, including low turnovers and high TS%. As you know, 15 is "average." I like my starters and big minutes players to be better than average. Certainly not 11.9. So who would you rather see get 30 minutes a night: Taj or DunVP?
Right, Dunleavy's played very well this season. Everything you could possibly ask for him from within Thibs' system which only gives him threes and transition opportunities. What does that tell you about Thibs' system? Someone here has to make the argument that Thib's isn't deliberately trying to undermine the success of Mirotic. I want to see what that looks like. It would be one thing if Thibs moved Mirotic to small forward after Mirotic showed himself to be an allstar caliber player at power forward. But he didn't just do that -- he also refuses to put Mirotic in positions at the three where he can be successful. You have a 6'10 guy whose a killer on the block and off the dribble, and they refuse to feed him in the post or put him in positions to handle. All they use him for at the three is spot up situations. No handling, no decision making. Is Thib's system so inflexible on offense that there's no other possible role for his small forwards? Or is Thibodeau just a charlatan whose time has come? Bottom line, the Bulls lose last night against the second worst team in the league if Taj Gibson hadn't picked up five fouls and Thibs was forced to play Mirotic at power forward for a stretch.
Deng got plenty of layups and dunks in Thibs' system. Tells you more about the player's ability than the system. The Bulls lose without Taj's defense down the stretch and minus his points.
Incredible to even suggest that Thibs would sabotage Mirotic. He's playing him as many minutes as he can, considering Dunleavy is outplaying him. Seriously?
I'm kind of liking Thibs playing Niko at the 3, and let's hope Kirky Poo is healthy for the playoffs. If he keeps this up, we'll get a new coach that much faster. I'd like to hold out hope that he will fix his ridiculous rotations come playoff time, but I don't beleive in miracles.
I agree, Dunleavy has had a good season. My problem with him is some games he is too passive. We need him to be aggressive on offense, for every game through the playoffs.
