As everyone knows, Mirotic has been stuck behind Gibson on the depth chart all season, getting spot minutes some games, getting nothing but SF minutes some games, and getting single-digit minutes some games. Finally, in these last two games since Taj twisted his ankle, Niko has gotten substantial minutes at Power Forward. And the results have been nothing short of spectacular: 31:12 .472 FG (17/36) .357 3's (5/14) .684 FT (13/19) 2.0 OFF REB 8.5 REB 26.0 PTS .586 TS% .542 eFG% As if 26.0/8.5 wasn't impressive enough, his 4th quarter numbers have been, well, fucking unbelievable: 12:00 .529 FG (9/17) .400 3's (2/5) .800 FT (4/5) 1.0 OFF REB (2) 3.5 REB (7) 12.0 PTS .619 TS% .521 eFG% Tonight marked Niko's first back-to-back 20 point games in the NBA... in his 6 seasons, Taj has never had 20 points in consecutive games. I just Niko should get his props while he can, unfortunately we all know that once Gibson is healthy , Mirotic will go back to playing 15 minutes a night.
Great find TBF, unfortunately this is only the 7th time all season that Niko has played 30+ minutes. The Bulls are 5-2 in those games.
I find that when I'm feeling blue about the state of the team, I just look at Mirotic and realize everything is going to be fine.
So why didn't the team trade Taj for a guy who can play PG instead of Kirk? I'd rather have Mirotic and Afflalo playing meaningful minutes in the playoffs than Taj and Kirk.
Oh God I'd love for us to have Afflalo right now. Wouldn't have made sense though, Denver didn't need another PF.
You know my thoughts on this. I have said all season Gibson would be traded. He will be this summer along with a pick for a very good player! Mirotic has come along enough to allow it for sure!
I agree, it didn't make any sense to trade Taj at the deadline. He has too much trade value to just give him away for a 3-month rental of Afflalo. Afflalo would be at best our 3rd wing behind Butler and Snell, and I'm not even sure I'd play him ahead of Dunleavy. Even if we assume that Afflalo is the better player than MDJ in a vacuum, MDJ is a better 3-point shooter and this is 2nd year in Thibs' system. It's not that I have anything against Afflalo, it's just that Taj has more trade value. And obviously, if you wait until July to trade Taj, you'll know what kind of draft you had, and what kind of Free Agent you can get with the MLE and/or BAE. Several teams will have cap space this summer, you might be able to trade Taj and take back very little salary in return. You might be able to trade him for a lottery pick from a young team that would rather have a veteran big man than another draft pick. It was widely reported that teams had been contacting the Bulls about Taj, if the Bulls would have gotten an outstanding offer I'm sure they would have taken it.
Management's judgment is questionable. They value Hinrich over any other backup PG. They picked McMorrison, too, giving up significant assets to get him. Dunleavy isn't even an average player anymore. Not even close. He's got a fine TS% but he doesn't shoot much. If Afflalo walks, it's good for profits. It'd be a salary dump getting them under the LT for next season with a MAXed out Jimmy Butler. I bet it was the 1st round pick that made the Bulls walk away from any deal that could have been had. At the trade deadline, Snell was a DNP-CD in a Bulls' uniform. I only mention Afflalo because he does fill a need and we know what it cost to get him twice this season (once in the summer). Lance Stephenson was supposedly on the block, too. The Dragic brothers went for two #1 picks and cap ballast. Hell, Andre Miller was had for Ramon Sessions, and he would be a huge step up from Kurt, even at his advanced age.
It seems like the consensus seems to be Taj should be traded this summer? I'm not on board yet. The thing about Gibson is, he's been our best playoff performer in a number of series over the past few years. Last season, he put up 18.2 points, 6.2 boards, and 2.4 blocks in only 30.8 minutes against the giant Wizards front line. Taj's TS% is 54.5% over his career in the playoffs, which is very good for the regular season. And I'm guessing player efficiency usually goes down in the playoffs. Gibson's TS% last season was an absurd 62.5%. I think solid athletes have a tendency to fair well in the playoffs and Gibson still may be the best athlete on the roster. I guess my point is that I understand the desire to find Mirotic more minutes because his play has been superb. I just think it's still way too early to pass judgment on Taj. I want to see how he plays alongside Gasol and to a lesser extent Mirotic in the playoffs. I wouldn't be surprised if he puts up at least one huge series this postseason.
Me neither. Before we ship this guy out the door or bury him on the bench, let's make sure the rookies that are supposedly going to replace him can perform in the playoffs. That is, if this is a "win now" team. If its a "win later" team and we're going to dole out development minutes and not really care about winning a title anytime soon, start shedding the vets, play the baby bulls, get high draft picks and try to "win later." Seems like a bad idea IMO, given the high quality existing core that we do have right now, but many are enamored with seeing Niko and McDermott put up gaudy numbers right away. Gaudy numbers, not NBA titles. Also, Gasol will likely get less effective / injured more over the course of his contract. Noah the same. Now, its not like Gibson is an iron man, but as you say, he's been a really good player for the Bulls in the most meaningful of games. Gibson is an asset more often than not and is a proven playoff performer. Yes, his existence means less minutes for Mirotic, but people have to decide what their priorities are, IMO. There are 4 guys and basically 96 minutes, and they all deserve to play. Every Bulls fan has their favorites and what they would like to see happen. Let the message board arguing begin!
Win now means playing one of our PFs too few minutes and Kirk Hinrich too many. If we'd have traded Taj, we'd be playing our PFs enough minutes and have someone really good to play in Kirk's place. I like the latter scenario in the playoffs.
At the end of the day I think you can make a good case for trading any one of our 4 frontcourt players. Choose any 3 of them and you have a very good frontcourt rotation. Add the other one and things get crowded. It might actually make the most sense to trade Gasol or Noah. Both are older and probably close to their peak trade value. Noah's upcoming contract could put the Bulls in a real awkward situation. He's the heart and soul of the team, but 7 footers with chronic ligament injuries that rely on hustle usually don't age very well. Gasol's old, but his game seems to be timeless. His presence seems to chip away at the team's identity though. It's hard to see the Bulls as a typical Thibs team with Gasol patrolling the defense. Gasol-Nik0-Taj would really mean the Bulls would have to be an offense-first team.
Do you guys think there's a player out there who would be a legitimate roster upgrade that you could acquire for Taj Gibson? I guess my question is, okay, let's say we all agree that Mirotic makes Gibson somewhat redundant. Who is the player who is better than Snell? Who is the player who is better than Brooks (as a bench player)?
Right about now, I'm hoping GarPax will cut immediately Taj just so Thibs won't be able to play him 25 minutes while he's only giving Niko 10 in the playoffs. Niko had his third consecutive 20 point game since Taj went down. Taj has a total of three 20 point games all season (none since November 17). Niko's last 3 games: 32.0 min .431 FG .304 3's .771 FT 11.7 FTA/game 26.0 pts 8.3 reb 1.33 blk 1.67 to .500 eFG% .587 TS% While some folks would tell you that Niko isn't the type of player you want leading your team in scoring (I still don't know what that means), he once again dominated the 4th quarter for the 3rd consecutive game: 36.0 min 11/19 FG 4/7 3's 12/16 FT 9 REB 38 PTS .730 TS% .684 eFG% I only pray that Thibs can figure out what an incredibly special player Niko is before the playoffs roll around. It scares me to death thinking that As soon as Taj is healthy, Niko will once again be relegated to barely playing.
