Comments on: Hate not making the Bulls stronger

By: I’ll take it » By The Horns

I’ll take it » By The Horns — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:20:08 +0000

[…] make no mistake: The success of this road trip was absolutely critical. Players were rebelling. The fans were angry and losing hope. Jerry Reinsdorf was ripping the team and dissing the coaching staff. Now it looks like all that […]

By: Lord Henry

Lord Henry — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 02:10:10 +0000

Wow. How can you actually make me care about the bulls? I gave up after MJ left, because I didn’t think management would be able to catch lightning in a bottle again. It’s sad, this franchise is still trying to bounce back from Michael, and it just can’t. After more than ten years, it’s getting hard to watch. Meant to post here sooner, we need all the bawful people to show support for the great one. And Czernobog’s right, if the bulls lose, you totally stat-cursed them. BTW, are you a masochist? The sheer amount of material you’ve put together in such a short time is amazing.

By: Matt McHale

Matt McHale — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:10:40 +0000

Cameron — I get what you’re saying, but I think that, similar to Ainge in Boston, Paxson has at least compiled a roster full of young talent. A lot of these guys could be valuable roleplayers for this team, if it improved, or other teams on the cusp. Jerry slashed the roster, Pax has filled it with borderline talent that needs another really good player, or better coaching, to bring out its best. I’m not sure what his plan is…other than to get rid of Hughes. But as long as the players are trying, in their own way, I’ll keep tagging along.

Mike C. — I agree. Zaza’s big game was inexusable, and I would hope that the team’s interior defense will be addressed. Honestly, at this point, I’d just scrap Gray and keep Tyrus and Noah in 40+ minutes and say “I don’t care what you do as long as you block shots, bang bodies, and knock people around in the paint. Don’t worry about fouling out.”

Frank The Tank — I know what you’re saying. I do! However, we knew there would be growing pains with a rookie coach. And I would guess, based on Pax’s bland statements (or, rather, non-statements) about Vinny that he’ll be toast if things don’t shape up by the end of the season. Also, don’t understate the injuries to Hinrich, Deng and Gooden. Not just in terms of missing talent, but also the lack of continuity. Chemistry only develops when guys are able to play together. I think there’s still a chance for this team to put together a streak of better (if not winning) basketball. Although, sadly, probably not until after this road trip…

Czernobog — No need to explain, buddy. I know you! I knew where you were coming from.

By: Czernobog

Czernobog — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 18:32:59 +0000

Re-reading my comment it looks a bit petty. I meant to say that you should write yourself up for the jinx/stat curse.

By: Czernobog

Czernobog — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:37:35 +0000

Hey, B’awful/BHB, if we beat you tonight (which I think we will, O’neil may be a whole lot of dead weight, but he’s still a hell of an improvement off the bench over Voskuhl) I expect you to put yourself in the WotN.

By: Frank the Tank

Frank the Tank — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:26:56 +0000

Cameron is spot-on – there’s no discernible strategy for this team. The Bulls had a ridiculous stroke of luck in the lottery last summer that culminated in drafting Derrick Rose, but it’s almost as if the organization couldn’t deal with the shock of its good fortune and then didn’t try to improve its situation any further. How could a organization that knew that its first priority was to develop a rookie point guard actually hire someone with absolutely no head coaching experience at any level? Are the Bulls really going to end up allowing Ben Gordon leave the team as a free agent without getting anything in return? Is saving cap space for the free agent class of 2010 going to realistically bear fruit for the Bulls?

From a personal standpoint, I came into this season with a renewed sense of energy with Derrick Rose on the floor. This club actually was in decent shape after the annual Circus Trip, which has put almost every Bulls team since the MJ era in a hole that few have been ever able to dig out of. The regression of this team over the past month or so, though, has been horrendous and, frankly, soul-crushing. I’m more than willing to take some lumps if there is a plan in place to develop Rose, but when the players around him are clearly not playing to their potential, the rookie head coach is completely in over his head, and the organization seems to be squandering a great opportunity to get back into the upper echelon of the NBA, it definitely is more frustrating than those horrific Tim Floyd teams because we all knew those teams were going to be terrible from the get-go, while this year’s team was at least supposed to give us some hope for the future (and they’ve done everything possible to crush that hope).

By: Mike C.

Mike C. — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:52:53 +0000

i appreciate what you are trying to do here (and personally, i think a lot of the “ben gordon is so selfish! hate is wrong– along with rose he’s really the only scorer on the team; he has to take a lot of shots for them to score any points), but the hawks on the road without horford and williams are not a clearly better team than the bulls. yes the bulls got a little unlucky that game as bibby pulled shot after shot out of his ass, but letting zaza go off and us closing the game with the super tiny ball lineup are inexcusable.

By: Et tu, Ben? » By The Horns

Et tu, Ben? » By The Horns — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:35:48 +0000

[…] was halfway through my “Let’s try to stay positive everybody!” post when I read about Ben Gordon’s tiff with Vinny Del Negro. (More details in […]

By: Cameron Watkins

Cameron Watkins — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:35:31 +0000

The thing that is more frustrating about the current Bulls than the post-Jordan Bulls is that there appears to be no specific strategy for how to improve the team. Krause, whether he was wrong or right, had a strategy. Cut payroll and suffer through a horrible team for a couple of seasons in order to stockpile draft picks and create salary room for big name free agents. Yeah, it didn’t work out, but it was a plan. Now, what is Paxson doing? High character guys from winning programs didn’t work quite well enough. Now the team is stuck between really young guys like Rose, Thomas and Noah and in their prime/borderline on the decline guys Hinrich, Hughes and Gooden. Sow what happens next? Get bad and add more young players with a hope of sniping guys in 2010? It seems a bit risky for me, plus NBA players seem to be inordinately obsessed with playing in warm weather cities. I don’t have the answer. I’m just saying I feel worse about this team than any other since I’ve been watching because it’s in a bad place and I have nothing to cling to.