Looking ahead: The starters

The season is over. And it’s a bummer.

To be honest, I still feel kind of numb. This season was a thrill ride that had a sudden, jarring stop at the end. Like a roller coaster that slams into a brick wall.

The Bulls lost to the Miami Heat and failed to make the NBA Finals. Assuming a championship is the goal, that means the team will have to improve to take the next step.

Here are some preliminary thoughts about what I believe needs to be done.

Derrick Rose:
Rose struggled with his shot during the playoffs…and that was after shooting a career-low 44.5 percent from the field during the regular season. To me, that highlighted a problem that affected Rose and everybody else: Chicago’s offense was not well-designed and struggled to create clean looks against intense defensive pressure.

In fact, the Bulls spent much of the season simply putting the ball in Rose’s hands and expecting him to create everything. This led to a lot of contested jump shots created off the dribble. If you check out the numbers at Hoopdata, you’ll notice that Derrick’s shooting percentages dropped in every zone between “at the rim” and “three-point range.” The percentage of his shots that were assisted on went down as well, indicating that Rose had to create an increasing number of his own shots against one or more defenders.

Rose is a complete player, but his scoring efficiency needs to improve. It’s that simple. Rose expends an awful lot of energy finding his shots. He — with the help of the coaching staff — needs to find easier ways to get high-percentage shot attempts. We know Rose can drive. We know he can hit midrange jumpers. We know he can knock down threes.

We also know that too many of these shots are hotly contested.

Part of that is spacing. The Bulls have only one truly dangerous long ranger shooter (Kyle Korver) and two of Rose’s fellow starters are borderline offensive liabilities (Joakim Noah and Keith Bogans).

Another part of the problem is the offensive play calling. The team’s offense could really use an offseason overhaul, and coach Tom Thibodeau might want to consider hiring an assistant who specializes in offense the way he specialized in defense for the Celtics.

At any rate, the bottom line is that I’d like to see Rose get more open looks at the basket instead of having to force so many things against defenses designed to hinder him. If that happens, his scoring efficiency should increase.

Joakim Noah:
His energy and intensity are his two most important traits. However, considering he’ll now be playing on a five-year contract worth $60 million, Noah won’t get free pass on offense anymore. Before, it was a bonus if he could chip in 10 points. Now, scoring will be required. Especially if the Bulls expect to have any hope of overcoming the Heat. For all his wild-eyed enthusiasm, Noah was a liability on offense, which is the primary reason he got benched for the team’s final fourth quarter of the season.

Noah should add a little more bulk in the offseason. He also — and most importantly — needs to develop his offense skills. Specifically, Jo has to add a few go-to post moves and hone his midrange jumpshot.

Carlos Boozer:
First, we might as well nix all the “trade Boozer” talk, because the Bulls owe Carlos another $60 million over the next four years. That makes him pretty much immovable.

I’m not sure quite what to think about Boozer’s season. He got hurt before playing a single game. By the time he was ready to suit up, Noah was hurt. He played really well while Jo was out and then struggled when Noah returned. Again, I think spacing is an issue when those two are on the floor together because Joakim was (especially after his thumb surgery) a borderline offensive liability.

Except for a few strong games, Booz basically stunk up the postseason and spent the fourt quarter of the final game shining the bench with his butt. Maybe the lingering affects of a sprained ankle he suffered late in the regular season combined with his turf toe injury was more of a problem than we knew.

Or maybe they’re just excuses.

Boozer is a liability on defense. The question is: Is it due to a lack of effort, or does he simply lack the lateral quickness and instincts necessary to play defense against elite players? The former can be corrected. The latter cannot. And, unfortunately, I’m afraid it might be the latter.

If that’s the case, then Thibs needs to 1) continue tweaking the team defense to “hide” Boozer and 2) find a way to get every possible benefit out of Boozer’s offensive abilities. It seems the best Bulls fans can hope for is that Carlos scores more points than he gives up.

Luol Deng:
After Rose, Deng was the team’s most indispensable player this season. He didn’t miss a game. He was third in the league in minutes played. He scored, rebounded and gave it up on defense every night.

What more can the Bulls possibly ask from him?

The only area I’d like to see Deng improve significantly is his three-point shooting percentage. He attempted the second-most threes on the team but shot only 34.5 percent. Deng also attempted the second-most three-pointers on the team during the playoffs, and his accuracy dropped to 32.4 percent. Because Lu is primarily a spot-up three-point shooter, many of his attempts are open. He needs to knock down a higher percentage to help spread the floor and open driving lanes for Rose and other teammates.

Beyond that, I wouldn’t mind if Deng added a few post moves.

Keith Bogans:
How to put this kindly? Bogans needs to be somebody else. I mean this with all due respect, because Bogan put forth maximum effort all season, and he clearly earned the respect and trust of his teammates.

That said, the Bulls need to upgrade their starting. They do. Everybody knows this. There have been plenty of stories written about buyouts, free agent acquisitions and potential trades. I’ve heard or read about guys like Jamal Crawford, Jason Richardson, O.J. Mayo, Rip Hamilton, Stephen Jackson and even Monta Ellis.

Unfortunately, the Bulls don’t have a lot of cap room and very few tradable assets they’re willing to part with. Management will have to pull a real rabbit out of their hat to provide a significant upgrade.

If they can, Bogans can still provide a solid 5-10 minutes off the bench as a spot up shooter and go-to defender.

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65 Responses to Looking ahead: The starters

  1. Adam@Adam.com'
    Adam June 2, 2011 at 2:40 pm #

    I think I liked Bogan’s more in the off season and Boozer less. Bogans hit shots and defended well. I never got to see him drive…I’m curious to see what he could do.

  2. Inception June 2, 2011 at 3:09 pm #

    you know what would take some balls? benching Boozer and starting Taj…Thibs is one coach who would do it, and I say WHY NOT? if Taj improves his offensive game, then I think it would be a justified move.

    Booz would be one of the best sixth men, and he might even perform better, since there’ll be less pressure…add a legit SG, and this team’s outlook for next season looks quite well.

  3. cykade@gmail.com'
    xpltv72 June 2, 2011 at 3:33 pm #

    if ronnie brewer developed his mid range game in the offseason and become a much better shooter, then he shouold definitely start. what i saw from him when he was with utah was what we need. he needs to go to the same camp as rose in the offseason. nothing but shooting from him and more one on one moves.

  4. cykade@gmail.com'
    xpltv72 June 2, 2011 at 4:52 pm #

    dood. kareem is saying in so many words that he wants to work with NOAH. someone implore him to DO IT!!!!!

  5. dadsit@gmail.com'
    Dan June 2, 2011 at 5:58 pm #

    Hey guy, how can you beef on Noah’s offense like that? Dude tore ligaments in his shooting thumb mid-season. Before that, in his 24 game pre-surgery (a handful of which were with the torn ligaments), Noah was in double figures scoring 21 times and had 15 double doubles, and was 1/2 RBs away from 3 more. He was knocking down the elbow jumper at a good clip and taking people off the dribble to the basket. I’m not saying he was the second coming of Kareem or Hakeem with his arsenal, but he was regarded as mabye the second best Center early in the year. Yet, how quickly we forget in this new tweet-filled era. Let the kid play the season with his shooting hand in tact before judging his offense.

  6. scott.atherley@mail.mcgill.ca'
    ScottA June 2, 2011 at 6:52 pm #

    Good analysis; not as worried about Boozer as most seem to be though. At worst, he’ll win them a lot of games in the regular season and be limited in the playoffs. That being said, a jump-shot for Noah and another shooter or two would give Booz a lot more room to operate; he always struggles badly when defenses are allowed to pack the lane, and that’s all good defenses do against the Bulls. Hence, he gets the worst possible situation for him in the playoffs. Give him spacing and shooters to pass to (he’s a very good passer) and many of his offensive problems disappear.

    Have to think outside the box a bit for that mythical perimeter scorer, unless JR is willing to spend like mad – Europe? D-League? Draft? (I like Marshon Brooks at the moment; doubt he’ll fall, but you never know).

  7. Noah's FT Arc June 2, 2011 at 9:17 pm #

    hey matt do u really think we got a chance at steph jackson?? i would LOVE to have him on our team! great d, good o, good heart, and intimidating as hell! thats one of the main things i think we lacked in the playoffs. everyone seemed to be playing tough n dirty, while it seemed like we were still stuck in season mode….

  8. inkybreath@gmail.com'
    inkybreath June 3, 2011 at 2:09 am #

    Matt – Do you know if the Grizzlies approach is the same as reported during the season, as it pertains to dealing with the Bulls? Is there any hope of the two teams talking?

  9. bodybagsteven@gmail.com'
    BFD June 3, 2011 at 6:46 pm #

    We need to trade Deng. I know he was invaluable to us this year, and I very much appreciate it…but do you really think that is sustainable? He played a ton of minutes for a guy who before this year was a guy who seemed to get hurt constantly. His value right now is as high as it can be (without him being on the last year of his contract.) We can move him, have either Brewer or Korver start in his place and get some good chips in the process.

  10. bodybagsteven@gmail.com'
    BFD June 3, 2011 at 6:59 pm #

    http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=398ztln

    Here…we get 2 guys who can hit shots and spread the floor.

    Our starting lineup becomes. Rose, Ellis, Wright, Boozer, Noah. Rose can be spelled by Watson and Ellis when he is off the floor, and you will still have plenty of beef inside with Noah, Asik, Boozer, Big Man Draft Pick A, and Old Vet Who Is Playing For the Minimum, Trying To Win A Ring Before He Retires.

  11. ryanflorio@gmail.com'
    23 > 6 June 3, 2011 at 7:12 pm #

    @BFD, intriguing. I’m not entirely opposed to trading Deng, but I feel like trading Gibson would somehow come back to haunt us. The dude has some serious potential and he showed flashes of it this season and in the playoffs. I don’t think we necessarily need a super scorer like Ellis. Just someone to space the floor a bit and command some respect from his jumpshot. I’m looking for 15ppg. Not sure we could like Jason Richardson, but a guy like J.R. Smith or Rip Hamilton can give you just that. And they’re potentially available via free agency, so no need to trade Deng or Gibson. Anyone know how much cap room we’ll have?

  12. inkybreath@gmail.com'
    inkybreath June 3, 2011 at 7:30 pm #

    This one is very intriguing. I like Ellis and Wright. I watched Wright play this year and he has really started to come into his own … and Ellis is a major scorer, who dishes well and gets steals. He and Rose would wreak havoc at the top of the key … so fast!

    It would be hard to lose Taj and Do’All.

    But, something inventive is going to have to happen.

  13. TBF June 4, 2011 at 12:56 am #

    So you’d trade one person who doesn’t stay healthy for another person who doesn’t stay healthy? I mean, you wanna talk injuries, Monta Ellis is your man. Dude’s never played 82 in a season and that’s a fact.

    This team doesn’t need a major overhaul, all it needs is to be tweaked. Yeah, I know, I know we all are soooo disappointed that Miami beat us, but guys, we just had the best regular season record in the league and made it to the conference finals. Let’s not get all crazy.

    To me, you don’t trade a valuable, young player like Taj unless you can’t help it. As for Luol, he played like a workhorse this year and was invaluable.

  14. inkybreath@gmail.com'
    inkybreath June 4, 2011 at 3:16 am #

    I can get so easily swung either way on this one.

    I am chomping at the bit about all this … I can’t wait for the draft and free-agency.

    (I could care less about baseball right now…)

  15. Inception June 4, 2011 at 4:13 am #

    CHI needs an efficient SG that can knock down the shots in crunch time….Ellis doesn’t strike me as the player that will fill that role for…i’m already picturing brick city in the 4th quarter of the 2012 ECF vs. MIA.

  16. bodybagsteven@gmail.com'
    BFD June 4, 2011 at 4:20 pm #

    I think you have to either trade Taj or Asik. Long term, we can’t keep both of them and Taj deserves more minutes and he wont get them here. If Asik is as valuable as everybody thinks he is, he will require even more minutes next year.

    Let’s face facts…the reason the Bulls held sway this year during the regular season was because we have the best 12 men on the floor, and the reason we struggled in the playoffs was because our top 8 guys could barely keep up with Atlanta, and the Pacers, and were outclassed by the Heat.

    I think if the Bulls don’t make a serious move this off season, they will regress next year. We won’t sneak up on anybody next year, and teams will clamp down on Rose like a fat man on a donut.

    The problem with hoping we get somebody in F.A. is that we won’t have a lot of money to spend this year. This isn’t baseball, and we aren’t the Yankees. Right now it looks like we will only have a few million to work with, and that’s before you figure in the new harsher CBA.

  17. bodybagsteven@gmail.com'
    BFD June 4, 2011 at 4:45 pm #

    How about this trade.

    http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=5tyyap7

    Starting lineup of Rose, K. Mart, Brewer, Boozer, and Noah. You re-sign Boguns, so that when the bench comes in, Korver spells Brewer and Boguns spells Martin so you always have a defensive stopper on the floor with a guy who can shoot the long-ball, and you have the ability to put both defensive or offensive guys in there at a time. Also, Big Brad is back!

  18. inkybreath@gmail.com'
    inkybreath June 4, 2011 at 6:34 pm #

    How about this article talking about a Martin trade. He has some interesting things to say (that I can’t validate). But it looks like he is appreciating the off/def balance that Courtney Lee provides…

    He also alludes to Martin not being clutch. Anyone have anything to back up or refute this…?

    http://www.thedreamshake.com/2011/5/27/2193058/how-to-fix-the-rockets-or-the-one-where-i-get-bashed-for-trying-to

  19. inkybreath@gmail.com'
    inkybreath June 5, 2011 at 3:37 am #

    Big Brad had microfracture surgery … out 6 months …

  20. Anonymous June 5, 2011 at 4:53 am #

    I think Boozer and Noah will both be better next year. Both were playing hurt, Boozer had no vertical game in the playoffs and Jo lost confidence in his shot.

    I agree that we need to trade Asik or Taj to get a shooter. We need another shooter and those two are our best trade assets.

    The reason we lost to Miami (other than the refs of course) is they had more 2-way players than we did. We need to add a player who can score AND play D well enough to be on the court at the end of the game.

    And we absolutely, without question, need to keep Lu on the team. Ain’t no way we are getting past Miami next year with Kevin Martin guarding Wade or Dorrell Wright going against LBJ.

  21. bodybagsteven@gmail.com'
    BFD June 5, 2011 at 3:04 pm #

    Look, just about everybody in the league has a knock on them. While Ellis is injury prone and Martin may not be very good defensively…Noah is an offensive liability, Boozer disappears in big games, Deng is injury prone and he gives you all his points in the first half before disappearing down the stretch, Brewer has no jump shot, Korver can’t play Defense, Derrick Rose shouldn’t be shooting 3 pointers, etc. etc.

    Anybody who is available for the Bulls to get, you can be sure there is a team or a fan base out there that doesn’t think too highly of their services.

  22. bodybagsteven@gmail.com'
    BFD June 5, 2011 at 3:10 pm #

    What I’m suggesting with these trades is trying to add enough offensively while trying not to sacrifice too much defensively. We are going to have to sacrifice defense, because let me ask you, who out there can the Bulls get who can defend like Boguns while creating his own shot and is only asking for 3 Million a year? What team would let a guy like that go for Kurt Thomas, Keith Boguns, and a 2nd round draft pick?

  23. Flip21 June 5, 2011 at 6:19 pm #

    Bulls will either move up and draft Klay Thompson or trade for Courtney Lee. I like the former.

  24. Greenie June 6, 2011 at 3:30 am #

    BFD, while I tend to agree with you about the likelihood of getting a huge pickup like Ellis or Martin, you never know when some GM is going to get overly eager for a big man with post presence/streaky shooter/just plain stupid.

    Also assuming the CBA doesn’t completely change JR might finally be willing to pay the luxury tax now that the Bulls seem to be only one or two moves away from a championship team.

  25. The Rock June 6, 2011 at 2:11 pm #

    I know we all want a championship after the 2010-2011 season ride, but reality says it will still take time. We cant go for a big name right now, Dwight will not be coming to Chicago. I say sign a Rip Hamilton type of guy and keep building through the draft. Dont trade Taj, Id rather move Asik. And Thibs just needs better offense….hire the assistant, get someone to work with Boozer and Noah in the off season, and if need be, start Taj. Put together the formula to beat Miami. Because even to reach 60+ wins next year will be a hurdle, because now teams know how to beat Chicago. Tweak a few things and sign a 15 point avg 2 guard and keep building through young guys, our time is coming…

  26. bodybagsteven@gmail.com'
    BFD June 6, 2011 at 5:45 pm #

    The Rock – The Cavaliers at one point had a team with a young superstar which made it not only to the ECF, but to the actual Finals. What happened to them? Orlando, same thing…only they just got eliminated in the first round before their young superstar bolted from their team. Just assuming that we will get better, or that some aging castaway can come over in free agency and put us over the hump is a fallacy. Teams know how to beat us, teams will be gunning for us next year after we got the MVP and the COY on the team and it will be a dogfight.

    Greenie – If we could keep Deng while switching Asik and a pick for a good young SG still on his rookie deal, I’d be all for it. However, we have presumably run all those ideas up the flagpole before the last trade deadline. I’m floating Deng ideas so that we can trade like contracts and I wouldn’t be surprised if this year was Deng’s high water mark (he played all summer for England’s team, and then came here and played 40+ all year).

    And the luxury tax only applies to teams resigning their own guys. We can do that, but unfortunately we need another guy, another SG that doesn’t exist on this team. Ideas?

  27. bodybagsteven@gmail.com'
    BFD June 6, 2011 at 5:55 pm #

    Flip21 – why didn’t we trade for Lee before? Also, I know I want to move Asik or Taj…but are you telling me Courtney Lee is the best we can get? I wouldn’t be happy with that trade. Also, I don’t think Klay or any rookie in this draft (which people are saying is one of the worst drafts in the past 20 years) can show the kind of impact that we need. I don’t even think that he would get playing time what with Thib’s love of Bogans.

    Anonymous – I’m with you with Noah and Booz both being hurt during the playoffs. I hope they can both heal up and stay healthy all next year.

    I think if we get Martin, either he won’t be guarding Wade or he will be switching with Rose on guarding him. Either way, one of those two guys won’t be guarding him and be fresh for creating offense going the other way. And I think if Deng goes, no matter who is on the team you have to start Brewer to guard Lebron in the playoffs next year.

  28. Wannafanta365@aim.com'
    Bam! June 6, 2011 at 8:24 pm #

    What about Wilson Chandler? He’s a solid shooter who can create, drive and shoot beyond the arc. He plays great defense and is a low maintenance player. He’s a SF, but who cares? He could be a great SG, with his balanced game and impressive size (for a SG). I think either he or Afflalo would be the best choice.

    Here’s the deal. Denver is almost $10 million over the cap, and Afflalo and Chandler are (restricted) free agents earning about $2 million each. Bulls offer each of them a deal for about $5 million the first year. Nuggets will want to keep both, but will only be able to afford one (or neither). My guess is they would keep Afflalo and not Chandler in this situation, because George Karl likes Gallo enough to bench Chandler. So it becomes a question if keeping the starter or bench player. Obviously you choose the starter. After this, we do the following to become a championship team:

    Make Chandler a starting 2 guard and have him work his shit over the summer.

    Trash Bogans somehow, or just use him sparingly.

    Put Korver in as SF to backup Deng, and have Denv play no more than 35 min per game.

    Bench Boozer, start Taj. Boozer’s offense will help the bench mob out, since none of them are very good in that area. Taj’s skills are more useful as a starter than Boozer’s.

    Lineup:
    Rose / Watson
    Taj

  29. Wannafanta365@aim.com'
    Bam! June 6, 2011 at 8:30 pm #

    What about Wilson Chandler? He’s a solid shooter who can create, drive and shoot beyond the arc. He plays great defense and is a low maintenance player. He’s a SF, but who cares? He could be a great SG, with his balanced game and impressive size (for a SG). I think either he or Afflalo would be the best choice.

    Here’s the deal. Denver is almost $10 million over the cap, and Afflalo and Chandler are (restricted) free agents earning about $2 million each. Bulls offer each of them a deal for about $5 million the first year. Nuggets will want to keep both, but will only be able to afford one (or neither). My guess is they would keep Afflalo and not Chandler in this situation, because George Karl likes Gallo enough to bench Chandler. So it becomes a question if keeping the starter or bench player. Obviously you choose the starter. After this, we do the following to become a championship team:

    Make Chandler a starting 2 guard and have him work his shit over the summer.

    Trash Bogans somehow, or just use him sparingly.

    Put Korver in as SF to backup Deng, and have Denv play no more than 35 min per game.

    Bench Boozer, start Taj. Boozer’s offense will help the bench mob out, since none of them are very good in that area other than Korver. Taj’s skills are more useful as a starter than Boozer’s.

    Lineup:
    Rose / Watson
    Taj / Boozer
    Chandler / Brewer
    Deng / Korver
    Noah / Asik

    I seriously think Wilson Chandler is like a poor man’s Melo only he plays defense well.

  30. Wannafanta365@aim.com'
    Bam! June 6, 2011 at 9:08 pm #

    Btw I meant have Chandler work on his shot, not shit. Just saying.

  31. bodybagsteven@gmail.com'
    BFD June 6, 2011 at 11:33 pm #

    Problems with Wilson Chandler.

    1) You are assuming nobody else will offer him more than 5 Million

    2) We can only offer either one of them 5 Million by using our Mid Level Exception (assuming we still have one after the new CBA. Many annalists think the league will do away with them). We do not and will not have 5 Million under the cap next year even if we don’t resign anybody. So, we will have to sign them one at a time and hope whoever we don’t choose doesn’t feel jilted enough to sign with another team.

    3)Try balancing the minutes with your 10 man rotation, and I bet you will wind up either cutting Rose’s minutes alot, or pissing off guys when our chemistry is listed as quite an asset by some people (although it didn’t seem to really help us in the post season, nor did the Heat’s lack of chemistry all year really seem to hurt them in the same time period).

  32. jc_555@yahoo.com'
    cmb2345 June 7, 2011 at 2:52 am #

    nick young is a restricted free agent and with all the reports that washington is eyeing klay thompson and them already having jordan crawford it seems like they will be a little crowded at the 2. young can be just as good of a scorer as anyone mentioned he can create his own shot he has size and he athletic enough to become a good defender (remember we do have a defensive minded coach that helped turn rose into a decent defender)i think this should be looked into

  33. lukerygh@gmail.com'
    Luke June 7, 2011 at 7:19 am #

    Trade Taj while his stock is high!!! everyone is riding those dunks beyond belief… since that point everything he did was a fan motivator because they thought he would posterize someone based on game 1. Get rid of him while other teams think he has potential… little do they know what he is producing now is the most he will ever produce.

  34. zilla2033@yahoo.com'
    Mattzilla June 7, 2011 at 11:31 am #

    Gotta agree with Dan on Noah:

    We’ve all seen that Noah can take big men off the dribble and post them up (shooting with BOTH hands, mind you). Remember that game we got blown out by the Magic? Noah was going RIGHT AT Howard and went 6-11 with 4-4 FTs, and none of it came from offensive rebounds. I say just let him do it more often, because let’s face it, the Bulls will only see Howard at most 11 times next season. Every other center will be easy pickings if Noah gets the ball every third possession with a scoring mentality.

    Hell, let Noah AND Boozer post more often. We already saw in the Miami series that Rose shoots better off the pass than off the dribble, and a double team on Noah/Boozer effectively takes one big man out of the lane to open up driving lanes.

    My point is, these big men have the talent to run the offense through the post as a scoring option, instead of just a passing option. Noah and Boozer can easily shoot around 50% and give us a combined 40 points and 10 FTAs next year….if Thibs wants to go that route.

  35. jleite@student.umass.edu'
    Jon L. June 7, 2011 at 6:41 pm #

    I am surprised what Bogans brought this season with his solid defense and better shooting than I expected. I am curious to see what Taj would do in the starting lineup, but then you would be paying a lot of money for a bench guy in Boozer.

  36. Wannafanta365@aim.com'
    Bam! June 7, 2011 at 8:20 pm #

    Well we can forget about Ray Allen. He’s back with the Celtics. He would have been a perfect fit but I don’t think we could’ve afforded it.

  37. neriotis@comcast.net'
    Sakoiren June 7, 2011 at 10:02 pm #

    Here’s an idea for next season and I know most of you will call me crazy, but I think we should go and get Allen Iverson for a minimum. I’m sure that he would gladly accept a minimum at this point of his career. He probably wouldn’t be a starter, but he could be a good scoring spark of the bench. I recently read an interview of him saying that he hopes to finish his career in nba and that he regrets many things he has said and done in the past and he would be willing to accept any role that the team gives him. I think this type of a deal could be low risk high reward. Who knows maybe he can still get 10-15 points in 20-25 minutes of play time. He could also give rose a breather from time to time.

  38. TBF June 7, 2011 at 10:08 pm #

    Luke–>Yeah, that’d work if every GM in the league was like a casual fan from another city and decided to trade for a player based on 2 slam dunks and 0 actual research.

  39. Inception June 8, 2011 at 11:04 pm #

    man I love Charles Barkley and his latest comments on the heat and their fans.

    somebody give him a position with the Bulls!

  40. reggiemcglory@yahoo.com'
    chitown4life June 9, 2011 at 8:18 pm #

    I have read all the comments about what the Bulls should do to improve the team it is however , very important to make sure we do not lose what we have already gained.
    We had an exellent year just short of making it to the NBa finals next year baby set your sights high we are going places here in Chi. I want to see our Bulls get another solid scorer via free agency the draft probally won’t fill that need.
    We have four picks all together this year and next year maybe they might consider sending all the picks to other teams for the players they need now our team is not in a developement stage we are built to win now therefore we must get players that will hep us when now the only question is who will we get?

  41. Noah's FT Arc June 9, 2011 at 9:36 pm #

    DON’T PANIC! this team is gonna only get better. im a bigger boozer hater, but i think he’s gonna do a lot better next year. he never really gelled well with our team cus of that injury, and his confidence was just not there consistently cus of that. i felt like he was just this odd man out when on the floor. like rose & co. would do their thing, and if that didn’t work you had boozer try to create a shot for himself.

    now our young bulls got a taste of the big show, and i suspect that they will be much more ready, next time. i hope that rose’s work ethic will inspire the other guys to work really hard this summer. none of this breaking up our sick young bench, because the refs screwed us vs. the hollywood heat (i hate sayin it, but c’mon!)

    there aren’t any good building-block free agents available, so we go with a ring chaser. i would love rip and want the bulls to give iverson a chance. maybe he got a lil more humble after the league showed him that they weren’t gonna pay him to sell jerseys anymore. he would be a perfect practice partner (yes, i did say practice) for our rose, who is basically a bigger & better teammate version of iverson.

  42. Raevyrn June 10, 2011 at 12:29 am #

    Does anyone know what the team’s plans are in the event of a lockout? Do they still conduct the preseason training camps and all similar activities? Or is it a everyone on their own until things are resolved? I had read that Rose, Westbrook, and Love worked out together this past summer. I would like to see the whole team doing drills and going to camps very early in prep for the next season(at least I hope there’s a next season)

  43. jd8949@gmail.com'
    Joseph Davis June 10, 2011 at 8:24 pm #

    LOOONNNNGGGG Time fan and we are truly blessed to have Derrick Rose to grow with! Having said that we need to make some tweaks obviously. I think most are feeling the draft is where the Bulls will look, because I don’t believe we are willing to let go of Deng, Noah, or Gibson (maybe Asik) to get a Monta Ellis or even a Joe Johnson. Is that the right philosophy?

  44. Handkuft@yahoo.com'
    GotNext June 11, 2011 at 3:03 am #

    We should get Dirk Nowitzki, from what I understand that guy is pretty good.

  45. Inception June 11, 2011 at 8:14 pm #

    Dirk would’ve equaled an automatic championship.

    too bad DAL knew what they had in Dirk and didn’t hesitate in extending his contract.

  46. joe.sez@gmail.com'
    joe June 12, 2011 at 8:06 am #

    on 6/5 BFD said Monta Ellis was injury Prone.

    Ellis played 80 games and averaged 40.3 minutes.

    He hurt himself on a motor scooter in the offseason but has healed.

    Prior as a HS player entered in the NBA draft,he had a minor knee operation which is why he fell to the mid/late 2nd round to GSW.

    He’s tough for his size and while I admire what he has done, he is too small for 11M a year.

  47. TBF June 13, 2011 at 3:31 am #

    Yep, that’s right Joe. The year before he played 64 games. The year before that 25. I stand by my earlier statement of “injury prone”.

  48. wannafanta365@aol.com'
    Bam! June 13, 2011 at 12:02 pm #

    There’s something we can learn from this finals. It’s how the Mavs figured out the key to beating the Heat. There are only three reasons (at the simplest level) that the Mavs won: defense, three point shooting and an incredible star.

    If you look at the Bulls, we have defense and an incredible star (although I think Dirk may be better than Rose at this stage of his career. Just saying). What we need now is the three point shooting. If you look at the box score, literally the only major difference between the two teams in game 6 is that the Mavs went 11-26 (42%) from 3, while the Heat went 7-23 (30%). Of course the Mavs did get 10 more shots off than the Heat during the game, but whatever.

    This shows how close the Bulls really are to beating the Heat. But it also shows that, not only is it essential for us to pick up a quality SG this offseason, but EVERY player on the roster (OK, maybe not Noah, Taj or Asik) needs to work on their shot, so they all are scoring threats from behind the arc. That’s one of the ways the Mavs confused the Heat and kept them thinking. All of the Mavs are at least decent shooters from 3, so they trusted each others shot and kept passing to each other until they could get off a quality shot.

    It also shows that the Heat are actually far away from winning a championship. There is no way the Heat can win without changing their structure (i.e. getting rid of one of the Big Three to get a good Center or a Ray Allen-type player). And they cannot do that this offseason. We will see little to no improvement from the Heat next year unless they try to make a move for Dwight. I seriously think the Celtics were one of the best formats of all. They had a star in the post, a star on the arc, a pass-first PG, and a do-all SF. That makes it so that there is a scoring threat on every angle of the floor.

  49. Anonymous June 16, 2011 at 5:28 pm #

    The one person that you fail to talk about as a possibility is hinrich coming back to the bulls he is a free agent this year and maybe he would be willing to take a paycut from what he was making cause he no doubt would like to finish what he started with the bulls years ago and he would be a huge upgrade over everyone else.

  50. shieldparamus@gmail.com'
    DIE HARD BULLS NJ June 17, 2011 at 1:57 pm #

    JR SMITH
    JR SMITH
    JR SMITH

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