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We at Bulls by the Horns realize that you’re busy and don’t have the time to go searching through website after website for some interesting, NBA related reads. So, from time to time, we’ll gather the articles we’ve found interesting and put them together for you in one place.
This week, we’ll start here in Chicago. Ricky O’Donnell at SB Nation took a look at the sorry state of the Chicago Bulls without Derrick Rose. There isn’t much positive coming out of Chicago this season and this piece was no different. The .gif of one of the Bulls’ final possessions against New York last Wednesday may be the perfect summation of the Bulls offense right now.
Staying in New York, Frank Isola had the details on Sunday morning of a messy Knicks locker room. After the Knicks win against the Bulls on Wednesday, Mike Woodson called out J.R. Smith for poor shot selection and Smith responded on Saturday night by taking a single shot against the Celtics. Smith played it coy with the media after the game responding that he didn’t know why he only took one shot during the game. The mess in New York just seems to be getting worse by the hour and Isola gives a great snapshot of the messiness.
The guys at Basketball Breakdown took a look at another mess, David Lee’s defense. Lee’s defense has been a running joke among stat heads since Kirk Goldsberry’s presentation at last year’s Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, but the video breakdown really shows how poorly Lee has performed on defense this season. The intention of the breakdown was to show how potent the Phoenix Suns offense has been this season, but it just turned into a sad breakdown of Lee’s defense.
In another breakdown of defense, Mike Prada at SB Nation took a look at Roy Hibbert and the application of the rule of verticality. Prada wondered if Hibbert has done such a great job developing his reputation as a guy who challenges shots without fouling that he is now getting away with committing fouls. This is a concept that Prada started to take a look at in the playoffs last season and has continued to examine this year. Prada showed that it might be a question worth asking through copious videos, gifs, and pictures.
Mark Montieth had some questions of his own in an interview with Larry Bird over the weekend. Montieth asked Bird about the Pacers and their current roster. Some of his most interesting answers came in response to the questions about Danny Granger and the possible impact he could have on the team. Bird also had some interesting things to say about Lance Stephenson and the basketball player formerly known as Ron Artest.
A logical outcome to Granger’s career with the Pacers would be a trade and Joseph Casciaro took an interesting look at what players go through when they are traded. Casciaro talked with Greivis Vasquez about the process of getting traded. Vasquez spoke about how he found out, what he did when he found out, and what he is doing now that he is in Toronto. Many times when we hear about trades we only think about the team and the results of the trade, but often we forget about actual people being forced to pick up and move to a brand new city.
Someone that doesn’t want to hear anything about a brand new city is Bucks Owner Herb Kohl. On Monday, Kohl announced a plan to broaden team ownership and strengthen the franchise in Milwaukee. Kohl has long been focused on keeping the Bucks in Milwaukee, but some have questioned his ability to do so in the last few years because of the glaring need for a new arena and a questionable product on the floor. Kohl will need to get some help to build a new arena in Milwaukee and without help, the Bucks may be the top target for the ownership group in Seattle.
At Hardwood Paroxysm, Andrew Lynch wrote about two very different players that won Player of the Week. Last week, Kyrie Irving won Eastern Conference Player of the Week and Lynch described how Irving’s game could be seen as turbulence personified. Irving relies on quick movements in multiple directions to get free, while the Western Conference Player of the Week LaMarcus Aldridge is “a pillar of stability”. Lynch detailed how Aldridge’s smooth game has helped the Blazers rise to the top of the Western Conference this season.
In our last piece of the week, Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe took a look at the possible future Rajon Rondo may have in coaching. Holmes told an interesting story about Rondo’s prowess at Connect Four. Appartently, Rondo is nearly unbeatable at Connect Four and as Holmes dug a bit deeper he found out that Brad Stevens was also obsessed with the game as a child as well. Holmes connected Rondo’s ability as a Connect Four genius to the abilities of a point guard and even his possible abilities of as a coach. It was interesting to hear that many think Rondo will may a great coach after all of the horror stories that have been leaked about his moodiness as a player and teammate.
That’s all for this time. Remember…reading is FUNdamental.
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