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The Chicago Bulls are poised to shake things up in a big way this summer. They have a number of available assets, potential significant flexibility under the cap and have been linked to at least three relatively high-profile players in Arron Afflalo, Kevin Love and Carmelo Anthony. And then there’s LeBron James, who just kind of hovers over everything.

The fact is that there are about 300 different scenarios for the Bulls this summer. I’ve come up with about 20 in the last three days without even trying. But right now I’m going to break them down in the simplest terms, lumping them together into kind of general ideas. Let’s start with Thursday’s draft.

Draft Scenario 1: The Bulls keep both picks 16 and 19 and use them on players that will be on the team next season.

This one is pretty straightforward. Rather than trade up or down or use one or both picks to acquire a veteran or taking an overseas player they could stash, the Bulls just stand pat and pick two guys they like.

The corollary to this scenario is that if the Bulls do this, they could well be picking for another team. More on that later.

Draft Scenario 2: The Bulls trade up.

The Bulls have been rumored to be interested in trading up. First it was packaging 16 and 19 for 11, targeting Nik Stauskas or Gary Harris. Then it was moving up to 8th, where they would take Doug McDermott. It’s possible that moving up to 8 would require Taj Gibson to be involved, but that gets tricky because then Sacramento would have to match salaries and they just don’t have anything the Bulls would want.

But a trade-up scenario makes sense for two reasons. One, Tom Thibodeau doesn’t really like playing rookies and swapping two picks for one pick allows the team to sign a veteran instead of another rookie. And two, it would save the Bulls some money under the cap. The 11th pick in this year’s draft would make just under $1.9 million. The 8th pick would make just under $2.3 million. The 16th and 19th picks combined would make about $3.75 million. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but every bit helps in this kind of situation.

Draft Scenario 3: The Bulls draft at least one international prospect that they stash overseas.

Dario Saric stands out as a guy who would fit with the Bulls plans, after word broke Monday that he would be staying in Europe for at least the next two or three years. Scouts love his talent, and he might have gone in the top 10 if he’d been willing to come over immediately. It’s reminiscent of Nikola Mirotic in 2011, really: a guy with obvious talent who drops to a team who’s willing to wait for him.

Drafting Saric or another international prospect allows the Bulls to eliminate that pick from their cap this summer. So it wouldn’t shock me if the Bulls traded up to secure Saric, as that would eliminate both picks from their cap number and guarantee them a juicy asset down the road.

Draft Scenario 4: One or both picks is traded for a veteran.

Arron Afflalo seems like the obvious candidate, though the Bulls’ reported offer to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kevin Love is Taj Gibson, Tony Snell and both picks. There’s also been some chatter that the Bulls just want a veteran wing scorer, like Afflalo or whoever. Either way, there’s a decent chance the Bulls don’t even have one or both of their picks by draft day.

So that’s the draft. Now there’s everything else.

Offseason Scenario 1: Carmelo Anthony Sign and Trade

This is what the Bulls would like to do. Boozer and picks and maybe a lesser asset like Snell or Mike Dunleavy would go to New York and Melo would come to Chicago. Centering the trade on Boozer allows the Bulls to stay over the cap, leaving them free to use the full mid-level exception to bring the aforementioned Nikola Mirotic over from Europe. But the Knicks are resisting taking back Boozer, so I guess we’ll see how everything shakes out.

By the way, there’s been come confusion about including this year’s draft picks in a Melo sign and trade, so let me clear that up. A sign and trade couldn’t happen until after the moratorium ends on July 10, which seems to rule out trading the picks. But the Bulls could simply draft a prospect the Knicks like and trade their rights to New York after the moratorium ends. Technically, the Bulls and Knicks can’t exactly have conversations about this now, since that would be illegal under the CBA, but Phil Jackson has been pretty vocal about his love for PJ Hairston, which could be a cue to the Bulls that he would like them to take Hairston and trade him to them. But the point is that you can trade picks after the draft.

Offseason Scenario 2: The Bulls trade for Kevin Love.

As I mentioned earlier, the Bulls have made an offer to Love. It is something of a lowball, yes, but I’m torn between trashing the Bulls for lowballing when they have a chance to get a superstar and applauding them for negotiating like pros. Golden State’s offer for Love was a joke, and Boston’s young guys are mildly terrible. The Phoenix Suns could pretty much trump everyone in terms of picks and young guys, but it’s unclear whether Love would re-sign there once he becomes a free agent. So the Bulls, by offering such a minimalist package, put themselves in position to call Minnesota on draft night and add Mirotic to the deal as a sweetener, which suddenly seems like a big get.

I still consider this unlikely to happen, but god knows I’ve been wrong before.

Offseason Scenario 3: The Bulls sign Melo outright.

This one gets tricky because it basically requires the Bulls to either dump Taj or convince Melo to take less. The Bulls can open up about $20 million by discharging their obligations to pay for their draft picks and finding a taker for Mike Dunleavy. That might be enough to bring Melo over or it might not. Their hope, I’m sure, would be to convince Melo to take $20 million, line up the deals to clear the space, and then approach the Knicks about a sign-and-trade. That way, the Bulls have all the leverage because the Knicks would otherwise be left with nothing when Melo leaves. But if Phil turns up his nose, the Bulls can go ahead with their deals and sign him outright.

I covered the financial aspect of this scenario over the weekend, though I theorized Melo might be willing to take just $15 million.

Offseason Scenario 4: The “fuller roster” approach with Arron Afflalo

In this scenario, the Bulls would eschew both Love and Melo and focus on building depth. The Bulls could conceivably send Tony Snell, one or both draft picks and maybe someone like Mike Dunleavy to the Orlando Magic and absorb Afflalo into their cap space once they amnesty Carlos Boozer. The deal could be agreed to on draft night, allowing the Bulls to pick for the Magic explicitly, though it wouldn’t go into effect until after the moratorium.

From there, they could bring Mirotic over using what’s left of their cap space (about $10 million if the Afflalo deal includes both picks, Dunleavy and Snell) and use the rest, as well as the $2.7 million “room” exception to fill out the rest of the roster. This doesn’t have the star power of some of the other options, but it is reminiscent of 2010, when the Bulls picked up a lesser star (Boozer then, Afflalo now) and filled the roster out around them and won 62 games.

Offseason Scenario 5: Love and Melo

This can go two ways. Pretty much any hypothetical Love trade is essentially cap-neutral. If a Love trade centered on Taj — for instance, the one they’ve reportedly offered — goes through, the Bulls could still amnesty Boozer and trade Dunleavy and have a decent chunk of cap space. So they could theoretically sign Melo outright. But if it’s centered on Boozer, or if they have to take back Kevin Martin as part of the agreement, it would have to be a sign and trade. The good news is that acquiring Love in a trade centered on Boozer would free the Bulls up to offer Taj to the Knicks for Melo, an offer that seems like it would be more palatable to New York than Boozer and picks.

The most plausible scenario — and it’s not terribly plausible, sadly — would be the Bulls getting Love and Martin in exchange for Boozer, Dunleavy, Snell, Mirotic and some combination of picks. Then they could offer Taj, $4 million in non-guaranteed contracts and whatever’s left of their pick stash to New York and sign Melo to a contract starting at $17 million. If they somehow managed to pull that off — not likely — they would have 8 players (Rose, Love, Melo, Martin, Joakim Noah, Greg Smith, Jimmy Butler and their 2nd round pick this year) under contract for $73 million. If they filled out their roster with only minimum salaries, they might not even pay the tax.

Alas, this won’t happen. Moving on.

Offseason Scenario 6: Melo and Afflalo

This one is less complicated, though still extremely unlikely. Trading Afflalo for the aforementioned Dunleavy/Snell/picks package is also more or less salary-neutral, then Boozer and picks would go to New York. Or the Bulls could amnesty Boozer and sign Melo outright. Either way.

Offseason Scenario 7: Standing pat.

Basically, the Bulls could just stick with what they have. Hold on to their picks. Bring Mirotic over, probably with cap space created by a Boozer amnesty. Fill in the roster around the guys they already have. It’s the most boring scenario, but frankly the most likely. The Bulls are notoriously risk-averse and like holding on to “their” guys. Maybe they make a couple of minor moves, but nothing too crazy.

Offseason Scenario 8: LeBron.

Yeah… no. Let’s just not even talk about this. We’re done here.

The post The Chicago Bulls have virtually infinite options this summer appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Previous player capsules can be found here: Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng

Name: Jimmy Butler
Height/Weight: 6’7″ / 220 lbs
Age: 23
NBA Seasons: 2

Regular Season Stats: 82 games, 8.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.0 spg, 46.7 FG%, 80.3 FT%

Post-Season Stats: 12 games, 13.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.5 spg, 43.5 FG%, 81.8 FT%

Season Grade: A+

Recap:
Coming into the season very few people predicted Jimmy Butler to make a name for himself this season and even fewer predicted him to burst onto the scene as grandly as he did. On offensive he provided a solid spark for Chicago by creating his own shot, developed a fairly reliable spot up game (particularly the corner three), and ran in circles for 43 minutes per game grabbing offensive boards, cutting to the hoop, or creating enough space for himself for a spot up shot. Defensively, Butler showed his prowess with quick hands, quick feet on rotations, and by making life extremely difficult for superstars such as Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, and Lebron James.

Because Butler came off of the bench for 62 games last season to play an average of 20 minutes per game, Butler’s per game numbers took a hit. When looking at only his per game statistics as a starter, Butler averaged 14.5 points on 45.7% shooting (45.8% from three point range), 7.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.9 steals per game. Impressive numbers for a second year player. There is cause for concern that these numbers are inflated with such a small sample size, but analysis of advanced statistics show that this may not be the case.

According to Synergy Sports Technology, Butler averaged 1.02 points per possession (ppp) over the course of the season, good for 39th overall in the league. Further breakdown shows he averaged over 1.0 ppp in spot-up situations, cuts, and possessions in which he secured an offensive rebound and between 0.8 to 0.95 ppp in post up situations and pick & roll plays as both the roll man and ball handler. Not too shabby for someone who had limited experience on the floor.

In laymen’s terms- Butler did extremely well this season.

Future:
Butler took over the starting shooting guard spot during the playoffs and seems to have secured that spot going into the next season. Butler is under a rookie contract for a few more years so unless an irresistible trade offer comes along he’ll be a member of the Bulls for a good while. This offseason Butler will likely work on developing a more consistent offensive game to pair along side Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer, and Joakim Noah. Should he succeed both he and the Chicago Bulls will flourish.

The post 2012-2013 Player Capsule- Jimmy Butler appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

“You know, Scottie Pippen and I, we were just at Michael’s 50th birthday party, hanging out for a week, and we were talking. I’m going to tell you what Scottie said. I’m going to tell you what Scottie said. Scottie said that LeBron would’ve kicked MJ’s ass.”

After the expected cheering and applause, Mourning continued:

“I said, I said ‘Scottie, you’re right.'”

Following the laughter elicited by that comment, Mourning provided a little clarification:

“I said, ‘but because LeBron is my size.’ I mean, he’s 265, so when he’s playing point guard, it’s like a freight train coming. I couldn’t imagine doing the things he’s doing at my size.”

Nothing groundbreaking here. This is the standard response by people in the Pro-LeBron camp of this particular debate. Size and strength would be LeBron’s primary advantage in this theoretical one-on-one battle. But it’s all theoretical and not really worth digging into too deeply, even if people will never be able to stop taking about it.

Hey, I was a kid once, so I know action figure battles are crazy fun. When you have the toys, you want to see Hulk versus Superman. Snake Eyes versus Storm Shadow. Optimus Prime versus Megatron.

Past that, you sort of expect Mourning — who is considered one of the great players in Miami Heat history — to side with LeBron. That said, it was a little surprising that dragged Pippen into it, given that this was probably a private comment Scottie never intended to see in print. He’ll see it now.

Of course, Pippen did provide his own public commentary on this debate a couple years back:

“Michael Jordan is probably the greatest scorer to play the game. But I may go as far as to say LeBron James may be the greatest player to ever play the game because he is so potent offensively that not only can he score at will but he keeps everybody involved. You have to be on your P’s and Q’s on defense. No guy on the basketball court is a threat to score with LeBron James out there. Not only will LeBron dominate from the offensive end as well, but he’s also doing it on the defensive end, which really makes him the complete package. He’s able to get in those passing lanes, shoot those gaps and create transition opportunities where he is pretty much unstoppable.”

Naturally, the Pro-Jordan camp exploded at this seeming betrayal, and even former Bulls player Horace Grant (and good friend of Pippen) spoke up:

“Pip is my man, and we will always be close but I totally disagree. LeBron is going to be one of the top players to ever play the game. But Michael Jeffrey Jordan, who we bumped heads with at times, is I think in my era, the best who ever played the game. I’m kind of at a loss for words because Michael Jordan … when you win numerous MVPs and you’ve taken the team to six championships — and probably could have been eight if he didn’t retire those two years — and MVPs in the playoffs … and he made us better. Believe me, he made myself, Scottie, B.J. [Armstrong], even Bill Cartwright who I love, he made us better players. He gave us that confidence. But first we had to earn his trust. And once we earned his trust you saw championship after championship.”

Things got ugly enough that Pippen eventually defended himself with the following tweets:

“For all of you that don’t know, I played the game you keep watching and cheering.”

And:

“Don’t get me wrong, MJ was and is the greatest. But LeBron could by all means get to his level someday.”

None of what any of these men said is all that unreasonable. People have opinions and they’re free to express them. Personally, I think these “versus” debates do a disservice to NBA history and the players themselves, but they’re always fun talking points…even if in the end none of it really means anything.

But MJ was the best.

The post Alonzo Mourning sounds off on the LeBron versus MJ debate appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Derrick Rose missed the game and by extension missed the entire season, leading at least one writer to describe his much hyped “Return” packaged by Adidas as a hoax. On top of that melodrama, Kirk Hinrich (calf) and Luol Deng (illness) never recovered enough to play a single second round game, which had to be extremely frustrating for the both of them.

Meanwhile, four starters — Carlos Boozer, Jimmy Butler, Joakim Noah and Nate Robinson — logged 40+ minutes, with Robinson sitting for less than a minute and a half and Butler again going the full 48.

The only surprise of the night was the unexpected resurrection of Rip Hamilton. Not only did Hamilton log 35 minutes off the bench in place of an increasingly ineffective Marco Belinelli, he scored 15 points on 12 shots and compiled a game-high plus-minus score of +12.

The Bulls were coming off the worst offensive performance in their playoff history, so virtually anything would have been an improvement, but they were actually pretty effective on offense. thanks largely to strong games from Boozer (26 points, 10-for-19, 14 rebounds), Robinson (21 points, 4-for-7 on threes, 6 assists) and Butler (19 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals), the Bulls scored at a rate of 108.7 points per 100 possessions (per Basketball-Reference).

And, believe it or not, the Bulls were in good position to win this game.

Despite a disastrous first seven minutes that saw them fall behind 22-4, the Bulls did what these Bulls have done for the entirety of the Tom Thibodeau era.

They refused to panic.

They fought.

They competed.

By the end of the first quarter, Chicago trailed by only nine points. After outscoring Miami 32-17 in the second quarter, the Bulls took a six-point lead into halftime. That lead expanded to 11 points (75-64) with just under two minutes left in the third quarter. And it seemed like the miraculous was about to happen.

Then Miami cranked up their intensity.

On offense, the Heat went to their old standbys. Shane Battier knocked down two threes thanks to a couple drive-and-kick moves by LeBron James. Norris Cole had a brief hot streak, hitting from 17 feet and then serving up a facial at the rim. Dwyane Wade — who had to retreat to Miami’s locker room between the third and fourth quarters to have his knee re-taped — emerged from his funk to hit two of his patented running one-handers and later had a putback dunk of a missed Cole jumper. And between all those plays, LeBron was directing traffic, driving the ball and drawing fouls.

In all, the Bulls were outscored 24-15 in the fourth quarter but still managed to be down only three points and have possession of the ball with 26.4 seconds left. Unfortunately, Thibodeau had already used all his timeouts, and the Bulls were forced to freelance on that final possession.

It was not a smooth possession by any stretch of the imagination. The Bulls players were running around helter skelter in a frantic attempt to get any kind of clean or dirty look at the rim. Robinson squeezed off a three-pointer that missed badly, but Boozer corralled the offensive rebound. The ball ended up in Butler’s hands. After freeing himself up with a few ball fakes, Butler jacked a triple of his own, which also missed badly. Robinson somehow ended up with the rebound, but there wasn’t enough time left to get any kind of shot.

Game over.

Said Noah: “We kept fighting. And kept fighting.”

Added Boozer: “We grinded it out. We had chances. We just fell a little bit short.”

Just a little bit short in this game. And a lot short in this series.

And yet, despite the loss, Chicago’s performance in this final game far exceeded expectations. Which is something the Bulls had been doing all season.

Said Thibodeau: “Obviously we’re disappointed in losing the series. But I was never disappointed in our team. I thought our team fought hard all year long. There was no quit in them.”

Added Boozer: “We’ve got warriors here. If we’re healthy next season, we’re going to be pretty good.”

Of course. But good enough to defeat the Miami Heat?

ESPNChicago’s Nick Friedell doesn’t think so. Not as presently constructed. Of course, the Bulls won’t return next season as presently constructed.

For starters, barring an unforeseen calamity or setback, Rose should return in 2013-14.

Furthermore, Hamilton probably won’t be back — the third year of his contract isn’t guaranteed and I just can’t see the Bulls paying Rip $5 million next season — leaving the former Piston to wistfully consider what might have been.

There’s also a good chance Robinson won’t be back. Although he’d like to be.

Said Robinson: “I would love to [come back]. Honestly, I really would. But knowing the guys that we have here, I know it’s probably limited space for me, but we’ll see how it goes. [I’ll] talk to my agent and stuff like that and figure out what’s the best plan for me. God has blessed me this far [to] continue to play the game that I love. I love this team, I love these guys, and if I could stay here it would be wonderful.”

Although Robinson had a strong season and was often the team’s best offensive player, there are several reasons the Bulls might not bring him back. For starters, there could be a logjam in a backcourt that includes Rose, Hinrich, Butler (at times), Belinelli (if he is re-signed) and Marquis Teague.

Will the Bulls — a notoriously fiscally responsible team (read that: cheap) — want to pay him? Especially if they end up bringing Belinelli back?

And will Belinelli be back? Management likes his skill set, but Marco shot a career-low 35.7 percent from three-point range, and his Effective Field Goal Percentage also dipped to a career-worst mark.

Then too, the Bulls desperately need more three-point shooters. They ranked 21st in three-point percentage and 29th in attempts this season. That won’t cut it in today’s NBA. And anyway, Rose will need shooters to space the floor for his drives, assuming he returns to anything like his old form.

There are big questions and big if’s heading into this offseason. And, for better or worse, most of the improvement will have to come from within. The Bulls don’t have the financial flexibility to sign any high-caliber players, and they still wouldn’t be able to do so even if they used the amnesty provision to offload Boozer’s contract, so you can probably expect Carlos to return for at least one more season. My guess is that the Bulls will amnesty Boozer in the summer of 2014 when Deng and Hinrich’s contracts come off the books.

So while the roster will likely be shifted around and tweaked where possible, management will probably field mostly the same team with an eager eye toward the following offseason. Meaning the Bulls and their fans will have to rely on improved health, internal development and maybe one or two key role players who might be able to contribute.

To what result? Nobody knows.

Said Noah: “It’s hard right now because we just lost. And it’s always hard to sit here knowing that your season’s over but there are a lot of positives. We’re a young team that has experienced a lot at a young age. When you see what a guy like Jimmy Butler brought to the table. … We’re going to come back healthy, we’re going to be able to compete with these guys for a long time and I think that one day we’ll get our shot.”

Only time will tell.

Extras:
Recap, Box Score, Advanced Box Score, Play-by-Play, Shot Chart.

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You can’t blame the Bulls too much, I guess, considering the number of injuries they are fighting through and that their third string point guard, who is known only for scoring, wouldn’t have been able to hit a shot on a Fisher Price net (which is more his size, actually).

Nate Robinson went 0-12, the Bulls shot 25.7 percent as a team, scored just nine points in the third quarter and finished with 19 made field goals. Oh and the Bulls point guard combo of Nate and Marquis Teague scored more points for Miami (two) than for Chicago (zero).

Tom Thibodeau was so desperate for offense that he played Rip Hamilton 22 minutes. Rip hadn’t seen the floor since Game 6 of the Brooklyn series—a series in which he played ten total minutes. So Rip Hamilton played 22 minutes in a single game after playing ten minutes in a seven game series—a series which included a triple overtime game. And the worst part about it: Rip ended up as the Bulls’ third leading scorer.

“Nobody said this was going to be easy,” Robinson said. “We’re professionals for a reason. We’ll go back to the drawing board and figure it out.” I’m not sure what the Bulls can draw up that will win them three straight games, unless Vladimir Radmanovic turns into a LeBron James clone. I’m not ruling that out, but I’ll say it’s unlikely.

The worst part about Chicago’s Game 4 no-show has to be the timing. Not just that it came at home in the postseason, but because this was a very winnable game. Miami didn’t play all that well, but then again, they didn’t have to. Dwyane Wade continued to struggle, finishing 3-10 from the field with six points. Chris Bosh shot well (7-10), but didn’t have a huge stat line (14 points, six rebounds). Norris Cole wasn’t hitting everything in sight (2-4, seven points). And Shane Battier could have been a member of the Bulls with his shooting (1-6).

“I don’t want them looking backwards,” Thibodeau said. “I don’t want them looking ahead. Just lock into the game that’s in front of us and concentrate on winning that game. We know we’re capable.”

The Bulls seemed capable to make this an entertaining series coming in and actually stole home court after Game 2, but they’ve lost the three games in this matchup by an average of 23.3 points per game. Too much might be piling up against the Bulls: too much talent on Miami, too many injuries for the Bulls.

Kirk Hinrich, still dealing with a calf bruise, and Luol Deng, recovering from an illness, are both expected to be out of Game 5.

It’s not just Game 5 the Bulls need to win now though. It’s Game 5, Game 6 and Game 7…against the defending champs. It’s been an uphill battle all year for Chicago, playing without their best player, working through a variety of injuries to a number of different players, but this particular hill is too big to climb.

There aren’t any moral victories in the playoffs, and if the Bulls continue to play like they did at home in Games 3 and 4, there won’t be any actual victories either.

If the Bulls do go down, they’ll go down fighting. But I tonight is their last game of the season, let’s just hope they shoot at least 30 percent.

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LVP (Least Valuable Player): No one player earned this. It should go to the entire Bulls team. They started 1-12 from the field, were even worse in the third quarter (more on this in the next section) and put up some historically bad numbers. Nobody shot well for the Bulls, who went 25.7 percent from the floor. Nate Robinson did go 0-12 from the field, so only a handful of people in history shot worse than him. We really shouldn’t be surprised that Nate came crashing back down to earth.

Defining Moment: The nine points in the entire third quarter are probably a pretty good summary for this game. The Bulls went 2-13 from the field in the third frame, or 15.4 percent. They also turned it over seven times for good measure.

X factor: The Bulls point guards score scored more points for Miami (two), than for Chicago (zero). Shout out to Adam Reisinger for pointing this out. Marquis Teague tipped in a pass on defense to score two points for the Heat, but went 0-2 at the end he was actually supposed to score. That was nothing compared to Nate Robinson’s 0-12, though.

That Was … history: The Bulls set franchise records for fewest points and lowest field goal percentage in a playoff game. Their nine third quarter points were also a franchise low for the postseason. It was the worst shooting percentage for a playoff team since 2004 (Hornets, 24.4 percent). The Bulls worst playoff field goal percentage coming into tonight was 31.1 percent against Detroit in 1990.

In short, that was one of the worst playoff performances ever. At least he Bulls have an excuse of being injured. This very long, frustrating season could have just one game remaining, as the series heads back to Miami.

The post Rapid Reaction Game 4: Heat 88, Bulls 65 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Tom Thibodeau’s game plan worked against LeBron James, who went just 1-7 from midrange. That’s 14.3 percent. James didn’t have a great shooting night from the field, going 6-17, but hit all 11 of his foul shots and added eight boards and seven assists because he’s LeBron James. Stopping the MVP is where it starts, but that’s just part of the battle.

Miami’s third banana, Chris Bosh, hit 5-9 from midrange, and went 8-16 overall. As a team, the Heat hit 50.0 percent of their midrange jumpers (13-26), nearly 10 percent better than the league average from the area.

The unfortunate part of all this is that Chicago did a very good job of defending the rim. The Heat went just 11-21 (52.4 percent) at the basket, almost 20 percent lower than their season average. Miami led the league in field goal percentage at the rim, hitting 71.5 percent of their shots from in close, according to Hoopdata. LeBron shot a staggering 77.7 at the rim on the year, but the Bulls held him to 50 percent (3-6) last time out.

Unfortunately the Bulls couldn’t capitalize because of the midrange jumpers mentioned above and the fact that Stephen Curry is wearing a Norris Cole skin-suit for this series. Cole is a perfect 8-8 from three in the three games, and was 6-7 overall in Game 3, contributing 18 off the bench.

So what can the Bulls do next game? Well, maybe closing out on Cole at the three point line a little quicker would be a start. But other than that, they probably won’t change much. Chicago will always give their opponent the midrange jumper, because it is the least efficient shot in the game. They showed this in the Nets series, when Brook Lopez hit three consecutive 20-footers but there was absolutely no change in the way they defended it.

They don’t want to give up easy shots, which they didn’t in Game 3, although the Heat did get to the line 30 times. The Bulls also want to run you off the three-point line, which they didn’t do great, but when the defense is over-compensating for LeBron James some open threes will happen. Also when Nate Robinson is on the court or when Carlos Boozer has to guard a small forward.

The Bulls were right there, they just faded down the stretch, which isn’t surprising considering their short bench. Don’t expect them to have any more healthy bodies for Game 4.

According to K.C. Johnson, Luol Deng couldn’t practice on Saturday without throwing up, and on Sunday stopped after just warming up.

“I did some individual work (Saturday) and I started throwing up a little bit. I couldn’t finish the workout,” Deng said, probably with a trash can within reach. “I tried to practice with the team (Sunday) and the same thing. My body, my system is not reacting well to anything I’m doing right now.”

Of course to Thibs, this mean Deng is “day-to-day.” I can’t believe they haven’t shut down Deng when he is having trouble eating solid foods.

Kirk Hinrich didn’t do much either, riding a stationary bike and getting a few shots up and is officially the same status as Deng.

With that news, Chicago will have the same guys healthy to play as they look to even the series at two games apiece (presumably with more than just two and a half minutes of Nazr Mohammed).

Among the “things that went right” for the Bulls was Carlos Boozer finally getting word that the second round started. Boozington scored 21 points on 10-16 from the field after scoring just 14 points in the first two games combined. He was finally being somewhat aggressive, and it paid off when he did. Boozer went 4-4 at the rim and 7-8 overall in the paint. If that right there doesn’t jump out to Boozer to start getting to the hole, then I don’t know what will. And while he was 7-8 in the paint, he was just 3-7 from midrange. That’s not a terrible midrange percentage, but he often has a size advantage in this series and he needs to take advantage of that (without throwing elbows and getting called for charges).

Don’t wake the beast: The Miami Heat are 10-0 following losses in Game 1 of playoff series during the Big Three era. After dropping Game 1, they won four straight against Chicago in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals, four straight against the Thunder in the 2012 Finals and have now won two straight against the Bulls in this series.

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LVP (Least Valuable Player): Carlos Boozer finally showed up and got himself out of the LVP spot. But it was quickly overtaken by Nazr Mohammed. And I mean quickly. Nazr got himself tossed after playing just 2:31 in Game 3. He committed an odd foul on LeBron at mid-court, and then when LeBron was about to get a technical, Nazr decided it would be best to push James down. Nazr got tossed and it did the Bulls no good.

X factor: Going into the series, the Bulls’ biggest worries were Bosh, James and Wade. Well, add Norris Cole to that list because he hasn’t missed from three yet. Cole is averaging 14.3 points per game and is shooting 80 percent from the field. When you’re over-compensating for LeBron James, someone is going to be open and it shouldn’t be Ray Allen. But if Cole keeps knocking down shots, the Bulls’ will have to make an adjustment.

X factor 2: The Bulls held Miami to 52.4 percent at the rim, which is 7.5 percent worse than the league average (and the Heat have a guy named LeBron James). That is a huge win for the Bulls and the focus of their defense. However, Miami hit 50 percent (13-26) from midrange, nearly 10 percent better than the league average. The Bulls executed their defensive scheme, but Miami, led by Bosh, was hitting the shots they were given. If a team is connecting at that rate from midrange, it’s going to be tough to beat them. When that team is the Miami Heat, it’s even tougher.

That was … better: Heading into the fourth quarter, the game was tied. But Chicago got outscored by ten in the final frame, which has to do, at least partly, with rest. Following Game 2’s blowout loss, the Bulls responded well and even though they didn’t get it done, they stuck right with the defending champs. If Miami hadn’t been hitting so well from midrange, the Bulls could be the ones with a 2-1 series lead.

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Lots of people said this is what “playoff basketball” is all about, but it’s a stretch to say that what the Bulls were doing for parts of Game 2 can be considered basketball. Chicago shot 35.5 percent, while Miami hit 60.0 percent from the field. Look at any stat from Wednesday night and the Bulls would be losing in it, unless it was “players thrown out.” Thanks for that Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson (although when they got tossed the game was out of reach).

“Not only Joakim, but our entire team,” Thibodeau said. “We’ve got to do better, do a better job with that. You can’t get sidetracked. We know how it’s going to be called. We’re not going to get calls. We just got to be tough mentally, physically, emotionally. We’ve got to be a lot stronger.”

Although the calls didn’t go their way, and probably won’t even with the series shifting to Chicago, the Bulls might gain something out of getting under Miami’s skin. Anytime LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and company are thinking more about a hard foul or revenge than playing basketball, that’s an advantage for the over-matched Bulls. Chicago won’t get the superstar calls in this series, but they can irritate those superstars and hope to know them out of their game.

But this time, Chicago needs to keep their cool and know when to stop, because they can’t afford to lose anyone to an ejection with all of their injuries.

Luol Deng probably won’t be able to go again. “I don’t know. I want to play, but I don’t know what I can do,” he said. “I just, I haven’t done anything.” Deng apparently lost 15 pounds because of his recent illness. I think the Bulls should play it safe and shut Deng down. It’s not worth risking his health any more. Losing that much weight in such a short amount of time is bizarre.

But of course, that won’t happen. “Still day to day. He’s feeling a little bit better,” Tom Thibodeau said. “We’ll see tomorrow.” I don’t know if Thibs is just pretending like he will play Lu to mess with Miami or whether he thinks Deng might actually be healthy enough to go. I truly hope it’s the former. Everyone praises Thibodeau’s never say die attitude—it’s gotten them to the second round of the playoffs and tied 1-1 with the Heat—but this is a case which you should worry about the player more than the game.

The 15 pounds loss is scary, but the fact that this is still lingering for Deng is even worse. “I’m weak and I have headaches,” he said Thursday. “When I’m moving around a lot, my headaches increase.” Sounds like facing the Heat would be the perfect answer to this, right? The timing is unfortunate, but Deng looks to be out the rest of the series.

While on the topic of injuries, Kirk Hinrich had a second MRI on his calf and is still listed as doubtful.

No Deng means Jimmy Butler is stuck with the task of guarding LeBron James the rest of the way. LeBron had his way in the first quarter of Game 2, going 6-6 for 12 points. For the game, James was 6-7 at the rim, 0-2 from midrange and 1-3 from beyond the arc. It’s easier said than done, and it takes an entire team, but keeping James away from the basket is going to be the key for Game 3.

Not only does he score at a high rate at the rim, but when he drives the defense is forced to collapse, which leads shooters open. Miami, who as a team was 24-29 at the basket, also hit 50 percent of their threes. That was up from 29.2 percent in Game 1.

Stopping Miami is just part of the battle, because if the Bulls can’t score like they couldn’t in Game 2, the defense won’t matter. Only Marco Belinelli and Taj Gibson made more than four field goals in the game and Gibson (4-6) was the only Bulls player with more than five field goal attempts to shoot 50 percent or better. Miami had six such players. Chicago’s offense doesn’t have any secrets–Nate Robinson has to create, Butler and Belinelli have to hit open shots and Noah has to facilitate.

But the guy who has been a no-show so far in the second round is (not surprisingly) Carlos Boozer. Boozington is 6-20, and even though he is being guarded by Shane Battier for stretches, he refuses to drive. Boozer has to stop settling for midrange jumpers, especially if it’s not falling. If he doesn’t start putting the ball in the basket somehow, the Bulls could be in for another possible blowout.

“It’s just one game,” LeBron said. “Even though you got dominated the game before and you didn’t do things right, it’s still one game. You don’t get two wins if you win by over 30 or over 40. You only get one game.

The Bulls got dominated in Game 3, but it’s still an even series and Tom Thibodeau has always been good at getting them to respond to losses—and after Chicago was embarrassed last time out, they should be hungry to prove they deserve to be here.

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LVP (Least Valuable Player): Pick your favorite (or least favorite) Chicago player. Carlos Boozer was 3-9 and refused to drive to the basket even though his jumper was off and he had Shane Battier guarding him for stretches. Non-savior Nate Robinson showed up, as he went 3-10 and turned the ball over four times. Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson both lost their cool and got tossed in the fourth, long after the game was lost. Marco Belinelli shot 4-13 as no Bull scored more than 13 points.

X factor: The Bulls pride themselves on defending the paint and the three-point line. Tonight they did neither.Miami scored 56 points in the paint, compared to just 18 for the Bulls. As a matter of fact, the Heat had 16 points in the paint in the third quarter, nearly topping Chicago’s effort for the game in 12 minutes. And after missing lots of open shots in Game 1, Miami shook off the rust. They hit 9-18 from deep, led by Norris Cole (4-4).

That was … terrible: It was the Heat’s largest margin of victory in a playoff game, as well as the Bulls’ largest margin of defeat.  Chicago shot 35.5 percent, while Miami hit at a 60.0 percent clip. Miami had 29 assists, the Bulls had 17.Every stat was in favor of the Heat except “number of players tossed.” With all that said, this only counts as one loss and the series is even going back to Chicago. The Bulls have a lot of adjustments to make, but that’s what Tom Thibodeau does.

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