Tony Snell’s development hasn’t exactly mirrored Jimmy Butler’s so far. The D-League might help Snell, but let’s not pretend the Bulls would actually send him there.

It was fully 16 and a half months ago that I called for the Chicago Bulls to get themselves their own NBA D-League team. It was August 2013, still two months before Derrick Rose would return after tearing his ACL and about three and a half months before he would tear his meniscus in Portland. At the time, I bemoaned the lack of development of a Bulls’ first round pick who had seen sporadic minutes in his rookie season and seemed like he would benefit from a stint in the D-League in his second season.

16 and a half months later, here we are again.

Tony Snell has not been good this season. He was not good last season and he’s somehow been worse so far this season. He’s barely been able to get on the floor outside of garbage time and he can’t put the ball in the basket when he does. I do not deny this.

I do, however, believe that the current state of the Bulls is holding him back.

Tom Thibodeau wants to win every game. That’s not entirely a bad thing, since it has led him to win a lot more games than he’s lost since taking over the Bulls in 2010. But there are some drawbacks, namely playing his starters too many minutes (well documented) and not allowing younger players to play through their mistakes.

Tony Snell (like Marquis Teague before him, and James Johnson before him, and so on) is not going to help Thibs win games playing like he is. But he’s also not going to get any better if Thibs doesn’t let him on the court. (Same goes for Doug McDermott, though he’d probably be fine if he could just hit a few shots here and there.) This is the classic conundrum faced by any good team. Insofar as the Bulls are concerned, their options seem to be either play Snell (or whoever) more and live with whatever his shortcomings are or staple him to the bench. But that willfully ignores the option of sending him to the D-League.

Now, there are a couple of caveats: First, the Bulls share the Fort Wayne Mad Ants with 12 other NBA teams, because 13 NBA teams are too dumb to take full advantage of the D-League as a resource. This makes it hard to get excited about sending your players down to develop, because a young guy who’s struggling to grasp what’s expected of him under Thibs probably won’t immediately adjust to a new coach and a new system and new teammates. Not to mention that you’d have to reintegrate him upon his return. That’s a problem.

Second, the Bulls have actually used the D-League in the past, so I’m being a little unfair by saying they’re ignoring it entirely. It’s just that they use it as an absolute last resort — Johnson and Teague both played briefly for the Iowa Energy, the Bulls’ former affiliate, and both were traded not long thereafter — and can’t be bothered to invest the resources to build their own affiliate. Is a D-League team a moneymaking venture? No. Is it as sexy as spending $130 million combined on David Robertson, Zach Duke, Adam LaRoche and Melky Cabrera? No. Will it pay off in the long run? I believe it will, yes.

The Bulls couldn’t be bothered to invest in Marquis Teague’s development, and therefore traded him for Toko Shengelia, who never got off the bench for the Bulls before he was waived so the Bulls could sign three other guys who never played before being waived. They couldn’t be bothered to invest in Erik Murphy, their 2013 second rounder, and waived him after not playing him ever. Would those two have developed into anything if the Bulls had a D-League team? Maybe, maybe not. But we’ll never know, and they sure as hell didn’t develop into anything under the status quo.

There are some players who can develop basically on their own. Witness Jimmy Butler. But expecting every player to figure it out like that is silly, and the Bulls should know better. By refusing to properly develop young talent, they’re just hurting their future teams.

The post Why won’t the Chicago Bulls use the D-League? appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

The NBA’s annual Las Vegas Summer League kicked off today for the Chicago Bulls as they faced off with the Los Angeles Clippers. The Bulls started out the game with strong Thibodeau-esque defense against the Clippers and uncharacteristic offense firepower. But from there any semblance of defense dissolved and both teams began scoring at will. The Bulls eventually won the game by a score of 86-70.

We could bore you with a more detailed recap of the game, but we won’t. The importance of LVSL is to get the draftees practice and evaluate any potential talent to see if they’re worthy of getting a roster spot on the 2014-2015 Bulls roster. This year’s team notably features sophomore Tony Snell and rookies Doug McDermott and Cameron Bairstow, all of whom stood out amongst the roster in tonight’s game.

Tony Snell:

Snell was by far the most impressive player on the court for either team. From the outset Snell demonstrated an aggressiveness we have yet to see from him. He was shouting instructions on both sides of the floor, calling for the ball and clapping whenever he got a good opportunity, and was aggressive taking the ball to the basket. His aggression was rewarded quite handsomely. Using his improved physique (he’s added 10 pounds of muscle mass thus far this offseason), Snell pushed around anyone who got in his way while using finesse and an improved dribble to crossover opponents and beat people with his first step. His three point shooting was also on point today as he hit 5 of 7 attempts, both misses occurred in the opening minutes of the game. Snell finished with 27 points on 10 of 14 shooting. Overall it was an excellent performance.

Cameron Bairstow:

When the Bulls drafted Bairstow, my initial reaction was, “Who?” While I had seen him play a little bit I was far from familiar with his game. Though it’s only summer league and any production should be taken with a grain of salt, I can now see what the Bulls see in Bairstow. While he wasn’t an offensive savant he did have some nice post moves that he went to to get a shot off. Additionally, he worked well off of the ball making several nice cuts and rolled into the paint beautifully. Defensively is where he really impressed. Bairstow barely bit on any pump fakes and played incredibly physical and made his opponent fight for his shot. He could learn to show some restraint but as a raw product it’s a solid start. It’s easy to see why the Bulls could see Bairstow as an Omer Asik type player who is better on offense.

Doug McDermott:

Aka- McBuckets. McDermott is perhaps the player Bulls fans are most interested in. First it should be noted that McDermott is much smaller looking in person than I would have imagined. Looking at images of him at Creighton University, it seems the camera either added 10 pounds or he’s dropped some weight. Our guess is it’s the latter. McDermott’s body as constructed seems more suited to play at small forward rather than at power forward and indeed that’s where he spent most of the night for Chicago.

Offensively McDermott was great. Though he only scored 10 points on 2 of 8 shooting, McDermott’s abilities shown through. His shot form was excellent (he should have had a few more buckets but they rattled out of the rim), his passing was crisp and clean, coming off of screens he was quick and decisive thus allowing him to get open, and his movement off the ball was strong. Defensively was another matter. Though McDermott put in effort, he was, to put it kindly, vulnerable on defense. At various points he showed poor defensive awareness (on one fast break he followed the ball handler who was fanning out to the 3 point line thus opening up an easy layup for another player) while at other times he would get lost, get beaten on the first step, and/or get caught in screens. Thibodeau is a genius on defense, and obviously Thibodeau is not coaching this summer league team, so it’ll be interesting to see how Chicago makes it work and if McDermott can show improvement over the next 4 games.

The post Las Vegas Summer League Player Evaluation Game 1- Bulls vs Clippers appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Tony Snell’s rookie season was not a terribly smooth one. He spent the first 12 games or so barely playing, then was suddenly thrust into the starting lineup, then became something of a key bench cog, then went back to not playing very much. His calling card coming in was his shooting, something that never really materialized this year, aside from the occasional explosion. But overall, I think there’s a lot to build on here.

The Numbers (per-36): 10.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.4 blocks, 1.3 turnovers, 38.4% FG, 32.0% 3PT, 75.6% FT, 8.0 PER, 1.6 WS, .063 WS/48

The Good: As much as I liked him, there’s not really a whole lot of good here, at least statistically. Snell finished at the rim better than I would’ve expected (55.1 percent, per Basketball-Reference) and shot well from mid-range, though those are both very small sample sizes. I liked what I saw from him in terms of his passing, and his confidence never wavered, even as he continued shooting around 30 percent from deep late in the season.

Defensively, Snell was inconsistent at best. He had moments here and there, but got lost too much for my taste. The good news is that rookies — especially ones playing in Tom Thibodeau’s system — almost always take a year or two to adapt to NBA defense, and Snell did well enough for Thibs to play him quite a bit more than I expected going in. Snell appeared in 77 games (12 starts) and totaled 1231 minutes. That means he played about 16 minutes per game. For comparison’s sake, Jimmy Butler played 359 minutes in his rookie season, so Snell must have been doing something right.

Snell also appears in the Bulls’ best lineup by net rating, along with DJ Augustin, Mike Dunleavy, Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah. That group posted a +32.2 net rating in 74 minutes together, which ranks among the very best in the league for lineups playing at least 50 minutes together. Replace Jimmy with Kirk Hinrich and you get the Bulls’ sixth best lineup by net rating. Maybe it’s nothing, but I have to believe Snell was doing something right.

In the playoffs, though Snell’s individual numbers were ugly, the Bulls performed significantly better when he was on the court. With Snell out there, the Bulls were +8.4 points per 100 possessions, scoring 108.8 and allowing 100.4. With Snell on the bench, they were -7.3 per 100, scoring 98.6 and allowing 105.9. The sample size (46 minutes) is small enough that this is probably just statistical noise, but I thought it was interesting.

The Bad: Obviously, any time you’re shooting 38 percent from the field and 32 percent from deep, that’s bad. But as I wrote in March, that overall field goal percentage is a little bit misleading. More than half of Snell’s shots came from deep, dragging his overall mark down significantly. He shot over 45 percent on twos, so maybe we’d feel differently if Snell hadn’t taken so many threes. I expect Snell to extend his range this summer.

Otherwise, his defense wasn’t great — understandable — and … well, his celebrations could use some work. Otherwise, there’s not a lot here to get mad at. The big thing is the shooting, and I’m not worried about that.

The Grade: C-

The Future: In the short term, Snell is probably safe as long as he isn’t traded for Melo. I am personally against such a trade, as I believe the Bulls should stay away from Melo unless they’re going to get him at their price, but people keep bringing this up, so there you are. I think Snell sticks around and becomes a key bench cog next year after stretching himself out to the NBA three-point line. But there’s a ton of uncertainty for pretty much everyone this summer, so who knows?

The post 2013-14 Year in Review: Tony Snell appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

When the Chicago Bulls were on the clock back in June 2013, with the 20th pick of the draft, I expected them to take a big man. I was hoping for Gorgui Dieng. Instead, they opted for another wing, that being Tony Snell.

If you follow me on Twitter, or if you’ve read much of my work here at BbtH or elsewhere, you’ve probably noticed that I have a certain fondness for younger players. I have, at various times, sung the praises of Jimmy Butler (good), Malcolm Thomas (jury’s still out) and Marquis Teague (not good, though I haven’t given up hope yet). This year, minus a brief affair with Jarvis Varnado, the main target for my affection — besides Jimmy, obviously — has been Snell, though that has as much to do with the relative lack of young guys on the Bulls this year as my actual love of Mr. Snell.

The early returns have been … mixed. On one hand, Snell already has played three times as many minutes this season as Jimmy did in his — admittedly lockout-shortened — rookie season, so he’s clearly doing something right if Tom Thibodeau is willing to play him. On the other hand, he’s been shooting right around 40 percent from the field all season and currently sits at 38.4 from the field and 32.9 from deep. That’s not great, especially for a guy who was always billed as a shooter.

But on the other hand, the Bulls perform much better this season when Snell isn’t on the floor, scoring just 94.7 points per 100 possessions when he plays and 100.7 when he doesn’t. But on the other hand, Snell features prominently in the Bulls single best five-man unit this season by net rating: DJ Augustin, Snell, Mike Dunleavy, Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah have outscored their opponents by 34.2 points per 100 possessions this season in approximately 62 minutes. That’s the fifth-best five-man unit in the NBA by net rating this season by a lineup playing 50 or more minutes. So again, he must be doing something right.

I believe Snell can be the answer at shooting guard for the Bulls. Not this year, necessarily, but going forward. Of course, attempting to justify this feeling has proven difficult to this point, so I went on a quest to find the evidence I needed. Let’s dive in.*

*Owing to the simple fact that we only have so much data on Snell in the NBA, assume that all numbers cited in this piece come with an implied “in a very small sample size,” attached.

Offense

As stated above, Snell’s reputation coming into the league was that of a knockdown shooter. This has not yet materialized. At least, that’s what you’d think if you just looked at the shooting numbers I cited earlier.

If you drill down a little deeper, you find those stats come with two significant caveats. Number one, Snell’s overall shooting percentage gets dragged down hard because he’s taken well over half of his shots from three point land. According to Basketball-Reference, Snell has attempted 155 threes this year and just 139 twos. He’s shooting 32.9 percent on threes, as mentioned above, but is making 44.6 percent of his twos. That includes a 42.6 percent mark (20/47) on long twos, defined by B-R as from 16 to 23 feet, as well as a 59.5 percent mark (25/42) at the rim. The simple fact is that Snell’s struggles from deep have submarined his overall shooting numbers thanks to his sky-high three point rate.

This brings me to my next caveat: Keep in mind that this is Snell’s first season in the NBA, and that threes in college are slightly shorter than NBA threes. So for all that Snell was a 39 percent shooter from three in his last year of college, it’s a little unreasonable to expect that to translate immediately. Furthermore, even a cursory look at his shot would tell you that there’s nothing broken there. This isn’t a Marquis Teague situation, or even Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, where the shot just looks wrong to begin with. I have faith that Snell will stretch himself out over the course of the next year or two, especially if his long two numbers are any indicator.

This is only tangentially related, but I’m going to talk about it anyway. According to MySynergySports, while Snell is only shooting about 29 percent on spot up threes in the half court, he is shooting 50 percent on threes in transition. I can’t confirm this, but I’m going to say it anyway: my theory is that Snell is more than capable of shooting a high percentage on threes … when he’s wide freaking open. Watching Snell’s transition attempts, virtually every single one of them comes in rhythm, with no defenders in sight. The reality of the Bulls offense is that halfcourt attempts don’t come with nearly those same luxuries. But again, I think that will come with time.

Now, having established my belief that Snell will become an elite shooter, let’s talk about why he’s the answer at shooting guard: playmaking.

Snell is not, nor in all likelihood will he ever be, anything like an elite isolation player. However, that’s not what the Bulls need, as long as we assume that Derrick Rose is healthy and we’re going to assume that because I refuse to think otherwise. What Snell can do, however, is function as a secondary ballhandler on the weak side.

Let’s start with his work in the pick and roll. Synergy says he scores about 0.71 points per play when handling the ball in the pick and roll, which isn’t great. However, when you watch him — and I have — you notice a few things about him. First, Snell shoots a TON of jumpers out of the pick and roll, and he shoots even more when you add in dribble handoffs, which Synergy classifies separately. I’m going to guess about a third of his pick and roll possessions result in pull-up jumpers. Now, the numbers the NBA provides from the SportVU optical tracking cameras say Snell shoots 40.4 percent on pull-ups this year, which isn’t that much worse than Steph Curry, for whatever that’s worth. So considering that most defenses will go under screens against Snell and that he’s hitting those shots at a decent clip, it’s far from the worst shot in the world.

Having said that, it’s when Snell gets into the lane that he’s most impressive. I mentioned his 59.5 percent mark at the rim earlier, so he’s capable of finishing. He’s also flashed a nice hesitation move a few times to get into the lane, which isn’t something you see from a lot of rookies. But he’s also a great passer, and he seems to have figured out how to draw the help from the big man at the rim before dropping a pass off for a dunk. He and Taj Gibson have flashed some nice chemistry with the pick and pop leading to Taj getting an open jumper on the baseline.

Even outside of the pick and roll, Snell shows decent playmaking skills on his own. He’s proven adept at attacking hard closeouts and either scoring or finding his teammates, as the Orlando Magic found out back in January.

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His vision generally is impressive for such a young player. And while his handle isn’t anything to write home about, it’s competent.

Basically, I see Snell as the type who can spot up on the weak side of a Rose-Noah pick and roll, and then either shoot or drive out of the spot up, or run a quick-hitting pick and roll of his own after a ball-reversal. That’s one of the many reasons that the San Antonio Spurs have been so good the last several years. The ability to reverse the ball and put pressure on the defense is huge, and Snell can do that.

Defense

There’s not a whole lot to be said about Snell’s defense that hasn’t been said since the draft. He’s long but skinny, so he’ll get beat in the post by bigger wings. He has trouble staying in front of quicker guys too, which means there really aren’t too many players he can be reasonably expected to stop on a regular basis.

That said, you can see the potential. If he puts on weight, he easily could guard the Joe Johnson and Carmelo Anthony types that aren’t much of a threat to beat him off the dribble. He has some trouble staying down on pump fakes, but that — hopefully — will come with experience. He does have quick hands, but doesn’t seem to be able to take full advantage of them just yet.

Off the ball, he still gets lost occasionally, but you can see glimpses of the anticipation that a guy like Jimmy Butler has in terms of jumping passing lanes. He won’t ever be nearly as good as Jimmy at that, I suspect — I mean, who could be? — but he’ll be OK, I think.

Hopefully, another year or two at Thibs Academy, with Jimmy as his erstwhile mentor, should give Snell the tools to be a solid defender down the road, if not better.

Other

There’s not a whole lot else to cover here. Snell’s by no means a tremendous rebounder, but he’s not terrible. On a team like the Bulls, that’s a fairly superfluous skill anyway.

The main thing Snell has going for him is what I’ve been calling his “feel for the game,” for lack of any better terms. He hasn’t adjusted 100 percent to the speed of the NBA, so you’ll see him occasionally make a pass he shouldn’t because he saw something a little too late to take advantage of it. But I choose to be pleased he saw it at all, and as I mentioned earlier, he seems to understand the cause-and-effect relationship inherent in getting into the lane and drawing help defense. That’s a big deal for a young player, and one that will serve him well going forward.

One final thing, if I may: I know there was some consternation back in June and earlier in the season that the Bulls took Snell over Tim Hardaway Jr., and while THJ certainly has shot better this year — 42.9/37.3/83.0 to Snell’s 38.4/32.9/75.8 — Hardaway has yet to show anything other than scoring ability. He barely rebounds (3.9% total rebound rate to Snell’s 5.9), doesn’t create for others (1.3 assists per 36 minutes) and isn’t very good defensively. THJ has been very good by any objective measure, but give me the more complete player over the long term.

Now, if Snell can just get his celebration game together, he’ll be just fine.

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The post The Case for Tony Snell appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

1. What are your thoughts on the story this week about Noah recruiting Carmelo Anthony?

Peter Owen: Noah’s non-denial of the conversation – via a great teenage girl impression – at least confirms the talks happened. Whether they were talking about it at length with Noah strongly selling the city and the team or if it was a simple passing comment forgotten about minutes later, we’ll never know.

Braedan Ritter: I am all for the Bulls doing everything they can to bring in another scorer for their offense. If that means turning All-Star weekend into a recruiting convention, that’s awesome. With that being said, I don’t really buy it. I’m sure they talked. They probably talked about playing for Thibodeau (with Thibs being connected to the Knicks) but I don’t think it went far beyond that. And despite what some people are saying ‘Melo would fit in with the Bulls.

Caleb Nordgren: I refer you exclusively to the comments Joakim himself made on the subject. Particularly his excellent teenage girl impression.

Trenton Jocz: I think it’s just another indicator of how much Noah is the leader on the team. It’s not often in the NBA that the best player isn’t the main leader, at least on really good teams, but we know that’s not really Derrick Rose’s personality and that there’s a big brother/little brother relationship there. Regardless of what they were actually talking about, it also shows that Noah feels OK talking to Melo. Rivalries are overblown in sports, but I find it much harder to imagine Noah having similar conversations with impending free agents like LeBron or Lance Stephenson.

Avi Saini: If this is true I’m glad to see Noah being proactive and trying to get guys to finally come to Chicago. It doesn’t matter if you’re an NBA player or some average person walking the streets, everyone wants to feel wanted and Noah’s actions could give Melo that feeling. That being said I doubt it helps Chicago’s chances of landing him. As Ken Berger pointed out, Chicago would have to make some big moves and Melo would have to be willing to take a $45 million discount on what should be his last major contract if the two want the marriage even get off the ground. Given both of these requirements it just doesn’t seem likely Noah’s conversation will make a difference.

2. Tony Snell has fallen out of the rotation somewhat lately. Why?

PO: Snell has played well in fits and bursts in a system notoriously unkind to rookies. Jimmy Butler didn’t play often in his rookie year and I suspect Thibodeau’s treatment of Snell continues the decision of trusting his veterans.

BR: Because Tom Thibodeau has set his sights on the next player he wants to run into the ground, so everyone else catches a break? Snell’s totals were all down in February, but his shooting numbers actually improved. My guess is it has to do with Thibs just trusting Dunleavy and Butler more.

CN: I wrote about this a little while ago, but it’s pretty clear at this point that Thibs just doesn’t trust him that much. Thibs is all about being at the right place at the right time all the time on defense and I don’t think Snell is there yet. That said, Snell’s already played almost three times as many minutes as Jimmy Butler did his first season, so that we’re even talking about his falling out of the rotation is something of an achievement.

TJ: Because as we saw with Jimmy Butler before him, Thibs only plays inexperienced players when forced to by injury. It’s his biggest flaw as a coach in my opinion. Snell’s ideal playing time would be about 10-16 minutes, which wouldn’t require more than a role with the second unit. It’s obviously an arbitrary endpoint, but Snell has fallen in that range just four times. For perspective, he has 11 games with at least 34 minutes and 16 games with seven minutes or less. Snell and Jimmer Fredette are useful players in bit roles and I think Thibs would be better served playing the long game and finding them consistent roles to get more comfortable. Of course Thibs doesn’t trust them because he hasn’t put them in position to earn it in the first place. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

AS: Snell thus far has been pretty decent for Chicago, but he’s impacting Chicago’s game negatively by almost every measure. With Snell on the floor the team has a lower field goal percentage, scores 7 fewer points per game, turn the ball over more, get fewer rebounds, and get fewer assists. And that’s just the basic stats. This isn’t to vilify Snell. For a rookie he’s looked good and there are things about his game to like. But that’s just the thing… he’s a rookie. Thibodeau’s system is arguably one of the hardest to learn in the entire league (his former players are on record saying as such) so it’s no shock that Snell isn’t playing out of his mind. He’s just going through his growing pains and he’ll be in the rotation soon enough.

3. What team would the Bulls face in your ideal playoff scenario?

PO: If it were possible, the Knicks. They may well sneak in ahead of the flailing Pistons or slumping Hawks. I expect it to be a rematch of last year’s first round with Brooklyn with a similar result. The worst first round opponent would likely be Washington. The Wizards have played the Bulls very well thanks to two athletic guards whom the Bulls have had no answer for. Also, Nene has played very well against the Bulls frontcourt this season.

BR: Ideally, the Knicks or Sixers. But of the teams that could actually make it…I don’t think any team other than the Heat and Pacers should knock the Bulls out, so I don’t really have an ideal matchup. Brooklyn is probably the biggest threat of the other playoff teams because they have a lot of talent that may be able to figure it out for a seven-game series, but a spare-parts Bulls team knocked Brooklyn out last year and is 2-1 against a more talented (and older) Nets team this season.

CN: In the first round? Probably Atlanta, though that’s looking somewhat unlikely at the moment. I definitely do not want Washington in the first round if at all possible, however. After that, you basically have to face Miami and indiana in some order, so it’s pretty whatever. I think, based on their recent play, you probably want Indiana first, but I’m not sure it matters that much.

TJ: Honestly, I think I’d like them to slide down, face Toronto, and lose in the first round. As fun as last year’s run was, I’d rather not see them lose to Miami again or Indiana, and it would save Jo and Jimmy a lot of wear and tear. As far as I’m concerned, winning a title is the goal, and grinding Jimmy to a pulp with 48 minute nights against Joe Johnson, DeMar DeRozan or Bradley Beal, and then LeBron or Paul George has more costs than benefits. Another miracle run would be fun, but last year will tide me over for the time being.

AS: Any team that sets Chicago up to avoid Miami in the second round. I know Chicago won’t win a title this year but if they’re going to make the playoffs I want them to have as deep a run as possible. And the only way that happens is by avoiding Miami for as long as possible. This isn’t a knock on the Pacers who field a good team, but they don’t have Lebron James.

4. Name the two teams you think will reach the Finals

PO: Can’t pick against Miami when LeBron James is capable of scoring 61 points against good defense. The West truly is wild. Right now I’d go with Oklahoma City though I like how Houston have been playing lately. The Spurs are always a contender and you can pick from Dallas, Portland and of course Los Angeles to put together a run too. A lot could depend on the match-ups.

BR: I’m not betting against the Heat until they give me a reason to, but the Pacers will give them a fight for the East’s spot. On the other side, I think a healthy Thunder squad would have the best shot. Although I’d love to see Tim Duncan and the Spurs make it again for a rematch of last season’s Finals.

CN: Miami and OKC. You could replace OKC with three or four other West teams and I wouldn’t be surprised, but KD and Russ should be the favorites. And Indy’s fallen off recently, but they do always play Miami tough, so they wouldn’t shock me either. But if I have to put money on it, I gotta go with a Heat-Thunder rematch.

TJ: Before the season I picked Bulls/Rockets, which changed to Heat/Rockets once Derrick Rose got hurt, and I’m sticking with that. I like the Rockets because I figured they would need time to gel just like Miami did in Year 1, but that by playoff time they’d be rolling and that’s how it’s shaping up. I’d like to see San Antonio get one more shot, but they’re 0-3 against both Houston and OKC, and they’ve already lost all four home games against them. As for Miami, I thought three grueling series would be too tall a task for a team already worn out by three straight Finals trips. However, now that Indiana is their only obstacle in the East, I think they’ll muster enough to win the title again.

AS: If I’m picking off of performance right now, Miami and Oklahoma City. Durant is playing out of his mind and barring any injuries the team will only get better as Westbrook gets back into groove. With how Indiana’s offense, primarily Paul George, has fallen back to Earth I think Miami just has the edge over the Pacers. If Indiana can get back to playing the offense they did at the beginning of the season, then I think they have everything it takes to knock Miami out in 6 games to get into the finals.

5. Who should win the MVP trophy this season?

PO: I think Kevin Durant will win it thanks to a combination of his stellar play and voter fatigue. That said, I feel like LeBron’s physical dominance will ensure the race comes down to just a few votes. Of course, either player could run off four or five consecutive 40-point nights before the end of the season and streak off into the distance.

BR: LeBron James is the best player in the league, but Kevin Durant has had the best season. That could very well change over the remainder of the year, but Durant has the Thunder on top of the West in a season that Russell Westbrook has missed 30 of their 62 games.

CN: I have no idea. Obviously it’s either KD or LeBron, but I can’t decide. Flip a coin, I guess. It’s hard to go wrong.

TJ: It’s obviously razor-thin between LeBron and Durant, and right now it’s too close to call for me. I’d lean towards LeBron for a couple reasons. The first is that while Durant stepped his game up with Russell Westbrook sidelined, LeBron’s had to do that all season with how Miami is managing Dwyane Wade’s knees. The other reason is when looking at Miami’s roster, it’s clear that OKC is more talented. Considering Ray Allen and Shane Battier aren’t playing near as well, how many really good players do they have? Mario Chalmers or Chris Andersen might be their third best player on nights where Wade sits. If Miami passes Indy for home-court I imagine LeBron becomes a near lock to win yet again.

AS: I think Kevin Durant should win MVP. Lebron has been great but Durant has been every bit as good with a bit more consistency (Lebron has coasted a bit). It can honestly go either way but I also am choosing Durant because I like to be right and I think he’ll get the award mostly because he deserves it and partially because of voter fatigue.

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Hello again! Hope y’all had a nice All-Star Weekend. It’s good to be back, especially after the Chicago Bulls continued their bizarre success this season with a 94-92 win over the Toronto Raptors last night.

The Bulls, of course, hadn’t played since they beat the Brooklyn Nets six days prior, and facing the only team over .500 in the Non-Miami, Non-Indiana portion of the East, it wouldn’t have been unfair to expect the Bulls to fall flat. But, with Toronto on the second night of a back-to-back, the Bulls managed to eke out a win, even after a late surge by the Raptors.

Now then, here’s what we learned:

1. Joakim Noah, #PointCenter

Noah set a career-high with 13 assists last night, giving him 11 or more assists in 3 of his last 5 games. By way of contrast, the two actual point guards on the Bulls roster, DJ Augustin and Kirk Hinrich, combined for all of 1 assist. He had but 8 points and 4 rebounds, but nobody cares. Noah almost single-handedly keeps the Bulls offense from becoming one of the worst in history. According to 82games.com, the Bulls score 104 points per 100 possessions with Noah on the floor and just 98.3 with him off. Those numbers don’t include last night’s game, but still. That’s the difference between a league-average offense and a bottom-five offense.

2. Someone must’ve told Kirk that last night’s game was on national TV.

Lack of assists aside, Kirk scored 19 points on 8/11 from the field and 3/3 from deep, which is typically more in line with his performances in games on national TV. Though I suppose you could make the argument that TSN, which broadcasts Raptors games, qualifies as Canadian national TV. Anyway, getting credible production from Kirk goes a long way for the Bulls, especially when Mike Dunleavy can’t make anything and Tony Snell only plays 6 minutes.

Speaking of…

3. #FreeTonySnell

This is one of those things that seems less complicated than it really is. On the face of it, Snell should get maybe 20 minutes a night. The Bulls only have three wings that aren’t Toko Shengelia: Jimmy Butler, Dunleavy and Snell. And Jimmy doesn’t really need to be playing 40+ minutes every night.

But you have to keep in mind that Jimmy’s playing well right now, and when Jimmy plays well, he’s incredibly important to the Bulls. He functions as the secondary ball-handler, something approximating a spot-up threat — though we’ll get to why that’s not totally the case in a minute — and the only truly elite perimeter defender on the roster. Tom Thibodeau is loathe to take him off the floor, and it’s hard to blame him. Furthermore, when Kirk is actually shooting well, two-PG lineups with Kirk and DJ both become more prevalent and actually kind of work.

But the biggest thing is that Snell is still adjusting to the NBA and to Thibs. The fact is that Snell is a lot more likely to miss a rotation or otherwise screw up than the veterans ahead of him, and Thibs just doesn’t trust him.

That said, he absolutely should play more than 6 minutes. He’s flashed a much more diverse offensive game than we had any particular right to expect. We knew he was a good shooter, but what we did not know was that he’s a perfectly competent secondary ball-handler. He’s decisive, he passes well, his pull-up game is solid, and he’s been able to finish at the rim, going 17/27 there according to Basketball-Reference. Anecdotally, he has a nice floater when he gets into the lane but can’t get to the rim, but B-R tells me he’s shooting but 37.5 percent from 3-10 feet, which isn’t that great. Alas.

I’m very excited to see him play more next year. The combination of Derrick Rose, Snell, and Butler on a regular basis feels like an excellent fit, though obviously we’ve not really seen them play together yet. Sigh.

4. Jimmy Butler: slasher and … mid-range ace?

Jimmy had to take his first three since the Bulls beat the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 9 (all of three games ago) when he ended up with the ball and the shot clock winding down, but his last three games have seen him take the long ball almost completely out of his arsenal. I have mixed feelings about this, but Jimmy’s gone from sub-40 percent shooting for much of the season to above 50 percent in each of the last three games, so I’m not going to complain. What is interesting, however, is that in addition to getting to the rim more, Jimmy’s started going to a two-dribble pull-up out of the pick and roll a lot, and he’s been nailing them. I have absolutely no explanation for this.

On the one hand, if he’s going to take jumpers, you’d really prefer them to be threes, but since he’s actually making these pull-ups and wasn’t making threes at all, maybe this is better. Teams are perfectly happy to give him that shot — at least for now, we’ll see if they start trying to take it away if he continues to make it regularly — and an open shot in-rhythm is usually a good shot regardless of location. So I don’t know. I’m willing to just go with it for now.

Also, Jimmy’s just great in general:

Butler: "I don’t think I played any D tonight. DeRozan had, what, (32) points? I take pride in defense. (32) is a lot. I gotta get better."

— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) February 20, 2014

5. Tyler Hansbrough is fairly lucky he didn’t get punched in the face.

Hands-bro has long since been an annoyance to pretty much everyone, and he was especially annoying last night. He got tangled up with Nazr Mohammed in the second quarter, when the two were fighting for rebounding position and Nazr ended up on top of him on the ground. It’s a little unclear exactly what happened — Nazr had some words for Hands-bro as he was getting up and Stacey King claimed Hands-bro pulled Nazr down, though he’s hardly an unbiased source — but Hands-bro shoved Nazr, touching off a scrum, then went to the tried and true “I’m being held back so I’m going to yell and look angry and generally try to seem tough” move. Later, he and Mike Dunleavy got tangled up on yet another rebound, and Hands-bro literally tackled Dunleavy. Somehow, this resulted in a double-foul.

Tyler Hansbrough just tried to put Mike Dunleavy in a fireman's carry.

— Brian Schroeder (@Cosmis) February 20, 2014

Anyway, that’s all I got. Bulls are off tonight, but they’ll host the Denver Nuggets on Friday on ESPN.

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dacotahsgirl | Flickr

Just two days after a marathon triple-overtime, it would’ve been fair to expect the Chicago Bulls to come out flat in what would be a 96-93 loss to the Washington Wizards. Instead, led by Jimmy Butler — he of the franchise record 60:20 played in Orlando — the Bulls posted one of their better offensive quarters to start the game off.

They couldn’t keep that up, of course, but it was still nice to see. This was an entertaining game overall, and one the Bulls nearly won. Alas. Now then, on to what we learned.

1. Kirk Hinrich doesn’t (always) suck!

I am right up front on the “Kirk Hinrich is terrible and needs to go away ASAP” bandwagon — I may even be driving it — but he played really well last night. He slapped up an 18-5-5 line plus 3 blocks, and while he didn’t shoot quite as well as he could have, he actually made it to the rim several times, which I previously would have guessed was against the rules. Now if only he would stop shooting step-back jumpers from 20 feet out…

2. Tony Snell: Point Guard?

Before anyone gets annoyed with me, I’m being facetious. Snell’s obviously a two. But, continuing his run of recent excellent play, Snell set a new career high with 5 assists in about 26 minutes and really is starting to look comfortable out there. He’s going to be pretty solid, I think, and I very much enjoy the Snell/Butler pairing on the wing. Snell is a shooter, Butler is a slasher, and both are better passers than they get credit for.

Speaking of Jimmy…

3. Jimmy’s jumper seems to have abandoned him.

Butler started hot, scoring 7 of the Bulls first 10 points and assisting on the other three, but finished just 2/9 from the field and 1/5 from three. He’s shooting just 37.8 percent from the field — 31 percent from three — this year, down from 46.7 and 38.1 last season, and it’s not hard to figure out why. Here’s Jimmy’s shot distribution from the last two years.

Jimmy in 2013-14

Jimmy in 2012-13

Jimmy’s taking a lot more jumpers this year, and while he was an excellent shooter from about January on last season, he just hasn’t been able to translate that to this year. Here are his shot charts:

Jimmy in 2013-14

Jimmy in 2012-13

Of more concern, perhaps, is Jimmy’s mysterious drop in FG% at the rim. After posting a 59.7 percent mark at that range in 2012-13, it’s down to just 52.9 this season. And you can’t blame that on uncalled fouls, as he’s drawing fouls at a rate of more than 1 free throw attempt for every two field goal attempts.

As to the fix, I really don’t have one. For now, I’d say he needs to stick to the corners — where he’s 14/32 this year — and get to the rim whenever possible. But I have faith in him.

4. John Wall might be a god.

Exhibit A:

I mean… what are you supposed to do about that?

Anyway, that’s all I got. The Bulls are back home tonight to take on the Philadelphia 76ers.

Statistical support for this post provided by NBA.com/stats.

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Like the past two games the Bulls came out of the gate strong grabbing a double digit lead early. Though the team was missing Malcolm Thomas due to a sore ankle from Monday night’s 22 rebound performance, the team looked as if they were going to cruise to another victory behind the efforts of Erik Murphy, Tony Snell, and Marquis Teague. Unfortunately a broken nose forced Murphy out of the game in the middle of the first half. Already without Thomas the Bulls were forced to move Snell to a power forward position.

The Bulls were humiliated on the boards from that point on leading 22 rebound differential in favor of the Trailblazers. Behind the play of CJ McCollum, Portland fought their way back from a double digit deficit in the fourth quarter and forced overtime. Several key shots from Andrew Goudelock put the game away for the Bulls.

With the win the Bulls are now 3-0 and move onto the Las Vegas Summer League postseason as the second seed behind the Golden State Warriors.

Player Recaps:

• Tony Snell
  Snell’s game was up and down last night. He managed to knock down several mid range jumpers, a floater, and some layups but for the most part his shot abandoned him last night. He managed to make up for this with good off ball movement, smart passing, and good overall defense.
• Erik Murphy
  Murphy was on an absolute tear shooting wise before he was hit in the face on a put back attempt. Murphy’s shot was as smooth as silk last night as he went 4-of-6 from the floor with 2-of-3 coming from long range. What struck me as interesting last night was Murphy’s willingness to put the ball on the floor after pump faking scrambling defenders. It’ll be interesting to see if Murphy can become a three point threat not only as a spot up shooter in pick and pop situations, but also as someone who can shoot off of some dribbling.
• Andrew Goudelock
  The magic is gone for Goudelock (for now). Last night he shot a poor 4-of-13 from the floor and barely managed to get into double digits. Often times he over-dribbled which led him to put up prayer shots, only one of which I remember going in. Goudelock likely didn’t hurt his stock and will still end up on another team, but let this be a reminder that volume shooters can lose their shot as quickly as they find it.
• Marquis Teague
  Early on in last night’s game Teague started off a bit shaky. Some of his passes were forced, were bad, and looked out of rhythm. But he quickly regained his composure and imposed his will on the pace of the game. Once again he used his speed to blow by his opponents to get to the rim which led him to shooting 12 free throws on the night. The most unbelievable part of the night is easily the fact that Teague went 3-of-3 from long range including 2 late in the game keep Chicago ahead and showed some confidence in his shot.

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Aside from a stretch during the second quarter when Teague sat out for an undisclosed injury, the outcome of this game was never in doubt. Coach Adrian Griffin once again opted to play the starters the vast majority of the minutes likely because they are the five most likely to secure a spot on the final roster. All five of the starters rewarded Griffin’s choice by scoring in double digits. The Bulls were led by Andrew Goudelock’s 31 points and Malcolm Thomas’s NBA Summer league record 22 rebounds.

This year’s summer league team has been flat out dominant thus far and, should they continue this level of play, it’s feasible that the Bulls could win the inaugural NBA Summer League tournament. While not necessarily a title of any worth it’d still be nice to see Chicago win something.

Before we wrap up tonight, here is a brief look at the performance of each starter:

• Malcolm Thomas
  Thomas has been flat out dominant in the summer league games he’s played in over the past few years and he continued that trend with a record 22 rebounds. Offensively he moved around well without the ball and put up a solid shooting night. Defensively he played some lockdown defense and made life difficult in the paint by elevating and using his length to force opponents to alter their shots. If Thomas can keep up any semblance of this kind of play through training camp and the preseason he may see some meaningful minutes next season.
• Erik Murphy
  After an abysmal Summer League debut, Erik Murphy managed to bounce back by knocking down 7-of-10 from the field including 4-of-5 from long range. Seeing as he was drafted by the Bulls simply to spread the floor, it’s nice to see Murphy settle in and get into a groove.
• Tony Snell
  Snell showed flashes of being a good shooter in his first summer league game but his shot eluded him yesterday night. Snell struggled to get anything going on offense. This isn’t the kind of performance I’d like to see out of Chicago’s first round draft pick but, to his credit, he did play smart. Rather than chuck up shot after shot, Snell repeatedly drove to the basket and drew fouls (seven on the night). Defensively Snell played smart, had good rotations, and quick hands throughout the night.
• Andrew Goudelock
  Goudelock was a maestro shooting from the floor last night as he went 10-of-13 (5-of-6 from three point range) to post a super efficient 31 points. What’s more impressive was the way he refused to let the defense stop him. After nailing a few three pointers in a row, Denver clamped down on him and refused to give him space to operate. Goudelock responded by simply taking a step back and shooting from an even longer range. I’m not a fan of the way the ball stops with him as soon as he gets the ball, but Goudelock’s ability to create for himself and shoot the long ball are two things the Bulls can use. It’ll be interesting to see what happens moving forward considering Chicago already has a slight jam with their guards.
• Marquis Teague
  Teague put up yet another solid performance. His speed allowed him to blow by defenders and he continued to make the right passes at the right time. He even shocked Bulls fans a bit by shooting and making some jump shots including a three pointer. His finishing around the rim continues to be suspect but hopefully that can improve with time.

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As one would expect the game was filled with quite a few up and down moments, especially for Chicago. After starting off hot on a 10-2 run to open up the game, the Bulls allowed the Grizzlies to come back and take a four point in a matter of minutes. After a brief timeout, the Bulls managed to go on a brief run of their own to go up nine points by the end of the first quarter. A 17-1 run by Chicago led by Goudelock put Chicago up for good in the game. The Bulls allowed the lead to dip down into single digits after playing as if they were characters from “NBA Street,” but an angry Tom Thibodeau-esque timeout by Griffin ended those shenanigans.

Much to the chagrin of many Bulls fans wanting to hear screams similar to the ones Carlos Boozer produces, Charles Boozer, Carlos Boozer’s younger brother, did not see any playing time.

Because it’s the summer league we shouldn’t read too much into both individual and overall performances. However, the following are brief evaluations of key players from yesterday’s game:

• Andrew Goudelock:
  Last year’s Developmental League MVP showed off a strong ability to score from just about anywhere on the floor. Goudelock made quick work of the defense as he stretched the floor with spot up three pointers after offensive rebounds, pull up jumpers off of the dribble with isolation play, and a decent ability to drive to the hoop. Early reactions from some are “Nate Robinson who?” while others, like K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune say it’s unlikely that Goudelock ends up with the Bulls.
• Marquis Teague:
  Teague showed some very, VERY strong flashes in yesterday’s game. His shot was still terrible but off dribble he obliterated his opponents with his speed and control, he controlled the pace of the game the entire night, and he made good and smart passes all night long. On the night he recorded 7 assists but if he were playing with better teammates that number would have at least gone up to 12. Once again it’s Summer League so I don’t want to get too excited, but Teague is looking strong.
• Malcolm Thomas:
  Thomas once again put in a very strong performance in the summer league. Last year’s darling member of the team struggled on offense (nothing new) but shone once again with strong performances on defense and on the glass. Thomas’s performance once again reminded me why I believe Thomas could be a more serviceable backup rim protector than Nazr Mohammed if he bulked up a bit and got stronger.
• Erik Murphy:
  Murphy was… underwhelming. Not only did Murphy foul out, but he couldn’t get his shot going throughout the night. Despite getting good looks from three point range, Murphy ended up clanking all six attempts off of the front iron and didn’t notch a single rebound. However, it’s only the first game of summer league and at the end of the day it really means little (Kevin Durant’s summer league debut is one of the worst all time and look at how he turned out). Murphy’s shot looks pretty good despite the misses and I believe it’s only a matter of time before he starts making buckets.
• Tony Snell:
  Snell was a hard player for met to get a read on yesterday. At times he showed flashes of strong play on both defense and offense with solid individual defending, good ball control, a good shot motion, and decent passing. Other times he looked completely lost as he failed to rotate, was tentative both on and off of the ball, and made terrible passes. Like I said with Murphy, first games mean little and I’m sure Snell will get things together at some point in the next year.

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