so that was you! Miami almost passed on Beasley at #2 (and I like beasley but I think he is no better than Mayo/Westbrook/Lopez at this point sadly).


Rose was far and away the best rookie.....Miami really wanted him and it is pretty clear why now. His game 1 was sick.....Beasley looked terrible against Atlanta (in fairness the whole Heat team laid an egg in Game 1).

Hold on a sec, Mayo isn't exactly a slouch. He was looking great at the start of the season, and though he faded a bit, that's to be expected in a rookie. But I mean, yeah Rose was in another class. I just love his game. He also lead me to fantasy basket ball glory.


What I can't believe is that the Derrick Rose era has started already. He's murdered the C's game one. I never would have predicted that the bulls would win game one, and lead the Celtics at half time. If the C's don't wake up, this series is going to be over

Easy on the Rose era starting, he didn't exactly have a great followup. If I remember right Paul followed up his 35-10 first playoff game with another 30/10 performance.

Jesus Christ what a great game.





What does chris paul have to do with a god damn thing?

This.

From Hardwood Paroxysm:

" Let me give you a complete rundown of what Vinny Del Negro thinks an offensive playbook is.

Play #1: Derrick Rose sets up at the key. Brad Miller comes out for a pick. The defense ignores Miller and focuses on Rose. Rose swings it back to Brad
Miller. Brad Miller turns the ball over.

That concludes our complete rundown of what Vinny Del Negro considers an offensive playbook."

I swear nobody watches full games. He started running the screens with Salmons once it was clear they were going to double Rose, which I was waiting for, and that should have worked except Salmons couldn't make a shot either and was turning it over when he tried to make a play. I'm not sure about Salmons yet, either he really is hurt or he's just one of those guys that can score on a shitty team and in the regular season when the opposition is worried more about their own play than the tendencies of the opponents.

I'm not a big VDN guy, but I like what he's done in this series, and I'm sure they're going to try less screen roll stuff with Rose in Game 3 and let him operate on his own a little bit more. I'd love to see a Rose Gordon duo running that at the top at some point.

Keep in mind that this is their offense and they're not going to deviate too much from it, especially when they've been so successful.

Someone on here pointed out how far Vinny walks out onto the court when a TO is called, and since then I watch him do it every time and I want to punch somebody every time I see it.

We agree the best point guard in the game today is Paul right? Well he is a lot ore consistent than Rose, until Rose gets that consistent he isn't in the Paul/Williams best PG conversation so forgive me if I don't want to call anything the Rose era, he is playing in the Paul era right now.

Great game.

Jesus christ, can't you just enjoy a good player without yammering about some other player, current or otherwise, that is better than him. Of course paul is better. I'm just saying I'm shocked that Rose is so good, so early, and that he can lead the bulls to playoff wins.

I couldn't stand him when he was playing either. All hunchback and short strides with the gigantic head full of hair upon more hair. He gets it done in the wife department though.

I've had fun watching both of the Bull/Celtics games. But Rondo has been the more consistent performer between the two point guards so far. He actually played a little defense in game two, his teammates just forgot to guard Gordon.

I don't really agree with this. He was just unconscious at the end of the game, shooting whenever and wherever. It's hard to guard that.

To an extent yes, but the one big knock on Gordon is his height. I don't know why they aren't sticking someone taller on him to make shooting over the defense a bit harder. I'll be interested to see what adjustments both coaches make next game.

at the end of the game, he was shotting off of double teams, shooting off the run. THere's not much ou can do about that. Some days, a guy just goes off.

He does it on a a semi regular basis.

When Gordon gets hot, he is as streaky a scorer as there is in the league. Has been sicne he came into the league.It's a joy to watch. No one this side of JR Smith gets hotter, faster, out of nowhere, and can maintain it no matter what defense is thrown at him. He CANNOT be stopped.

Does that make up for his atrociuos defense and his lack of ways to create scoring and involve his teammates on the nights he isn't sizzling (to go along with no rebounding or toughness whatsoever)? I'll let the Bulls .500 record through his five seasons as the Bulls primary scorer (with equally average NBA teammates) answer that question for you. He cannot take a team to the next level. He is a great sixth man, or a decent second or third scorer on a contendor. To say anything else would ignore the mediocrity the Bulls have had with him as a primary weapon. He simply doesn't bring enough to the table on a night by night basis to be considered a superstar in the league, or really anywhere close to it to be honest.

That game was the ugliest piece of crap I've seen in a long time. I couldn't watch the whole thing.

it's official, i have a non homo man crush on Derrick Rose.

They made that game an Instant Classic. Weeee!

Season opener tonight, here's my preview of the season:

The biggest story of the off-season was clearly the loss of Ben Gordon. Can the Bulls replace his 20ppg?

The answer to that question lies in the hands of John Salmons and Luol Deng. They are the two biggest question marks of the season. A lot of people point to Salmons' rather large jump in production from one year to the next and assume he is due to regress this year. But I'm not so sure if this is true. The only stat where there really is a significant increase is in 3pt%, shooting 41.7% last year which is his best season shooting by far. Another thing to consider is that he's only 29. He should be seeing an increase in production. This is his athletic prime, and I see no reason why he can't perform equally as well this year if not better. What this all means is that the season really rests within the hands of Luol Deng. Can he return to his form of a few years ago when he was one of the best mid-range shooters in the league, or will he continue to struggle? If this pre-season was an indication, then I'm not too confident. It makes it difficult to give an accurate prediction of the year when one of they key components is such a question mark.

Another question which is seemingly asked every year is: will Tyrus Thomas finally make that leap forward this year? In addition, will Noah become the dominant rebounder and disruptive defender that the Bulls need him to be? During the pre-season, Thomas spent a lot of time working in the paint and driving to the basket. Basically what every Bulls fan has been asking out of him for the past three years. If this is any indication of what he will do this season, then I feel confident saying he will make that leap forward this year. It's also worth noting that he is in a contract year, so he may just be realizing that his best option is doing those things so he can receive a pay day this off-season. This is something that I'm completely fine with. My feelings towards Noah are a little different than those towards Thomas. With Noah I know he is going to bring it every single night. I know he is going to work is ass off on both ends of the floor. He has bulked up a little in the off-season and hopefully this can help a little with his defensive rebounding, in which he was 23rd last year in the league in defensive rebounding rating (the Bulls as a team were 28th as a team last year). On the flip-side of that is Noah's incredible job rebounding on the offensive end last year. He was 1st in the NBA in offensive rebounding rating (the Bulls ranked 6th). I'm going to attribute this to the ridiculous energy he brings to the court.

One of the biggest strengths of the Bulls this year will be their bench. Kirk Hinrich and Brad Miller are starters on a lot of teams in this league. Hinrich is a good defensive option off the bench and a reliable three-point threat. Brad Miller may have been the biggest reason last year why the Bulls were able to get into the playoffs at the last minute and take the Celtics to seven games. During that series last year, the Bulls' best lineups according to +/- all had Miller in them (I don't have the +/- for lineups on hand, but Miller's average for all seven games was +7.6). Also worth noting is the signing of Jannero Pargo. I honestly do not know what is to be expected of Pargo, but I do know that he is a high-volume shooter who can occasionally light it up. If used properly, he could be a valuable asset to this team. The Bulls top two rookies have also fared well in the pre-season. Gibson has shown very solid, consistent production. Johnson has been more erratic but has shown a decent amount of promise at times.

I have not talked about Rose until this point because I don't think he's a very big question mark. I feel very confident in saying that he could average 18ppg and 8apg this year. If he can add in more consistency on defense (particularly his guarding of the pick-and-roll), then I don't think being an All-Star this year is out of the question.

Final record prediction: 45-37

Salmons has been absolutely terrible so far this year.

Just a slow start I think.

Luol had a terrible game, then puts up a 25/20 game. That would be nice to get on a regular basis. (I forget exact amt of points, right around there.)


Probably gonig to the game vs the Bobcats on Saturday!

Nice to beat the Cavs in Cleveland!

1. They won!!

2. Noah is a beast!! I think he had 21 and 17 with 4 blocks and went 10-12 from the floor. He's only one of 3 people ever to do that in a win. (go better than 20/15/4/80%) Saw it on NBA Fastbreak, I think the others were Shaq and maybe Wilt, I forget the 2nd one.

Noah is one of my least favourite players in the NBA. I'd love him if he played on my team though. He's just one of those guys.

How's Deng been fitting in so far?

One game he does nothing, next night he goes 25/20, then nothing, rinse and repeat. At least so far.

Seems like guys take turns having good games on this team.

LOL @ the refs in the last 2 minutes of this game vs Denver.

This game was completely a win for the Bulls. Fucking ridiculous!

So is the Bulls good defense for real or a fluke? Also, is their bad offense for real or a fluke?

I'm having a real tough time reading this team right now.

Well I think Noah is quite solid on the interior, and Thomas looks good against a player who doesn't know how to fake. Deng has uncomfortably long arms and can do a very good job shutting a player down. A chair is an upgrade to Ben Gordon and I think Rose has the tools to be a very good defender when he wants to be. On the offensive end I'd imagine that the Bulls are going to be struggling a lot. Even with Deng back and Miller/Salmons getting more used to the team there's never great spacing on the floor, particularly with Noah unless he can consistently knock down that sidespin midrange jumper.

I basically agree with all of this, and I expected them to be a much improved defensive squad this year. So far is just seems they have gotten better much sooner than I or probably anyone expected.

Also, last night our bench killed us. Miller, Hinrich and Pargo were -24, -15 and -13 respectively.

I really dont think you can do what Brad Miller did in 0.3 seconds. I didnt see the whole last 2 minutes so I cant comment on the officiating. But I think they got the last call right.

(fwiw)--edit: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/1250314...ts-bulls-review

Yeah, they are pretty solid defensively I think. Denver maybe didn't have the best game, but the Bulls still shut them down compared to their average, and they probably should have beaten them. There was a spot in the last 2 minutes where Denver got 3 possessions/shots before the Bulls got the ball back. Once because Carmelo tripped Deng, and then again because they called a Jump Ball on a Noah rebound... then they won the tip obv. Then they couldn't even give him the benefit of the doubt on that final shot after all that crap. LOL refs one way or another. I'm not saying he got that shot off clean either, I think the very tip of his finger was probably on it, but I don't think you could see that enough in the replay to overturn the call on the floor.

Regarding the bench.... Hinrich at point basically brought them back against the Bobcats the game I was at on Saturday, so as I've said before, they pretty much take turns having good games. We could just really use a sure thing shooter. I can see Rose getting there eventually, but not yet.

Salmons has been pissing me off passing on 3's though. He gets open looks for 3 on the wing, and then pump fake drives like 100% of the time, just ridiculous, take the shot once in awhile. We need a good shooter from outside and a smart scorer though. Not a black hole like Gordon though.

I was at the Raptors - Bulls game last night and here are my impressions of the Bulls after watching them up close and personal. Well from the front row of the upper bowl anyway.

1. Hard working team.
2. Taj Gibson looks like he has a nice combo of skills and is a useful forward.
3. They play pretty good defense.
4. Is there anybody on that team who can hit an outside jump shot ?
5. Is there anybody on that team who is a legit low post scorer ?
6. They are really going to struggle to score very much it seems.

I think the Bulls will finish anywhere from 6th-10th in the East.

Take thses observations to the bank since we all know that I'm fully capable of figuring the Bulls out after watching one game and it was the second game of a back to back.

The Bulls miss Ben Gordon's 3 point shooting terribly. The offense seems really clogged to me. Salmons cold start from downtown is really magnifying it. And it is really hurting Rose who thrives on penetration.

I thrive on penetration too.


Giving, not getting.

At least one Chicago team is faring well on its circus trip.

That was one of the most uninspiring wins I've ever seen.

I'll take it after that road trip.

What happened to Noah being a beast? At least Rose and Salmons are starting to look better.

Avery Johnson at half: "The Bulls are in it because Del Negro is very energetic on the bench and really coaching well."

OK

Are Grey and Miller the two slowest White Men in the NBA ?

That was one ugly game. When you can't score against the Raptors you are really having problems.

The team really isn't put together very well and they really really need to get a shooter.

Embarrassing

Gray needs to lose some weight!

Worst team in basketball

Definitely not even close to the worst, they just gave up on Vinny.

He'll probably be gone over Xmas, Skiles style.

I thought I heard that he just got fired, so I did a google search for "bulls del negro."

Except that I mistyped and entered "bulls nel negro."

Google suggested, "Did you mean: bulls new negro?"

Which made me laugh.

Epic choke.

TYREKE!

On Dec. 24, 2001, Tim Floyd was ousted as the Bulls coach.

On Dec. 24, 2007, Scott Skiles was fired as the Bulls coach.

Dec 24th, 2009 ?

Keeping my fingers crossed.