Merry Christmas to Bulls Blog Readers And under the tree for you is a site design update! Were you thinking there'd be actual wins to discuss? First of all there's a new comments provider, haloscan. It seems to be the popular choice, and hopefully it works better than what I previously had. Also working is the permalinks, so by clicking on the red 'posted at' at the bottom of each entry the posts can be directly linked. And then clicking my name will give out my email address. I'm sure that's what you all were begging for. There are also a bunch of new links, and some old ones deleted. As far as Bulls sites, Bulls4ever.com is up there now, its the RealGM sponsored Bulls site. There are some very good articles written over there. I don't know what the deal is with Mikey's page or BullsTalk.com, hopefully they come back despite the Bulls' woes. Other links: RaptorBlog: A very very nice blog about the Raps, they even have their own message board and what seems like a large and intellegent fan base. Especially good if you want to talk about how Donyell Marshall is averaging 35 points a game now. RickBrunson.com: If you somehow haven't heard of this site you have to check it out. Its essentially the Onion for the NBA. Made by some Raptors fans to make light of the Rick Brunson signing, but thankfully kept the site going after he was traded to the Bulls. Blazers Blog: This blog is pretty straight-forward, but gives good info on your favorite drug-addled team. Or at least my favorite. Michigan J. Blog: A site with 80% Pistons news. And I love the Pistons. BasketballReference: The one site for looking up stats. Simple design for fast access. I'm not certain when I'll be posting in the next few days, if at all. So enjoy the upgrade, and have a nice holiday.

The Rick Brunson Show: featuring bulls basketball So for my first Bulls live experience of the season, I was at Monday's game against the Jazz. Now I know for a team with a home record like the Bulls, there aren't many games that can be considered entertaining, but last night's game had to be one of the worst possible ones to go to. And all it took was watching the first 2 minutes of the game before realizing things may not be going well. A timeout was called by Coach Skiles in the opening minute, and then a couple of possesions later, Jamal Crawford was taken out of the game for the rest of the half. Here was Skiles' comments on that:

“I was just pretty frustrated. I told the guys that my patience was wearing thin on our lack of execution, and knowing our handful of simple plays. We blew a couple early and I called time out. We had a time out play and did not execute again. I started taking the guys out. I felt like we did not know what we were doing. That led to a poor 1st half.

I was actually very pleased to read that quote by Skiles. Because while watching the game, I couldn't come up with a reason why Crawford was taken out so early. Skiles' problem with Jamal's last couple of performances was shot selection, but he hadn't taken a shot yet. So the only other explanation to me was defense. I was hoping that wasn't the case because that would be such a Bill Cartwright move to take him out of the game and replace him with Rick Brunson, who also can't play defense....or offense. I am definately behind Skiles for the benching if that was the reason. Apparently it wasn't just Crawford, as Eddie Robinson was also having trouble with the plays. But while that may be a good message long term for those guys, for the first half of last night's game it was awful. The team scored 14 points in the first quarter, and the supposed 'defensive' lineup still allowed 52 first half points for the offensive powerhouse known as the Utah Jazz. Perhaps the lowest point of the evening was seeing a lineup of Hinrich, Brunson, Linton Johnson, Jerome Williams, and Corie Blount on the floor. Now I can only count one guy who can actually put the ball in the basket, and he's a rookie. That also has a lot to do with the guys sitting on the bench with their sweet looking suits, but you can imagine seeing that lineup live and just putting your head in your hands and sobbing. Which is what I did. That said, I cannot say I didn't enjoy my live Bulls basketball experience, due to the performance by one of my favorite players. This is clearly the low point of the season, two losses at home to the Cavaliers and Jazz. It doesn't get much easier, since tonight they're playing in New Jersey. Originally it was thought that Eddy Curry would be back from his knee injury, but that's looking not to be the case. For the time being though, you have to hope that Crawford (and to a lesser extent, E-Rob) get their heads on straight, because the team needs their offense to win. Otherwise, there will be plenty of games like last night, although unlike last night I'll be actually able to change the channel.