Over at DraftCity, there's a long and comprehensive article by Tim Reistetter. I'd select some passages but they don't allow it, the jerks. I will point out that he underestimates the Bulls need for the Mythical2GuardwhocanDefendandShoot (M2GwcDaS....good luck getting that acronym to catch on) by pointing out how well the Bulls defended the 2 that year. But as we know that was Hinrich's doing, and he needs help.
At Chicago-based goGPonus.com, there's a two part column on the same subject, and really takes it to Chris Duhon (even more harshly than I usually do):
The playoffs should have shown Paxson and Skiles one thing; Chris Duhon cannot guard the point guard position well enough at the NBA level. According to 82Games.com, opposing point guards had an average PER of 15.8 against the Bulls, and scored 20.1 points per game. It is tough to determine how much of that defensive load was placed on Duhon versus Kirk Hinrich, but considering Hinrich always guarded the better scorer, it is fair to say that he guarded the shooting guard more often than not.
With the Bulls already having Kirk Hinrich playing out of position at shooting guard, they need to realize that their defense and offense will not improve if Duhon is not starting alongside Hinrich. You are obviously not going to move Hinrich, and some team will probably pay more than they should for Duhon (read more than $1 million per season for three years), so unless you can get Duhon for 3 years and a little over $3 million for the entire life of the contract, you should let Duhon walk. That way you can focus on getting what the team truly needs, a player that can defend at the shooting guard position.
No arguments here. In lieu of supplementing the columns I linked, I'll keep my thoughts simple. Top priorities (from outside the organization) are a better version of Adrian Griffin (the M2GwcDaS), and a better version of Othella Harrington. Both of those two have been mentioned as possible returnees by John Paxson, but whether they return or not that won't change the fact that their getting older.For the regular rotation better options would help, and the elders can shift a few seats down the bench.
Meanwhile, the Bulls' mini-camp roster has been announced, with the usual names of fringe NBA-ers and 'remember that guy in college?' names that nomadically pop up in various leagues chasing the dream. One name that caught my eye was former Spurs (and Xavier) guard Romain Sato, a 24 year old guard with good size who may help. Someone emailed me a few months ago suggesting his name, so we'll see if Sato can make any noise at the mini-camp. And look who else will be there, our old friend Mario Austin!
Note: Carnival of the NBA #10 will be hosted at the fantastic Off-Wing Opinion. If you've read or written a quality NBA post lately that warrants attention, go let Eric McErlain know by Wednesday night (6pm CentralTime). ::cough:: mention Bulls Blog ::cough::