Youngins

Tonight is the first-ever game between the Bulls and the expansion Charlotte Bobcats. I hope the Bobcats have their beatdown shoes on, cause that's what they're gonna get. I mean....most likely.

The Bobcats are an interesting team to follow, since they did the smart thing this past offseason and not bloat their roster with overpaid marginal talents and instead taking a chance on some young players who may have slipped through the cracks on quality teams like Primoz Brezec(selected from the Pacers) and Gerald Wallace(Kings). Obviously not household names, but putting them alongside a safe, yet spectacular draftchoice in  Emeka Okafor (cue SportsCenter highlight package intro! its a UConn reunion!) has allowed the Bobcats to try and use this season to identify at least a few players they want to keep while still holding cap space. But naturally, that mean's a lot of losses.

While that kind of strategy takes patience, the success enjoyed by the Bulls this season has people in Charlotte wondering if good things truly come to those who wait.

So as two of the league's youngest squads face off tonight, its a nice little coincidence that today's the day the NBA has announced the rosters for the rookie/sophomore game on All-Star weekend. The Bulls had the potential to send as many as 5, but have to settle for just Ben Gordon and Luol Deng on the Rookie team, with Kirk Hinrich joining the Sophomores. I suppose there is a chance Hinrich makes the big show, but John Hollinger doesn't see it happening.

Here's the rest of the rosters:

ROOKIE TEAM ROSTER

Player	Team	Pos.	College/Country
Tony Allen	Boston	G	Oklahoma State
Luol Deng	Chicago	F	Duke
Ben Gordon	Chicago	G	Connecticut
Devin Harris	Dallas	G	Wisconsin
Dwight Howard	Orlando	F	SW Atlanta Christian Academy
Andre Iguodala	Philadelphia	F	Arizona
Emeka Okafor	Charlotte	F/C	Connecticut
Josh Smith	Atlanta	F	Oak Hill Academy
Beno Udrih	San Antonio	G	Slovenia

SOPHOMORE TEAM ROSTER

Player	Team	Pos.	College/Country
Carmelo Anthony	Denver	F	Syracuse
Chris Bosh	Toronto	F	Georgia Tech
Udonis Haslem	Miami	F	Florida
Kirk Hinrich	Chicago	G	Kansas
Josh Howard	Dallas	F	Wake Forest
LeBron James	Cleveland	F	St. Vincent-St. Mary HS
Kyle Korver	Philadelphia	F	Creighton
Luke Ridnour	Seattle	G	Oregon
Dwyane Wade	Miami	G	Marquette

I dunno; despite what cranky old white men tell me, the NBA looks like it's in pretty good shape, don't it?

Remember the Roar

I was at the United Center for tonight's game, a 111-107  win over the visiting Denver Nuggets. After seeing 8 games so far this season in person (5-3 record), I can say that this has been the best crowd I've been to. You could tell right away that this crowd was there to welcome their conquering heroes in a game against a (former?) Western Conference power.

The game started out with an uneasy feeling for everyone, with the starting introductions crediting "the man in the middle" as Othella Harrington instead of Eddy Curry (who was a late scratch due to a groin injury). The Bulls had a lackluster and turnover-prone first quarter, with Nugget star Carmelo Anthony supplying most of the offense while he and his teammates were able to have their way inside in Curry's absence. While the Bulls have used their size this season to establish the league's second-best defense, it's easy to forget how big a part Curry is in their scheme. Without him, not only did the Bulls not have no go-to guy early on offense, but the Nuggets took advantage of a frontcourt consisting of Harrington and Antonio Davis.

Halfway through the 2nd quarter Eddy Curry checked into the scorer's table. Immediately the crowd responded to seeing the much-maligned but perhaps now more appreciated Center. A bit of irony was in his anticipated performance as he quickly had to sit after getting 2 fouls. But the overall mood had changed: the Bulls would no longer be taken advantage of inside.

There were various contributors for the rest of the game that gave the Bulls their 4th straight victory and brought their record to 2 games over .500. Ben Gordon provided a late 3, Andres Nocioni did his best to frustrate Carmelo(and instigate a technical foul on new Denver coach Michael Cooper), Tyson Chandler provided his usual 4th quarter ownership of the defensive goal, and Curry reclaimed the paint for the Bulls.

But what I'll remember most is a crowd that was there for basketball. In the years post-dynasty, the famous Bulls marketing team (known for creating much of the pre-game gala that is in all of the NBA today) has done its part to keep fan interest in a subpar team through a variety of gimmicks and contests. While there was still a cheer when the Dunkin Donuts bagel won its race, and laughter when the 'matadors' did their dance during a timeout, the atmosphere was defined in the 4th quarter when the Bulls were able to survive some turnovers and missed free-throws to pull out a victory. In previous years, so often the crowd would be full of empty seats, with more fans looking at characters in the jumbotron than the real-life stars on the court. But tonight was different. The crowd was there for Bulls basketball. And in the meantime, that means winning Bulls basketball.

One unfortunate note was that the Nuggets were the first Bulls opponent in 26 games to score 100+ points. But then again, the Bulls scored 100 points in a victory, so that means free 'Big Macs' for all. Hey, I can't overlook all of the in-game promotions.

 

Answer: 1998

Question: When is the last time the Bulls did _[insert feat here]__?

I'm writing this in the middle of tonight's game at Atlanta, but its safe to say that the Bulls are in the middle of delivering a severe beatdown to the Hawks. While they started out pretty sloppily, the Bulls began toying with the Hawks on both ends and have now maintained a 30+ point lead. The Bulls were just too big, too fast, and too intense for the lowly Hawks tonight, even on the road (if you can give Phillips arena any type of advantage anyway). With tonight's win the Bulls move to over .500 this late in the season for the first time since....well, 1998, of course.

So since my last post, there have been 3 wins, with a huge road victory over the Pistons sandwiched in between two expected victories over the aforementioned Hawks. The story of the Pistons game was the unorthodox value that Andres Nocioni provides:

Give Andres Nocioni credit for applying plenty of it. The rookie forward found himself smack dab in the middle of two plays in a wild stretch just about midway through the fourth.

As Rasheed Wallace drained a jumper to trim the Bulls' lead to 83-80, Ben Wallace and Nocioni became entangled and were called for a double foul.

Ben Wallace argued vehemently, drawing one technical foul. On the ensuing Bulls possession, after Kirk Hinrich sank that free throw, Nocioni pestered Richard Hamilton into a loose-ball foul on a rebound. The Pistons were enraged with that call, drawing two technical fouls, one on Rasheed Wallace and one on Chauncey Billups.

Hinrich sank both for an 86-80 lead, which Chandler added to by splitting a pair of free throws on that extra possession.

I'm pretty sure that goading opponents into losing composure' is reflected in his PER, but it certainly came in handy that night.

(By the way, the Bulls swept the Pistons at the Palace for the first time since...1998 1996.)

So the Bulls keep rolling, and as you can tell there's little to add. Few things are going wrong, outside of Ben Gordon's sudden ineffectiveness, but can most likely can be chalked up to rookie inconsistency. And in the spirit of that rookie inconsistency, Chris Duhon has played particularly well to pick up the team when Gordon has been lacking. This included hitting 3 3-pointers in tonight's game, a sight that showed me right away good times were coming the rest of the night.

 I'll be at the United Center tomorrow for their game against the struggling-yet-talented Denver Nuggets. Unlike the currently dismantled Hawks, the Nuggets have the size to keep the Bulls from having their way inside. Yet the Bulls also bring one of the league's best defenses, which doesn't bode well for Denver's stand-around offense. With subsequent home games bringing the first-ever appearance against the Bobcats followed by the rubber-match against the Celtics, the Bulls can close out January very strong.

(And hopefully I can also close out the month strong with a much-needed links and site-design update. It hasn't been since 1998, but still a pretty long time.)

So no complaints for once! I am full of Bulls love. I'll even link this picture (more appropriate for my last post, I know) that gets me teary-eyed every time.

 

My own personal Skiles love-fest post

I know we all thought the same thing last night, why wasn't Ben Gordon on the floor at the end of Wednesday night's game? After all, this is a guy time and time again who has hit big shots for the Bulls, especially turning up his game in the 4th quarter. The Bulls wound up only scoring 14 points that quarter, and lost by 9. Despite bad games from nearly everyone not named Eddy Curry or Tyson Chandler, the Bulls still had a shot, and I must say even though Gordon was woeful in his 15 minutes on the court (1-7, 5 points), he should've been out there.

I will not go as far as the guys over at the Bulls Report do though:

Having John Paxson and BJ Armstrong in the front office makes me believe that Skiles won't make it past next year, regardless of how well the Bulls do. They watch games like tonight, see Skiles horribly mismanage the 4th quarter and know that they can't win it all with a leader like that. Duhon, Piatkowski, and Hinrich all in down the stretch? Is it a wonder we only scored 14 points in the 4th?

Scottie needs to realize that good teams don't have 10 man rotations. And, if you are going to have one, it only can be used quarters 1-3. In the fourth, you have to have a go to set.

First off, I think that having Paxson in the front office only helps Skiles' case. Have you ever seen a coach and his GM so bound by philosophy and background? I suppose that would change if the team continued to sputter; but with not even a grumbling from Pax when his team was 0-9, the farthest thing from my mind right now is the longevity of Scott Skiles.

Skiles hasn't been using a 10-man rotation in the fourth quarter. More times than not, it'll be Hinrich/Gordon/Deng/Chandler/Curry. And another line of thinking is these rookies are benefiting from seeing their minutes capped. They are, after all, rookies, and perhaps this is Skiles' way of having them avoiding the dreaded rookie wall. And while I agree with the idea of letting Gordon try and carry the team, good game or not, Skiles obviously thought so little of Gordon's performance that night he thought Piatkowski would give them a better shot down the stretch. May have been the wrong move, but you can't look back and assume Gordon would've suddenly found his stroke again. 

Now I sound like a Skiles apologist talking, but perhaps I've finally seen the light and have converted to one. Sure there's the odd fixation with Duhon, and the inconsistencies in terms of who he gives the quick hook to and who gets to play through mistakes. But Skiles may be coach of the year in the NBA. He has rookies playing like veterans, finally coaxed consistency out of Curry and Chandler, and has an extremely young team playing disciplined (turnovers aside) at both ends of the court. This does not happen by accident, its not all Paxson's drafts and signings that got it done. Former coaches Bill Cartwright and Tim Floyd couldn't conjure up half of this progress with the lottery talent they had.

This discipline and determination the Bulls have shown is a testament to the things Skiles does that we don't see. The meetings, the strategy, the practices, the huddles, the overall attitude he projects and teaches with. To get this team playing winning basketball  makes me believe that what Skiles does beyond the scope of a television audience is more important than whether he decides to keep Ben Gordon off the court at a certain time.

Former Bulls coach Doug Collins was fired because he couldn't take his team to the next level. And as we all saw as a result, Phil Jackson brought the team there. Maybe Skiles is in the role of Collins as far as this team's development is concerned. But we are thinking way too far ahead to even entertain who will be next. For now, Skiles is here, and he's the true reason this team is where it's at.

"Lowered Expectations", and other awful MadTV sketches...

 

"The team has played 11 of its last 15 at home. Of their 11 victories during that stretch, just three have come against teams with a winning record."

So wrote Chad Ford on Monday. Ford (and I don't know why) actually has shown a lot of pro-Bulls slant over the years, so I will cut him slack. I will concede the point about the dearth of road games. But winning at home is much better than losing at home. And its common wisdom in the NBA that a team has to learn to win on their home court first before branching out and winning road games, so maybe this stretch was a precursor to future road success. (OK, I'm grasping at straws...moving on...)

That all said, the fact that only 3 wins have come against teams with winning records is misleading. Look at the East, there are exactly 6 teams in the whole conference who have winning records, a futile mark punctuated by the fact that nobody in the Atlantic division has won more games than lost. That got My Man Sam(tm)'s mind workin:

More likely, the bigger concern [than the Atlantic divison winner] for the NBA will be the team in sixth. That team would face the Atlantic winner in the first round, but the team with the better record would have home-court advantage. That means if the Bulls could finish sixth, they could get the home-court edge and probably earn a trip to the conference semifinals.

Well I'll just worry about the 8th seed first.  The Bulls would need two among Miami/Detroit/Washington/Indiana/Orlando/Cleveland to falter, and I just don't see that happening (although Orlando is a good candidate to do so). Just get in for now. As I said before this homestand:

here is only one question: There are 3 spots left, and 8 teams going for it. Are the Bulls in the top 3 of those 8 (the fact that one of these playoff spots have to go the Atlantic division winner could complicate things)? If they perform well on this homestand against their standings competition (along with similarly-talented teams from the west), you'd have to give them a shot.

Well not only did they 'perform well', they won every damned game.

And as I also noted back then, the rest of January isn't too tough even if they won't be at home, with only a game (at Detroit - 1/22) that would have you heavily favor the opponent. February does get a little tougher, but listen: as bad as the Bulls may play against some of the elite, they don't have to be that good. Just better than the dredges of the Eastern Conference. And as this homestand proved, that may not prove to be too hard of a task.