Is the Bulls board irrationally negative?

[NecessaryEvil]

People here went from loving Gasol and said he was going to be a beast this year (which i think he is)

To saying they are worried about him that he is not going to stay healthy not sure why the FO got him in a matter of a few preseason games lol

I personally love PG but right now he's looking like Shawn Bradley. A big in the paint, blocking shots, clogging up the lane and not moving particularly well. I know he's frustrated and he's gelling with his new team (only been 8 games) but it's hard to watch.

Doug is going to need half the season and the player with the most promise, Mirotic, won't play much this season. So the Bulls are relying on the development of two rookies & Mike Dunleavy to take our league worst 3-pt shooting to what? 5-6 spots higher?

This season really comes down to Jimmy taking a leap forward (the leap he was expected to take last season per Thibs). I think he'll be improved but he's not a scorer, he's a do-it-all forward.

You're not getting past Cavs, Spurs or OKC trying to hold them under 85 ppg.

It's all on D-Rose again, THIS alone is my problem. Oh, and Tom Thibs putrid offensive scheme. It's predictable and it sucks.

Oh and we lack a serious amount of athleticism.

I'm not being a negative nancy though, I just realize we aren't of the tier yet.

Love the Bulls regardless.

[Stratmaster]

But wait...yes, technically that is a failure of the front office for not insisting on it. So we do agree where the fault lies. Just disagree on what the failure is.

There has been no failure yet. Maybe things will go swimmingly.

But what is odd is if they don't you are already dead set on blaming Thibs. This is a biased position. It's entirely easy to foresee watching Doug or Niko or Pau, and based on their own skill and ability, realizing why they may not be - if they aren't - having a good year.

Rip Hamilton didn't have a bad year because of Thibs, he was just old and it was clear to see. That no team wanted him after the Bulls was clear evidence everyone knew this. I won't elaborate further examples.

I couldn't care less about individual good years. My comments are about the Bulls offense. There has been failure. My opinion of Thibs offensive savvy didn't form in this preseason. I've been saying the same thing for his entire tenure here. With a new cast of offensive players, if it is more of the same, it simply makes me believe it even more firmly.

[Stratmaster]

Precisely...I will be the first to eat crow if Mirotic does not play SF this season, for example.

Or, in my case, if he barely plays at all. After last night, I am looking up crow recipes.

Well, don't start the crow early in the season, it will be more telling if Niko isn't playing much come next March, and if it's because he has stunk or because Thibs just doesn't play him much.

The 8 minutes in a final preseason game where your team suddenly stops scoring leads me to believe the latter (Thibs not playing him much) is a given. I hope I am wrong.

[Mr. Tibbs]

Didn't go through this whole thread but here's my take. I don't/can't post much, but I love the discussion on this board. There are great posts, good posts, average posts, postive posts, negative posts, heat of the moment posts,bad posts, and may God have mercy on your soul posts. Personally, I enjoy reading all of them for different reasons. Keep up the good work everyone

[No-Man]

As a regular reader and outsider, I think is kind of the other way, there are many good posters dont get me wrong, but like in many other boards, there is a bit too much of homerism sometimes.

[Ice Man]

there is a bit too much of homerism sometimes.

Well, we do hear a lot of Neil and Stacey.

[babblin-on]

It seems like the last couple of years the conversation has been allowed to veer away from talking about the Bulls to instead talking about what's wrong with one another, and people seem to react more harshly to dissenting opinions than ever before. I don't think things are any more divided than they were when people were arguing things such as Kirk vs Crawford vs Gordon, or the Curry saga. What's really new IMO is all of the talk of the board going downhill with negativity, or people making a show of announcing that they're taking time off because a couple people said mean things about their favorite player. I didn't see that type of sensitivity when people were calling Deng 'Dung' and a pussy.

I think the problem is the lack of deep discussion threads about the basketball. Where's have the threads been dedicated to Pau and/or McDermott and/or Mirotic's fit in the offense and whether or not they're being used properly ? How about desired rotations?

Maybe this group of posters have just grown out of this message board crap and don't have the patience for it anymore.

[Rerisen]

It seems like the last couple of years the conversation has been allowed to veer away from talking about the Bulls to instead talking about what's wrong with one another, and people seem to react more harshly to dissenting opinions than ever before. I don't think things are any more divided than they were when people were arguing things such as Kirk vs Crawford vs Gordon, or the Curry saga. What's really new IMO is all of the talk of the board going downhill with negativity, or people making a show of announcing that they're taking time off because a couple people said mean things about their favorite player. I didn't see that type of sensitivity when people were calling Deng 'Dung' and a pussy.

I think the problem is the lack of deep discussion threads about the basketball. Where's have the threads been dedicated to Pau and/or McDermott and/or Mirotic's fit in the offense and whether or not they're being used properly ? How about desired rotations?

Maybe this group of posters have just grown out of this message board crap and don't have the patience for it anymore.

Imagine that. People actually arguing a position they disagree with from a basketball standpoint instead of just lambasting the posters who gave the opinion they don't like. Probably the most wise post made here.

[Ice Man]

Imagine that. People actually arguing a position they disagree with from a basketball standpoint instead of just lambasting the posters who gave the opinion they don't like. Probably the most wise post made here.

I understand, but it's not that bad here. Better than 99% on the Net. Which, if I may show my age, brings about the most moronic conversations. 50% of YouTube dialogue is you hated my video, I hate you. Not showing off the youth of America to advantage.

[geezer]Done now.[/geezer]

[jcuuofd]

The Bulls have high expectations this year. So much can go right, so much can go wrong, and everyone is on pins and needles watching Rose come back with all these new players on the roster. When the Bulls start winning in the regular season, and it becomes clear that Rose will remain healthy, and the rotations are set then everyone will settle down.

[Rockchalker]

I believe this discussion sucks and it will lead nowhere.

It won't but honestly few threads on any sports message board do in my experience.

This board had a solid and active membership of loyal and passionate fans. Are there a significant amount of "irrationally negative" or over-reactionary posts? Yes. However, I challenge you to find a board for any sports team with a large, active, loyal, and passionate membership that doesn't have the same issue.

I'm a University of Kansas alum and frequent the Phog.net board. If the Jayhawks miss the spread against an opponent you can expect a slew of "the sky is falling" posts. If god forbid they actually LOSE a game someone typically starts an "Official Meltdown Thread" to reduce the volume of ridiculous threads. (This board is moderated much tighter than that board. However an "Official Complaints About the State of the Bulls Team, Coaches, and Ownership" thread might not be a bad idea for this board once in a while ).

That said, I'd rather be a part of a board that is loyal, passionate and cares about their team and deal with the irrationally negative and over-reactionary posts.

I'm always amazed at how quiet and inactive some of the RealGM NBA team boards are. All of last year the Pacers board had tumbleweeds rolling through it, while their team (which was considered the biggest threat to Miami) had a great first half of the season and then fell apart. I figured their posters would come out of the woodwork to start venting and trying to figure out just what the hell was happening to their team. Nope... it was dead quiet; especially compared to this board!

It probably also seems like there are more negative or over-reactionary posts here because irrationally negative or over-reactionary threads lend themselves to rebuttal, response and discussion (or rather, arguments) more than positive posts do.

If, Doug McDermott hypothetically had 4-5 games in a row where didn't make a single three point shot and someone starts a "Trade McDermott now!" thread, you're going to get a long thread of back and forth argument. On the other hand, if Doug McDermott hypothetically had a string of 4-5 great games and someone starts a "McDermott is looking great!" thread; there will be several pages of "Yep! He is looking good! Lets hope he keeps it up..." posts and some "I told you!!! This guy is going to be the ROY and a future All-Star!!!" type posts for a few pages but the thread will peter out.

TL;DR Yes, it is, but dealing with irrational negativity is better than apathy.

[DanTown8587]

But wait...yes, technically that is a failure of the front office for not insisting on it. So we do agree where the fault lies. Just disagree on what the failure is.

There has been no failure yet. Maybe things will go swimmingly.

But what is odd is if they don't you are already dead set on blaming Thibs. This is a biased position. It's entirely easy to foresee watching Doug or Niko or Pau, and based on their own skill and ability, realizing why they may not be - if they aren't - having a good year.

Rip Hamilton didn't have a bad year because of Thibs, he was just old and it was clear to see. That no team wanted him after the Bulls was clear evidence everyone knew this. I won't elaborate further examples.

I couldn't care less about individual good years. My comments are about the Bulls offense. There has been failure. My opinion of Thibs offensive savvy didn't form in this preseason. I've been saying the same thing for his entire tenure here. With a new cast of offensive players, if it is more of the same, it simply makes me believe it even more firmly.

To be fair to Thibs, the group the Bulls have is not a scoring group at all. The last time he had any sort of offensive five man unit (2012), the team had a decent offense. Since then, there have been nothing but low efficiency players given to him.

In defense of you though, there has been one group of players who have seen offensive numbers go up under Thibs and that's score first PG. Every other player Thibs gets, he either makes them less than their previous stop or some other team gets more out of them. Not a good sign for Thibs in that regard.

[Benedict Miller]

Looking at a Rose thread that was made this summer about Rose sitting out practice for team USA, you'll find exaggeration & stupidity, irrational gold.

[GimmeDat]

Maybe we are irrationally negative...

Or maybe..

Joakim is a liability to the offense, MDJ is expendable, Taj is a black hole and Thibs should be fired for his rotations. Oh, and don't get me started on that Derrick Rose guy.

[Mech Engineer]

Maybe we are irrationally negative...

Or maybe..

Joakim is a liability to the offense, MDJ is expendable, Taj is a black hole and Thibs should be fired for his rotations. Oh, and don't get me started on that Derrick Rose guy.

This is the point...adding on to your post. It is not like every player is perfect and everyone has holes in their game like even Lebron does. The point is if somebody is negative they get these negative points integrated into their posts in every kind of thread and can't seem to let go of that aspect. These guys probably have multiple other positive aspects to their games.

You can smell the intention of the poster if they have this tendency of using mostly the negative aspects of the player in every thread very easily.

[the ultimates]

To answer the question yes. Here are just some examples.
1. Last year at the beginning of the season people saying they'd rather have Hibbert instead of Noah.
2. Noah and Deng not being "real all-stars".
3. Noah being an offensively liability like he is Reggie Evans or Ben Wallace.
4. Thibs needing an offensive assistant when no other team in league has been asked for two seasons to get offense without its best and a truly elite player in Rose.
5. In a league where position terms like face-up four and combo guard exist the need to debate a swingman in Butler being pigeoned wholed on this board as just a SF.
6. The moaning about not getting shooting guards who have never been difference makers on teams but if they come here they'll help the Bulls win a title. Roll call please of JR Smith, Eric Gordon, Ben Gordon, Gordon Hayward, OJ Mayo, JJ Reddick, Tyreke Evans and now add Stephenson to the list.
7. The thread about if Gibson is a black hole despite the fact he'll be playing considerable minutes with two rookies, Hinrich and a chucker in Brooks yet who should he defer to again? The need to say the front office is bad despite clear evidence to the contrary.
8.The need for some Bulls fans on this board to overrate opposing players particularly if they had one good game against the Bulls.

[johnnyvann840]

4. Thibs needing an offensive assistant when no other team in league has been asked for two seasons to get offense without its best and a truly elite player in Rose.

6. The moaning about not getting shooting guards who have never been difference makers on teams but if they come here they'll help the Bulls win a title.

7. The thread about if Gibson is a black hole despite the fact he'll be playing considerable minutes with two rookies, Hinrich and a chucker in Brooks yet who should he defer to again? The need to say the front office is bad despite clear evidence to the contrary.

8.The need for some Bulls fans on this board to overrate opposing players particularly if they had one good game against the Bulls.

I love the "Thibs is just reg season coach" bit we get around here. The guy loses his best scorer, his 2nd best scorer, the $16M man, Boozer, was in STEEP decline and a complete clown, his 3rd best scorer, Deng, got traded when the FO decided to try to tank it. The FO tried to throw the season out but Thibs won 48 games anyway, turned a C into a DPOY while leading the team in assists. But, the mantra is somehow that he is "just not a good playoff coach" when his team should realistically be in the lottery. I would love to see some other coaches get the hand Thibs was dealt and see them win near 50 games.

[Stratmaster]

Well, from all the examples peeps are giving, i think I can conclusively say critical comments are irrationally negative when the reader doesn't agree with them, and are rational unbiased logical assessments when the reader does agree with them.

Who woulda thunk that?

[Babari Bulls]

because nothing ever goes our way so inturn we have become a pessimistic fan base

Is this the Cubs board or the Bulls board?

I haven't read the whole thread, so if this has already been done to death, forgive me, but, see... this is my thing with negative Chicago fans. I can't blame a person for being negative if he/she has always been a Cubs fan. And obviously, I think that most Chicago fans are Cubs fans. I don't really care about baseball, myself.

[the ultimates]

Well, from all the examples peeps are giving, i think I can conclusively say critical comments are irrationally negative when the reader doesn't agree with them, and are rational unbiased logical assessments when the reader does agree with them.

Who woulda thunk that?

Please give some examples. Critical comments based off one game or one series are knee jerk reactions. I go back to the Hibbert Noah thing because people preferred Hibbert because he had one series where he scored well against the Heat. Totally dismissing his lack of scoring against anybody else and how he really hadn't scored against Miami like that before but all of a sudden he's better than Noah. Then the fact that Nene has a hot shooting series against Noah and people say Joakim is overrated yet Nene got the same looks and shots against the Pacers but missed them but nobody cares about that.