PG: Should Have Been a Blowout

[RedBulls23]

The best thing the Bulls can look at, is if the defense holds up at current rates, they don't need to embrace Hoiball to get a lot better.

Just need Rose to get his half court game, esp late game playmaking, back together. For Pau to understand his place in the offense and shooters to hit shots.

Dunleavy should help the half court execution at least. And if he goes back to starting, that's another weight on the Thibo-ball side of the scale.

Dunleavy will be a big boost, IF he can play like he did last year. Really have to hope the back surgery didn't screw us.

[kulaz3000]

Almost blew it, but pulled out the W. Good job boys.

But my god, why was Niko still in for most of the 4th. He's playing terribly. Get Taj his minutes ASAP.

"Yo Jimmy, that's my shot - I need those to f*** up my 3 point percentage!"

[RememberLu]

RealGM Bulls board : A place where wins still feel like losses.

You'd almost guess this team wasn't being coached by a new coach, learning a new system, missing a guy that projects to be a solid vet presence at SF, becoming reacclimated to their former MVP, while said player is reacclimating himself to the NBA game, all the while being 9 and 4.

Things aren't as dire as some would like them to be.....

Not yet at least.

This board is painful to read most of the time. With the way most posters act in here you'd think we were winless. And it' s not just rookie trolls even mods and long time guys are acting irrational.

What do you really expect us to do? Start popping champagne bottles and jumping around celebrating a regular season win?

We're mildly pleased and analyzing what could have gone better

[fleet]

You can't deny there is upside.

If that upside is reached is a different story though.

Hoiball was supposed to make this all purty.

I'm sure they can play better. I like winning, but the more I see Mirotic Snell McDermott Noah and Rose, the bandwagon still has seats available.

Only 13 games.

Noah has looked better this season. Rose has looked better lately.

I do agree on Niko/Snell/Mcdermott though. If I could package all 3 in a trade, I would.

I needed Noah to turn back the clock to get me to plunk down some money in *your favorite local sports book*

If Rose comes around at a high level, it will get more interesting if not exiting. For now I get most exitement thinking about Lebron's back problems.

[The Force.]

As much as people trash Niko and Snell, Doug has contributed next to nothing off the bench. He should be putting up 10-12ppg but has struggled to score half that these past few games.

I never was that high on him anyway but damn, we can only blame other players "not finding him" for so long.

[unknownnewbie]

I don't care how pretty the passes are or how much the players share the ball. If you don't hit open shots, the offense isn't going to look pretty. The Bulls shot 38.4% tonight...and they missed a bunch of open shots.

They don't have the personnel to look as fluid as the GS Warriors or like the Phoenix Suns when they played that "7 Seconds or Less offense". They don't get out in the open court enough to do that, for starters. And they do have a tendency to hold onto the ball too long and/or stand around and watch too much.

But even with all the players' flaws, if they hit those open shots on a consistent basis, the offense will be fine. The Bulls are good enough defensively that they don't have to score 110+ points a night to win a lot of games.

I also have a feeling the offense will be at least somewhat more fluid when MDJ returns. There's a guy who knows how to move without the ball and who rarely holds onto the ball long. If he's healthy and can play close to how he did last year, there's an immediate upgrade at SF

[d boy gentleman]

This thread title blows, sorry but it does.

If anything, people who expect blow outs with this team is not watching the Bulls. Yes, wouldn't every team want a blow out, but right now, the way we are playing, the inconsistency, to expect blow outs is a stretch.

As a team we often get out hustled by younger, more energetic and athletic teams, and tonight was no different, but we stuck in there and most importantly we won with our defense.

I know it's been said, but but it's Jimmy's team, but tonight Derrick's defense was amazing for the most part. That last play where he hounded Lillard where he couldn't even touch the ball was really amazing to watch, in regards to him just moving so well and shadowing Lillard every step of the way.

This game ought to have been a blowout against a scrappy but less talented Portland team. This team plays down to it's competition and it's embarassing. I'm not expecting blowouts all the time but you put away the teams that you ought to.

[Fastbrk4brkfast]

Yes it is

Yup. As it should be.

Tonight Rose was the go-to guy in the early 4th, Butler in the final 5 minutes. Good system. They should keep it.

The offense was awful down the stretch

Which is why Jimmy at the free throw line is a good thing.

[AKfanatic]

Pecking order needs to be established, not just for the starters, but also the bench. Until guys know their respective roles, we will have closer games than need be.

[Keller61]

The best thing the Bulls can look at, is if the defense holds up at current rates, they don't need to embrace Hoiball to get a lot better.

Just need Rose to get his half court game, esp late game playmaking, back together. For Pau to understand his place in the offense and shooters to hit shots.

Dunleavy should help the half court execution at least. And if he goes back to starting, that's another weight on the Thibo-ball side of the scale.

I'd like to see Rose get his transition game going too. I can't remember the last time he made a coast-to-coast layup.

[Fastbrk4brkfast]

RealGM Bulls board : A place where wins still feel like losses.

You'd almost guess this team wasn't being coached by a new coach, learning a new system, missing a guy that projects to be a solid vet presence at SF, becoming reacclimated to their former MVP, while said player is reacclimating himself to the NBA game, all the while being 9 and 4.

Things aren't as dire as some would like them to be.....

Not yet at least.

This board is painful to read most of the time. With the way most posters act in here you'd think we were winless. And it' s not just rookie trolls even mods and long time guys are acting irrational.

What do you really expect us to do? Start popping champagne bottles and jumping around celebrating a regular season win?

We're mildly pleased and analyzing what could have gone better

Time to bring back the Positivity Thread! Awwwww yeah!

[Keller61]

It's weird how I almost feel more comfortable with the Bulls up 6 than up 11. It seems like whenever we build a decent lead, we immediately give up a 9-0 run or something.

[bullsRlife]

Moral loss.

I know our defense is good. Where is our rebounding? What the **** is our offense?

Was watching the GSW lakers game at the same time. Looking at the warriors movement with envy. Then look back at the Bulls game and see Derrick or Jimmy go 1 on 3 while everyone else watches.

LOL at moral loss. I guess the Warriors moral record is 14-1 with the nets being a moral loss.

I dont care about moral wins or losses, I care about real wins as should everyone else.

If Pau and snell hit half their open shots, Rose and Butler sit out most of the 4th

Seriously, people complaining about this win, don't understand the game of basketball, or don't watch other teams at all. Even the warriors have 2-3 games where it was close, and they didn't look like world beaters. Every team has those type of wins. A win is a win. It's even better because it shows when you're playing sloppy, you can still beat that team, because you're better. Think about that. You play not so great, and you still beat that , because you're that good.

[Fastbrk4brkfast]

As much as people trash Niko and Snell, Doug has contributed next to nothing off the bench. He should be putting up 10-12ppg but has struggled to score half that these past few games.

I never was that high on him anyway but damn, we can only blame other players "not finding him" for so long.

Coming into tonight Doug was 2nd in the league in 3pt % (Dirk is 1st, Steph's cooled off a bit) and 4th in TS%. His defense is improving every game. His production is fine, it's a question of volume at this point.

[RedBulls23]

In terms of offensive and defensive ratings, this team so far more closely resembles the 2012-13 Bulls than last year's team. Hard to pinpoint the cause of the offensive decline, but I hope it gets fixed soon.

Pau and Derrick have been VERY inefficient. That in itself is reason alone why our offensive rank is so low. Someone did the math and if these guys were just at league average (53% TS) the team would likely be ranked around 10th in offense.

[kodo]

I could see both those ranks shrinking closer together as we go.

Just can't believe our offense would be this bad all year. Defense could slip some, hopefully not.

Offense would look so much better if Rose/Snell/Niko etc knocked down their 3 pointers more consistently. This new offense consists of knocking down 3s but we just aren't.

We shoot 37.6% from 3. 6th in the league.

Try again in diagnosing our offensive problems.

Yes actually our problems are at the opposite end.

Our offense sucks because we're terrible at scoring near the rim. 23rd within 3', 22nd within 10'.
And the average team gets 44% of their shots within 10'.
The sad thing is Hoiberg actually improved this, last season we were 28th.

Our 57% at the rim is the same as offensively challenged teams like the Bucks & Knicks.
Good playoff teams shoot 67% (Cavs) or 66% (Rockets, Clips, GS).

Derrick Rose & Pau Gasol both shoot well under league average near the rim.
Pau + Rose take the vast majority of our shot attempts, thus we're going to suck on offense.

Ironically the one guy who is actually stopping the Bulls from being embarrassingly bad near the rim is the Soft Guy, Niko. He's 65% near the rim.

[TheSuzerain]

As much as people trash Niko and Snell, Doug has contributed next to nothing off the bench. He should be putting up 10-12ppg but has struggled to score half that these past few games.

I never was that high on him anyway but damn, we can only blame other players "not finding him" for so long.

Doug is averaging 10 points in 20 minutes a game.

[Flopper]

Seemed like the game got a lot more difficult when Kirk started playing the two. No doubt Tony was awful, but he can still stand in the corner and do nothing just as well as Kirk can on the offensive end. Plus he can actually play D and isn't just a traffic cone for younger, quicker players.

Hopefully Mike can come back healthy because the production at the second second wing spot is seemingly getting worse by the game.

[TheSuzerain]

For like the hundredth time, the only problem that actually matters is that Rose and Gasol combine for about 30% of our shots with a combined TS% of about 46%.

This board obsesses about hub caps when the **** engine is on fire.

[fleet]

RealGM Bulls board : A place where wins still feel like losses.

You'd almost guess this team wasn't being coached by a new coach, learning a new system, missing a guy that projects to be a solid vet presence at SF, becoming reacclimated to their former MVP, while said player is reacclimating himself to the NBA game, all the while being 9 and 4.

Things aren't as dire as some would like them to be.....

Not yet at least.

The FO has not done the job filling the hole at SF, leaving us awaiting a triumphant title winning return by one Mike Dunleavy Jr. So IDK, you tell me. I guess you are telling me.....

If you want me on the bandwagon, increase my margin of victory, or find me a small forward I can brag about.