onetwothree wrote:neurotik wrote:onetwothree wrote:
THIS IS WHAT IVE ALWAYS BEEN SAYINGGGG!!!
It's not happening. Chicago is taking the 1st or 2nd seed barring an injury. The Bulls critics and nay sayers (which are mainly the opposing teams' fanbase that hope the Bulls are bad so their team has a better chance in the East) tend to overlook that the Bulls have one of the best coaches and basketball systems in the NBA. They have the best coach in the Eastern conference and the the best defensive system.
Thibs system and coaching is so good that even a Rose at 75-80% of what he was in his MVP season and a twilight years Pau Gasol still makes them a contender if Rose remains healthy. And now he has some weapons he can use to spread the floor and score.
The Bulls have their eyes on 1st place and are competing with Cleveland, they're not worried about us stealing the 2 seed from them.
*Disclaimer: All predictions are made under the assumption that the team remains healthy (especially Rose).
I definitely agree with the facts you stated. The Bulls have the one of the best 3 coaches in the NBA. (the other 2, Pops and Carlile)... Thibs is the best defensive coach in the NBA. He did a great job coaching the bulls to a playoff berth without Rose and quite frankly, without much talent.
The fact is, he won on defense. He won by a small margin every game. These types of wins are obtained through scrapping, playing hard - not through talent... So my question is, the added talent on this bulls team, will it really help or be detrimental to the system.
Look, Pau Gasol is a great offensive player, he is not competent defensively. That's what Boozer was, wasn't he. He started at PF and by the end of the season was on the bench... I don't see Gasol's impact being very big. In terms of Rose, He was one of my favourite basketball players, and I hope his career goes well with 0 injuries. However, he is injury prone and there are questions which will be answered as to his offense and defense.
Anyhow, the best we can do is wait and see what happens. The bulls are definitely going to be good, but I doubt them. Not because I'm a fan of the raptors and I want to improve the raptors' chances. But, because you look at teams like the Raptors, wizards, Hornets, with so much more depth. Then even the Heat and the Pistons with a new coach, the Hawks, Nets aren't going to be bad either. And you wonder if the talent infused this season within the bulls will actually be linear with their style of play. I don't think so.
There are questions about how the Bulls are gonna gel in the regular season and how well Pau, Mirotic, and McDermott will look in Thibs' system, but I don't see them as big of a question mark as you or some others. My confidence in the fact that Thibs and those players (especially a vet like Gasol) will figure it out is high.
Also with regards to Thibs' system, it is defensive, as you pointed out, and it is one that creates wins by small margins, but the fact is that that system is one that wins during the regular season (perhaps more so than the playoffs). Remember they were in 3rd in the East last year for a while and finished in 4th (even after they traded Luol Deng). Thibs knows how to win in the regular season, he's proven that. If he can finish 4th in the East without Rose and without Deng (for half the season), think of what he will be able to do with Rose and with Gasol (who is better than Boozer both offensively and defensively), and some shooters in Doug McDermott and Mirotic to spread the floor.
The health of the Bulls' players has to hold, especially Rose (who still has to prove he can remain healthy for a whole season), but if it does, they should be a top 2 team in the Eastern conference.