At least Gordon to the bench has helped one guy

[DuckIII]

I'm not even talking about starting Ben Gordon (I don't think that's a move that will be happening anytime soon anyway). It's more about Duhon and how someone else playing could do what he's done. It's about starting Thabo.

It looks like whatever starting lineup we have up there, we've been on push.

I actually don't have a problem with not starting the best players, at least in principle, cause games aren't really won and lost in the 1st quarter or even in the early goings of the 3rd quarter.

So if that's the principle were going to go by, it seems we should use more of that time to let our younger players play in the early goings of games.

Kirk's gotten better, but Duhon's been doing nothing. If Duhon's done nothing, then we could probably get the same with our 1st round draft pick big guard.

I'm down with running Thabo out there instead of Duhon to see what happens. I guess my point was that you said the Bulls have "sucked" to start the games using the Hinrich/Duhon backcourt, and that is proveably not accurate at all.

[MrSparkle]

Right now, I am leaning towards the point of view that Hinrich has played much better off-the-ball, and Gordon has looked much better as primary ball-handler.

[dougthonus]

Watch out for Doug's posts...he's been a craaanky guy lately!

I have been cranky lately.

[Cliff Levingston]

Right now, I am leaning towards the point of view that Hinrich has played much better off-the-ball, and Gordon has looked much better as primary ball-handler.

Ding ding.

[Dieselbound&Down]

If Thabo got the start for several straight games, we would have a much better idea of what he can be long term. And I agree that there won't be any drop off from Duhon. At worst, Thabo really sucks and Duhon takes the rest of his minutes. Duhon, like Gordon, plays much better off the bench.

TB - great far side pic

[cool007]

I liked what Cliff said in the first post but I would rather have Deng switch to Shooting Guard and Nocioni at the 3 spot.

That would mean more playing time for Noah and Tyrus since Nocioni will be starting.

That could also mean that Gordon could slide in as a PG - especially in the 4th.

I think that would solve lot of the problems we have.

Hinrich/Duhon
Deng/Gordon
Nocioni/Deng
Smith/Tyrus
Wallace/Noah/Gray

Why not???

[BrooklynBulls]

I think Kirk's play when Duhon is on the floor has nothing to do with Duhon. I think Gordon playing well off the bench has nothing to do with Kirk. Here's an idea: Instead of letting Kirk play off the ball with Duhon, and letting Gordon play on the ball off ther bench, why not START Gordon and Kirk, and let Gordon handle the ball more? This crap is working right now because Kirk is playing well, and teams haven't sagged as far off of Duhon as they used to (who else has noticed this? He's no longer as wide, wide open as he should be), but when teams leave Duhon on an island, double kirk, leave Ben Wallace all alone under the basket because he can't even dunk, and double Deng...we're going to have problems.

[Cliff Levingston]

I think Kirk's play when Duhon is on the floor has nothing to do with Duhon. I think Gordon playing well off the bench has nothing to do with Kirk. Here's an idea: Instead of letting Kirk play off the ball with Duhon, and letting Gordon play on the ball off ther bench, why not START Gordon and Kirk, and let Gordon handle the ball more?

Cliff Levingston has agreed with this for a while now.

People (and the coaches the last few years) say "move Gordon to the bench cause he plays better there" without really looking at why he plays better there.

In the starting lineup, the coaches want Gordon to score, but also to make the right passes and fulfill the other responsibilities of the position within the set offense. When he comes off the bench, it's "here's the ball Ben, now carry the offense."

That mentality coupled with how well Hinrich seems to play off the ball explains why it only makes sense to (essentially) make Ben the PG and Kirk the SG on offense.

[Grand Champ]

[quote="Cliff Levingston"][/quote]

Kirk dribbles too much for a SG... I really wish boylan would tell him to STOP **** DRIBBLING UNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO THE HOOP.

[AirP.]

I somewhat understand starting Duhon, but his strength is creating plays for other players... but the problem with him starting is Wallace, J.Smith, K.Hinrich and later on Nocioni... these aren't athletic players who can take advantage Duhon's offensive style of attack and create opportunities for others attacking the basket.

Just keep Duhon with players like Deng, Tyrus and Noah and Duhon will continue to look good making plays for these guys.

Gordon and Hinrich as a backcourt work as long as Gordon keeps running off screens and shooting alot, he's a scorer, he's got to keep trying to score or he loses focus. When he comes off the bench he worries about nothing but shooting, when he started he looked for his shots within the offense instead of him being the offense. Let him shoot!

[Cliff Levingston]

Kirk dribbles too much for a SG... I really wish boylan would tell him to STOP **** DRIBBLING UNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO THE HOOP.

He dribbles too much when made the primary ball handler/play maker i.e. the Point Guard of our weirdo offense. He's much better when running off screens, shooting set jumpers or delivering the interior passes from the wings; things he'd be doing from the SG position.

[BobbyBulls]

-= original quote snipped =-


Cliff Levingston can't remember the last time Thabo attacked the rim as hard as he did last night (specifically, the one plays that resulted in the Aaron Gray follow-up drunk). Of course, he's always active on defense and bothering guys with his length... or at least trying to.

Cliff Levingston was thinking that maybe Boylan was getting Thabo warmed up for Roy tonight?

I like this idea of putting Thabo on Roy. Roy will shoot over our other guards and it will be harder for Roy to post Thabo. Also Thabo's long arms may make it harder for Roy to do what he does so well, pass to his teamates.