I've made the switch and am rooting for losses. Who else?

[dougthonus]

The Boylan Bulls are the Bulls that we have come to know and love. These are the Bulls that we had optimism and hope for.

And this is where I disagree a little bit. The team, as a whole, is playing much better.

However, I expected big minutes from both Tyrus and Noah this year. At least 30 minutes a game between the two of them without DNPs. Going into this year, many Bulls fans expected Tyrus Thomas to break out and be a stud. I remember people screaming at me for underrating him so badly because I didn't think he was all-star material and would need another year before playing really well. I expected Joakim Noah to play very well, and in limited time he's generally done that.

These aren't the Bulls we expected going into this year. This is a team that is now playing hard, but is still a notch below the talent level we expected. A big part of that is that we aren't getting contributions from guys we expected to be good. Guys who've shown they can be very good, and the reason is we're playing one guy in particular who hasn't shown he can be consistently good or show consistent effort. 2 traits which would have almost any other player on the team glued to the bench.

[molepharmer]

The Boylan Bulls are the Bulls that we have come to know and love. These are the Bulls that we had optimism and hope for.

And this is where I disagree a little bit. The team, as a whole, is playing much better....

Doug, good posts in this thread.

I don't really think the team is playing that much better than they were earlier in the year. I think the recent level of competition has been so piss poor awful it's giving the false impression that Bulls have improved significantly.

In the recent blow out losses prior to Boylan, the Bulls played Boston twice and San Antonio once. In two other blowouts (Ind & Hou), the Bulls had actually built a double digit lead early in the game before quiting. There's no comparison in the defenses played by these teams to the recent teams of NY, Mil, Sac, Port & Char. The horrendous first two-thirds of the Char game and the 3rdQ of the Port game showed me the Boylan Bulls aren't really much different from the earlier Bulls. Perhaps they are less likely to quit but they are LONG way from last year's Bulls. Their continued poor transition and perimeter defense has shown me that.

[transplant]

I'm not where most of you are, but I do have a problem with the current approach.

We all know the sports cliche, "you have to play 'em one game at a time." This is a good approach for players, but coaches should not "coach 'em one game at a time," particularly when you have young talent that represents the future of the team.

Skiles was coaching one game at a time in December and Boylan is coaching one at a time now. In the wake of the Skiles firing, Paxson was clear that he wanted to see the young guys play more. He was also clear that he still wants to make the playoffs this season. It's become apparent that Paxson put the emphasis on making the playoffs, i.e., winning games now to get back in the race as quickly as possible. Like many NBA head coaches who are given this sort of imperative, development is limited to practice and veterans are relied upon in games. Young players are only used in the context of winning THAT game.

It's possible that Paxson and Boylan have agreed that, once the team is solidly back in the playoff picture that they'll try to bring the kids along more. If this is the case, they're kidding themselves. It's kind of like the smoker who promises to quit after what he considers a particularly stressful period has passed...that good time to quit never seems to present itself. If the team gets to .500, there's the chase for home court in the first round. I won't go further because getting to #4 in the EC will, best case, be a season long pursuit.

I like Hinrich, Gordon, Deng, Smith, Wallace (yes, even Wallace), Duhon and Nocioni, but as a team, they're no better than good. If Smith and Wallace continue to play big minutes every night (because we have to win THAT game), they'll wear out, and when they do, the kids won't be ready.

A head coach has to coach in the moment during a game, but must have a longer-term plan going in. I don't see that now.

And yes, the high screen-roll with Wallace is worse than pointless...it's counter-productive.