PG Pau delivers

[MC3]

I dont see problem is what I say. Mirotic is not SF. He doesnt play like one at all. Usually he sit on corner. Just like Rose does when he plays off-ball. He doesnt move well off-ball cause it's not his natural position, he is not fast so he can beat by dribbling a SF guy and create space by screen. You basically put him there to be "there". We are playing many guys this season out of position. Mirotic at SF, Noah is playing PF, we tried playing Rose at SG as off-ball guy at beggining of the year.

Mirotic is talented player and he should play but at his position. For this Thibs needs to get again more creative. Rotate more quickly instead playing 12-16 min in row, explore matchups. Put him in the game when he can help you the most, also get him out of game when Taj can help you the most. In some moment use him as SF. But dont make this his permanent position on which he will play most of the minutes just cause Taj is healthy.

[Rerisen]

Here's our main 2 choices for lineups with Niko at PF

Noah
Mirotic
Dunleavy/Snell
Butler
Rose

This one is spotty on offense unless Dunleavy/Snell isn't invisibile, but often they are.

Gasol
Mirotic
Dunleavy/Snell
Butler
Rose

This one is spotty on defense because our best 2 defensive bigs, and PnR defenders, are on the bench

Right now, I think I prefer this lineup for overall balance and strength on both sides.

Gasol
Gibson
Mirotic
Butler
Rose

[GuardianEnzo]

I liked it when Taj first returned and Thibs played him 18 or 20 minutes a game as an energy guy off the bench. He seemed to do well in that role and Niko still got minutes at the four. Taj even had interviews where he said that he was fine with his role. I'm not sure why Thibs went away from that.

You must be new here...

[Indomitable]

I dont see problem is what I say. Mirotic is not SF. He doesnt play like one at all. Usually he sit on corner. Just like Rose does when he plays off-ball. He doesnt move well off-ball cause it's not his natural position, he is not fast so he can beat by dribbling a SF guy and create space by screen. You basically put him there to be "there". We are playing many guys this season out of position. Mirotic at SF, Noah is playing PF, we tried playing Rose at SG as off-ball guy at beggining of the year.

Mirotic is talented player and he should play but at his position. For this Thibs needs to get again more creative. Rotate more quickly instead playing 12-16 min in row, explore matchups. Put him in the game when he can help you the most, also get him out of game when Taj can help you the most. In svome moment use him as SF. But dont make this his permanent position on which he will play most of the minutes just cause Taj is healthy.

Thibs being LOL

[kdapiton]

Went to the game. Ate a lot of hotdogs. Bulls won.

Fun.

[JeremyB0001]

The playoffs are about specific matchups, and in our case Cleveland.

I disagree somewhat with this line of thinking. First of all, anytime someone starts a sentence with, "The playoffs are about," I get nervous. In my opinion the differences between the playoffs and the regular season are relatively minor and tend to be overblown. The biggest difference is that there are no back-to-backs and teams' best players tend to play more minutes. With the higher stakes and the best-of-seven series there is more emphasis on advanced scouting, adjustments, and exploiting opponents' weaknesses. That can make certain match ups more important than during the regular season, but it's a subtle difference. Moreover, even in the playoffs, Thibs doesn't let the situation dictate his lineups all that much. I also think that Bulls fans are obsessing with the Cavs a little bit too much. There is a small, but non-zero, chance that the Bulls or Cavs will lose in the first round. And even if the Bulls get past the Cavs, it won't be so meaningful if they fall to the Hawks in the Conference Finals.

Dunleavy really has no business being on the court at the end of games trying to keep up with J.R. Smith defensively, since he obviously won't be on LeBron. Maybe Snell could be used over MDJ, in fact I'd prefer this.

I'm wasn't thinking about closing lineups so much. As much as I think that our best lineups may feature Niko at the four, I know there's no way that Thibs will routinely sit two of the three of Jo, Pau, and Taj in crunch time. And Thibs has rarely closed with Dunleavy. I'm thinking more about Thibs pulling Dunleavy around the five-minute mark in the first and third quarters and bringing him back to start the second and fourth quarters in lineups with Brooks at point guard, Jimmy or Snell at the two, and Taj or Jo at the five.

As you mention, you could of course also play Snell over Dunleavy at the three with Niko at the four. That lineup still gives you Niko's elite spacing at the four and some outside presence in the form of Snell. But I favor Dunleavy over Snell. Snell occasionally has games where he drills a ton of threes. The Bulls are hard to beat when that happens, but Snell has been hugely inconsistent and it's impossible to predict when he will have a big game. Defenders still don't respect him all that much off the ball, which is part of the reason that he can sometimes have games where he shoots six-of-eight from three. Dunleavy draws tremendous respect from defenders every time that he's on the floor. That provides for exceptional consistency - at a minimum, he's always going to add a ton of floor spacing.

I think that Dunleavy's defense is hugely underrated. He's a smart player who knows the schemes, plays good fundamental defense, and does crafty things like take charges and strip the ball from players attempting to score in the paint. This season, the Bulls have given up fewer points with Dunleavy on the floor than any other player except for Niko. Yes, you don't want him on the floor when the opponent is playing two wings with excellent athleticism and scoring ability. But now that Wade and LeBron are no longer teammates, I don't know that any team has two wings of that caliber. I think that you're overrating J.R. Smith; I don't have major concerns about Dunleavy guarding him.

But our biggest problem against Cleveland has been keeping them off the offensive boards, having Dunleavy and Niko at forwards with only 1 of our best rebounders on the court, the other on the bench, is a recipe for disaster in trying to keep Thompson, Mosgov, Love off the offensive glass.

Defensive rebounding rate for the bigs: (1) Pau - 27.7% (2) Niko - 22.6% (3) Jo - 22.4% (4) Taj - 14.5%. Team defensive rebounding rate with each of the bigs on the floor: (1) Jo - 75.0% (2) Niko - 74.8% (3) Taj - 73.9% (4) Pau - 73.6%. I can't entirely tell who you consider to be the best rebounders, but you seem to be unaware that Niko is clearly one of the team's best bigs on the defense boards. Playing him at the four will not create a problem on the defensive glass. Moreover, Dunleavy has great size at the three. He has the highest defensive rebounding percentage of any non-big (excluding Niko, obviously). The Bulls rebound better with Dunleavy on the court than any other players with the exception of Moore.

Also, playing Niko at SF would force Cleveland to adjust as they'll likely have LeBron on Butler and don't want Smith or even Shumpert to get abused in the post by Niko. If Dunleavy is on the floor Cleveland can just hide Kyrie on him defensively while LeBron and Shumpert/Smith guard Derrick and Jimmy. Yes, Niko can give Love or Thompson troubles as stretch PF, but he'd create a similar mismatch at SF just by forcing Kyrie to defend one of our top scorers (Derrick, Jimmy or Niko). And we'd remain big enough to at least try and do better on the boards.

Unlike his ability to stretch the floor at the four, Niko's ability to abuse smaller players in the post is pretty hit-or-miss right now.

As far as the Cavs successfully cross-matching Kyrie against Dunleavy, let's cross that bridge when we come to it. Dunleavy has at least six inches on Kyrie and underrated versatility on offense. I'm more confident in his ability to abuse Kyrie in the post than I am in Niko's ability to go down low and abuse whoever the Cavs are playing at the three.

[Polynice4Pippen]

The playoffs are about specific matchups, and in our case Cleveland.

I disagree somewhat with this line of thinking. First of all, anytime someone starts a sentence with, "The playoffs are about," I get nervous. In my opinion the differences between the playoffs and the regular season are relatively minor and tend to be overblown. The biggest difference is that there are no back-to-backs and teams' best players tend to play more minutes. With the higher stakes and the best-of-seven series there is more emphasis on advanced scouting, adjustments, and exploiting opponents' weaknesses. That can make certain match ups more important than during the regular season, but it's a subtle difference. Moreover, even in the playoffs, Thibs doesn't let the situation dictate his lineups all that much. I also think that Bulls fans are obsessing with the Cavs a little bit too much. There is a small, but non-zero, chance that the Bulls or Cavs will lose in the first round. And even if the Bulls get past the Cavs, it won't be so meaningful if they fall to the Hawks in the Conference Finals.

Dunleavy really has no business being on the court at the end of games trying to keep up with J.R. Smith defensively, since he obviously won't be on LeBron. Maybe Snell could be used over MDJ, in fact I'd prefer this.

I'm wasn't thinking about closing lineups so much. As much as I think that our best lineups may feature Niko at the four, I know there's no way that Thibs will routinely sit two of the three of Jo, Pau, and Taj in crunch time. And Thibs has rarely closed with Dunleavy. I'm thinking more about Thibs pulling Dunleavy around the five-minute mark in the first and third quarters and bringing him back to start the second and fourth quarters in lineups with Brooks at point guard, Jimmy or Snell at the two, and Taj or Jo at the five.

As you mention, you could of course also play Snell over Dunleavy at the three with Niko at the four. That lineup still gives you Niko's elite spacing at the four and some outside presence in the form of Snell. But I favor Dunleavy over Snell. Snell occasionally has games where he drills a ton of threes. The Bulls are hard to beat when that happens, but Snell has been hugely inconsistent and it's impossible to predict when he will have a big game. Defenders still don't respect him all that much off the ball, which is part of the reason that he can sometimes have games where he shoots six-of-eight from three. Dunleavy draws tremendous respect from defenders every time that he's on the floor. That provides for exceptional consistency - at a minimum, he's always going to add a ton of floor spacing.

I think that Dunleavy's defense is hugely underrated. He's a smart player who knows the schemes, plays good fundamental defense, and does crafty things like take charges and strip the ball from players attempting to score in the paint. This season, the Bulls have given up fewer points with Dunleavy on the floor than any other player except for Niko. Yes, you don't want him on the floor when the opponent is playing two wings with excellent athleticism and scoring ability. But now that Wade and LeBron are no longer teammates, I don't know that any team has two wings of that caliber. I think that you're overrating J.R. Smith; I don't have major concerns about Dunleavy guarding him.

But our biggest problem against Cleveland has been keeping them off the offensive boards, having Dunleavy and Niko at forwards with only 1 of our best rebounders on the court, the other on the bench, is a recipe for disaster in trying to keep Thompson, Mosgov, Love off the offensive glass.

Defensive rebounding rate for the bigs: (1) Pau - 27.7% (2) Niko - 22.6% (3) Jo - 22.4% (4) Taj - 14.5%. Team defensive rebounding rate with each of the bigs on the floor: (1) Jo - 75.0% (2) Niko - 74.8% (3) Taj - 73.9% (4) Pau - 73.6%. I can't entirely tell who you consider to be the best rebounders, but you seem to be unaware that Niko is clearly one of the team's best bigs on the defense boards. Playing him at the four will not create a problem on the defensive glass. Moreover, Dunleavy has great size at the three. He has the highest defensive rebounding percentage of any non-big (excluding Niko, obviously). The Bulls rebound better with Dunleavy on the court than any other players with the exception of Moore.

Also, playing Niko at SF would force Cleveland to adjust as they'll likely have LeBron on Butler and don't want Smith or even Shumpert to get abused in the post by Niko. If Dunleavy is on the floor Cleveland can just hide Kyrie on him defensively while LeBron and Shumpert/Smith guard Derrick and Jimmy. Yes, Niko can give Love or Thompson troubles as stretch PF, but he'd create a similar mismatch at SF just by forcing Kyrie to defend one of our top scorers (Derrick, Jimmy or Niko). And we'd remain big enough to at least try and do better on the boards.

Unlike his ability to stretch the floor at the four, Niko's ability to abuse smaller players in the post is pretty hit-or-miss right now.

As far as the Cavs successfully cross-matching Kyrie against Dunleavy, let's cross that bridge when we come to it. Dunleavy has at least six inches on Kyrie and underrated versatility on offense. I'm more confident in his ability to abuse Kyrie in the post than I am in Niko's ability to go down low and abuse whoever the Cavs are playing at the three.

I think you're seriously understating the importance of matchups and how they're exploited in the playoffs over 7 straight games. The bolded part really confuses me though. You aren't sold on Niko's ability to abuse smaller players in the post, but you think Dunleavy's gonna abuse Kyrie in the post? Really? MDJ hasn't done squat in the paint all season. And I fundamentally disagree with the notion that Niko will be a more effective defensive rebounder against Cleveland in a playoff series than Pau and Jo. We'll see how it all plays out though.

[JeremyB0001]

You aren't sold on Niko's ability to abuse smaller players in the post, but you think Dunleavy's gonna abuse Kyrie in the post? Really? MDJ hasn't done squat in the paint all season.

Dunleavy hasn't been guarded by a point guard all season - probably for a reason. That makes this a really odd hypothetical to be debating. But yeah, I think that Dunleavy could abuse Irving. He's a big wing who's occasionally played the four throughout his career. He has a significantly bigger size advantage on Irving than Niko does on most wings.

And I fundamentally disagree with the notion that Niko will be a more effective defensive rebounder against Cleveland in a playoff series than Pau and Jo. We'll see how it all plays out though.

That's not what I said. I mostly just disagreed with your position that Niko at the four hurts our defensive rebounding. There seems to be no evidence to support that position.

[Polynice4Pippen]

You aren't sold on Niko's ability to abuse smaller players in the post, but you think Dunleavy's gonna abuse Kyrie in the post? Really? MDJ hasn't done squat in the paint all season.

Dunleavy hasn't been guarded by a point guard all season - probably for a reason. That makes this a really odd hypothetical to be debating. But yeah, I think that Dunleavy could abuse Irving. He's a big wing who's occasionally played the four throughout his career. He has a significantly bigger size advantage on Irving than Niko does on most wings.

And I fundamentally disagree with the notion that Niko will be a more effective defensive rebounder against Cleveland in a playoff series than Pau and Jo. We'll see how it all plays out though.

That's not what I said. I mostly just disagreed with your position that Niko at the four hurts our defensive rebounding. There seems to be no evidence to support that position.

Well we just completely disagree on all of this, which is fine. Hopefully Taj is traded this summer so Niko can get his PF minutes and alleviate this problem.