Blazers post game analysis

[TheAdmiral]

Pretty sure Deng only had 4 points in the 4th quarter. Typical disappearing act.

Nicolas Batum = Pippen 2.0.

Oh I'm totally seeing the Pippen comparison. But I'd say more like Pippen 0.2

Hmm, I was about to say -2.0.

[chadrucf]

Pretty sure Deng only had 4 points in the 4th quarter. Typical disappearing act.

Nicolas Batum = Pippen 2.0.

[febah07]

i wouldn`t trade deng...he could be the last piece for the bulls to make this team a contender.

rose, boozer, deng, noah.....sounds about right to me

bogans isnt that terrible. he is a above average defender and the bulls don`t need him to be a above aveage scorer. i think brewer will find his groove and bogans/brewer will be a good rotation at the sg position

i cant wait for boozer. this team is good right now but with him the bulls gonna be hard to stop.

btw. props to asik for his good play and probs to coach for giving him play time.

[kulaz3000]

Pip at another game? It seems like he is heavily involved with the team this year. I'm liking it!

[TheAdmiral]

All the credit goes to Dwyane Wade!

[SpinninHouse]

Someone put Rose's box scores from last night and tonight next to each other on Wikipedia under the entry for "Definition of Versatile Offensive Weapon."

Gibson needs to rebound.

Anyone dissing on Noah's game wasn't watching him.

Omer is legit --- Very importantly he isn't letting these "Welcome to the NBA, you freaky Turkish giant." calls get to him. He is sticking to his guns, beasting on the blocks and taking the charges. A season of this, and the BS block calls will start going his way more often. Having a legit backup center on a peanuts contract who is pretty young is huge for us, not to mention the twin towers Noah+Omer look.

If we get a legit SG, and somehow finagle a finals appearance, LA won't tower over us in the paint.

Teams have to game plan for two different Rose's -- One that stabs you with his thorns, the other that makes his garden smell better with.... Metaphor is failing, but you get the idea.

LOL the Lakers front line would obliterate us! Bynum, Gasol, Odom with Artest and Kobe on the wings. That front line would crush us in such a devastating manner it wouldn't even be funny. Asik/Noah/Boozer is not quite Bynum/Gasol/Odom!

[SeniorWalker]

Deng plays terrible: Trade him because he sucks.

Deng plays terrific: Trade him while his value is high.

Conclusion: Keep the 25 year old good offense, great defense, good rebounding, perfect 3rd option compliment to Rose and Boozer.

If this were last year or a previous year's league I would agree with you. Today's NBA is much more top heavy though, and the top 3 teams (LA, Boston, Miami) have too much talent to be seriously battled without star power.
Vs. a LeBron led Cavs team of '10, I'd say this current roster at season's potential could compete and win.
Vs. a LeBron-led Miami team with 2 others above all-star status....we need a bit more help.

If we could land a near-Joe Johnson level SG, I'd be content with Deng long term. Without that, we'll need more talent.

[Wont PerDont]

So that was the Rudy guy that Portland wants us to trade Charlotte's pick for?!? Yeah, right!

[SpinninHouse]

Deng plays terrible: Trade him because he sucks.

Deng plays terrific: Trade him while his value is high.

Conclusion: Keep the 25 year old good offense, great defense, good rebounding, perfect 3rd option compliment to Rose and Boozer.

If this were last year or a previous year's league I would agree with you. Today's NBA is much more top heavy though, and the top 3 teams (LA, Boston, Miami) have too much talent to be seriously battled without star power.
Vs. a LeBron led Cavs team of '10, I'd say this current roster at season's potential could compete and win.
Vs. a LeBron-led Miami team with 2 others above all-star status....we need a bit more help.

If we could land a near-Joe Johnson level SG, I'd be content with Deng long term. Without that, we'll need more talent.

Agree. Deng as a third option is not good enough. He scored 40 points tonight. He probably wont do it again all season. If we had a legit SG and he was a 4th option, I'd be much more content.

[The ROY]

I've never seen a more fickle fanbase in my life than Chicago fans with Luol Deng.

Love him one minute, hate him the next. Remind me of my chicks.

[kulaz3000]

[Benedict Miller]

Aldridge is just a bad matchup for Noah and seems longer than Noah as well... Glad we Deng had a great night shooting the basketball

[kulaz3000]

[AAU Teammate]

If we could land a near-Joe Johnson level SG, I'd be content with Deng long term. Without that, we'll need more talent.

Too soon for huge statements like this. We havent even seen the offense with Boozer yet.

It may well be this team just needs an SG that can hit 3s and defend. I for one don't require a guy that does tons of stuff at that position. Less could be more (but i do want an upgrade from our current talent at SG -- just not tons and tons of upgrading, necessarily).

[kulaz3000]

[AAU Teammate]

Aldridge obviously was great tonight....was it me or did Asik's presence seem to at least slow him down a tiny bit? He had stretches where he totally dominated, and then stretches where he was usual-LA.

[TheAdmiral]

Ninety minutes before tipoff, Luol Deng reclined on the locker-room floor, watching some film, not a care in the world.

"I'm not happy about my start offensively," Deng said. "But I'm also not worried because I know it will come around."

"I like this offense, and I work too hard for my game not to come around," Deng said before the game. "I just need to find my rhythm. It's a long season. It's happened before where I played great and everybody got excited. As long as we're winning, it's fine. The offense will come.

"I'm really not worried. I've taken 19 shots (through two games). I'm going to have opportunities to take more shots. There are a lot of guys around the league who haven't got their rhythm yet. It happens. Not that I want that, but I just have to stay positive."

The Bulls tallied 27 assists overall en route to 60.6 percent shooting.

But the story of the night was Deng, who also played active defense again.

"I always felt my defense was good in this league," Deng said. "I think it stands out more now because we're a defensive team and my help is so much better and more noticed."

"We're playing together and moving the ball," Rose said. "Everybody played well."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ba ... 1239.story

[SeniorWalker]

If we could land a near-Joe Johnson level SG, I'd be content with Deng long term. Without that, we'll need more talent.

Too soon for huge statements like this. We havent even seen the offense with Boozer yet.

It may well be this team just needs an SG that can hit 3s and defend. I for one don't require a guy that does tons of stuff at that position. Less could be more (but i do want an upgrade from our current talent at SG -- just not tons and tons of upgrading, necessarily).

Not necessarily. We do know that the champs improved over their already victorious prior-season team. Boston too. LeBron too. I know we'll be good, but are we in the ballpark of a team with 3 consecutive finals appearances?
I'm optimistic as well, but trying to be careful with talent perception/estimation here.

[RedBulls23]

Pip at another game? It seems like he is heavily involved with the team this year. I'm liking it!

Well seeing as he is a team ambassador, I would hope he is heavily involved with the team.

[DuckIII]

I've never seen a more fickle fanbase in my life than Chicago fans with Luol Deng.

Love him one minute, hate him the next. Remind me of my chicks.

When was the minute when they loved him? I must have been walking my dog.