10/16 - Bucks @ Bulls 7 C.T.

[EastBayFJ]

If Booze goes who else is going to give all the insincere winks and grins to Swirsk that accompanies all the hollow post match cliches

This guy is about as Plastic as Bertrand

[Bondo]

I know Booze can be tough to watch....But he is a Bull after all. We should reserve hate for players off our team. lol

[mhsiao]

Lol I know its sarcastic but I don't sense he wants out, he has never come into camp out of shape nor does he look disinterested. I think he really likes this team, its just that his skills are fading even faster than most people expected and when the jumper isn't falling for he looks awful because he's too soft.

Actually I do wonder that myself. We all heard how Boozer work hard during off-season and he lost all those weight. Boozer isn't getting younger and he is in decline, however weight lose should have make up some of those decline. Instead stay close on par, he become slower and slower. Mohammed actually moves better than Boozer at this point. I kind feel he only goes half way and do everything with half heart.

So far Boozer has been speak the right thing in interview. You don't really sense his true feeling and I think he is extra careful with PR after the Cavs thing.

[Seinfeld]

Lol I know its sarcastic but I don't sense he wants out, he has never come into camp out of shape nor does he look disinterested. I think he really likes this team, its just that his skills are fading even faster than most people expected and when the jumper isn't falling for he looks awful because he's too soft.

Your sarcasm meter is working perfectly, but just for the hell of it let's play devil's advocate for a minute.

Boozer leaves Utah where he is the #1 option on offense, his last 3 healthy years (one year he only played 37 games) he was a 20/10, 20/11 guy, twice an All-Star.

Deron Williams was a pure PG, a 10+ assist guy. He comes to Chicago, and Derrick had just been a 20/6 guy in his 2nd season.

Maybe he's thinking he's coming to the Bulls to be the 20/11 guy and Derrick is going to be the 18pt/10ast guy?

But as soon as he shows up, Rose becomes a 25 pt guy. He goes from shooting 1 3pt a night to 4 a night. HE'S the MVP in his hometown, and all of a sudden, Carlos is just an overpaid (like most FA) guy who is no longer the #1 option on offense, with a coach who makes Jerry Sloan look like a kind, elderly grandfather.

Again, I'm not selling this story in any way, but I have to admit there's a 1% chance it's true. Maybe Carlos would rather go to a team where he can use most of his energy on offense, instead of having to bust his ass on defense in Thibs' help system of team defense?

Most guys who are healthy and 30 don't fall off as quickly and as far as Carlos did last season.

[jl342323]

boozer really isnt playing with any swag or confidence. it seems like he is just going through the motion right now.

he looks better on defense tho. every year since 2010, he has shown improvements on defense (what a shocker)

even if he becomes an average defender, he aint going to get rewarded with more playing time. and addition to this, he probably wont get enough/consistent touches to get himself going.

he looks depressed

[DRose4MVP]

I have not been a Boozer-basher during his time with us but now I'm finally starting to get worried. He isn't even finishing on garbage buckets right now and he looks even slower than usual despite losing weight. I'll reserve judgment until he plays a handful of games things don't look too promising.

He seems more concerned with taking the ball from the refs hands before every FT by the other team and even the Bulls FT's. I just never understood this little idiosyncrasy of his and never will. It seems like it just pisses the refs off more and more as the game goes on. Probably even causes a bias against us when it comes to calls. I see Wade and Lebron and Kobe and most other stars in the league putting their arms around the refs and talking and laughing with them (just buttering them up) and there Boozer is just annoying the hell out of them.

Ive been saying this, and its the reason I wish he'd stop. He's annoying the refs when he does this.

[EastBayFJ]

Boozer is this team's Roger Dorn

[samwana]

boozer really isnt playing with any swag or confidence. it seems like he is just going through the motion right now.

he looks better on defense tho. every year since 2010, he has shown improvements on defense (what a shocker)

even if he becomes an average defender, he aint going to get rewarded with more playing time. and addition to this, he probably wont get enough/consistent touches to get himself going.

he looks depressed

That's exactly what I thought Taj Gibson looked like.
Taj looks frustrated to me, he wants to show off what he did during the summer, but he can't get it together on his own. The bench is changed so much that he has to adjust bigtime. He plays with Nazr now instead of Asik and that's a night and day difference.

Carlos looks completely lost on the court at times. I don't see better fundamentals as he makes the same mistakes he did before. I hope he gets traded somehow, but it will probably be a bad contract for bad contract trade. I can't even see Boozer playing a big role in the 2nd unit anymore, b/c frankly he can't even get his offense going anymore. Hopefully he gets it together before the real games start.

Belinelli and Butler should shoot every time they are open the next few games. Butler doesn't take a shot anymore and Belinelli the same. How in hell is Nate gonna get the offense going in the 2nd unit if neither of those guys take a shot? Thibs should tell them to shoot every time they're a little open.

Nasty Nazi has been great, if he keeps this up Center is gonna be our best position this year. Would be fun to see some Noah Nazi Nate line ups! And Carlos Taj did work last season, why not try that out again.

Teague is a work in progress, but he had a few nice plays in this game and I like the progress you see with him. He'll slow down and learn the game.

[BJ43]

It's great that people who post here know how the refs feel about stuff. You wonder why the game thread is 14pgs, maybe people get sick of reading the same BS every game....Boozer blah blah blah sucks, no defense AMNESTY...EMPTY STATS...looosseer....we get it, you dont like Boozer, but you dont say it enough, maybe you should write about it all the time, that would make these threads so much more inviting!

When he does have a good game BUM SLAYER hahaha we soooo funny!

Stoooopid Boozer defenders, here look at this stat shows that Boozer killed puppies on the weekend

[weneeda2guard]

imo boozer just seems like this spot is too big for him

utah is a small city, that doesnt get the national attention the bulls get. even with him and d will there they still flew under the radar due to all the laker, spurs, dallas, phoenix talk. expectations were not high for that utah team

he comes to the bulls and its championship talk and even with rose being out they still talking championships, plus this a major market with way more coverage

then he is being looked at as the missing piece, and now since rose out, the pressure is on for him to be the one to carry the team.

it just seems like he not fit to handle that pressure.

im sure if he was in miami and all the pressure was on bron and wade boozer would likely shine. he just not fit to be a 2nd option or even 3rd option. he needs to be in a position where much aint expected from him.

he just looks like a deer caught in the headlights out there. that game 6 vs philly was too much on his shoulders and he crumbled.

i think sending him to the bench would benefit him. it would take some pressure off him and he could perform better. he just not fit for being a star for us in this league

[weneeda2guard]

nate robinson played excellent yesterday. if him and kirk can keep that up, and rose gets back healthy, our guard core wont be too bad. add rip in that mix and if these dudes can play some thibs defense, we might be a problem come playoff time.

the one hole is boozer, we got to do something about that. cause even nazr showing good signs. boozer is the weak link

[Seinfeld]

It's great that people who post here know how the refs feel about stuff. You wonder why the game thread is 14pgs, maybe people get sick of reading the same BS every game....Boozer blah blah blah sucks, no defense AMNESTY...EMPTY STATS...looosseer....we get it, you dont like Boozer, but you dont say it enough, maybe you should write about it all the time, that would make these threads so much more inviting!

When he does have a good game BUM SLAYER hahaha we soooo funny!

Stoooopid Boozer defenders, here look at this stat shows that Boozer killed puppies on the weekend

http://BoozerKillsPuppies.com

[sco]

A few points:

1) Living in NY, I remember Nate as a rookie. He was a SG in a PG body (if you can call 5'8 a PG body?), but props to him for upping his game. I'd love to see him thrive here. And actually, if he and Kirk both can play well at point, it will be a huge lift for the team.

2) I liked our ball movement. New guys aren't looking for the ball, but I like the flow of our offense.

3) Rip looks like he did 5 years ago. He and Kirk in the starting line-up will be fun to watch.

[kuly1990]

Hinrich looked good in these games he played, especially defensively vs Irving,
Rip also looked good especially yesterday,
Deng didnt score much yesterday but i dont worry about him,
Booz i worry about, sometimes he looks like he plays better D, but then he lets guys to get offensive rebounds like that guy from milwauke yesterday, and offensively, i believe jumpshot will be there, passing will be there, but inside scoring, and every atempt that is contested, will probably be missed, and i also noticed like someone before, that he is always saying the right things, smiles, acts nicely and stuff like that, but you have a feeling that he is faking it!
Noah looks good, althought i have a feeling like he was much more energetic, in his first years, and especially that year when he was in allstar form, a had good nights with like 18, 17, 19, 15 rebounds and stuff like that, he looks to me like his playing with less energy then he was at that time, and like he is a little slower, with slower, reactions and less hustle, he still is big energy and hustle guy but i think he was much more back then, Now you can see that he see little by little that he has improved offensively, especially with that Tornado, i hope that it keeps falling and becomes consistent! And i think it would be good move to switch Booz, and Taj, so Noah can work more offensively, and also Boozer can work more offensively with second unit, and pressure would be less on him, like you guys said before!
Robinson showed yesterday that he can be a good pg, he scored be he was making plays for whole team, and defensively, he plays good, he plays good one on one D, and also gets a few steals, and contest shots, even tho some of them fall in, because he is small,
Bellinelli isnt playing good, but i believe he would, he has to find more chemistry, and shoot more, than it will open the hole game, to show us his balhandling, playmaking and other stuff, his D is better than i thought, hopes he improves it more like Korver did,
Butler is playing great D, few times i said to myself, wooow, thats great D by Jimmy, he rebounds great, but he has to shoot, especially when he is totally open, like yesterday, i remember one time there was no one near him, Robinson find him, and he didnt shoot it, he said that he has confidence to take shoots, he started like that and then he lost that confidence, if he shoots maybe it falls, maybe it gives us offensive rebound, but its much better than not shoot it, and then shoot some contested shoot because the shot clock is expiring, the same thing happened to Brewer when he first started hitting some shots, and when he missed a few, he wasnt taking them even when he was wide wide open!
Taj looks good be i believe he is still searching himself and himself in this changed team, i hope we sing him for something like between 7 or 9 mill. p year! and that he shows us his improvements on his shoot and l. post moves!
Moahmmed impressed me, he is worse on D than Asik obviously, but looks great on his O. Reobunding, and overall scoring the ball, hope he continues it in regular season!
Teague looks like he is learning slowly, but learning and becoming better, i really believe that he will improve and that he is a good pick for us, to me he looks better than on summer league a lot better, althought that it hasnt showed on stats, he is improving very slowly but i think he is improving, i hope he will gets some chances!
Radmanovic i dont like but if he is ther to prepare for Mirotic than its ok, even only in training, and Fesenko i had hopes that he will be our 5 big, but he hasnt showed much, i still hope he will and that we will keep him, and he will improve some with Thibs! Jaric i really dont like, i hope that he is waiwed, and if we have need for 3d PG that it will be Teague! other guys didnt played that much!
and for Rose he looks like he is much stronger, i hope that it will be good for him and his game, maybe for low post game, and that he is shooting and that he will become deadly with jumper, maybe with that midrange jumper also!

[Guy]

...boozer ..he just looks like a deer caught in the headlights out there. that game 6 vs philly was too much on his shoulders and he crumbled.

I totally see this as well.

[RedBulls23]

It's great that people who post here know how the refs feel about stuff. You wonder why the game thread is 14pgs, maybe people get sick of reading the same BS every game....Boozer blah blah blah sucks, no defense AMNESTY...EMPTY STATS...looosseer....we get it, you dont like Boozer, but you dont say it enough, maybe you should write about it all the time, that would make these threads so much more inviting!

When he does have a good game BUM SLAYER hahaha we soooo funny!

Stoooopid Boozer defenders, here look at this stat shows that Boozer killed puppies on the weekend

This post made me laugh. It's funny that there is always someone on the team that gets the "scapegoat" treatment from the fan base. Granted there are things to criticize in Boozers game, but I just feel like it turns into blind hatred with him sometimes.

[DuckIII]

I picked the wrong day to draft a Nate Robinson-hating sig. I'm keeping it for now though. I don't trust that guy's game one bit.

[JackFinn]

I'm digging White-Supremacist-Muslim's game. He's a pleasant surprise to me. I was very concerned about our backup center spot, especially since Joakim gets hurt every year.

[Guy]

I picked the wrong day to draft a Nate Robinson-hating sig. I'm keeping it for now though. I don't trust that guy's game one bit.

I like the Nate I see under structured coaching. We're going to need his offense sooner than later though.

[AAU Teammate]

I see we're back to the relentless Boozer punching bag. We all agree he was an overpay. That part out of the way:

He is not a guy who draws a double team, but historically he is a guy who fills it up when healthy, last year included. He's a guy who gets his points off an offense working very well. Our problem right now is nearly each of our guys falls in that category. Derrick makes the whole thing go. Luol gets space to get a few problem-free dribbles because of Derrick. Noah gets to get the offensive putback points because Derrick draws a big man out with his driving. And Boozer gets uncontested jumpshots galore because of Derrick drawing double teams.

Now, is Boozer a veteran loafing in preseason? He wouldn't be the first. Shaq used to get ready for a season around December. That wouldn't be earth-shattering news to hear about a vet.

But the reality most here are missing -- without athleticism, Boozer is still the guy on this team that has proven most likely to put the ball in the basket. Don't ignore all of last year because of a few preseason games. If a few jumpers would fall in, we wouldn't be discussing this so much....and we all here know he hits a jumper better than Taj, Deng and Noah (who are drawing no flack at present because some of them happen to be falling).



The problem with the current Bulls is that a jumper loses its value when the offense has to run like a very well oiled machine to work. That's where we're at. We score points in the halfcourt right now when plays are run to perfection. That is way harder to do against great defenses.

The only question is this: can Hamilton be just good enough at drawing extra defenders to him...for several months, in order to solidify us with a decent seed? If so, then Boozer gets more open jumpers, and over a long term sample size, we'll all be happier.

Either we need that, or an unbelievably good defense...to keep us one of the best in the East. But I hesitate on that hope since ..more Nate, less Omer.. sounds like a dream for teams that can really run some offense against us.



We're in a weird spot where a Hinrich led team can be elite defensively, and a Nate led team can get some serious fastbreak points....but the opposite of each scenario might actually be below average (Kirk's penetration, Nate's defense)

To wrap up, the PG spot will tell the tale of our offense this year. Not Boozer. Boozer's offense is a result of great PG play. He doesn't make up for it-- it's crazy to expect that of him.