Around The NBA: 2019-20 RESTART

[johnnyvann840]

Ja Morant is putting on a show vs Houston.

Now THIS kid is a player I wanted on the Bulls so badly. He is exactly the type of player the city of Chicago needed, but also. He is going to rot in Memphis for a few years yet, before inevitably, he leaves. And mark my words, he is eventually going to leave for a bigger market.

He is fun to watch and it would be a shame if he left Memphis. I would love to see what he and JJJ could do together if they had a few years to shine.

oh, and with Brandon Clarke. That could be some team if they can stay together.

[Leslie Forman]

Ja Morant is putting on a show vs Houston.

Now THIS kid is a player I wanted on the Bulls so badly. He is exactly the type of player the city of Chicago needed, but also. He is going to rot in Memphis for a few years yet, before inevitably, he leaves. And mark my words, he is eventually going to leave for a bigger market.

He is fun to watch and it would be a shame if he left Memphis. I would love to see what he and JJJ could do together if they had a few years to shine.

oh, and with Brandon Clarke. That could be some team if they can stay together.

Yeah seriously. Why the hell would he give up the max and playing with Jaren Jackson and Brandon Clarke? What, he's gonna take less money to play with Wendell Carter and Coby White? Pfffftttt.

He's in a great spot for a young PG. He should consider himself lucky he isn't stuck here or on the Knicks.

[mtron32]

You know it's dark days when I'm jealous of the Grizzlies, Morant is a beast

[Dan Z]

You know it's dark days when I'm jealous of the Grizzlies, Morant is a beast

I didn't think he'd be this good but...wow.

Too bad the Bulls weren't able to draft him.

[mtron32]

You know it's dark days when I'm jealous of the Grizzlies, Morant is a beast

I didn't think he'd be this good but...wow.

Too bad the Bulls weren't able to draft him.

I wanted him over Zion

[johnnyvann840]

Now THIS kid is a player I wanted on the Bulls so badly. He is exactly the type of player the city of Chicago needed, but also. He is going to rot in Memphis for a few years yet, before inevitably, he leaves. And mark my words, he is eventually going to leave for a bigger market.

He is fun to watch and it would be a shame if he left Memphis. I would love to see what he and JJJ could do together if they had a few years to shine.

oh, and with Brandon Clarke. That could be some team if they can stay together.

Yeah seriously. Why the hell would he give up the max and playing with Jaren Jackson and Brandon Clarke? What, he's gonna take less money to play with Wendell Carter and Coby White? Pfffftttt.

He's in a great spot for a young PG. He should consider himself lucky he isn't stuck here or on the Knicks.

Also, Memphis just won their 6th straight. 8-2 in their last 10. They were supposed to be worse than the Bulls this season. lol. They are now 19-22 and 8th in the Western Conference.

[johnnyvann840]

You know it's dark days when I'm jealous of the Grizzlies, Morant is a beast

I didn't think he'd be this good but...wow.

Too bad the Bulls weren't able to draft him.

I wanted him over Zion

Saw some footage of Zion practicing today. Man, he looks huge. His gait when he runs still looks so strange and he is so knock-kneed. Hate to say it but I'm afraid it's just a matter of time before he goes down again. I just cannot see how his joints and ligaments are going to survive in this league. It hurts just watching him run.

[johnnyvann840]

Normally don't agree with Jalen, but he is spot on here...

Watch on YouTube

[Chi town]

Morant is better as a rookie than Luka.

Damn impressive.

[mtron32]

I didn't think he'd be this good but...wow.

Too bad the Bulls weren't able to draft him.

I wanted him over Zion

Saw some footage of Zion practicing today. Man, he looks huge. His gait when he runs still looks so strange and he is so knock-kneed. Hate to say it but I'm afraid it's just a matter of time before he goes down again. I just cannot see how his joints and ligaments are going to survive in this league. It hurts just watching him run.

True, he definitely has bust potential and I would've been real nervous entrusting his health to the Bulls training staff, Pels look like they're doing the best they can with him. Hopefully the dude gets healthy and balls out.

[Ccwatercraft]

harden 37 shot attempts, sheez.

[Fl_Flash]

Watching Morant and the Grizz last night made me sad and also a little angry.

Man - they're a fun team to watch. Morant is awesome. They move the ball so well and the players are also moving. They take good shots - and many of those shots were open mid-range shots. Pretty much everything they run is going to the basket or drive and kick - but they're smart plays. I compare that to the Bulls and I've lost count how many times I've seen guys pass on wide open midrange shots only to kick the ball back behind the three point line and start all over again (and I'm down to barely watching the Bulls anymore!). Someone needs to slap Boylen around and tell him that a good shot in the NBA is a wide open one regardless of how far away from the basket they are.

Compare the Grizz to the Rockets. Their sets are pretty much give the ball to Harden and go stand somewhere. Just night and day difference. I may have to catch some more of the Grizzlies just so that I can retain what little joy I have in watching the NBA any longer. I hope they can keep their group together and make some noise. They deserve it.

[Ccwatercraft]

Watching Morant and the Grizz last night made me sad and also a little angry.

Man - they're a fun team to watch. Morant is awesome. They move the ball so well and the players are also moving. They take good shots - and many of those shots were open mid-range shots. Pretty much everything they run is going to the basket or drive and kick - but they're smart plays. I compare that to the Bulls and I've lost count how many times I've seen guys pass on wide open midrange shots only to kick the ball back behind the three point line and start all over again (and I'm down to barely watching the Bulls anymore!). Someone needs to slap Boylen around and tell him that a good shot in the NBA is a wide open one regardless of how far away from the basket they are.

Compare the Grizz to the Rockets. Their sets are pretty much give the ball to Harden and go stand somewhere. Just night and day difference. I may have to catch some more of the Grizzlies just so that I can retain what little joy I have in watching the NBA any longer. I hope they can keep their group together and make some noise. They deserve it.

Memphis was suggested to me (perhaps by you) as a team that will make watching games fun again, but you hit it spot on, the best shot is an open shot.

One example (there are dozens) that recently happened was where Arci got the ball wide open under the basket for an easy reverse layup and his first action was to immediately pass it out to the corner, dammit man! Now if you are down by 3 with 5 seconds left in the game then yes that's the right move, but in that example they were actually up and he still passed it. The question that immediately popped into my head was he being stupid or following orders? I don't know the answer.

[DASMACKDOWN]

We beat the Grizz twice. Does that count as a good win now?

[FriedRise]

We beat the Grizz twice. Does that count as a good win now?

NO

- Both games happened in the past when Memphis wasn't playing well
- Coby White had to go supersaiyan in one of the games. Whenever we need a rookie to play well, the games can NOT count.
- They didn't have Ja Morant in the second game, yet it was still a close game. We had to overcome Boylen's coaching and not having Otto too, but that doesn't matter.

Terrible wins.

[johnnyvann840]

We beat the Grizz twice. Does that count as a good win now?

Nope. It was the 2nd game of the season against a team starting a rookie at PG that started the season worse than we did. Other game they were without Morant who has come a long way in half a season.

We suck. Let's just face reality. Bulls have dodged the best players of all the teams they have faced, our opponents rest their stars against us because they don't take us seriously. Despite this, we are still 13 games under .500 with ZERO quality wins. No need to look for bright spots that aren't there or try put lipstick on this pig. You can polish a turd as much as you like but it's still a turd.

btw, our "great defense" has tumbled from 5th al the way to 10th over the last two weeks. If we just take the last 8 games we are 26th in the league at defensive rating. Offense is 27th. We have a bottom 4 defense and a bottom 4 offense. That is how bad it is. Sorry to be so negative but I'm just telling it like it is.

[RedBulls23]

Ja Morant is putting on a show vs Houston.

Now THIS kid is a player I wanted on the Bulls so badly. He is exactly the type of player the city of Chicago needed, but alas. He is going to rot in Memphis for a few years yet, before inevitably, he leaves. And mark my words, he is eventually going to leave for a bigger market.

Yeah it's waaaaaaaaay too early to make any proclamations about a player leaving.

Fact is, memphis, unlike the Bulls are a competent organization and have built a quality core (in addition to Ja and Jaren, they have guys like Clarke, Melton, Brooks and they have draft capital). They have talent around Ja, and will be able to continue to build a winner.

He'll be there for another 8 years at the very least. You can book that.

[samwana]

Ja Morant is putting on a show vs Houston.

Now THIS kid is a player I wanted on the Bulls so badly. He is exactly the type of player the city of Chicago needed, but alas. He is going to rot in Memphis for a few years yet, before inevitably, he leaves. And mark my words, he is eventually going to leave for a bigger market.

Yeah it's waaaaaaaaay too early to make any proclamations about a player leaving.

Fact is, memphis unlike, the Bulls are a competent organization and have built a quality core. They have talent around Ja, so I think he'll be there for the next 8 years at least.

Yep that's what a competent organization and especially a competent coach does to young players.

Coby would be way better with the Grizz too.

Sent from my POT-LX1 using RealGM mobile app

[RSP83]

Watching Morant and the Grizz last night made me sad and also a little angry.

Man - they're a fun team to watch. Morant is awesome. They move the ball so well and the players are also moving. They take good shots - and many of those shots were open mid-range shots. Pretty much everything they run is going to the basket or drive and kick - but they're smart plays. I compare that to the Bulls and I've lost count how many times I've seen guys pass on wide open midrange shots only to kick the ball back behind the three point line and start all over again (and I'm down to barely watching the Bulls anymore!). Someone needs to slap Boylen around and tell him that a good shot in the NBA is a wide open one regardless of how far away from the basket they are.

Compare the Grizz to the Rockets. Their sets are pretty much give the ball to Harden and go stand somewhere. Just night and day difference. I may have to catch some more of the Grizzlies just so that I can retain what little joy I have in watching the NBA any longer. I hope they can keep their group together and make some noise. They deserve it.

What really bothers me is why can't our FO just make it simple in their coaching hire? I've never heard of Taylor Jenkins, but his credential and career progression more than justify his hire. He came up through the Spurs coaching ranks, he followed Bud to Atlanta and Milwaukee. He's probably highly touted in the coaching circle. Jenkins hiring made total sense. Same way when we hired Thibs... another guy who worked his way up through the ranks and found success with the Celtics. Made total sense. Probably no coincidence that both turned out a success.

But after Thibs we went back to nepotism and cronyism with Hoiberg and Boylen... and surprise surprise we go back to sucking. If the FO is reading this, "stop thinking you're smarter than anybody!" It's not a difficult decision. Coaches like Thibs, Jenkins, Joerger already have work portfolios they can show with recommendations from the coaching community. Bulls FO just need to pull their heads out of their a**.

[HomoSapien]

What's up with Mo Bamba? Still only averaging 5/5 and playing about 15 min a game. Shooting just 33% on 3's, 60% from the free throw line. Are they just bringing him along VERY slowly, or is he just not very good?

He's good, he's just in the absolute worst situation because they've committed to Nikola Vucevic. There's not a whole lot of playing time for him because of that. I still prefer him long-term over Carter.

His per 36 minutes are pretty good though at 12 points, 12 rebounds, and 3.1 bpg.