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from the chicago tribute per rotoworld

The Bulls plan to limit Joakim Noah's minutes this season in hopes of keeping his recurring plantar fasciitis problems under control.
The Bulls are going to try to rely on Nazr Mohammed to put in quality minutes as the back up center in hopes of keeping Noah healthy. Mohammed may not be ready for a heavy workload, so limiting Noah's minutes will be easier said than done. While Noah's playing time should be a minor concern in fantasy, he's still expected to be a very effective center, so draft him accordingly.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ba ... rn&z=30533

good

is pax gonna try to fight thibs if this overplays him though?

It's a good thing we brought Asik back.

HomoSapien wrote:It's a good thing we brought Asik back.

asik messes up our flexibility

Finally, thank you. Keep Noah fresh for the playoffs.

(1) Good.

(2) They had to have known this all offseason.

(3) Which makes the draft and free agency choices more and more troubling.

(4) Nazr can suck it, go small and play Taj more.

With the way Nazr played last season, Noah's going to be be at 37-39mpg by December.

Good idea in theory but like to see how it will be executed in reality. Noah was playing heavy minutes even when he was not 100% healthy and now they will cut down his minutes even if healthy?? And, this is with an older Nazr and no Asik. We know they tried to sign Camby and other big guys. That means they are not happy with the Center depth.

Unless Thibs changes his defensive schemes where he uses Boozer as the Center to play with Taj as PF, this is not going to happen. I don' t think Thibs is going to trust the other big men on the team unless it is an emergency situation.

DuckIII wrote:(1) Good.

(2) They had to have known this all offseason.

(3) Which makes the draft and free agency choices more and more troubling.

(4) Nazr can suck it, go small and play Taj more.

I think Taj will play more than people think. I hope he creeps close to 30 a night.

Nazr was decent down the stretch. Hopefully he comes out of the gates strong.

The infuriating thing to me is this:

"Tell him to buy, not rent," Forman said.

Replied Mohammed: "I like the sound of that."

Forman told Nazr Mohammed in April that he was coming back. We told this to a 36 year old center who shot under 37% for the year and was most widely compared to a corpse.

I'm all for bringing him back if he's a good locker room guy, but his play (even the improved play) wasn't enough to dismiss other options.

Taj should play most of the backup center minutes unless Nazr is really needed for his size. Taj was very effective in the few games he started at center in place of Noah last year.

IMO, Taj is not strong enough to play against most Centers. He is good at moving his feet but if there is a weakness with Taj, it is his strength. Boozer for all his weaknesses and defensive problems is stronger than Taj.

HomoSapien wrote:The infuriating thing to me is this:

"Tell him to buy, not rent," Forman said.

Replied Mohammed: "I like the sound of that."

Forman told Nazr Mohammed in April that he was coming back. We told this to a 36 year old center who shot under 37% for the year and was most widely compared to a corpse.

I'm all for bringing him back if he's a good locker room guy, but his play (even the improved play) wasn't enough to dismiss other options.

I don't think that giving Nazr the vet min prevented any other options.

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HomoSapien wrote:The infuriating thing to me is this:

"Tell him to buy, not rent," Forman said.

Replied Mohammed: "I like the sound of that."

Forman told Nazr Mohammed in April that he was coming back. We told this to a 36 year old center who shot under 37% for the year and was most widely compared to a corpse.

I'm all for bringing him back if he's a good locker room guy, but his play (even the improved play) wasn't enough to dismiss other options.

Yeah they did but it was more as an insurance not as the main back up. Things didn't shake out though in free agency. I'm hoping Pittman or White show something here in preseason.

babblin-on wrote:

HomoSapien wrote:The infuriating thing to me is this:

"Tell him to buy, not rent," Forman said.

Replied Mohammed: "I like the sound of that."

Forman told Nazr Mohammed in April that he was coming back. We told this to a 36 year old center who shot under 37% for the year and was most widely compared to a corpse.

I'm all for bringing him back if he's a good locker room guy, but his play (even the improved play) wasn't enough to dismiss other options.

I don't think that giving Nazr the vet min prevented any other options.

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It absolutely did. We're strapped financially. It was him or someone else.

Any updates on the Kurt Thomas thing Sham said and if so when we can expect him?

I think we can limit Noah to 32-34 MPG with Nazr/Kurt/Taj.

Also Nazr started playing pretty respectable towards the end of the year and actually has a jumper. Is it ideal? Of course not but I'm comfortable enough with with playin 10 minutes a game. He knows Thibs system now.

DuckIII wrote:(1) Good.

(2) They had to have known this all offseason.

(3) Which makes the draft and free agency choices more and more troubling.

(4) Nazr can suck it, go small and play Taj more.

Ya between Taj and Boozer (and Noah), Nazr doesn't really need to play very many minutes.

I hope we don't see a lot of cases where there's a very well rested Taj sitting on the bench while Nazr is doing his thang.

kyrv wrote:

DuckIII wrote:(1) Good.

(2) They had to have known this all offseason.

(3) Which makes the draft and free agency choices more and more troubling.

(4) Nazr can suck it, go small and play Taj more.

Ya between Taj and Boozer (and Noah), Nazr doesn't really need to play very many minutes.

I hope we don't see a lot of cases where there's a very well rested Taj sitting on the bench while Nazr is doing his thang.

Taj is going to play a lot more 5. The problem was that last year, you couldn't play Taj and Boozer together; offensively, they got in each other's way, and there was no one to set them up (i.e. Noah was facilitating both of their games).

With Derrick back, you can get away with Boozer/Taj frontcourts, with Derrick out there, because he can set them up.

BuffaloBull wrote:

kyrv wrote:

DuckIII wrote:(1) Good.

(2) They had to have known this all offseason.

(3) Which makes the draft and free agency choices more and more troubling.

(4) Nazr can suck it, go small and play Taj more.

Ya between Taj and Boozer (and Noah), Nazr doesn't really need to play very many minutes.

I hope we don't see a lot of cases where there's a very well rested Taj sitting on the bench while Nazr is doing his thang.

Taj is going to play a lot more 5. The problem was that last year, you couldn't play Taj and Boozer together; offensively, they got in each other's way, and there was no one to set them up (i.e. Noah was facilitating both of their games).

With Derrick back, you can get away with Boozer/Taj frontcourts, with Derrick out there, because he can set them up.

Good points. For some reason when I think of the Boozer/Taj pairing and how it would work, I only think about the defense, maybe because Boozer is high maintenance on that end as far as pairings go.

This makes me feel a lot better, I was disappointed last year (I think a ton of us were) that Taj didn't play more 5.

BuffaloBull wrote:

kyrv wrote:

DuckIII wrote:(1) Good.

(2) They had to have known this all offseason.

(3) Which makes the draft and free agency choices more and more troubling.

(4) Nazr can suck it, go small and play Taj more.

Ya between Taj and Boozer (and Noah), Nazr doesn't really need to play very many minutes.

I hope we don't see a lot of cases where there's a very well rested Taj sitting on the bench while Nazr is doing his thang.

Taj is going to play a lot more 5. The problem was that last year, you couldn't play Taj and Boozer together; offensively, they got in each other's way, and there was no one to set them up (i.e. Noah was facilitating both of their games).

With Derrick back, you can get away with Boozer/Taj frontcourts, with Derrick out there, because he can set them up.

So what's changed this year?