RealGM

It's my annual "pick your poison" thread, lol since I made a similar thread last year. Who would you want the Bulls to play in the playoffs? The Bucks are obviously easier first round opponent compared to the Wizards, but they will have a tougher opponent in the second round with the Cavs compared to the Hawks.

IF the Bulls are the third seed, they will play the Bucks/Cavs (most likely) while the fourth seed will land them the Wizards/Hawks (most likely). The Bulls are guaranteed home court in the first round regardless of the third or fourth seed. At the moment, the Bulls have a half game lead over the Raptors with one to go at home against Atlanta. The Raptors have two to go in Boston and home against Charlotte. Toronto has the tiebreaker due to being division winner even though the Bulls are 4-0 against them this season...lame.

What path would you want for the Bulls?

Don't get the poll options. Bucks/Hawks v Wiz/Cavs?

Anyway, I'd rather face easier 1st round matchup, so Bucks/Cavs

OP, it's Buck/Cavs and Wiz/Hawks

Oops, my bad. First post/poll has been updated to reflect the correct match-ups.

ChicagoSportsFan21 wrote:Oops, my bad. First post/poll has been updated to reflect the correct match-ups.

Now it looks like I voted for Cavs matchup not Hawks

MC3 wrote:

ChicagoSportsFan21 wrote:Oops, my bad. First post/poll has been updated to reflect the correct match-ups.

Now it looks like I voted for Cavs matchup not Hawks

You can change your vote if you like. I changed the option on the poll for you to be able to change your vote.

If I were gonna rank how tough the East playoff opponents are it would look like this:

1. Cavs 10/10
2. Hawks 9.5/10
3. Wizards 8/10
4. Pacers(w/George) 7/10
5. Raptors 5/10
6. Bucks 3.5/10
7. Nets/Celtics 3/10

You have to go with a 1st round matchup over a complete pretender as opposed to a fairly legit threat that plays great against us.

I'm at the point now where I don't even care anymore. Good arguments can be made for wanting the #3 or #4 seed. We should be good either way if we keep playing the way we are now and stay healthy.

The 1 thing standing in the bulls way to a title is a lebron james led offense, which is in cleveland.

The kind of offense you need to beat lebron, we don't appear to have yet. Especially with kirk eating up minutes and how cold our shooters can get. If niko, brooks, snell, dunleavy, can get Danny green, patty mills, etc type of hot, then we could be in good shape vs cleveland but it's hard to be confident that we can get there at least enough to win a 7 game series.

So with that said, I prefer wizards/hawks. Then either hope Cleveland can be upset by toronto, or we get in enough of a groove that by the ecf we can beat the cavs

Washington has struggled more than us and are missing something with miller and ariza gone. Niko is a match up problem for their front court, and as long as pau taj and noah can do well on the glass especially the offensive glass, and if jimmy and rose and out duel Beal and wall which I think they can, We are a little deeper and our defense is much better, I think we can take Washington out in 6.

With atlanta, the key to them is to kill them up front. I also don't think they fire hot 3pt shooting they have had will be there as much as it has already come down quite a bit. Biggest keys are we have defenders to throw at their guards and they have nothing to stop rose if he is himself. Add in the fact Paul Milsap may be a bit hobbled and I def prefer them 2nd rd to cleveland.

Then we see the cavs in the ecf. Or maybe the cavs inexperience catch up to them early and toronto upsets them who knows.

I really like what I'm seeing from this Bulls team, so it doesn't matter all that much for me at this point. But if I have to choose, I'd go with 4th seed vs Wiz and Hawks.

There's no reason for us to fear Washington at all when we're firing on all cylinders. The Bulls team they smashed last year was a totally different team... no Rose, no All-Star Butler, a hobbling Noah, no double-double machine Pau Gasol, no ROY candidate Mirotic, and no Snelly Cat version of Tony Snell. The Wiz got worse this year, and Thibs > Wittman.

While both Hawks and Cavs love to shoot 3's, Hawks look more beatable of the two. It won't be an easy series, but I think Bulls can win in 6.

We don't want to run into Cleveland in the 2nd round, so I'm picking Wizards/Hawks. Atlanta is no joke either, but I maintain that we matchup a hell of a lot better with them and there is no legitimate superstar on their team to worry about.

Washington will be tough, but we are day and night from the team that lost to them last year.

Wizards/Hawks easily. I'm fairly confident the Bulls would beat the Wizards a series. I wouldn't be that shocked if they beat the Hawks either. Sure they could lose, but I think they're a more talented team. I would of course root for the Bulls to beat the Cavs in a series but would be very surprised if it happened.

I went with wiz/hawks, primarily because I want a wiz rematch. That being said, the hawks scare me.

I think wee match up better with the Cavs than the Hawks. Rather face the easier Bucks in the first, and get the Cavs series over with. If we don't beat them in the 2nd, we weren't gonna beat them in the ECF, so what does it matter when we play them?

The truth will be told either way. Finding out earlier won't make it worse.

Edit: Thabo's out, and just found out that Milsap is dealing with a shoulder injury. Scrap everything I just said. I'll go the Wiz/Hawks route just to watch the team for an extra round (previously went with Bucks/Cavs route, because felt like the Bucks was at least a guaranteed win, but the Hawks weren't. Now I feel like we can have 2 decently sure bets to win against the Wiz and Hawks, compared to 1 very winnable series. Also, starting off with the Wiz wasn't as sure if a bet as the Bucks so the Bucks/Cavs route outweighed the Wiz/Hawks route. Now its more of a 2 very winnable series against a guarunteed winnable series, and a not sure series, if this makes sense).

Have to go with Bucks/Cavs. I think we're playing the Cavs at some point either way if we want to win a championship, so might as well get it out of the way early.

Wizards -- > Hawks ---> Cavs

or

Bucks --> Cavs --> Hawks

The second is immensely easier by getting an easy matchup into the second round, where the first we play the same two teams in the latter rounds, just in different orders.

Alternatively, it could become Bucks ---> Cavs --> Raptors/Wizards, which would be best case scenario. Wizards would still be tough, but we've owned the Raptors this year.

I don't see anyway that it wouldn't just be Wiz --> Hawks --> Cavs for us if we go the 4 seed route. Hitting the Cavs earlier sucks, but I don't think you can depend on someone else knocking them out for you.

Bucks/Cavs easily.

The two options should really be...

Bucks/Cavs/Hawks
Wizards/Hawks/Cavs

Think that makes it even more obvious that you want the Bucks in the first round, instead of Washington.

I think they can beat both, but I'd rather avoid a team that plays well against us and avoid John Wall.

I also don't care when we would play Cleveland. Seems like some people think playing them in the ECF is an advantage or something. I'd much rather see the Cavs after their cupcake first round. Let Chicago be the first real test Kyrie and Love have in the Playoffs.

[e] wrote:Bucks/Cavs easily.

The two options should really be...

Bucks/Cavs/Hawks
Wizards/Hawks/Cavs

Think that makes it even more obvious that you want the Bucks in the first round, instead of Washington.

I think they can beat both, but I'd rather avoid a team that plays well against us and avoid John Wall.

I also don't care when we would play Cleveland. Seems like some people think playing them in the ECF is an advantage or something. I'd much rather see the Cavs after their cupcake first round. Let Chicago be the first real test Kyrie and Love have in the Playoffs.

What if you found out Milsap's dealing with a shoulder injury? Wouldn't you rather play 2 winnable series, even though they're harder than the Bucks, and watch the team for an extra round?

It doesn't matter to me. If we're going to do anything at all we're just going to have to win regardless of who we're playing. Tho I will say I would like to get revenge on WSH and it would make round 1 a lot more entertaining.

Wizards and Hawks easily

Surprised at the results. I pick Bucks/Cavs. Sure Cavs are the toughest draw but if Rose still has some rust to shake, I'd so much rather he do it against MCW where a 60-75% Rose is still probably good enough to win. Wizards may not be amazing but Wall is, and I'd rather Rose not have to run through 20 million Nene/Gortat screens in the first round.