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"I think for us, it's going to start on defense," Ball said. "Once we get out on the break, we've got a lot of athletes that can get up and down and pretty much catch wherever I throw it. The team we put together, we're going to be better in transition. I think defense is going to lead to better offense for us and that starts with me. So I think just coming in, playing hard and making the right plays really is my job this year. As long as we get the stops and get out and run, I think we should have a lot of options and a lot of good options. We can run out and find the best option. Zach and DJ (Derrick Jones, who didn't play Tuesday), they can catch it anywhere. So wherever I put it, I feel like they're going to get it."

coldfish wrote:IMO, the Bulls defense is going to be stunning to a lot of people. The execution the last game was pretty ridiculous and the length/athleticism of the team is badly underrated. I need to see more data but right now I wouldn't be surprised if the team ended up being top 5 in defense.

People will bring up DDR, Lavine and Vuc but given their reduced offensive roles, they have more energy for defense and seem to have bought in. All three executed the defensive scheme very well in game 1.

The pick and roll defense in particular is a massive upgrade. The team can switch frequently and they have people who fight over picks. Not sure if anyone noticed but Vuc looked a lot better in the drop defense when he wasn't going 1 on 2.

Lastly, defense is a team thing, not an individual one. Those looking at individual defenders are missing the bigger picture. Its about everyone doing their job and the Bulls *might* have that. Hopefully game 1 wasn't some massive fluke.

WookieOnRitalin wrote:

coldfish wrote:IMO, the Bulls defense is going to be stunning to a lot of people. The execution the last game was pretty ridiculous and the length/athleticism of the team is badly underrated. I need to see more data but right now I wouldn't be surprised if the team ended up being top 5 in defense.

People will bring up DDR, Lavine and Vuc but given their reduced offensive roles, they have more energy for defense and seem to have bought in. All three executed the defensive scheme very well in game 1.

The pick and roll defense in particular is a massive upgrade. The team can switch frequently and they have people who fight over picks. Not sure if anyone noticed but Vuc looked a lot better in the drop defense when he wasn't going 1 on 2.

Lastly, defense is a team thing, not an individual one. Those looking at individual defenders are missing the bigger picture. Its about everyone doing their job and the Bulls *might* have that. Hopefully game 1 wasn't some massive fluke.

Easy to have a defense look good while playing a team without a player in the Top 50.

The real test will be seeing how they look against a team with one or two players top perimeter players. I'll be more optimistic and have a better concept of the strengths/weaknesses are with more samples. I will agree that they do have some better athletes out there which "should" help a bit.

kodo wrote:Doesn't look like we're really switching. Seems to be standard hedge & recover stuff, we don't hard switch, the initial man gets back asap to the ball.

Doesn't look like we're doing anything really unusual here, most of the results are just from everyone is getting through screens much better than last year. People aren't content to hit a screen and then give up.

Probably the biggest changes are
- Javonte is about 500x faster at jumping out on the ball and then recovering to his man than Thad Young or Lauri.
- Lonzo & Caruso are handling screens better than anyone we had last year, they are anticipating and getting through them. Coby & Sato last year got hit with a screen and looked like they needed a doctor
- the entire team is playing the passing lanes, pretty high risk.

coldfish wrote:Just to note, I did see switches. I'm pretty sure I know the rules. When its a big man setting the pick, the Bulls cover PnR with drop coverage. That's how most teams run PnR so you see that a lot. That said, when it was two wing plays running picks, I did see the Bulls switch and they did it well.

I almost never saw the Bulls switch last year.

TeamMan wrote:After watching the Cavs game, I decided to go back and find this thread again.

The reason is because of an observation that I made about the team as a whole...

The Bulls players have really, really quick hands.

It's an intangible that you can't quantify. So, no one could have projected what was going to happen.

Over the past years, I remember hearing Stacy King pound it into the ground, "You've got to get to the 50/50 balls."

And I also remember a quote from Bill Cartwright when he talked about 50/50 balls - he said, "We got all of them!"

With 50/50 balls, there is a fraction of a second where the ball just seems to be hanging in the air, and during the Cavs game, it seemed like (every time) one of the Bulls players (with lightening quickness) reached out and snatched the ball out of the air.

And the player who surprised me most was Vuc. With centers we tend to think about rim-protection. But, when a player goes 1-on-1 against him (not only other centers), Vuc has a real knack of getting his hands on the ball and slapping it away (often to another Bulls player.)

I went back and checked the stats against the Cavs and they had 20 TOs, but 13 of those TOs were Bulls steals. And that does not include the effect from getting most of the 50/50 balls.

So, the Bulls quick hands is something that I'll be watching as the season goes on. My fear is that the refs will start to call fouls in those situations. But I've also seen that, even if the a player is fouled, when it happens super quick, the refs will miss it. So, that'll also be something to keep and eye on.

TeamMan wrote:

TeamMan wrote:After watching the Cavs game, I decided to go back and find this thread again.

The reason is because of an observation that I made about the team as a whole...

The Bulls players have really, really quick hands.

It's an intangible that you can't quantify. So, no one could have projected what was going to happen.

Over the past years, I remember hearing Stacy King pound it into the ground, "You've got to get to the 50/50 balls."

And I also remember a quote from Bill Cartwright when he talked about 50/50 balls - he said, "We got all of them!"

With 50/50 balls, there is a fraction of a second where the ball just seems to be hanging in the air, and during the Cavs game, it seemed like (every time) one of the Bulls players (with lightening quickness) reached out and snatched the ball out of the air.

And the player who surprised me most was Vuc. With centers we tend to think about rim-protection. But, when a player goes 1-on-1 against him (not only other centers), Vuc has a real knack of getting his hands on the ball and slapping it away (often to another Bulls player.)

I went back and checked the stats against the Cavs and they had 20 TOs, but 13 of those TOs were Bulls steals. And that does not include the effect from getting most of the 50/50 balls.

So, the Bulls quick hands is something that I'll be watching as the season goes on. My fear is that the refs will start to call fouls in those situations. But I've also seen that, even if the a player is fouled, when it happens super quick, the refs will miss it. So, that'll also be something to keep and eye on.

...Pelicans had 18 TOs, but 14 were Bulls steals.

This could be a fun stat to keep track of as the season goes on...

BullChit wrote:

TeamMan wrote:

TeamMan wrote:After watching the Cavs game, I decided to go back and find this thread again.

The reason is because of an observation that I made about the team as a whole...

The Bulls players have really, really quick hands.

It's an intangible that you can't quantify. So, no one could have projected what was going to happen.

Over the past years, I remember hearing Stacy King pound it into the ground, "You've got to get to the 50/50 balls."

And I also remember a quote from Bill Cartwright when he talked about 50/50 balls - he said, "We got all of them!"

With 50/50 balls, there is a fraction of a second where the ball just seems to be hanging in the air, and during the Cavs game, it seemed like (every time) one of the Bulls players (with lightening quickness) reached out and snatched the ball out of the air.

And the player who surprised me most was Vuc. With centers we tend to think about rim-protection. But, when a player goes 1-on-1 against him (not only other centers), Vuc has a real knack of getting his hands on the ball and slapping it away (often to another Bulls player.)

I went back and checked the stats against the Cavs and they had 20 TOs, but 13 of those TOs were Bulls steals. And that does not include the effect from getting most of the 50/50 balls.

So, the Bulls quick hands is something that I'll be watching as the season goes on. My fear is that the refs will start to call fouls in those situations. But I've also seen that, even if the a player is fouled, when it happens super quick, the refs will miss it. So, that'll also be something to keep and eye on.

...Pelicans had 18 TOs, but 14 were Bulls steals.

This could be a fun stat to keep track of as the season goes on...

I nominate you to keep track of it brother.....

coldfish wrote:Lastly, defense is a team thing, not an individual one. Those looking at individual defenders are missing the bigger picture. Its about everyone doing their job and the Bulls *might* have that. Hopefully game 1 wasn't some massive fluke.

coldfish wrote:DDR doesn't look like a liability.