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Ok i will be the first to admit i wanted to get rid of thabo, i wanted to send him to the d-league even. i just couldn't bare to watch him play. NOW, i have to admit he has been playing better. The one thing that really surprises me is his offense: he's hitting jumpers & driving to the lane (when available). this is something i just didn't think he had in him-even w/ more playing time. Thabo is also doing well at rebounding & of course his defense has always been there. So i conclude: don't send thabo to the d-league, lets ride this for as long as possible but if he is traded it still wouldn't hurt my feelings. My negative opinion has been skewed...

So let it be known its ok to change your opinion just a little. hey i honestly believed he had no offensive ability. i mean he still has an ugly shot. ok im don't want to start defending myself ahead of time.

Has your opinion changed, even a little?

Well, considering that I have always had a man-crush on his talent and game, my opinion hasn't changed at all.

I'm not a big Thabo booster - but the moaning for Brewer seems to have stopped

i think Thabo may have been a little bit more effective against baron yesterday than Duhon was.

Duhon is now #2 on my "Get Off My Team" list behind Ben Wallace. In fact, they are the only 2 guys on it.

About 2 weeks ago, Thabo was on the list. I hope that i dont have to put him back on.

Thabo's play is very encouraging, but he will need to sustain it. He will have to make good decisions with the ball and will have to show consistency with the jumper. Judging by Boylan's latest quote, he's not willing to hand over the mantle of starting guard to Thabo any time soon:

Despite Sefolosha's improvement, Boylan said there are no plans to start him in place of Chris Duhon when Hinrich returns.

"I'm happy with the way things are going right now," Boylan said. " 'CDu' is doing a good job for us. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

I'll hold judgment on Thabo until he does something against a team that plays defense.

I finally like what I'm seeing out of him on offense, but its been against mediocre and sub par defenses.

His defense has never been a question of mine.

DuckIII wrote:Well, considering that I have always had a man-crush on his talent and game, my opinion hasn't changed at all.

Do you recall that thread during the offseason where both me and you were defending our thoughts on playing Thabo over Duhon? I think we were the only people who felt that way. Funny how times change.

I just don't see how we can lose. We play Thabo who has far more potential to develop into a very valuable player over Duhon who is never going to provide anything more than a serviceable back up role. Thabo could possibly play an important part in this teams future, even if it is off the bench.

It's win win, the worse that can happen is Thabo sucking, which is what Duhon does now.

theawakening wrote:Thabo's play is very encouraging, but he will need to sustain it. He will have to make good decisions with the ball and will have to show consistency with the jumper. Judging by Boylan's latest quote, he's not willing to hand over the mantle of starting guard to Thabo any time soon:

Despite Sefolosha's improvement, Boylan said there are no plans to start him in place of Chris Duhon when Hinrich returns.

"I'm happy with the way things are going right now," Boylan said. " 'CDu' is doing a good job for us. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

Hey, Jim. Blow me.

I like Thabo starting and should continue to start over Duhon for his rebounding and steals alone.

Right now, thabo is our starting SG and Duhon is the starting PG. When Kirk comes back he most likely will send Thabo back to the bench. Does this make Hinrich our starting SG the majority of the time? I know Kirk is a "combo guard" who plays SG, but i call BS. He is a PG playing out of position 70% of the time. He guards SG %100 of the time and plays SG the entire time Duhon is out there. The only time he plays PG is on offense when Gordon is in the game!!

I have usually been pretty calm in backing the Bulls coaches and mngmt but this is getting ridiculous. Our Backgourt has a fever and the only cure is more Thabo.

DuckIII wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Hey, Jim. Blow me.

Hilarious

(said in Jim Romes voice)

I don't understand why Boylan thinks C-Du is doing a good job. I'm not a coach or a scout, but it doesn't look to me like he's doing a good job! He's had a few moments when he's played well since moing into the lineup, but overall he's been pretty bad. Just because he doesn't turn the ball over a ton doesn't mean he's doing a good job.

Here are C-Du's #'s since he became the starter:

27.3 MPG
4.0 PPG
5.0 APG
5.45 A/TO ratio
.233 FG%
.200 3-Pt FG%
.500 FT% (while averaging 1.2 FTA/gm)

Yes, the A/TO ratio is excellent, but so what? I mean seriously, could ANY team afford to have a starting PG putting up such anemic numbers? Even if he were shutting down people defensively -- which he isn't -- he simply isn't doing enough on offense to support the idea of playing heavy minutes, let alone being the starter.

Kirk needs to get back in the lineup ASAP. Once he does, Boylan needs to start him and Thabo together, with Gordon coming off the bench. That way, the fans, and the organization, will be able to find out whether this 3-man rotation can work, or whether they need to make some major adjustments (or minor ones) though trades and/or the draft.

Here's what the backcourt rotation needs to be...

Start:

Hinrich 33+ MPG
Sefolosha 25+ MPG (with at least 20 MPG in backcourt, rest at SF)
Gordon 33+ MPG

Duhon no more than 10-15 MPG

Despite Sefolosha's improvement, Boylan said there are no plans to start him in place of Chris Duhon when Hinrich returns.

"I'm happy with the way things are going right now," Boylan said. " 'CDu' is doing a good job for us. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

what a ***in tool.

Do you recall that thread during the offseason where both me and you were defending our thoughts on playing Thabo over Duhon? I think we were the only people who felt that way. Funny how times change.

I was always a Thabo backer as well. I lost faith in him a few weeks before his resurgence, which makes me sad I doubted him. However, I wanted him in the rotation last year, during the offseason and much of this season, and always felt his main problem was confidence.

I was always a Thabo backer as well. I lost faith in him a few weeks before his resurgence, which makes me sad I doubted him. However, I wanted him in the rotation last year, during the offseason and much of this season, and always felt his main problem was confidence.

I was mad at him for a while. He just wasn't making use of his time out on the court, playing passive and passing the ball without even thinking about his own shot.

Now that he appears to have regained some confidence it's much better, getting the nod for the starting guard position too helped things a great deal.

I'm not one to get carried away with the recent Thabo love, truth is I have always loved him, just now things are looking pretty promising.

We play Thabo who has far more potential

Well i wouldn't go that far because he may have more potential but not much.

Thabo could possibly play an important part in this teams future, even if it is off the bench.

If thabo has an important role in this teams future, than thats pretty sad for us. thabo is easily replaceable.

It's win win, the worse that can happen is Thabo sucking, which is what Duhon does now.

True that!

Girly

I agree with what you say. I dont think Thabo needs any minutes at SF though, at all. (I know you said only 5min) Deng and Noc should be the only ones who play there. period. It all trickles down, 5 minutes for Thabo at SF means 5 in of noc/ deng at pf and 5 min less for noah and TT.

Well i wouldn't go that far because he may have more potential but not much.

I disagree. He is already better than Chris Duhon despite have a not so developed offensive game. Realistically he has a great chance of becoming a very good slasher, his shot can do nothing but improve, he has great physical gifts with a bit of offensive skill once developed could make him a pretty damn good player, definately a valuable one.

Name me one thing Duhon can realistically get quite a bit better at? He is relatively average in most areas, there just isn't much room for improvement, particularly compared to Thabo.

If thabo has an important role in this teams future, than thats pretty sad for us. thabo is easily replaceable.

His defensive abilities are more valuable to this team rather than anything Duhon provides IMO. If he can knock down a few jumpers every now and then while making use of ability to penetrate to the basket, that alongside his defense will make him a solid piece on almost any team.

I still don't think Thabo is that good. Nor do I think he had a particularly good game against Golden State which isn't exactly a defensive juggernaut.

That being said, I've always thought we should play him over Duhon, because Duhon is awful. I think Thabo can be better. Could he maybe be the 3rd guard in a 3 guard rotation. Maybe.

Trade Thabo now while he actually has some small amount of value. Anyone who can be broken by a coach is someone I want no part of. Honestly, that's why I'm no longer a Tyson fan. He'll have to have one hell of a post season this year for me not to think of him as mentally weak anymore. With all the crap Tyrus and Noah dealt with under Skiles they each still produced when given extended minutes. I'm just glad Thabo is getting his value back up finally. Good for him.

I was at teh game last night and when I heard the last player introduced "from Duke......."

I thought you got to be kidding me.

robg wrote:

We play Thabo who has far more potential

Well i wouldn't go that far because he may have more potential but not much.

You gotta be kidding. Duhon has ZERO potential left. Thabo has height and length and is just learning how to play at real game speed in this league. He's going to get a lot better still.

I love Thabo. I think it showed what an effect he had on Baron after he airballed one of his shots. That's just bad coaching having Duhon on him.