Game 8 - 76ers vs Bulls - Nov 3rd - 7:00 pm EST

[76ciology]

Trade Embiid. Find better players to build around Niang and Seth.

[umfan83]

Congrats on the win. You guys are freaking scary when you are hitting shots. Defense was the best I’ve seen all year.

Question: how do you feel about my Bulls after watching them? Did you gain any respect for them, or was the belief that the Sixers were toying with them?

I am not fishing for compliments, so don’t feel like you have to talk up my team if you don’t believe it. But I’d love to see what fans of a legit great team think about what they saw.

Good luck this year, outside of the Bulls I’m rooting for you in the East. This team deserves it after a couple of years of close calls and I think even without Simmons you have the pieces to win the title

[DCasey91]

Patience folks the power is all in the hair, he’s playing better this year because he’s letting the hair grow? Coincidence certainly not.

Korkmaz, into Korklord into final form KORKGOD!

[FlyingArrow]

Give Thybulle some credit, that was a nice all around game. The difference between him guarding Lavine vs any other Sixer was pretty stark.

If Thybulle just shoots open 3s (and makes at least 30%), cuts to the basket occasionally, and runs the floor on fast breaks, he'll be really good for us. The defense is a given, and that's all the offense we need from him.

[Negrodamus]

Congrats on the win. You guys are freaking scary when you are hitting shots. Defense was the best I’ve seen all year.

Question: how do you feel about my Bulls after watching them? Did you gain any respect for them, or was the belief that the Sixers were toying with them?

I am not fishing for compliments, so don’t feel like you have to talk up my team if you don’t believe it. But I’d love to see what fans of a legit great team think about what they saw.

Good luck this year, outside of the Bulls I’m rooting for you in the East. This team deserves it after a couple of years of close calls and I think even without Simmons you have the pieces to win the title

I’d honestly try to trade LaVine if I were you guys. I feel it’s going to take a year to really jell as a group and LaVine seems like a guy who will bolt so he doesn’t need to compete for shots. DeRozan is the man to get clutch shots, Lonzo is the super role player, Vucevic provides excellent scoring particularly from that position.

Honestly, Ben makes a lot of sense for you guys once Coby White returns.

I think the Bulls will start to put it all together towards the end of the year, but will have issues come playoff time. Next year they’ll likely be my favorite to win it, health and LaVine’s situation pending.

[Murray_17]

Congrats on the win. You guys are freaking scary when you are hitting shots. Defense was the best I’ve seen all year.

Question: how do you feel about my Bulls after watching them? Did you gain any respect for them, or was the belief that the Sixers were toying with them?

I am not fishing for compliments, so don’t feel like you have to talk up my team if you don’t believe it. But I’d love to see what fans of a legit great team think about what they saw.

Good luck this year, outside of the Bulls I’m rooting for you in the East. This team deserves it after a couple of years of close calls and I think even without Simmons you have the pieces to win the title

I don't think we were toying at all, we have historical problems with this team to close games. The Bulls could have won the game if they started attacking Seth on defense early.

As far as the Bulls go, i think the team kind of lacks depth in shooting outside of Zach. The other problem is you have too much money comitted to 4 or 5 players with similar characteristics.

Ball is an effective ball handler in transition, but for that to be effective you need a good defense or good shooters. Having Zach and Derozan out there also limits the influence Ball can have outside of being a spot shoter because both are high ISO usage players, if that's gonna be his main role i wonder if his contract is just bad value for the team.

Vucevic taking just 7 shots is bad too, if the offense is not gonna run through him at all you need to dump him. He dragged Embiid out of the paint and that's good but to keep that effect the rest of the season he has to take more than just 7 shots.

[76ciology]

Congrats on the win. You guys are freaking scary when you are hitting shots. Defense was the best I’ve seen all year.

Question: how do you feel about my Bulls after watching them? Did you gain any respect for them, or was the belief that the Sixers were toying with them?

I am not fishing for compliments, so don’t feel like you have to talk up my team if you don’t believe it. But I’d love to see what fans of a legit great team think about what they saw.

Good luck this year, outside of the Bulls I’m rooting for you in the East. This team deserves it after a couple of years of close calls and I think even without Simmons you have the pieces to win the title

Offensively you guys are doing it right. Defensively you need lengthy wings who can generate deflections to make up for Lavine and Vuc on defense. Patrick Williams can be that guy. Seems to me right now, you guys are just cruising because only a few teams can match your offense but what happens when you play against the teams who can match your offense, you then need the deflections and extra possessions.

Other alternatives are Thad Young, which I think can be had for cheap. Then maybe go for Jerami Grant, he’d be perfect for you guys. And I’d assume he could be had for Coby White. If not Jerami Grant, then maybe keep an eye on Roco or Aaron Gordon (worst case). You need these type of guys who has the size to play 3&D against guys like KD or Giannis if you want to make it deep in the playoffs

[Murray_17]

Furkan Godmaz

The more impressive thing about Korkmaz is that he's posting a wooping 59.1 %TS on a pedestrian 34.2% from 3. He's finally doing more than just chucking random 3's and impacting the game when his shot is not falling.

The way he's attacking the rim and his vision while driving are massive improvements.

[DCasey91]

Congrats on the win. You guys are freaking scary when you are hitting shots. Defense was the best I’ve seen all year.

Question: how do you feel about my Bulls after watching them? Did you gain any respect for them, or was the belief that the Sixers were toying with them?

I am not fishing for compliments, so don’t feel like you have to talk up my team if you don’t believe it. But I’d love to see what fans of a legit great team think about what they saw.

Good luck this year, outside of the Bulls I’m rooting for you in the East. This team deserves it after a couple of years of close calls and I think even without Simmons you have the pieces to win the title

Offensively you guys are doing it right. Defensively you need lengthy wings who can generate deflections to make up for Lavine and Vuc on defense. Patrick Williams can be that guy. Seems to me right now, you guys are just cruising because only a few teams can match your offense but what happens when you play against the teams who can match your offense, you then need the deflections and extra possessions.

Other alternatives are Thad Young, which I think can be had for cheap. Then maybe go for Jerami Grant, he’d be perfect for you guys. And I’d assume he could be had for Coby White. If not Jerami Grant, then maybe keep an eye on Roco or Aaron Gordon (worst case). You need these type of guys who has the size to play 3&D against guys like KD or Giannis if you want to make it deep in the playoffs

Grant would be hella nasty on the Bulls. I see them having too many cooks in the kitchen that do the same thing also the bench is skinny. But the Bulls and Knicks are relevant which is always great news for the NBA.

Mo Bamba could be the go to which wont happen (Vuc back to the Magic lol). Still keep top ten offense with Lavine/Derozan outside and in and have three defensive minded players Ball/Caruso, Grant, Bamba. Something like that.

[76ciology]

Furkan Godmaz

The more impressive thing about Korkmaz is that he's posting a wooping 59.1 %TS on a pedestrian 34.2% from 3. He's finally doing more than just chucking random 3's and impacting the game when his shot is not falling.

The way he's attacking the rim and his vision while driving are massive improvements.

He’d probably average 25ppg with Ben generating him open looks for 3s

[deep6er]

Congrats on the win. You guys are freaking scary when you are hitting shots. Defense was the best I’ve seen all year.

Question: how do you feel about my Bulls after watching them? Did you gain any respect for them, or was the belief that the Sixers were toying with them?

I am not fishing for compliments, so don’t feel like you have to talk up my team if you don’t believe it. But I’d love to see what fans of a legit great team think about what they saw.

Good luck this year, outside of the Bulls I’m rooting for you in the East. This team deserves it after a couple of years of close calls and I think even without Simmons you have the pieces to win the title

The Bulls are legit good this year. I watched the last quarter of the game against the Celtics the other night and was really impressed by their defense (Boston also **** themselves, but Bulls defensive pressure was responsible for part of that). The thing I ntoiced tonight is that bench is paper thin. That Patrick Williams injury was a real bummer. He's got some real potential and you all don't have the depth to replace him. As much as I love how hard Green gets after it, he's not an NBA starter at this point. Because of how loaded the Eastern conference suddenly is, I think the Bulls will be a mid pack playoff team this year with a chance to make moves next year. Didn't love Levine initiating the offense when Ball was on the bench

[76ciology]

Just watched the game.

Donovan run his team like how he run offense with the Thunders. He knows that the points generated from ISO is relative to time.

Donovan probably should have run more 2 man game with Vuc, pull Biid away from the rim then be relentless in attacking the paint where we have a small group of guys from 1-4 positions. This could probably lead Lavine to be more efficient on offense more than his 1.14pts per FGA and Vuc to score more than 4pts, which could have won them this 5 pts contest.

He also underestimated our guards on offense. Our dribble drive game is pretty elite with the development of our guards and our floor spacing. He should have tried to harass Kork and Milton’s ball handling.

Our bench unit with Niang and Milton is just OP compared to theirs.

Vuc is also not that good of a defender in 2 man games. So in crunch time. I dont know if they can outscore the top teams consistently relying on Demar vs an offense where it gets open shots because of how Vuc defends the 2 man game. Worse comes to worst, you probably can tighten your defense and force the bulls to rely on Derrick Jones or Javonte Green beat you with their 3pt shooting

[76ciology]

Niang is impressive this game.

Demar was taking over the game. Doc inserted Niang and put him on Demar. Bulls suddenly went away from Demar but when they tried to attack Niang on defense Niang was able to move his feet and to trap the ball handler or switch even to Vuc (1:59 mark of 4th)

[Iverson Armband]

Man, watching this game I couldn’t help but think if we would have traded Ben for Lavine last year when it could have actually been possible, we’d be on our way to a championship this year.

[Kobblehead]

What stood out to me about the Bulls last night was how selfishly Lavine and Derozan played. They took 24 and 22 shots respectively and only had 1 assist each. Up until last night, both of them have been moving them ball well (averaging 4+ and 3+ assists respectively on the season).

And yeah, their rotation is really thin right now. Their 5th starter and four guys off the bench last night were virtually talentless and provide no firepower.

[phillynative]

Niang is an intangible guy who knows how to play. Talent doesn't jump at you when you watch him but he seems to make the right plays. Pleased with him and Drummond, bench looks complete. Now we just need a starting 5.lol.

[Sixerscan]

Congrats on the win. You guys are freaking scary when you are hitting shots. Defense was the best I’ve seen all year.

Question: how do you feel about my Bulls after watching them? Did you gain any respect for them, or was the belief that the Sixers were toying with them?

I am not fishing for compliments, so don’t feel like you have to talk up my team if you don’t believe it. But I’d love to see what fans of a legit great team think about what they saw.

Good luck this year, outside of the Bulls I’m rooting for you in the East. This team deserves it after a couple of years of close calls and I think even without Simmons you have the pieces to win the title

I wouldn't say the Sixers were toying with them, the guys on the floor were going all out and I thought on the whole played well, but they are missing 3 pretty important starters.

The Bulls are pretty good now, but I'm not particularly surprised by that. It's not like they're a young team on the upswing, they went out and traded for or signed veteran players at market prices so now they're better, pretty simple. It sucks that Williams got hurt because he was someone that could have taken a leap, maybe next year.

I continue to think they would be much better off long term without the Vuc trade, and if they were just starting Carter Jr., drafted Wagner or whoever plus another pick and the extra cap space in tow. Vuc doesn't even get many shots now because of how much Lavine and DDR dominate the ball. Just a weird move from a team building standpoint that I think they're going to feel when they reach into their pockets to try to trade for someone that could take them to the next level.

[umfan83]

Congrats on the win. You guys are freaking scary when you are hitting shots. Defense was the best I’ve seen all year.

Question: how do you feel about my Bulls after watching them? Did you gain any respect for them, or was the belief that the Sixers were toying with them?

I am not fishing for compliments, so don’t feel like you have to talk up my team if you don’t believe it. But I’d love to see what fans of a legit great team think about what they saw.

Good luck this year, outside of the Bulls I’m rooting for you in the East. This team deserves it after a couple of years of close calls and I think even without Simmons you have the pieces to win the title

The Bulls are legit good this year. I watched the last quarter of the game against the Celtics the other night and was really impressed by their defense (Boston also **** themselves, but Bulls defensive pressure was responsible for part of that). The thing I ntoiced tonight is that bench is paper thin. That Patrick Williams injury was a real bummer. He's got some real potential and you all don't have the depth to replace him. As much as I love how hard Green gets after it, he's not an NBA starter at this point. Because of how loaded the Eastern conference suddenly is, I think the Bulls will be a mid pack playoff team this year with a chance to make moves next year. Didn't love Levine initiating the offense when Ball was on the bench

Agreed about the bench. Getting Coby White back should help as he brings much needed offense to that group. Right now DeRozan has to play with the bench group to score points. The Bulls have a lot of skinny athletes that can jump on the bench...it seems like everytime a shot goes up one of them leaps super high in an attempt for a rebound lol. They definitely need more size and depth but I think that is their most glaring problem.

But you are right that the Bulls defense has been great despite what everyone was predicting in the offseason. I figured once the energy of a new season dies down the defense would suffer a bit because a lot of what they do well is being active in the passing lanes and using their athleticism to contest shots (actually the Sixers defense reminded me of what I've seen from the Bulls, but better), but so far its held up

Lavine hasn't looked the same since his thumb injury. He's by no means bad, but less efficient and less willing to be a facilitator. Someone else mentioned him and DeRozan having a bit of a 'my turn' approach to offense right now, and that's apt. But they've both (esp DeRozan) have been able to be playmakers in the past, my hope is that they are just figuring things out with so many new players on the team.

Thank you (and everyone) for your input, its much appreciated. Definitely not a perfect team, but one that is legit enough to be a playoff team (I hope!)

[mjkvol]

Thank you (and everyone) for your input, its much appreciated. Definitely not a perfect team, but one that is legit enough to be a playoff team (I hope!)

Oh, they are no doubt a playoff team and headed in the right direction if Ball, DeRozan, and Lavine can figure it out, which they will. The challenge will be adding to this group as they are probably up against the cap if not over it at this point. Fun team to watch, good luck the rest of the way.