Game Thread: BULLS @ WIZARDS - 2/28 - 7PM

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I've only watched the first 3 quarters so far (and we're already down big), but honestly I don't feel this is a bad game. We're playing hard but the Bulls are just a vastly superior team.

I like Jordan Crawford. He plays D, can pass the ball, and plays with some flair (and not of the Blatche variety). Seraphin looked good at times, as did Booker. Nick's shot was off but he was playing hard. All those guys, and Wall, looked raw but decent.

Blatche is a bum and McGee isn't far from one. I want Blatche moved ASAP even if it's only for expiring contracts. He is terminal cancer. McGee is in his third year and has no dependable NBA skills despite growing up in a Bball family. Trade him while his value is high. I don't care if it's big for small--we need to draft a new big and Kevin/Trevor are better anyway.

I was at the game, and that's a pretty good summary of my experience as well. I don't feel quite as strongly about either Blatche or McGee (mostly because they occasionally show up and buy a little cred) but the starting five, as constructed, surely is going nowhere. The second unit has some players that I think could eventually be part of a good team.

The simplest solution: Start Booker and Seraphin. Bring Blache and McGee off the bench. Make Blatche and McGee earn their spots back with unselfish, smart play off the bench. Do not let a biased coach be the judge.

Most of all let Cassell or another coach be in charge of the team's bigs makeover.

[Kanyewest]

I actually though Blatche was adequate while McGee was horrible but I guess we got different perspectives watching via tv and on the court. I was at first blaming Blatche for Noah's easy scores only to realize that McGee was supposed to be guarding Noah even though he was sometimes out of the picture. McGee needs to stop going for blocks all the time and just guard his man in order for the team defense to work. He'll get it eventually although at the rate he's going, he'll probably won't adapt anytime soon.

[jivelikenice]

Can it be a coincidence that Blatche returns and we aren't competitive yet again?

[TheBigThree]

Can it be a coincidence that Blatche returns and we aren't competitive yet again?

Basically, yeah. It really doesn't matter who we put out on the floor. Don't forget we've been competitive with Blatche out there as well. We've also been competitive when Wall was out injured.

It's far more likely that the back-to-backs against the Mavs and Heat were random than it having anything to do with what players were playing.

This team is 15-44, it really doesn't matter who we throw out there. We aren't smart enough or well enough coached to make up for our massive talent deficiencies.

[Bickerstaff]

The simplest solution: Start Booker and Seraphin. Bring Blache and McGee off the bench. Make Blatche and McGee earn their spots back with unselfish, smart play off the bench. Do not let a biased coach be the judge.

Yeah, let a biased FAN be the judge!

[Kanyewest]

Can it be a coincidence that Blatche returns and we aren't competitive yet again?

More like John Wall met a superior point guard so the Wizards were blown out. Blatche was adequate; 15 points and 11 rebounds while shooting 45% and making his 3 free throws; he was probably the Wizards best big out there tonight. McGee has sucked for the 3rd game in a row.

[BrooklynBulls]

You guys only ran the P&R. That was like 90% of the possessions. We jammed the living crap out of it because we didn't respect your shooters. Blatche made some J's, but big whoop. You should have ran more 1-3 sets with Josh Howard, but that wouldn't have made the difference. The Bulls were able to get by on offense with the ridiculous amount of 2nd chance points you give up because McGee isn't ever in position EVER. You can't let Noah just have a free run at it. Or Asik. They're very good fundamental boarders, they'll tear down your team singlehandedly. Not to mention Boozer.

Seraphin looked like he might develop soon into something quite nice. Booker is a decent Gomes-like player. Needs to develop his stroke though. Very limited as far as I could tell there.

Nick Young, what a talent. What a shot. What a handle. What a dumbass.

I don't think Blatche was bad this game. He had some very nice moves and his defense was not poor from what I saw.

You're not a team looking to compete, really. I don't know why its so upsetting that the Bulls blew a solid lead out when the game basically was over anyway. Bulls led wire to wire, Rose made the big shots after some offensive lulls, and Deng and our inside presence took care of the rest. I think Wall's a to-be stud, and the rest is expendable for the right pieces. I'd look to get a P&R partner for Wall that isn't McGee. Maybe David West. Somebody that could really help in the halfcourt, to stretch things out for Wall. Until he gets a better J, he's going to need the pick man to space the floor, alongside a good shooter beside him. You have that in Young, but besides shooting and scoring, he offers a decifit of everything else, and he bails out defenses time and time again. His passing is also something defenses look forward to.

Just my long-winded 2 cents. Or further 2 cents.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

The simplest solution: Start Booker and Seraphin. Bring Blache and McGee off the bench. Make Blatche and McGee earn their spots back with unselfish, smart play off the bench. Do not let a biased coach be the judge.

Yeah, let a biased FAN be the judge!

I am biased enough to suggest for months ahead of the draft Paul Millsap. Biased enough to say do not sign an Arenas who opted out early after never having healed. You probably thought I was biased when I said let both Arenas and Jamison walk before going into the tax. I was biased when I not only was Boozer better than the previous #1, Kwame, he was also better than #1 overall Duke teammate, Jay Williams, and lottery pick Duke teammate, Mike Dunleavy.

You think being a fan means I know less than a coach who could be emotionally attached to certain players or a system? By the numbers Flip is 15-44 and losing with Blatche the same way.

I saw one WIN early this season without Flip coaching. I saw Booker with Seraphin play well.

I think Andray by far is the most skilled big. McGee is among league leaders in not just block percentage, but also offensive rebound percentage. He's arguably the best dunker on earth. They are IMO both good players. However, they aren't good together. Blatche kills the Wizards with ball stopping and fadeaway shots. McGee has been hit and miss.

A very simple shakeup of Booker and Seraphin would totally change the effort and intensity of the team. Sitting even Wall for Shakur, and limiting Wall on back-to-backs or when he's competitively overmatched would be better than what Flip does.

I am biased when it comes to 15-44 after a season of 26-56. There is a reason McHale fired Flip in Minny. He fell out with players and did not fare well with a very talented Pistons team.

I don't like his coaching.

[DaRealHibachi]

Couple things about the game and things said in this thread;

1. Wall is a rookie; yes, Rose was a better ball-handler & a better scorer, but guess what; Wall isn't groomed to be Rose 2.0, he's his own man... He has better court-vision, is faster (probably debatable, but IMO, still is), a better defender, better passer... Rose also has improved at a faster rate b/c he had the privilege to play with better (and more importantly, consistent, non-knucklehead) players who bring it every night... I'm still confident that Wall can (not saying will) be better than Rose, as a whole player...

2. McGee isn't ever going to "get it" and I'm done with him... Thing is, I'm not the only one it seems, since his team-mates are getting very pissed with him too; Quoted from some-one who sat court-side:

Several times during the game, Nick Young and Wall were FURIOUS with McGee for his ineptitude and laziness on both ends of the court. At one point in the fourth quarter McGee got the ball, lowered his head, and took two dribbles as Young's defender collapsed and swiped the ball off McGee's leg for a turnover. Young turned around disgusted, screamed some expletives looking up at the sky, and said, "You've got to be kidding me."

Taken from the Wizards Insider.

Yeah, I'm done with players who have the bball IQ of a freaking door; If even Nick freaking Young is cursing you out, damn...

Let's just start Booker with Seraphin and done; There will be no more lazy, dumb & slow bball being played... For real, for all the size Dray & McGee have, they're equally soft...

Of course Flip caries some blame, playing those losers waaaaay too long, but like many have said; Even Phil Jackson couldn't coach more wins outta these guys...

Things can only get better though...

[tontoz]

Couple things about the game and things said in this thread;

1. Wall is a rookie; yes, Rose was a better ball-handler & a better scorer, but guess what; Wall isn't groomed to be Rose 2.0, he's his own man... He has better court-vision, is faster (probably debatable, but IMO, still is), a better defender, better passer... Rose also has improved at a faster rate b/c he had the privilege to play with better (and more importantly, consistent, non-knucklehead) players who bring it every night... I'm still confident that Wall can (not saying will) be better than Rose, as a whole player...

2. McGee isn't ever going to "get it" and I'm done with him... Thing is, I'm not the only one it seems, since his team-mates are getting very pissed with him too; Quoted from some-one who sat court-side:

Several times during the game, Nick Young and Wall were FURIOUS with McGee for his ineptitude and laziness on both ends of the court. At one point in the fourth quarter McGee got the ball, lowered his head, and took two dribbles as Young's defender collapsed and swiped the ball off McGee's leg for a turnover. Young turned around disgusted, screamed some expletives looking up at the sky, and said, "You've got to be kidding me."

Taken from the Wizards Insider.

Yeah, I'm done with players who have the bball IQ of a freaking door; If even Nick freaking Young is cursing you out, damn...

Let's just start Booker with Seraphin and done; There will be no more lazy, dumb & slow bball being played... For real, for all the size Dray & McGee have, they're equally soft...

Of course Flip caries some blame, playing those losers waaaaay too long, but like many have said; Even Phil Jackson couldn't coach more wins outta these guys...

Things can only get better though...

I like seeing this though. If the players are getting on his case also and he still doesn't get it then it is time to look at other options at center.

[Jay81]

I had to tell McGee on twitter to get off the playstation and go work on his game. His call of duty is not basketball right now

[DaRealHibachi]

I had to tell McGee on twitter to get off the playstation and go work on his game. His call of duty is not basketball right now

http://instantbazinga.com/

[closg00]

The Bulls had just been run up and down by a woeful Toronto Raptors team that outworked them in almost every way and they were determined not to let that happen again. They knew they were better, much better, than what they had just shown and they didn't want to have that feeling in the pit of their stomachs again.

"We learned our lesson in Toronto after the break," Bulls forward Carlos Boozer said. "We had that five-day All-Star break and we came back and lost a game at Toronto, a team that, on paper, we should have beat. But we took them lightly and we got kicked in the butt.

"So tonight we came out, I thought we had great intensity from the beginning of the game and we played great defense. I don't know what they shot from the floor, but I thought we were everywhere tonight. I thought we got our hands on a lot of deflections tonight and did a good job of rebounding. And then on offense, we pushed the ball, made the right plays and I think we learned our lesson from the Toronto game."

The Bulls showed the type of improvement that good teams make over the course of the season. Unlike so many times earlier this season, the Bulls didn't play down to the Wizards' level. They slowly and methodically took apart the Wizards and broke their will.Their defensive intensity was there and they completely dominated the Wizards down low in every important category. It was the type of game that even the Bulls' coach couldn't find many faults with.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/HeadlineStori ... z1FMLUfuXT

What more is there to say?

[GhostsOfGil]

Couple things about the game and things said in this thread;

1. Wall is a rookie; yes, Rose was a better ball-handler & a better scorer, but guess what; Wall isn't groomed to be Rose 2.0, he's his own man... He has better court-vision, is faster (probably debatable, but IMO, still is), a better defender, better passer... Rose also has improved at a faster rate b/c he had the privilege to play with better (and more importantly, consistent, non-knucklehead) players who bring it every night... I'm still confident that Wall can (not saying will) be better than Rose, as a whole player...

2. McGee isn't ever going to "get it" and I'm done with him... Thing is, I'm not the only one it seems, since his team-mates are getting very pissed with him too; Quoted from some-one who sat court-side:

Several times during the game, Nick Young and Wall were FURIOUS with McGee for his ineptitude and laziness on both ends of the court. At one point in the fourth quarter McGee got the ball, lowered his head, and took two dribbles as Young's defender collapsed and swiped the ball off McGee's leg for a turnover. Young turned around disgusted, screamed some expletives looking up at the sky, and said, "You've got to be kidding me."

Taken from the Wizards Insider.

Yeah, I'm done with players who have the bball IQ of a freaking door; If even Nick freaking Young is cursing you out, damn...

Let's just start Booker with Seraphin and done; There will be no more lazy, dumb & slow bball being played... For real, for all the size Dray & McGee have, they're equally soft...

Of course Flip caries some blame, playing those losers waaaaay too long, but like many have said; Even Phil Jackson couldn't coach more wins outta these guys...

Things can only get better though...

man things are not looking good for the wizards.

its a hard call to trade mcgee or keep him. i think eventually he will learn to find his niche and play within himself. are we willing to risk him blowing up on another team or are we going to wait a few more season and deal with this crap. tough call

[Nivek]

Classic Baltche sequence in this game. Bulls shot goes up and Boozer plants a forearm in Baltche's back and basically rides him under the basket. Grabs the board and scores an easy putback. Baltche whines to the ref.

Next defensive possession, Bulls shot goes up, and Baltche decides he's going to be the tough guy. He two-handed shoves Boozer under the backboard. Except Baltche forgets his real responsibility when a shot goes up (rebounding). The ball comes off the rim, bounces off his hand and straight to a Bulls player (I think it was Asik) who immediately scores.

Then I read his "it's not my fault" quote in Mike Lee's story. I don't know how much longer I can keep watching this guy.

[cwb3]

You guys only ran the P&R. That was like 90% of the possessions. We jammed the living crap out of it because we didn't respect your shooters. Blatche made some J's, but big whoop. You should have ran more 1-3 sets with Josh Howard, but that wouldn't have made the difference. The Bulls were able to get by on offense with the ridiculous amount of 2nd chance points you give up because McGee isn't ever in position EVER. You can't let Noah just have a free run at it. Or Asik. They're very good fundamental boarders, they'll tear down your team singlehandedly. Not to mention Boozer.

Seraphin looked like he might develop soon into something quite nice. Booker is a decent Gomes-like player. Needs to develop his stroke though. Very limited as far as I could tell there.

Nick Young, what a talent. What a shot. What a handle. What a dumbass.

I don't think Blatche was bad this game. He had some very nice moves and his defense was not poor from what I saw.

You're not a team looking to compete, really. I don't know why its so upsetting that the Bulls blew a solid lead out when the game basically was over anyway. Bulls led wire to wire, Rose made the big shots after some offensive lulls, and Deng and our inside presence took care of the rest. I think Wall's a to-be stud, and the rest is expendable for the right pieces. I'd look to get a P&R partner for Wall that isn't McGee. Maybe David West. Somebody that could really help in the halfcourt, to stretch things out for Wall. Until he gets a better J, he's going to need the pick man to space the floor, alongside a good shooter beside him. You have that in Young, but besides shooting and scoring, he offers a decifit of everything else, and he bails out defenses time and time again. His passing is also something defenses look forward to.

Just my long-winded 2 cents. Or further 2 cents.

+1
Pretty much sums up what I saw watching the game. The Bulls are just a better team from starters, to bench, to coach. Only quibble with the above post is that you saw about the best we have come to expect from Blatche. Watch another 2 or 3 Wizards games (if you have the stomach for it) for a fair helping of WTF courtesy of Blatche.

[closg00]

You guys only ran the P&R. That was like 90% of the possessions. We jammed the living crap out of it because we didn't respect your shooters. Blatche made some J's, but big whoop. You should have ran more 1-3 sets with Josh Howard, but that wouldn't have made the difference. The Bulls were able to get by on offense with the ridiculous amount of 2nd chance points you give up because McGee isn't ever in position EVER. You can't let Noah just have a free run at it. Or Asik. They're very good fundamental boarders, they'll tear down your team singlehandedly. Not to mention Boozer.

Seraphin looked like he might develop soon into something quite nice. Booker is a decent Gomes-like player. Needs to develop his stroke though. Very limited as far as I could tell there.

Nick Young, what a talent. What a shot. What a handle. What a dumbass.

I don't think Blatche was bad this game. He had some very nice moves and his defense was not poor from what I saw.

You're not a team looking to compete, really. I don't know why its so upsetting that the Bulls blew a solid lead out when the game basically was over anyway. Bulls led wire to wire, Rose made the big shots after some offensive lulls, and Deng and our inside presence took care of the rest. I think Wall's a to-be stud, and the rest is expendable for the right pieces. I'd look to get a P&R partner for Wall that isn't McGee. Maybe David West. Somebody that could really help in the halfcourt, to stretch things out for Wall. Until he gets a better J, he's going to need the pick man to space the floor, alongside a good shooter beside him. You have that in Young, but besides shooting and scoring, he offers a decifit of everything else, and he bails out defenses time and time again. His passing is also something defenses look forward to.

Just my long-winded 2 cents. Or further 2 cents.

+1
Pretty much sums up what I saw watching the game. The Bulls are just a better team from starters, to bench, to coach. Only quibble with the above post is that you saw about the best we have come to expect from Blatche. Watch another 2 or 3 Wizards games (if you have the stomach for it) for a fair helping of WTF courtesy of Blatche.

Nice-work by Brooklyn Bulls

[WizarDynasty]

i agree. One of the best analysis of the year so far. this board definitely needs some fresh analysis from unbiased non homers.

[Higga]

Nick Young, what a talent. What a shot. What a handle. What a dumbass.

well put sir