SF_Warriors wrote:another unbiased fan here..
Indy and Chi look very even to me.
I think a playoff sereies will go seven games, and either team can win it.
I would give the bulls a slight edge if Rose is back 100%.
Reason being that Chi has a perimeter creator/closer that Indy does not really have.
Hill and George are not the type of perimeter guys I want down the stretch offensively. Granger will help, but he is not a better closer than Rose. Not by a long shot.
The bench guys Indy added can be cancelled out by the bulls bench.
Scola and taj
watson and kirk
dunleavy is a productive player and at the very least serviceable.
I wouldnt compare granger to dun, but more of rose to granger. My reasoning is because both guys are their respective teams' best perimeter offensive players. Rose definitely has the advantage there.
Home-court will help too, but I think Indy takes it in 6 or 7.
a. Chicago is never healthy by the playoffs. It's a combination of Thibs riding his players hard as hell day in and day out and stressing the importance of every single game and that his players simply have injury histories and a ton of miles on their bodies by now. Deng, Boozer, Hinirch, Noah. By the time they face each other it would be the 2nd or 3rd round and I expect injuries to the Bulls again.
b. Indy beat them 3-1 last season, won 4 more games. and
Indy will add:
-confidence and experience from the ECF
-Granger, Scola, Watson, Copeland
-the continued growth of PG and Hibbert (who should have a much better regular season)
-losing no one of significance
Chicao will add:
-Rose
-MDJr
-losing Nate and Marco B
c. Given the amount of confidence and arrogance I read on here about the team and Rose's return I wonder if the team will carry that confidence as well and assume they will go back to being a 60 win team even though their landscape of the East was much weaker back then and the bench much better. We don't know what Rose is coming back. He comes off a major injury and a game based off athleticism. Did he also expose a mental weakness by sitting out 18 months?
d. SF's dominate the game these days.. LBJ, Durant, George, Melo to a lesser extent. It's also been big men and SGs (Shaq, Dirk, TD, Kobe) A high usage, high scoring PG hasn't won a title in some time now. RW made the Finals, but he had KD also.
e. Indy has a plethora of big man to throw at Noah to get him in foul trouble, while Boozer remains exploitable. Gibson is a great back up, but Nazr is limited in what he can offer.
f. I like Chicago's starting wings on defense, but neither are going to make the other side work defensively. They will play great defense on George, but Deng and Butler aren't major offensive threats they will have to worry about. Indy also has great depth with Lance/Granger/Copeland etc.
Overall I think Indy is the better team.
