WT- Nate unlikely to be back (WAIT! + instagram pic pg 81!)

[coldfish]

Chopping Rose minutes down to 32 and giving Kirk more playing time is understandable
Playing you best perimeter defense player only 24 minutes/game just so Nate Robinson can play is not going to happen.

If Nate wants to be a 8-10mpg player and a insurance guy just in case someone gets hurt, im all for that. I just dont see him agreeing to that role
Plus i think the team would rather see what they have in Teague instead of make room for Nate
His Skills aren't needed anymore

There is no way that Kirk is a better perimeter defender than Butler. He wasn't really close last year and the gap is going to increase as time goes on.

Teague's skills are redundant with Hinrich. Hinrich was just much better at the defense and run the offense role. If Teague can play, his minutes would come there. Playing Teague next to Hinrich is a disaster. Two guys just passing it back and forth trying to avoid firing up the brick with 2 seconds left on the clock.

Nate has the role of "create offense off the dribble", which is a task that only Rose can do as the team stands now.

[ChiCitySPORTS#1]

Chopping Rose minutes down to 32 and giving Kirk more playing time is understandable
Playing you best perimeter defense player only 24 minutes/game just so Nate Robinson can play is not going to happen.

If Nate wants to be a 8-10mpg player and a insurance guy just in case someone gets hurt, im all for that. I just dont see him agreeing to that role
Plus i think the team would rather see what they have in Teague instead of make room for Nate
His Skills aren't needed anymore

There is no way that Kirk is a better perimeter defender than Butler. He wasn't really close last year and the gap is going to increase as time goes on.

I'll go out on a limb and say Kirk is the best defender at his position than anyone on the Bulls. And thats saying a lot and I believe it. When he's not banged up by injuries, he can lock down most players who are around his size. I think he also was more effective on Deron than JimmyB was too.

[Magilla_Gorilla]

I'll go out on a limb and say Kirk is the best defender at his position than anyone on the Bulls. And thats saying a lot and I believe it. When he's not banged up by injuries, he can lock down most players who are around his size. I think he also was more effective on Deron than JimmyB was too.

Thats the shakiest, creakiest, thinnest, busted-ass limb possible. I'd wear a harness if I were you.

[awaxndau]

I agree with all of this, although I'm also guessing-- and would love to see that guess tested-- that Nate could play alongside Rose for small stretches.

But I still worry about the team's bench scoring without Nate. We've witnessed the 2nd and 3rd units struggle to score in the past. I just don't see how [Kirk or Teague] + [Kirk or Dunleavy or Snell] + [Butler or Dunleavy] + [Taj or Thomas or Murphy] + [Nazr or Taj or Thomas] are going to be able to generate any punch.

i guess we're looking at two totally differently benches

Teague/Kirk
Kirk/Snell
MDJ
Gibson
Naz

thats prolly the best bench we've had in years. It has shooting, ball handling, defense and rebounding
and we're still not done adding to it. if we could some how add a Wayne Ellington and/or a Brandon wright/Elton brand. That prolly gives you the best Bench in the NBA

Well, clearly we're not looking at different benches because we named the same players. We're evaluating them differently. I don't question the defense; I question the scoring punch, the ability to initiate offense and sometimes score in bunches. None of that exists in the lineup that you just listed. It's a couple of big men who can't just get you easy points in the post, and a couple of shooters, and then two players who have never showed a thing offensively in this league.

By the way, we have been there before. We've had some attractive "bench mobs" in recent years who played great defense and sometimes could shoot. But those mobs still struggled mightily to initiate offense.

This is exactly what it is
I believe Teague can beat back up Point guards off the dribble that will lead to open looks for Kirk and MDJ
I also believe Kirk can beat back up point guards off the dribble that will give Snell and MDJ open threes.
I believe Snell/MDJ/Kirk can make open threes
I believe Taj Gibson can score vs backup 4s rather if its in the post or a face up jump shot

We just believe in different things. Which is understandable

[coldfish]

Chopping Rose minutes down to 32 and giving Kirk more playing time is understandable
Playing you best perimeter defense player only 24 minutes/game just so Nate Robinson can play is not going to happen.

If Nate wants to be a 8-10mpg player and a insurance guy just in case someone gets hurt, im all for that. I just dont see him agreeing to that role
Plus i think the team would rather see what they have in Teague instead of make room for Nate
His Skills aren't needed anymore

There is no way that Kirk is a better perimeter defender than Butler. He wasn't really close last year and the gap is going to increase as time goes on.

I'll go out on a limb and say Kirk is the best defender at his position than anyone on the Bulls. And thats saying a lot and I believe it. When he's not banged up by injuries, he can lock down most players who are around his size. I think he also was more effective on Deron than JimmyB was too.

So Kirk is better than Butler, Deng, Gibson and Noah at performing the defense required of their position? Now? Today?

I take some against the grain positions on this board from time to time, but that's a good one there. That took some guts to say that. Kudos to you sir.

[awaxndau]

Chopping Rose minutes down to 32 and giving Kirk more playing time is understandable
Playing you best perimeter defense player only 24 minutes/game just so Nate Robinson can play is not going to happen.

If Nate wants to be a 8-10mpg player and a insurance guy just in case someone gets hurt, im all for that. I just dont see him agreeing to that role
Plus i think the team would rather see what they have in Teague instead of make room for Nate
His Skills aren't needed anymore

There is no way that Kirk is a better perimeter defender than Butler. He wasn't really close last year and the gap is going to increase as time goes on.

Teague's skills are redundant with Hinrich. Hinrich was just much better at the defense and run the offense role. If Teague can play, his minutes would come there. Playing Teague next to Hinrich is a disaster. Two guys just passing it back and forth trying to avoid firing up the brick with 2 seconds left on the clock.

Nate has the role of "create offense off the dribble", which is a task that only Rose can do as the team stands now.

I was talking about Butler not Hinrich

Nate creates HIS own offense off the dribble. Kirk and possibly Teague create offense off the dribble for the team
Im not knocking Nate as a player, im just saying i dont believe theres a role for him on the team that he will except

[coldfish]

I was talking about Butler not Hinrich

Nate creates HIS own offense off the dribble. Kirk and possibly Teague create offense off the dribble for the team
Im not knocking Nate as a player, im just saying i dont believe theres a role for him on the team that he will except

I had Butler playing 30mpg with 24mpg coming at the SG pos, which is why there was the confusion.

[ChiCitySPORTS#1]

There is no way that Kirk is a better perimeter defender than Butler. He wasn't really close last year and the gap is going to increase as time goes on.

I'll go out on a limb and say Kirk is the best defender at his position than anyone on the Bulls. And thats saying a lot and I believe it. When he's not banged up by injuries, he can lock down most players who are around his size. I think he also was more effective on Deron than JimmyB was too.

So Kirk is better than Butler, Deng, Gibson and Noah at performing the defense required of their position? Now? Today?

I take some against the grain positions on this board from time to time, but that's a good one there. That took some guts to say that. Kudos to you sir.

Yes today. Maybe his body wont hold up as well for an entire season for him to sustain that level of defense but for a playoff series, just like in the Nets series, he was giving Dwill the bidness.

Hinrich can guard PG's better than Deng or Butler can guard 3's or Taj/Noah defending 5's.

[League Circles]

I'll go out on a limb and say Kirk is the best defender at his position than anyone on the Bulls. And thats saying a lot and I believe it. When he's not banged up by injuries, he can lock down most players who are around his size. I think he also was more effective on Deron than JimmyB was too.

Thats the shakiest, creakiest, thinnest, busted-ass limb possible. I'd wear a harness if I were you.

Kirk is a good defender, but Magilla is right here, no doubt. These guys are all better defenders than Kirk at their positions on the Bulls:

Noah
Taj
Deng
Butler
Rose

And Teague might be better than Kirk by the end of the year.

[awaxndau]

I was talking about Butler not Hinrich

Nate creates HIS own offense off the dribble. Kirk and possibly Teague create offense off the dribble for the team
Im not knocking Nate as a player, im just saying i dont believe theres a role for him on the team that he will except

I had Butler playing 30mpg with 24mpg coming at the SG pos, which is why there was the confusion.

I didnt see that 6mins behind Deng. That makes sense

[Chitownbulls]

Hinrich, Teague, Dunleavy, taj, Nazr is a terrible offensive bench unit. Awful. Nate could at least make it respectable. Hopefully we can bring in Dalembert too.

[ChiCitySPORTS#1]

I'll go out on a limb and say Kirk is the best defender at his position than anyone on the Bulls. And thats saying a lot and I believe it. When he's not banged up by injuries, he can lock down most players who are around his size. I think he also was more effective on Deron than JimmyB was too.

Thats the shakiest, creakiest, thinnest, busted-ass limb possible. I'd wear a harness if I were you.

Kirk is a good defender, but Magilla is right here, no doubt. These guys are all better defenders than Kirk at their positions on the Bulls:

Noah
Taj
Deng
Butler
Rose

And Teague might be better than Kirk by the end of the year.

I still dont buy it. Taj and Noah have more problems with stronger/bigger players than Kirk has problems with quick guards. I might have to retract my statement, becuase I think Jimmy is probably a better defender today than Kirk is. But I still feel more comfortable with Kirk guarding an allstar PG than Noah/Taj defending an allstar big.

[League Circles]

I still dont buy it. Taj and Noah have more problems with stronger/bigger players than Kirk has problems with quick guards.

That's fair, though I disagree. To me, Kirk fouls way too much and gets beat too much, though he's amazing at anticipating and getting through screens. They're all damn good though with their strengths and weaknesses.

[Mr Funk]

Nate to me was best when he played off the ball. With Rose back, I don't see why Nate would ever really have to run the offense? Just have him play off of Rose and Kirk for timely scoring.

That should fix any issues of his inability to run the team.

Thibs even went on record saying not only he LIKES doing this, he thinks he would make this the preferred method if Nate stayed in one of those recent interviews talking about Nate.

"The thing is about Nate, and again thought he had a very good year, but in the last month and a half I thought he and Kirk played extremely well together, and Nate was more at the two. I like that versatility, so I wouldn't rule anything out." - Thibs



Rose/Kirk/Teague
Buckets/Nate/Snell
Deng/Dorkleavy
Booze/Taj/Murphy/Thomas
Noah/vet min/Nazr

[League Circles]

I think Taj is the best Lebron defender in the league. I wish we'd put him on LBJ more. Though Taj does foul too much also like Kirk - though I think Taj gets efffed by the refs consistently for some reason.

[ChiCitySPORTS#1]

Would love to see a defensive lineup of

Kirk
Jimmy
Deng
Taj
Noah

No one would score, but defensively it would be a site to see

[Chitownbulls]

Late game situations for that def unit

[mostek]

If Nate did come back, and if he received any playing time, I would expect all those minutes would be as a SG. He was forced into trying to play the point, but that was not an ideal situation, as Thibs referenced in the previous post. It is true that Nate, and Kirk were extremely effective playing together. I know there is a dislike of +/-, unless it backs ones position, but Nate, and Kirk, were +82 in just 256 minutes, limited sample size, but the +0.32 points per minutes dwarfs the +0.007 team average, and even Gibson's team high +0.076.

The Bulls are pretty deep, with minutes hard to come by, even in the unlikely event that Thibs cuts the major guys to reasonable minutes. If not, it is really going to be tough, to find any minutes.

Rose(32) Hinrich(16) Teague(0)
Butler(30) Hinrich(6) Dunleavy(12) Snell (0)
Deng(34) Dunleavy(14)
Boozer(30) Gibson() Murphy(0) Thomas(0)
Noah(32) Gibson(10) Nazr(6)

Injuries will probably happen, but you have to make sure the reserves are not going to make noise, if they do not see the court for extended periods. If I were Nate, and the money was the same, I would go some place I could get regular minutes, if there was such a situation.

[dice]

kirk is one of the peskiest defenders around, but far from one of the best. in fact, i'd say he's no better than average these days. derrick is better against point guards

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

@AlexKennedyNBA

The Warriors have started reaching out to reserve point guards to find Jarrett Jack's replacement. They offered minimum to a few players.

Our min offer vs. Golden State's min offer. Which would Nate take?

Our min is bigger than their min, but I don't know that the difference is meaningful.

We're the better team, but the Warriors are right there.

He established a real locker room connection in Chicago, but one of his closest compadres, RIP Hamilton, is now gone.

If the W's make no other backcourt additions, there should be more minutes available in Golden State.