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

[Red Larrivee]

Why does Nate Robinson get to be 'good at one thing' but Hinrich and Teague dont get to be good at certain things?

Who said that? I just said Nate is a better player than both of them.

They're all heavily flawed in certain areas, but have their strengths. The guy the highest lows would be Hinrich - and we're talking about bench players that need to stem the tide for Derrick when he's on the bench.

Hinrich is going to be part of what (I hope) is a return to elite-defense bench mobbin. When Derrick sits we need to stabilize. Great defense can be there every night even when shots arent falling.

Nate's not about stabilize. He's about shoot you into a game or shoot you out. We needed that last year, but our O isnt going to be desperate this year.

Teague
Hinrich
Dunleavy
Gibson
Nazr

That doesn't strike me as a bench that doesn't need any offense.

[FrenchieBully]

Crazy we act like we don't need Nate's offense. Derrick could be another Shaun Livingston for all we know. The goal in basketball is to score points so you win. Nate can score. We'll continue to be Heat's practice girl until we can score on them.

Nate essentially won one game for us against the Heat. He also won a few games for us against the Nets. When did Loozer, Ding, or Vaj due that for us. Only Rose and Noah have shown up to games against the heat.

[FrenchieBully]

Why does Nate Robinson get to be 'good at one thing' but Hinrich and Teague dont get to be good at certain things?

Who said that? I just said Nate is a better player than both of them.

They're all heavily flawed in certain areas, but have their strengths. The guy the highest lows would be Hinrich - and we're talking about bench players that need to stem the tide for Derrick when he's on the bench.

Hinrich is going to be part of what (I hope) is a return to elite-defense bench mobbin. When Derrick sits we need to stabilize. Great defense can be there every night even when shots arent falling.

Nate's not about stabilize. He's about shoot you into a game or shoot you out. We needed that last year, but our O isnt going to be desperate this year.

Teague
Hinrich
Dunleavy
Gibson
Nazr

That doesn't strike me as a bench that doesn't need any offense.

It's a bench built to maintain leads or stop the bleeding. People on here don't want a bench that can actually extend leads or turn the tide in games. Nate can drop 30 on any given night. A good game for Hinrich is a 10 point game and not leaving the game early due to injury.

[Jvaughn]

and put boozer in position where he needs to bring energy with the second group, b/c boozer is known for sparking a bench group with limited minutes.

If Taj can't beast them and a lot think Taj>Boozer, why are we assuming Taj will do better against more talented players.

huh?

As far as balance for this team, a big part of the pro Taj argument has been that swapping Taj and Boozer would improve the team by adding more O to the bench (Boozer) and more D to the starting unit (Taj). My question: How is Taj going to improve by playing against better talent (starters) more regularly when he can't even beast against bench players?

[bullsnewdynasty]

Teague
Hinrich
Dunleavy
Gibson
Nazr

That doesn't strike me as a bench that doesn't need any offense.

Dunleavy is the only above average scorer on the bench, and he's not going to create much for himself. The rest range from average to putrid.

[awaxndau]

Teague
Hinrich
Dunleavy
Gibson
Nazr

That doesn't strike me as a bench that doesn't need any offense.

Dunleavy is the only above average scorer on the bench, and he's not going to create much for himself. The rest range from average to putrid.

Youre looking at that group and looking for one on one guys, thats not the only way you can score in the NBA.
Team offense> iso offense

I like ball movement, high pick and rolls with shooters spacing the floor, guys running off of curls for a catch and shoot jumpshot. I'll take that kind of offense over New York Knick dribble one on one and get your own shot offense anyday of the week.

we finally have guys who can space the floor and hit open 3s in Kirk,Snell and MDJ, a guy who can get to the rim with ease in Teague and guys with a little post game plus the skill to hit the 14-16 mid range jumpshot in Malcolm and Taj
How is that not offense?

People will be very surprise how well our bench will be this year

[League Circles]

FWIW, I don't think Thibbs will necessarily do hockey line substitutions this year. He already moved away from that this past year. I don't necessarily think we'll see much time at all without at least 1-2 starters.

[bullsnewdynasty]

Youre looking at that group and looking for one on one guys, thats not the only way you can score in the NBA.
Team offense> iso offense

I like ball movement, high pick and rolls with shooters spacing the floor, guys running off of curls for a catch and shoot jumpshot. I'll take that kind of offense over New York Knick dribble one on one and get your own shot offense anyday of the week.

we finally have guys who can space the floor and hit open 3s in Kirk,Snell and MDJ, a guy who can get to the rim with ease in Teague and guys with a little post game plus the skill to hit the 14-16 mid range jumpshot in Malcolm and Taj
How is that not offense?

People will be very surprise how well our bench will be this year

The only guy you mentioned who scores efficiently is Dunleavy. The rest of the bench is littered with one dimensional offensive players.

But if you like Kirk Hinrich pounding the ball for 15 seconds waiting for Mike Dunleavy to run off a screen, I'm sure you're going to love this Bulls bench.

[bullsnewdynasty]

FWIW, I don't think Thibbs will necessarily do hockey line substitutions this year. He already moved away from that this past year. I don't necessarily think we'll see much time at all without at least 1-2 starters.

Okay, well good luck with the goal of avoiding injuries if the plan is to pound the starters into the ground for 35-40 minutes again.

[awaxndau]

I think he moved away from it because he had no choice. we're a deeper team this year like we were back in 2011-2012

[TylerB]

People talk about the bench like its its own team. Those 5 guys aren't going to ever play a minute together in the playoffs.

[RedBulls23]

FWIW, I don't think Thibbs will necessarily do hockey line substitutions this year. He already moved away from that this past year. I don't necessarily think we'll see much time at all without at least 1-2 starters.

Okay, well good luck with the goal of avoiding injuries if the plan is to pound the starters into the ground for 35-40 minutes again.

35 mins is fine. 40 mins is the problem.

[RedBulls23]

If Nate isn't back (which is looking very likely), here's hoping that Teauge makes one hell of a second year jump, like Butler did.

[awaxndau]

Youre looking at that group and looking for one on one guys, thats not the only way you can score in the NBA.
Team offense> iso offense

I like ball movement, high pick and rolls with shooters spacing the floor, guys running off of curls for a catch and shoot jumpshot. I'll take that kind of offense over New York Knick dribble one on one and get your own shot offense anyday of the week.

we finally have guys who can space the floor and hit open 3s in Kirk,Snell and MDJ, a guy who can get to the rim with ease in Teague and guys with a little post game plus the skill to hit the 14-16 mid range jumpshot in Malcolm and Taj
How is that not offense?

People will be very surprise how well our bench will be this year

The only guy you mentioned who scores efficiently is Dunleavy. The rest of the bench is littered with one dimensional offensive players.

But if you like Kirk Hinrich pounding the ball for 15 seconds waiting for Mike Dunleavy to run off a screen, I'm sure you're going to love this Bulls bench.

Sometimes we will run MDJ off of screens and get offense that way
Sometimes we will run high pick and rolls with Teague and Naz, let Teague either get to the whole or pass it to the open shooter
Sometimes we might play pick and pop with Taj and Kirk
Sometimes we might just give the ball to Taj down in the post and tell him to go to work

Creating offense is not a problem, its making the open shots that we had problems with in the past, that shouldn't be a problem this year. We now have 4 two way plays on our bench. Thats the highest number of guys like that i can ever remember us having

This bench will be very good, you just watch

[bullsnewdynasty]

Sometimes we will run MDJ off of screens and get offense that way
Sometimes we will run high pick and rolls with Teague and Naz, let Teague either get to the whole or pass it to the open shooter
Sometimes we might play pick and pop with Taj and Kirk
Sometimes we might just give the ball to Taj down in the post and tell him to go to work

Creating offense is not a problem, its making the open shots that we had problems with in the past, that shouldn't be a problem this year. We now have 4 two way plays on our bench. Thats the highest number of guys like that i can ever remember us having

This bench will be very good, you just watch

I don't really understand the confidence in Teague and Nazr, both were downright terrible last season for the most part and should be 3rd string at best.

Kirk/Taj are not consistent scorers, if you are a Bulls fan you should know this by now.

Adding Nate would add some of the scoring firepower/penetration ability/athleticism we are currently lacking.

[Red Larrivee]

Team offense> iso offense

Not when it matters.

[BIGGIEsmalls 23]

If Nate isn't back (which is looking very likely), here's hoping that Teauge makes one hell of a second year jump, like Butler did.

I'm bouncing between optimism & pessimism every other day. Today is an optimistic Bulls day for me, so I truly believe that Teague will pleasantly surprise us this season.

[RedBulls23]

If Nate isn't back (which is looking very likely), here's hoping that Teauge makes one hell of a second year jump, like Butler did.

I'm bouncing between optimism & pessimism every other day. today is an optimistic day, so I truly believe that Teague will pleasantly surprise us this season.

Yeah, we will have to see. Confidence is a big thing. He never really looked confident out there. He has talent, and it's sounding like he has much more confidence coming into this summer.

Fact is he is only 19 and will be 20 next year. He has plenty of time to grow. And maybe he can pick some stuff up from Drose and Hinrich.

[Ralphb07]

If Nate isn't back (which is looking very likely), here's hoping that Teauge makes one hell of a second year jump, like Butler did.

I'm bouncing between optimism & pessimism every other day. Today is an optimistic Bulls day for me, so I truly believe that Teague will pleasantly surprise us this season.

He seems to be going in the right direction so that is good. I am paying extra attention to him in the summer league and it's more aggressiveness and running things that I am looking at. The shooting and getting stronger will take a whole offseason and not two months. So I think people looking at those two things will still be disappointed.

Yesterday he was the best player on the floor and was extremely confident which was a good sign.

[TylerB]

Team offense> iso offense

Not when it matters.

There are only like 5 guys in the whole league who can be effective "when it matters" in iso situations so team offense is the way to go in a lot of cases.