PG - So what now?

[RayClayMatthews]

are we the most injury prone team of the last 10 years?

noah
taj
deng
rose
asik
kirk
rip
wallace
tyrus

[AirP.]

whats not a good sign is how bloody injury prone this team is. Noah twists an ankle every week and so does Rose. Dunleavy twists an ankle and is out 3 weeks.

Most teams have injury problems.
Look at the players out for the season already...

Alec Burk
Anderson Varejao
Josh McRoberts
Jabari Parker
Julius Randle
Damien Inglis
Eric Moreland
Steve Nash
and probably Paul George

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/injuries

Agreed but really only Paul George impacts wins at a rate as high (higher) than Noah. Even an inured Noah is getting you more wins than anyone else on that list (sans George). Dunleavy as well. Scrub a dub dub.
In years past Varejo but not this year. Parker and Randle you are losing development and probably gaining wins.
The rest are scratch to negative players at best IMO. It'd be like Moore or Snell getting injured.

Maybe, but if you're a rebuilding team like the Lakers or Milwaukee, wouldn't it be nice to have your lottery picks make it through their rookie years? Varejao was a pretty big hit for Cleveland.

[micromonkey]

Most teams have injury problems.
Look at the players out for the season already...

Alec Burk
Anderson Varejao
Josh McRoberts
Jabari Parker
Julius Randle
Damien Inglis
Eric Moreland
Steve Nash
and probably Paul George

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/injuries

Agreed but really only Paul George impacts wins at a rate as high (higher) than Noah. Even an inured Noah is getting you more wins than anyone else on that list (sans George). Dunleavy as well. Scrub a dub dub.
In years past Varejo but not this year. Parker and Randle you are losing development and probably gaining wins.
The rest are scratch to negative players at best IMO. It'd be like Moore or Snell getting injured.

Maybe, but if you're a rebuilding team like the Lakers or Milwaukee, wouldn't it be nice to have your lottery picks make it through their rookie years? Varejao was a pretty big hit for Cleveland.

Agreed on the development time.
Varejo is a good player still no doubt--but they way he was being used/playing he appeared to be lower impact than years past.
We are probably losing more wins--others teams Development--Cavs mainly some specific matchups with Varejao (and later picks to replace with Mozgov).

We just seem to have bad luck with who gets injured--our biggest win producers typically. (maybe just because it's us )

[Chicago-Bull-E]

Boy this team could use Nocioni. Solve our wing depth problems and our effort problems.

[weneeda2guard]

If our hopes in a title run depends on Mike dunleavy coming back.....we are seriously screwed. Lol

Dunleavy albeit a decent 3pt shooter is not elite on the level of a Korver his defense is mediocre and he can flat out be invisible for games at a time. If we are serious about winning it all, it's time to get some good impact players who can contribute every night, gel rather quickly with the core and sure our depth for the playoffs.

Imo if we are serious about making a title run and getting past washing on Atlanta or possibly cleveland if they turn it around, the moves would be trade for chandler and add tayshun prince. Decrease kirk minutes and part with snell.

This would allow us to start chandler, prince can play behind chandler, dunleavy can play behind jimmy and we have a good rotation of impact players who are vets who can contribute something every night and we not playing the waiting for development game with snell or mcdermott.

I think snell bairstow moore and a late 1st with a 2nd rd pick should be enough to out bid all the other teams for chandler. And I'm sure tayshun will sign of he sees we traded for chandler and serious about competing for it all

Bottom line is, the bulls have hidden behind good reg season records in years past to not be proactive around the trade deadline. This season it's no excuse. We are clearly struggling and no way can they declare "they like this core" we clearly don't look like we will be able to deal with Washington or atlanta. A move has to be made. Otherwise the front office makes it very clear winning is not as much as priority as financial flexibility and continuing profit earning. This is our best shot at winning it all this season, we have to go for it all THIS YEAR! no telling what injury can occur or what free agent could go elsewhere , or who will join lebron, or who will join Atlanta or Washington next season. We have to be all in NOW!

[Rerisen]

I wouldn't say I'm scared of any of the other top 3 teams in the East, but no longer do I have confidence we could take them either. It looks like a giant toss up to me.

But if we played someone like Washington or ATL, I'd probably favor whatever team has HCA right now. And that doesn't look to be us the way things are going.

If the Bulls want to be legitimate favorites over these other top East teams, they need to be seeking to make a move.

Even beyond the actual talent it would bring, I think it could help infuse the team with some energy to get a new guy and let them see the FO is actually trying to do its job in improving them.

People always play up the negative chemistry aspects but rarely talk about the boosting potential of a mid-season move if you get the right guy.

Trading Deng last year was supposed to be the death blow remember, instead it set them team off and we didn't even get anyone back, lol.

[Mech Engineer]

Does anybody else for whatever reason(limited sample size ) think Taj and Mirotic seemed to play better defense on Nene/Gortat compared to Joakim /Pau. They are younger, quicker to harass those guys.

Washington seems to be a bad match-up and Thibs needs a good gimmick backup plan against them.

[weneeda2guard]

I wouldn't say I'm scared of any of the other top 3 teams in the East, but no longer do I have confidence we could take them either. It looks like a giant toss up to me.

But if we played someone like Washington or ATL, I'd probably favor whatever team has HCA right now. And that doesn't look to be us the way things are going.

If the Bulls want to be legitimate favorites over these other top East teams, they need to be seeking to make a move.

Even beyond the actual talent it would bring, I think it could help infuse the team with some energy to get a new guy and let them see the FO is actually trying to do its job in improving them.

People always play up the negative chemistry aspects but rarely talk about the boosting potential of a mid-season move if you get the right guy.

Trading Deng last year was supposed to be the death blow remember, instead it set them team off and we didn't even get anyone back, lol.

I agree. I think in years past it was quite evident that we were not the most talented team as far as individual talent but we had a guy who could go to levels most players can't go and we had a x factor in coaching.

Now we can't clearly make rose better than everybody else as he is trying to get his game back, and thibs does not look head above shoulders better than every other coach in the east.

So that formula before to have this dynamic player in rose , this genius coach carrying the mediocre talent past more talented teams don't look like it will fly anymore. To compete we need to get just as talented.

Chandler and tayshun prince would do that. Imo.

[weneeda2guard]

Does anybody else for whatever reason(limited sample size ) think Taj and Mirotic seemed to play better defense on Nene/Gortat compared to Joakim /Pau. They are younger, quicker to harass those guys.

Washington seems to be a bad match-up and Thibs needs a good gimmick backup plan against them.

It seemed to me, (not by numbers just all eye test) that Washington knew exactly how to play our front court. When it was pau and noah, they exploited pau inability to step out on the pick and when it was noah, they gave him the shot so they could help defensively with rose and jimmy. Our spacing was also terrible in these scenarios which is where you miss dunleavy.

But with niko and Taj in both they bigs couldn't front or give space and the offense flowed better. The question is will thibs adjust.

Adding chandler next to jimmy who struggling would do wonders for the offense. Snell hasn't been horrible he just not a starter

[kdapiton]

Joakim should just take his time. I know things suck, and definitely frustrating, but getting that foot fixed should be his priority. And who knows maybe the extra rest for the knee does him good.

[Ugly Duckling]

Now we wait.

[ralphisBullsFan]

thibs-rose-noah era won't win a championship..2011 was a red herring so was jimmy's hot start...thanks Jerry for that....instead of letting butler keep proving himself on a contract year come out and effectively end his contract year by saying your going to give him the max with 2/3 of the season left...

[BeatDaCavs420]

Someone make a GAME THREAD for tomorrows game!!!!!!!

[Ice Man]

In some ways, I am reminded of that Lakers team a couple of years back. Kobe! Howard! Nash! Gasol! Four All Stars! Can't lose!

Yeah well four guys who were something is very different than four guys who are something. Plus while collecting stars is a nice start to building a champion, it can't end there. The second part is will your stars get in the trenches? Will they get muddy and dirty and bloody? Is the team a unit?

That Laker squad obviously failed that second part. While this Bulls team has not yet failed anything, because it's too soon, the possibility is there. If this Bulls team understands that titles are won by scratching and clawing and biting, well it's doing a pretty darned good job of hiding that knowledge. For me, it seems to think that titles are won by having the best resumes.

[Benedict Miller]

Ever since they said Jimmy Butler would get the max, he's been playing like ass. LOL

You haven't been watching these games any way right? He's been playing like a max guy since preseason.

WTF are you talking about? Jimmy hasn't been playing nearly as well since it was rumored he'd get the max.