Why are the Bulls losing? Your take.

[musiqsoulchild]

A lot has been written and said about why the Bulls are losing. Answers range from the absurd to the very absurd. I understand...its been an emotional season thus far.

We can do better though. We are a first rate community with some of the sharpest minds and the keenest acumens. So, I thought this would be a good place to bring us all together to perform a detailed analytical breakdown of losses.

What makes us lose? Thats the question.

Try to think big picture and small picture. But dont play small ball --- so no "Fire Thibs" , "Rose is an idiot" , "Taj is a blackhole" "Hinrich sucks", "FO NEVER trades", types of posts. Those are legitimate discussions for sure and I know there are already threads on the first page covering each of those sub-topics.

For this topic, put yourself in the mindset of an opponent who is scouting us. What do you see are the big reasons we are losing? Where possible, try to bring in facts (eye test is totally fine, but substantiated stats are better for this particular analysis). Remember, you are scouting out the Bulls. Be objective and unbiased. Like this board is easily capable of.

I'll get us started:

1) In the 17 losses so far this season, we have missed at least 1 starter 14 times. So, 82% of our losses occur when we were missing at least 1 starter.
2) From a positional perspective, in the 17 losses so far this season, we have played 7 games where we are missing the primary starter AND the primary backup. Thats 41% of our losses when we are missing the starter AND the backup at a particular position.

My analysis:
Health continues to be the single biggest issue. As we regain health, we will start getting our repetitions in and be the team that we were intended to be -- NBA Finalist.

Discuss. Go!

[The Force.]

I honestly think Thibs is losing the players. All the telltale signs are there IMO.
Things could change when Dunleavy returns but one role player should not have this much impact on a so called "title contender."

[Googjob]

Injuries, team isn't as talented as people think, lack of effort.

[musiqsoulchild]

Injuries, team isn't as talented as people think, lack of effort.

This is an interesting amalgamation.

I think when starters are injured, then the team isnt as talented because replacement level players are playing starters minutes.

And no amount of effort can make up that gap in talent.

So, for me, Injuries lead to a decrease in talent.

[musiqsoulchild]

I honestly think Thibs is losing the players. All the telltale signs are there IMO.
Things could change when Dunleavy returns but one role player should not have this much impact on a so called "title contender."

I thought about it a lot...about Dunleavy.

Its not as much that he is missing...yes, he is a starter. But when you have Dunleavy + Doug missing, thats an entire NBA position. Now Thibs has no choice but to fill the SF hole with total crap ( Snell, Moore)

The other side to this is that if Thibs fills the SF gap with Jimmy, then we have to plug in the SG gap with other crap (Kirk, Brooks, Moore et al).

SF is a KEY position on the Bulls. I would say its the most important after the C position (defense).

[Mr Funk]

Injuries. Lack of chemistry and a need to properly gel.

Lack of shooting and spacing (need more McDermott and Dunleavy, more consistency from Mirotic).

Poor defensive switching/guarding the pick and roll.

Inconsistent Rose. When Rose sucks, we suck. We live and die by Rose. We were able to adapt to two seasons without him, but now he's back, he's still our best player and the one we need to take us to the promised land.

Noah is also crucial as our defensive anchor and emotional leader.

We certainly don't lack the talent. We just need to put it all together.

[Chicago-Bull-E]

Team isn't as talented as everyone thought.

Can't give big minutes to guys like Hinrich Snell and Moore. Those guys are going to lose their matchup almost every night. Net negatives on the court.

Team doesn't fit together well. We still have a shooting problem. Everyone thought that was magically fixed with rookies, doesn't work like that.

And the most troubling, the guy that was DPOY and 4th in MVP voting looks like a marginal role player. He is losing his matchup almost every night.

[musiqsoulchild]

Team isn't as talented as everyone thought.

Can't give big minutes to guys like Hinrich Snell and Moore. Those guys are going to lose their matchup almost every night. Net negatives on the court.

Team doesn't fit together well. We still have a shooting problem. Everyone thought that was magically fixed with rookies, doesn't work like that.

And the most troubling, the guy that was DPOY and 4th in MVP voting looks like a marginal role player. He is losing his matchup almost every night.

Isnt that the symptom though and not the problem itself?

The problem being that we have missed starter (s) in 80% of our losses. In 25% of all our losses, we have missed 2 starters. Yuck!

[Googjob]

I think people made expectations on this Bulls team with Rose at 2010-11 levels and Noah at last years level. Rose is a mediocre starting PG these days and Noah is really struggling to keep up on the court. Maybe those will change (lets hope), but those are the realities.

It's still a good team but I think our expectations were a little higher than they should have been. 52 win team or whatever they are on pace for seems about right unless Rose and Noah get back to their previous levels.

[Stratmaster]

Man, I was preparing to go into one of my 30 paragraph analyses...then I re-read your OP and realized you had already summed it up perfectly.

[Chicago-Bull-E]

Team isn't as talented as everyone thought.

Can't give big minutes to guys like Hinrich Snell and Moore. Those guys are going to lose their matchup almost every night. Net negatives on the court.

Team doesn't fit together well. We still have a shooting problem. Everyone thought that was magically fixed with rookies, doesn't work like that.

And the most troubling, the guy that was DPOY and 4th in MVP voting looks like a marginal role player. He is losing his matchup almost every night.

Isnt that the symptom though and not the problem itself?

The problem being that we have missed starter (s) in 80% of our losses. In 25% of all our losses, we have missed 2 starters. Yuck!

No I don't so. Every team goes through injuries, some more than others. But other teams around the league are in worse shape than the Bulls in this regard.

The front office missed on the pieces they brought in. It was a failure in thinking that a guy like Hinrich was a competent player, or than Tony Snell was going to be something good. The wing/shooting issue was an issue before the season, not something that started due to injuries. It's personnel mistakes.

[RedBulls23]

I think the injuries for the most part are the issue. Because of the injuries, the talent level goes down and unlike in years past the team is not giving the same effort night in and night out.

I guess it will be interesting to see what happens in the playoffs. In years past the Bulls didn't have that "extra gear" to go to in the postseason. Granted, there is no guarantee that this team has an extra gear to go to either. And if Noah still looks like this come April, no chances they get past some of these top East teams.

[musiqsoulchild]

I think people made expectations on this Bulls team with Rose at 2010-11 levels and Noah at last years level. Rose is a mediocre starting PG these days and Noah is really struggling to keep up on the court. Maybe those will change (lets hope), but those are the realities.

It's still a good team but I think our expectations were a little higher than they should have been. 52 win team or whatever they are on pace for seems about right unless Rose and Noah get back to their previous levels.

Rose is starting to turn it around now though. Objectively, I would put him in the Top 1/3rd of all guards in the NBA right now. This is based on his play so far.

And Noah is in the bottom third. But we know its not because of talent.....its because of his knee.

For us to win big in the playoffs, we need both to be in the Top 5 of the PG and C positions in the league by the time playoffs start.

[musiqsoulchild]

Man, I was preparing to go into one of my 30 paragraph analyses...then I re-read your OP and realized you had already summed it up perfectly.

Please give us the long form analysis, Strat. Its good to have all our opinions heard /read.

[Cowbulls]

When Kirk Hinrich is playing big minutes for you...you're team must not be that talented. Think about it. If Kirk was starting for ANY other team we would all be laughing at them. Yes I hate kirk Hinrich that much. So what...cry about it.

It pains me to see teams make a trade for Jr smith, mosgoof and shumpert and see them thrive. Meanwhile we are content with kirk Hinrich shooting air ball after airball.

If we were losing with Oprah playing Kirks minutes I'd be okay with it.

I just read the op...and I don't care I'm thinking short term. Kirk Hinrich IS why we are losing.

[panthermark]

I thought the number was "15".....as in...the team has only had its starting line-up together 15 times all season.

So...(in no particular order).

*Lack of cohesion
*Rusty Rose
*Rusty Noah
*Lack of another dynamic wing or wing depth (which really shows when injuries hit).
*A little bit of "regular season coasting on D" that may or may not be a result of tuning Thibs out. Maybe just tuning him down a bit.

[DuckIII]

No Nate Robinson.

[Unbeata-BULL7]

I honestly think Thibs is losing the players. All the telltale signs are there IMO.
Things could change when Dunleavy returns but one role player should not have this much impact on a so called "title contender."

"This don’t have anything to do with Thibs at all, the way that we’ve been playing don’t have anything to do with Thibs. He’s preparing us right. He’s doing everything and did everything possible to prepare us as a coach. It’s up to the players to give that effort.” - That quote is directly from our star PG so I think that's a pretty clear indication of what our leader thinks of his coach.

IMO, I agree that the Bulls lack of depth at SF has been exposed with the injury to Dunleavy. Nonetheless, I think the defense is turning around and our Offense will get a jumpstart once MDJ gets back and opens up driving lanes for Jimmy and DRose.

I still believe this Bulls team is just as talented as we thought it was at the beginning of the year. We're 29-17 and although our play has been maddeningly inconsistent, we've flexed our muscles enough against elite teams thus far to show me that we have what it takes to get to the Finals.

[musiqsoulchild]

Team isn't as talented as everyone thought.

Can't give big minutes to guys like Hinrich Snell and Moore. Those guys are going to lose their matchup almost every night. Net negatives on the court.

Team doesn't fit together well. We still have a shooting problem. Everyone thought that was magically fixed with rookies, doesn't work like that.

And the most troubling, the guy that was DPOY and 4th in MVP voting looks like a marginal role player. He is losing his matchup almost every night.

Isnt that the symptom though and not the problem itself?

The problem being that we have missed starter (s) in 80% of our losses. In 25% of all our losses, we have missed 2 starters. Yuck!

No I don't so. Every team goes through injuries, some more than others. But other teams around the league are in worse shape than the Bulls in this regard.

The front office missed on the pieces they brought in. It was a failure in thinking that a guy like Hinrich was a competent player, or than Tony Snell was going to be something good. The wing/shooting issue was an issue before the season, not something that started due to injuries. It's personnel mistakes.

And 1'd for sincerity in effort and for not bringing in any agenda/bias. But I disagree with how you see this.

In a hard-capped sport like the NBA, its impossible to plan for EVERY contingency.

There have been games this season where Derrick + Kirk are out. Or Joakim + Taj are out. Or Dunleavy + Doug are out. Thats impacting the position they play at the starter and the backup levels.

And in the past, we had grind-it-out defense because of our slower pace and because Thibs would just over-use key players to make up the minutes loss.

This year though, the addition of new personnel AND the minutes restriction methodology is impacting Thibs go-to solution when key players are injured.

Hence the results. And the ensuing heartburn.

[KissedByaRose1]

Effort.