PG: Fun Bad Yet?

[Keller61]

So Rose was 8-23, 0-6 on 3's, and had 3 assists and 3 turnovers. After the game he said he was mad they lost but happy with his performance. It has come to being happy with a shooting night like that and as many turnovers as assists? The level of the bar has apparently dropped very low in his mind, unless he is just happy with scoring 23 points.

I was pretty happy with his performance too. He made all the right plays down the stretch, and for most of the second half. Rose is not to blame for this loss, other than for not being the MVP.

If you were happy with his performance and that shooting percentage then the bar has dropped siginificantly for you to. Any player who goes 8-23 and is happy with their game, any fan who is satisfied with that, has low expectations. I can't think of any other player in the league who would go 8-23 and be happy, or any fan happy. Add to that the defense he played last night....

I don't care if he goes 12-12, if the team loses he shouldn't be saying he is happy with his performance.

I tend to focus on what I see in the game more than numbers. Rose play by play for the 4th quarter:

- Misses tough floater, Noah gets the rebound and gets fouled (makes 2 FTs)
- Steps out of bounds on a baseline drive
- Makes driving layup
- Finds Noah on the PnR, who then finds Gasol for a baseline jumper (made)
- Misses wild reverse layup
- PnR to Noah, who misses at the rim
- Hits a midrange jumper
- Passes to Taj out of the double team, who then finds Brooks for a 3 (made)
- Finds Gasol wide open on the pick and pop (miss)
- Makes driving floater
- Finds Butler for wide open corner 3 (miss)
- Drives and kicks to Noah, who finds a cutting Butler for a layup (made)
- Hits Brooks in stride for a transition 3 (made)
- Attacks the rim, creating an open putback for Gasol, who blows it
- Makes the initial pass in a series of passes leading to a Brooks layup (made)
- Chucks a heave at the end

So yeah, pretty solid decision-making down the stretch from Rose. We lost in the end because our bigs got outworked on several rebounds, the Suns made some big shots, and the bench stinkbomb was too much to overcome.

[TimRobbins]

His TS% in January is I believe the worst month of the year so far for him.

I really want to believe, but when Derrick says, "shots I normally make" I start getting nightmare flashbacks of people using the same phrasing to defend washed up over the hill Richard Hamilton.

That is the tough thing about judging a player's decline, whether due to age or injury, at some point you just stop making the 'shots you usually make' and you never make them again at the same rate.

Is that the case with Derrick? We simply have no idea.

There no reason to believe it will get better. To me, that's just the player he is right not. He's lost a step and he can't finish like he used to. Either he changes his game (unlikely), or he continues to slowly decline ala Steve Francis or Marbury.

[WindyCityBorn]

New England definitely has Super Bowl pedigree that the Bulls don't have. But of the top 5 teams in the East, who has the most playoff pedigree? Believe it or not, that would be the Bulls. Who has the most defensive pedigree? Again that would be the Bulls. Who has the pedigree of playing their best basketball after the all-star break? You guessed it. This isn't to say there's no reason for concern or to be disappointed in this team. But we know that there's still a long way to go in this season and as you said, it's wrong to toss dirt on the team with the most postseason, defensive and post all-star break pedigree and arguably the most talent.

Cleveland definitely has more talent. LeBron dwarfs Rose, Irving is par with Butler(Irving has more talent though) and Gasol is having a better season tha Love. JR Smith is better 4th option than Aaron Brooks for obvious reasons(height and defense). Noah is historically much better than Mosgov, but not by much this year.

Taj is better then any one they bring off the bench, but he is a duplicate of one of our 3 best players so. It much impact. Mirotic hardly plays some nights.

I guess the better way to put is we have talent, but the sum is unfortunately less than the individual parts.

Th

Cleveland is like 1-8 without LeBron. That doesn't seem to speak to having more talent than the Bulls, it speaks to having the best player in the NBA and being another bad team without him. After their big 3 the Bulls have an obvious talent advantage. Not that it matters at this point as Cleveland is playing much better basketball right now, just as we were back in December.

The big 3 is all that matters as long as they have the proper supporting cast, which they apparently do now. We have another situation where they have two players that are better any player we have(LeBron and Irving) with a 3rd that is probably equal or better(Love) than our best player(Butler or Gasol take your pick).

Taj is probably our 3rd or 4th best player and he is not on the court to close most games. Redundant talent has less impact. JR Smith is their 4th and making a big impact while playing alongside and benefiting from their first 3.

[SpinninHouse]

Pyschopathic? Low Ball IQ? Unlikeable losers? Don't try hard?

.. The Bulls?!

And Jeff Green helps this bunch of spoiled and rotten apples you're embarrassed by?

If you watched the games against the Lakers, Miami, Orlando, Brooklyn and Utah in the past month and said we tried hard - you are a liar.

If you can say with a straight face that our entire team hasn't produced a constant stream of dumb, sloppy careless turnovers and fouls over and over again - you're a liar.

Thibs psychopathic substitution patterns are well documented and for you to even mention that gives me great pause as to whether or not you've been watching the games. You do realize he's still playing Pau entire quarters, right?

And finally if you seriously think a wing of Jeff Green's caliber wouldn't help us - don't even respond to my posts because we have nothing to talk about.

Call Thibs what you will, but you're not a head coach of a professional NBA team. You don't have to study countless hours of film, nor have you been coaching for over 20 years, while helping numerous NBA franchises become successful. If you have, disregard.

Jeff Green could help, I was one of the few posters that wanted him but he's not the answer to a team, hell ANY team. He's just a tad bit above average but not great at ANYTHING.

As far as the guys trying hard game in and game out, well, not every team does, across many sports. Now, I don't quite think the Bulls aren't trying hard, I think they're simply STRUGGLING. 6 new players, mvp gone 2 years, new star emerges, Noah's health etc.

This team isn't perfect but they're damn good and have alot of great components, 'PSYCHOPATHIC' coach included.

Oh & I watch every game, even pause during commercials so I can rewind and re-watch portions of quarters.

I love the Bulls & have since 1999 to the current time. Sorry to hear you're 'embarrassed' by them.

I can accept a team that struggles. I cannot accept a team that quits like we did against Brooklyn, Orlando, Utah, Miami, etc.

I cannot accept a team that refuses to curtail a never-ending stream of dumb and careless turnovers, fouls, and shot attempts.

Good for you that those things don't embarrass you. Unfortunately they embarrass the hell out of me.

[unknownnewbie]

According to K.C. Johnson, the Bulls flew back to Chicago yesterday. So they had Saturday off and Thibs gave them Sunday off as well. Practices scheduled for Monday and Tuesday