We're headed for a worse record than last season

[jc23]

Lets see - Rose played most of the games this season, Butler broke out to allstar level, and we added Gsol, Mirotic and Mcdermott.

How is it possible that we're headed on the sure road to having a worse record than last season where we played without Rose, traded Deng and had little depth and a ton of injuries? If there's a case to be made for the players tuning out Thibs, it's this. He was able to get a lot more out of an inferior roster last season.

Poor coaching coming on sight. I am glad. Can't wait for Hoiberg.

people will bitch about him as well whenever we hit a rough patch. Its the way fans are. I would be interested to see Thibs coach a different team, if those players get worn down and suffer nagging injuries as well then maybe Thibs is the problem. Or he isnt and we just have injury prone guys who cant handle playing at a high level over extended periods of time. Either way i would definitely watch that team on league pass.

[BeatDaCavs420]

Bingo!

Having more bodies on the roster reduces risk. Less Aaron, less Kirk, less Moore, less Doug, optimal Noah-Niko-Pau-Dunleavy-Snell.

Less mistakes, more energy to expend on both ends, more winning.

We already had all those bodies and it didn't work out that well. We've been up and down on offense, but our defensive effort has been consistently poor regardless of health. That's my problem with this team, and I don't think getting the bodies back fixes it.

And thats where 7 games versus 82 games make a difference.

82 games with large roster turnover, minutes restrictions, post-surgery rehab, in-season injuries, in-season surgeries = Bulls regular season thus far.

7 games with two days in between games and a fully healthy roster with 2 new All-stars added to the all-stars of the previous season = Bulls playoffs.

We'll see how it shakes out. I have firmly planted my stake in the ground. We will whip Washington butt.

I like this out look

[easyd]

Season is not over yet. I do expect the team to finish strong again and see as finishing around 50 - 52 wins. That gives us at least a 10-4 finish.

Don't forget that the projected lineup of Noah, Gasol, Dunleavy, Bulter and Rose have a 15-4 record! Butler and Taj are coming back soon and Derrick shouldn't be far off. Young players are getting the chance to prove themselves. Snell, in the past few months, is giving us much better play than the start of the season, Mirotic is playing better and better, Brooks can come in and hit some 3s, the same with Doug and Moore and Kirk is gonna play less with the healthy bodies coming in.

Also don't forget that Butler, Rose, Gibson give us around 50 points with solid defense and the team as a whole now gets to the100s without them. Thats a lot of points and experience we will need for the playoffs

At the end of the day I hope the team manages to get to the playoffs healthy. Imagine them playing without minute restrictions (Noah is playing on minute restrictions now), healthy and hungry! I doesn't matter if they are 2nd, 3rd or whatever. A hungry and healthy Bulls team can beat them all!

[Tetlak]

Last season we had an mvp calibre player (Noah). The DPOY (Noah). A consistent, starting level PG (DJ). The best wing defender in the league (Jimmy). 82 games of Taj Gibson.

Those are some of the reasons. We have none of those this season.

[AirP.]

Pre All-Star Break
Chicago #2 in point differential in the 4th quarter at +2.4, Portland was #1 at +2.5

Post All-Star Break
Chicago LAST in point differential in the 4th quarter at -2.6.

Maybe missing 2 of Chicago's top 3 scorers is causing this more then coaching?

[TankOverlord]

If you want to win half your games or hover around .500, all you have to do in this league is play defense every game. Offenses come and go. They go hot and cold. You won't have a functioning offense every night for the full 48. Defense should be constant, or at least more prevalent.

The Indiana Pacers are 25th in offense and 3rd in defense. The Bucks are 24th in offense and 2nd in defense.

Despite those poor offenses, they found a way to stay competitive by staying in every game with their defense.

We did the exact same thing last season when we had the 28th best offense and 2nd best defense.

This season, we've improved to 10th in offense, but dropped dramatically in defense, down to 14th. What a fall from grace.

You're going to lose games to average teams like the Pacers if you don't bring it defensively. These teams will hang around if you allow them by giving them easy buckets whilst they work you on the defensive end.

What we've been so good at in years past, teams have been doing that to us this season.

There are more variables at play, namely Derrick Rose and the injuries, but our average defense has been a constant throughout the defense. We shouldn't be surprised where we sit based on what the numbers are telling us.

Defense is all effort. The Pacers and Bucks win regular season games just like we did in previous years. They out hustle the more talented teams and then when those talented teams bring the same energy in the playoffs they get torched. To win the title you need top 10 offense and defense. To win regular season games you just need top 10 defense because many of the teams don't care.

While our style this year has been no doubt frustrating, I actually see it as us imitating the other top teams and waiting to flip the switch on D. It's very difficult to flip said switch on offense since good O takes repetition, cohesion and execution. D just takes hustle and heart.

This year is our best shot since MJ because we finally have the offensive firepower. The D will be back when it counts.

[Fl_Flash]

We just finished playing 7 games in 11 nights. Every team, other that philadelphia was either a solid playoff lock or trying to get to the playoffs. There was travel between every game, we didn't even have two consecutive games at home. Add to that we lost 50 ppg in Rose, Butler and Gibson and I can't see how this team could have done any better. The east is, top-to-bottom better this year, imo. Hard to get any kind of consistency with constant injuries.

This team is simply gassed right now. The OKC game, the Bulls simply looked tired and I think that's a large reason why they were abused on the boards (that and Kanter and Adams are huge!). The schedule, at least from a concentration of games, eases up now. I'll be curious to see if the effort comes back, especially as Rose, Gibson and Butler get back into the rotation.

At this point, all I want is this team as close to 100% as possible come the start of the playoffs. Seeding really doesn't matter. If healthy and executing with energy, this team can compete with any team in the league. Those are two things that have been missing/inconsistent throughout this season though.

Gonna be an interesting stretch run!

[CB4L]

We just finished playing 7 games in 11 nights. Every team, other that philadelphia was either a solid playoff lock or trying to get to the playoffs. There was travel between every game, we didn't even have two consecutive games at home. Add to that we lost 50 ppg in Rose, Butler and Gibson and I can't see how this team could have done any better. The east is, top-to-bottom better this year, imo. Hard to get any kind of consistency with constant injuries.

This team is simply gassed right now. The OKC game, the Bulls simply looked tired and I think that's a large reason why they were abused on the boards (that and Kanter and Adams are huge!). The schedule, at least from a concentration of games, eases up now. I'll be curious to see if the effort comes back, especially as Rose, Gibson and Butler get back into the rotation.

At this point, all I want is this team as close to 100% as possible come the start of the playoffs. Seeding really doesn't matter. If healthy and executing with energy, this team can compete with any team in the league. Those are two things that have been missing/inconsistent throughout this season though.

Gonna be an interesting stretch run!

this totally. The scheduling sucked and the injury bug hit at the worst point.

Also I remember many ppl saying in the past how seeding didn't matter as much as health in the playoffs and more than likely that is what Bulls will finally have, healthy going into the playoffs.

Gotta pick a side in that debate. Either you were the 'healthy for the playoffs with sacrificing some games in season but have another couple gears for the playoffs'' or the 'go all out in regular season without being fully healthy and without another gear in the playoffs' group. Can't be part of both.