Bulls vs. Bucks Preseason #1 Game Thread

[SfBull]

Gafford will eventually take WCJ spot, you read it here first.

I believe Gafford´s minutes will increase ,he´ll certainly get Felicio´s role as the backup center which will be great.

I think the center rotation will and should be:

WCJ / Kornet / Gafford / Benny the Bull / Felicio

If Carter and Kornet play well I don't see many minutes for Gafford this season. He might be getting some burn down in the G-league this season.[/quot
Gafford has the potential for being Carter's backup with Kornet splitting minutes with Young as Lauri's backups.

[madvillian]

[tweet][/tweet]

I believe Gafford´s minutes will increase ,he´ll certainly get Felicio´s role as the backup center which will be great.

I think the center rotation will and should be:

WCJ / Kornet / Gafford / Benny the Bull / Felicio

If Carter and Kornet play well I don't see many minutes for Gafford this season. He might be getting some burn down in the G-league this season.[/quot
Gafford has the potential for being Carter's backup with Kornet splitting minutes with Young as Lauri's backups.

I expect WCJ to be foul prone again, at least for the first 20 or so games. So I'd expect the 3rd string center to see about 10 minutes a night until he cleans it up. Gafford looks playable, thank god.

[RSP83]

Both Zach and Lauri were holding back their guns. I have no doubt they will come out tons more aggressive offensively once the season starts.

Gafford is looking like a great 2nd round pick. He's like a young Javale McGee but with much better IQ.

Coby White is not a point guard, I think he'll be more successful as a score first guard. Cool thing I see him capable of becoming a scorer without having to dominate the ball too much, this is important to make it work with Lauri and Zach.

[ZOMG]

Grab a helmet everybody, here comes some more overreaction!!

OK. Where do I start? Maybe with the fact that this team looked f***ing horrible. I mean... literally everybody seemed to be the exact same player as last season. If this remains true, it's extremely disappointing after all the big talk.

...

Zach didn't move the needle at all. He was OK when he was creating for others but took way too many awful shots early in the shot clock. He too seems to be the exact same player as last season. GRADE: B

I really hope you aren't serious with this spicy of a take on a preseason game. And just stop with the Lauri frozen out BS. If anything it looked like Lauri still doesn't have the handle to initiate his own offense and was easily turned away from attacking when he tried to move off the three point line.

As for the rest of your analysis the games don't count and guys like Thad, Zach, Otto and even Lauri have zero to prove and every incentive to stay healthy by not going balls to the wall in a exhibition game.

Unlike this team, I’m bringing my A game right from the start!

I agree with you about Lauri. If you’d read what I wrote more carefully, you’d have noticed that. Anyway, to repeat: I’m disapponted by the fact that he doesn’t seem to have added anything to his game.

However, our ball movement still sucks and Markkanen still seems to be used as a pick and pop robot. He doesn’t really figure into the dribble-heavy offense unless a PnP is imminent.

[logical_art]

I'm still not sold on Coby White. He's not really a PG yet (loose handle, shoot first mentality) and he compounds his short arms with a low release and with a propensity to finish with two hands at about head level.

I do appreciate his effort and I think his speed and strength are legit.

[ZOMG]

I'm still not sold on Coby White. He's not really a PG yet (loose handle, shoot first mentality) and he compounds his short arms with a low release and with a propensity to finish with two hands at about head level.

I do appreciate his effort and I think his speed and strength are legit.

He’s a blur, but at the NBA level, that’s not enough anymore. He has to learn how to shoot or his pro career will be short.

You need to be a playmaking savant like Rubio to be able to get by without a dependable shot. And even he’s bouncing from team to team.

White seems like a nice kid, but sometimes I wake up at night, screaming, because we drafted him at #7.

[JohnnyKILLroy]

Chicken Littles everywhere.

[logical_art]

I'm still not sold on Coby White. He's not really a PG yet (loose handle, shoot first mentality) and he compounds his short arms with a low release and with a propensity to finish with two hands at about head level.

I do appreciate his effort and I think his speed and strength are legit.

He’s a blur, but at the NBA level, that’s not enough anymore. He has to learn how to shoot or his pro career will be short.

You need to be a playmaking savant like Rubio to be able to get by without a dependable shot. And even he’s bouncing from team to team.

I think he can shoot fine. He did in college and his release looks smooth, just too low.

But I don't think he's got PG instincts or handle yet, and I worry about his finishing ability.

Right now I see bench combo guard spark, but his want to and the fact that its game one of his first preseason makes that prediction liable to error.

[logical_art]

Chicken Littles everywhere.

Nope. Just honest appraisal of players, both positive and negative.

Or do you only want people to post positive things?

[JohnnyKILLroy]

Chicken Littles everywhere.

Nope. Just honest appraisal of players, both positive and negative.

Or do you only want people to post positive things?

1 preseason game vs multiple careers worth of data.

[madvillian]

Grab a helmet everybody, here comes some more overreaction!!

OK. Where do I start? Maybe with the fact that this team looked f***ing horrible. I mean... literally everybody seemed to be the exact same player as last season. If this remains true, it's extremely disappointing after all the big talk.

...

Zach didn't move the needle at all. He was OK when he was creating for others but took way too many awful shots early in the shot clock. He too seems to be the exact same player as last season. GRADE: B

I really hope you aren't serious with this spicy of a take on a preseason game. And just stop with the Lauri frozen out BS. If anything it looked like Lauri still doesn't have the handle to initiate his own offense and was easily turned away from attacking when he tried to move off the three point line.

As for the rest of your analysis the games don't count and guys like Thad, Zach, Otto and even Lauri have zero to prove and every incentive to stay healthy by not going balls to the wall in a exhibition game.

Unlike this team, I’m bringing my A game right from the start!

I agree with you about Lauri. If you’d read what I wrote more carefully, you’d have noticed that. Anyway, to repeat: I’m disapponted by the fact that he doesn’t seem to have added anything to his game.

However, our ball movement still sucks and Markkanen still seems to be used as a pick and pop robot. He doesn’t really figure into the dribble-heavy offense unless a PnP is imminent.

Well at least you have a sense of humor about it.

I think there are some things to be concerned about after the game but they are on a team, not individual level for me.

1) Can the team actually shoot threes at a high enough percentage (say 36% as a team) to move into top 15 offensive efficiency? They shot 34.9% last year. A 1.1% boost should be doable but we'll see.

2) Where is the bench defense? With WCJR healthy, Porter and Santo/Dunn the starting lineup should be about average defensively. But when they go to the bench with guys like Val, Kornet, White and Gafford how's it going to be? If last night is a preview it will be really bad.

OU is 34 wins in vegas. That seems about right if they stay healthy maybe 40, if not, maybe 30.

And finally, on Lauri: I hope he's just taking it slowly because he didn't look great last night, physically or skills wise. I thought he shot looked a little smoother FWIW>

[DuckIII]

I'm still not sold on Coby White. He's not really a PG yet (loose handle, shoot first mentality) and he compounds his short arms with a low release and with a propensity to finish with two hands at about head level.

I do appreciate his effort and I think his speed and strength are legit.

He looked like what I suspect he is going to be. 6th man role player type.

Lots of time left in his Bulls career to show otherwise. And I like his D.

[TheFinishSniper]

I already wrote off the season based on that scrimmage footage and first preseason game. If this team wins 20 games they will be lucky ones. Maybe this time we dont get shafted in lottery. God hopes so.

So June 2020 can't come soon enough for me.

[sco]

I really hope you aren't serious with this spicy of a take on a preseason game. And just stop with the Lauri frozen out BS. If anything it looked like Lauri still doesn't have the handle to initiate his own offense and was easily turned away from attacking when he tried to move off the three point line.

As for the rest of your analysis the games don't count and guys like Thad, Zach, Otto and even Lauri have zero to prove and every incentive to stay healthy by not going balls to the wall in a exhibition game.

Unlike this team, I’m bringing my A game right from the start!

I agree with you about Lauri. If you’d read what I wrote more carefully, you’d have noticed that. Anyway, to repeat: I’m disapponted by the fact that he doesn’t seem to have added anything to his game.

However, our ball movement still sucks and Markkanen still seems to be used as a pick and pop robot. He doesn’t really figure into the dribble-heavy offense unless a PnP is imminent.

Well at least you have a sense of humor about it.

I think there are some things to be concerned about after the game but they are on a team, not individual level for me.

1) Can the team actually shoot threes at a high enough percentage (say 36% as a team) to move into top 15 offensive efficiency? They shot 34.9% last year. A 1.1% boost should be doable but we'll see.

2) Where is the bench defense? With WCJR healthy, Porter and Santo/Dunn the starting lineup should be about average defensively. But when they go to the bench with guys like Val, Kornet, White and Gafford how's it going to be? If last night is a preview it will be really bad.

OU is 34 wins in vegas. That seems about right if they stay healthy maybe 40, if not, maybe 30.

And finally, on Lauri: I hope he's just taking it slowly because he didn't look great last night, physically or skills wise. I thought he shot looked a little smoother FWIW>

I actually thought Lauri looked good for him. I get that folks want him to be LeBron or Giannis at PF, but his strength is 3pt shooting. If he takes a lot of 3's and makes more than 36% of them, it is enough. It is the best way to score a lot of points efficiently. Off of that, he showed the ability to drive off of 3pt fakes. He is capable of bringing the ball up the court off of rebounds, but he doesn't need to be the primary play maker. It is about advancing the ball quickly and getting guys better shots before defenses set-up.

[ZOMG]

I really hope you aren't serious with this spicy of a take on a preseason game. And just stop with the Lauri frozen out BS. If anything it looked like Lauri still doesn't have the handle to initiate his own offense and was easily turned away from attacking when he tried to move off the three point line.

As for the rest of your analysis the games don't count and guys like Thad, Zach, Otto and even Lauri have zero to prove and every incentive to stay healthy by not going balls to the wall in a exhibition game.

Unlike this team, I’m bringing my A game right from the start!

I agree with you about Lauri. If you’d read what I wrote more carefully, you’d have noticed that. Anyway, to repeat: I’m disapponted by the fact that he doesn’t seem to have added anything to his game.

However, our ball movement still sucks and Markkanen still seems to be used as a pick and pop robot. He doesn’t really figure into the dribble-heavy offense unless a PnP is imminent.

Well at least you have a sense of humor about it.

I think there are some things to be concerned about after the game but they are on a team, not individual level for me.

1) Can the team actually shoot threes at a high enough percentage (say 36% as a team) to move into top 15 offensive efficiency? They shot 34.9% last year. A 1.1% boost should be doable but we'll see.

2) Where is the bench defense? With WCJR healthy, Porter and Santo/Dunn the starting lineup should be about average defensively. But when they go to the bench with guys like Val, Kornet, White and Gafford how's it going to be? If last night is a preview it will be really bad.

OU is 34 wins in vegas. That seems about right if they stay healthy maybe 40, if not, maybe 30.

And finally, on Lauri: I hope he's just taking it slowly because he didn't look great last night, physically or skills wise. I thought he shot looked a little smoother FWIW>

Unfortunately, I see defense being a big problem for this team (again).

The trouble is that our athletic defenders aren’t smart enough and our smart defenders aren’t athletic enough.

Sato might be the only true exception at his position.

As for Porter – I have no idea why people consider him a good defender. He’s smart but seriously lacks mobility on the perimeter. He won’t stop anyone out there, even with a painless hip (and it might flare up at any time).

[Proven_Winner]

Chicken Littles everywhere.

Yea starting to feel like another lurker year. Bulls fans are definitely some of the fiercest and critical towards our own.

[JohnnyKILLroy]

Chicken Littles everywhere.

Yea starting to feel like another lurker year. Bulls fans are definitely some of the fiercest and critical towards our own.

I miss the days of feeling like the dumbest guy in the room.

[samwana]

I was encouraged with White and Gafford's play. Coby looked like he got some major jitters his first game out there. He played some good defense and with energy. Id like to see him play with Lauri, Otto and Zach.

Gafford is a great energy guy with good instincts around the basket, seems like a good 2nd rounder!

Valentine is probably good for a few spot minutes when we need some threes. He shouldn't do anything else as shoot threes though.

The vets were cruising

Dunn was Dunn, nothing really changed.

Felicio had a few nice dunks but otherwise pretty awful.

I can't wait for all the injured players to come back especially WCJ..

Sent from my POT-LX1 using RealGM mobile app

[IamSam]

I'm still not sold on Coby White. He's not really a PG yet (loose handle, shoot first mentality) and he compounds his short arms with a low release and with a propensity to finish with two hands at about head level.

I do appreciate his effort and I think his speed and strength are legit.

He looked like what I suspect he is going to be. 6th man role player type.

Lots of time left in his Bulls career to show otherwise. And I like his D.

I've been happy to see that he looks like an NBA player; we had a lot of guys last year that we couldn't really say that about. Obviously we are all hoping that he turns out better than a role player, but I can see how you might project that based on what's been observed.

[Ice Man]

Chicken Littles everywhere.

Yea starting to feel like another lurker year. Bulls fans are definitely some of the fiercest and critical towards our own.

We'll be nicer when we have a team that wins more than 20-something games.