PG:New York Minute

[FriedRise]

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Go find some preseason rankings that had the Bulls total wins or title odds higher than the Clippers for chance to win before the season started. And that would be with DeMar on the Bulls. If DeMar were on the Clippers those odds would have been even more stacked the other way.

Bulls 42.5

LA 45.5

What a difference.

Paul George isnt good enough to be a #1 on any team and them do anything in the playoffs.

And how big is the difference if DeMar went to the Clippers instead? Or if Kawhi comes back for the playoffs (he wouldn't impact regular season much but absolutely could be there for the playoffs).

Either way, Clippers had a better team and DeMar wanted to be in California. He came to the Bulls for the money and that's totally fine. If the Clippers could have paid him 87M he'd be a Clipper though, and it's silly to think otherwise.

Im still of the onion that players make choices based on multiple factors. The Bulls offered money, talent and improving talent, good management, a large market and an association with Vuc (and respect for his talent). Saying it is only money seems to be too narrow a conclusion.

[NecessaryEvil]

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[FriedRise]

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That stare was like him saying "I TOLD YOU"

Then of course the third quarter happened.

[FriedRise]

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[HoopsterJones]

This is just nuts.

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Demar is making 54.8% of shots from 10-16 Ft far and away his career best. That is very efficient and more than 10% higher than his career (43.7%) from that distance.

[BeatDaCavs420]

Knicks don’t suck. Stop worrying about a lead that went away. Got a win in MSG. Heart attack teams are Chicago. Heart attack games mean you are playing against real competition. By the way. 2-1 right now. Bring it on.

Thank you. Annoying reading the thread after a win and seeing people talk about blowing the lead lmao

[DxC17]

Vuc's shooting splits before the Charlotte game: .400/.272/.615, TS .453

Vuc's splits now after NY: .431/.361/.643, TS .499

He's really picked it up & is a few 50%+ FG shooting nights from being back up to league average territory. FT average is interesting because he's down 11% from his career average and that needs to pick up, slump or no slump.

Good reminder that slumps are real, early season averages will bounce around significantly because they're calculated off a small sample size, and good players will eventually get it going more often than not.

[Ice Man]

Demar is making 54.8% of shots from 10-16 Ft far and away his career best. That is very efficient and more than 10% higher than his career (43.7%) from that distance.

Prior to this season, DeMar's career year occurred 5 years ago, when he was 27 years old. If he continues to play like this he make a very short list, that being a good player who had his best single year after hitting age 30.

[DxC17]

This is just nuts.

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Demar is making 54.8% of shots from 10-16 Ft far and away his career best. That is very efficient and more than 10% higher than his career (43.7%) from that distance.

The rational part of my brain says that's unsustainable & we should expect a dip at least closer to his SAS days which was 44.9%, but watching the game it's crazy how often Demar just dribbles right into his spots from 10-16 ft and lets it fly. Those are good looks he's getting most often.

Having Zach & Vuc on the court with their own gravity is opening up a lot of space for Demar, but it doesn't even tell the whole story because a large chunk of Demar's points are coming when he's running with mixed units that allow defenses to key in on him primarily. He's just that good of a scorer.

[sco]

I saw on ESPN last night that this is the first time in Bulls history that 3 players scored 25+ in consecutive games.

[dougthonus]

Knicks don’t suck. Stop worrying about a lead that went away. Got a win in MSG. Heart attack teams are Chicago. Heart attack games mean you are playing against real competition. By the way. 2-1 right now. Bring it on.

Thank you. Annoying reading the thread after a win and seeing people talk about blowing the lead lmao

Teams make runs. The panic about giving up a lead should be off-set by the impressiveness of building it in the first place. Often you have hot and cold patches (as do your opponents).

[Fastbrk4brkfast]

Just dropping in to say how awesome it is DJJ came in and took over Tony Bradley's role. Got his opportunity and said "Gimme Dat!".

[theanimal23]

Same. I've been gone for 5 years.

There are basketball junkies who like rebuilding, they get into "the process" and draft picks. We had guys on this board last year talking about how cool it would be to be an OKC fan. But 90% of NBA fans couldn't be bothered with that stuff. Just give them a team that can play. My office is talking about the Bulls now, for the first time in 5 years. The team was dead to them until this year. I would guess that is what it's like throughout Chicago. The Bulls are once again relevant.

lets not do this. I like rebuilds, specially when you have no future prospects like Bulls did. It was good decision to rebuild. Rebuild itself was not a issue, its was people behind it. The way Bulls did rebuild was just terrible. Which is not suprising given people who were in charge were in charge before off and were reason why it was our only option.

Our rebuild could have easily ended up instead Lauri-White-WCJ be Adebayo-Luka-Herro.

For me, a lot has changed. Married. Kids. Family. Busy job. New hobby I enjoy more - stocks/investing (prior to COVID).

[GoBlue72391]

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Zach is coooold blooded

[GoBlue72391]

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Demar is making 54.8% of shots from 10-16 Ft far and away his career best. That is very efficient and more than 10% higher than his career (43.7%) from that distance.

54.8% from 10-16 feet and 42.9% from 16 feet out to the 3-point line, and those two locations make up 51.4% of his FGA. I wouldn't be surprised if his 10-16 percentage drops a bit over the course of the season as he is currently shooting 5.5% higher than his previous career-best, but he is absolutely a midrange killer and likely one of the best midrange shooters of all time.

It's a shame that shot location data only goes back to the 1996-97 season, as it would be interesting to see how he stacks up to the likes of MJ as a midrange shooter.

[Michael Jackson]

For Caruso yes. But Zach wasn't fouled, he didn't finish that layup.

But luckily for us Thibs made a bad call and used a challenge much earlier on a iffy call and lost it, and didn't have it for this foul.

Yeah that was not a good layup attempt for Zach lol. Kinda the opposite of what you think with him. That looked more like me.

Haha! Can you play PF? The Bulls could use one!

Yup I can but I am pretty sure there are way more talented 45 year olds out there than me. Just guessing lol.

[Red8911]

This is just nuts.

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Watching Derozen score is a thing of beauty. I prefer to watch him instead of someone shooting 3s all the time like many here wanted. His game has a lot of MJ/Kobe. Really glad he came here, he’s a real difference maker.

[Mk0]

Hey. You guys played a great game. I like the way they play. You move the ball really well and play excellent defense. You just need some more rebounding which I assume Patrick Williams will be giving you when he’s healthy.

DeRozan and Lavine make an excellent duo and Caruso is my man. I remember watching that nerdy gawky-looking paisano from his first summer league/preseason games with the Lakers and saw right away that he had a strong BBIQ. He just plays the right way. The Lakers were stupid not to resign him.

In conclusion, I think you guys are ahead of us in that you have better chemistry right now.

For this old Knicks’ fan, it’s great to see the potential for a renewed Knicks-Bulls rivalry.

If I had my way we would play eachother eight more times before the season is over and then meet in the 2nd round.

* For some reason I want the Celtics in the 1st round and I reaaaaally want a Knicks/Hawks rematch in the postseason.

[Mk0]

- We haven't had a mid range maestro since Michael Jordan. DeMar DeRozan is a deadly m'fer; the best in the L currently. Lucky and thankful to have him. He IS the best player on the team, too.

- LaVine is settling in well to be the number 2 guy (even if you disagree with him being number 2). Happy to see it.
- Hey Vooch got his head out of his arse!
- Alex Caruso is a steal for us. What a defensive stud and a great glue guy.
- Lonzo Ball is another great addition. He passes the ball well, but he does not rack up a lot of assists per game. He's 24 years young right now, but he needs to reach his 7 assists ceiling somewhere. He's a really good defensive player. I wonder if he has the will to become a great defensive player.

LOL we almost lost this game. I thought I was seeing another melt down. EFF the Knicks.

It's interesting with the whole Lavine being a 1b or a number 2 even.

If you are talking about scoring it's obvious just by PPG and by when the key scoring is being done its obviously DDR who is our 1 or 1a.

When it comes to the question of paying Zach the Max and is he the best player on the team I have to think again of Booker and CP3 on the Suns.

Books clearly the future of that team but CP3 is the most important and their best player right now... Especially in lasy years run

What does CP3 and Booker have to do with the Bulls? We have an entirely different situation.

Booker was an "empty calories" guy, a "good player on a bad team" before he got CP3.

Zach faced a lot of the same criticism and now that he has DDR to help carry the load and show him how to slow the game down in the clutch.

Also much like CP3, people/media claimed DDR was washed (ESPN ranked DeMar as the 82nd best player in the NBA) and came into a new team/FO/city and made an immediate impact.

So I get the point. More of a CP3/Booker to DDR/Zach dynamic than a direct Suns/Bulls comp.