Around The NBA : 21-22 Edition

[Clocian]

Its always a good feeling when your team doesnt play, and the teams you want to lose....lose

[Dresden]

If anyone is interested, there was a thread about the Bulls yesterday in the Bucks subreddit. Interesting to see what they say about us especially because they haven't played us this year and they are the reigning champs (and have a hatred for all things Chicago)

https://old.reddit.com/r/MkeBucks/comments/rypufc/chicago_bulls/

A few nuggets I found:

Honestly I don't see how the Bulls are gonna contain Giannis.

Every year there is a team that tries too hard in the regular season and bombs in the postseason. 2015 Hawks, 2016 raptors, 2017 spurs, jazz, (us, unfortunately a few times), last year's sixers..... I see the bulls as that exact mold. We'll probably lose a few in jan/Feb but don't see them as a serious ECF threat

Teams usually don't win in their first year of being a "contender". Playoff experience with the same core really is invaluable. Bulls also match up extremely poorly with us on paper. Giannis, Bobby and Brook(if he's healthy) will kill them in the paint, and then Jrue will be able to neutralize whoever is hot between Lavine or Demar while Donte/Middleton/Wes can hang with the other one.

The Bulls are not a pushover but give me the Bulls over the Nets or the Heat any day of the week.

I don’t really view the bulls as an ECF threat, if we play them in the playoffs I think we’ll do well against them. Their best defenders are Caruso and Lonzo, but Caruso doesn’t start. Lavine and DeMar are not great defenders and none of them can guard Giannis. Vooch is the only one who could guard giannis and historically he hasn’t been very good at containing him. It’ll be interesting though, see if we can contain their offensive output or if we just simply outscore them. I would like to see defensive matchups be Jrue on Lonzo, Khris on LaVine and Giannis on DeMar, though.

I'll be there. Can't wait. Everyone should be back from Covid. The Bulls are crazy real. Shame on any Bucks fan who says they're not contenders; but Go Bucks!

The Bulls are not a championship contender and will get destroyed by the Bucks, Nets, or Heat in the playoffs. They are playing good regular season basketball.

I love this new Bulls squad, GREAT offseason moves. Im excited for the upcoming matchups and division rivalry. Playoffs will be the big test for them. A good friend of mine is from the chi, we’ve been waiting for the **** talking moments of these games.

That’s about 100 IQ points higher than what you’ll find on the Knicks board.

Those comments seem to typical of message boards, or talk radio kind of analysis by your casual fan. Trying to analyze matchups, over valuing their own team and players, not crediting opposing teams and players.

[kdapiton]

Miami's a problem

[sco]

Read on Twitter

Can we be next?

[sco]

If anyone is interested, there was a thread about the Bulls yesterday in the Bucks subreddit. Interesting to see what they say about us especially because they haven't played us this year and they are the reigning champs (and have a hatred for all things Chicago)

https://old.reddit.com/r/MkeBucks/comments/rypufc/chicago_bulls/

A few nuggets I found:

That’s about 100 IQ points higher than what you’ll find on the Knicks board.

Those comments seem to typical of message boards, or talk radio kind of analysis by your casual fan. Trying to analyze matchups, over valuing their own team and players, not crediting opposing teams and players.

I mean, they are the champs, and I still don't see our plan for slowing down Giannis.

[cool007]

If anyone is interested, there was a thread about the Bulls yesterday in the Bucks subreddit. Interesting to see what they say about us especially because they haven't played us this year and they are the reigning champs (and have a hatred for all things Chicago)

https://old.reddit.com/r/MkeBucks/comments/rypufc/chicago_bulls/

A few nuggets I found:

Honestly I don't see how the Bulls are gonna contain Giannis.

Every year there is a team that tries too hard in the regular season and bombs in the postseason. 2015 Hawks, 2016 raptors, 2017 spurs, jazz, (us, unfortunately a few times), last year's sixers..... I see the bulls as that exact mold. We'll probably lose a few in jan/Feb but don't see them as a serious ECF threat

Teams usually don't win in their first year of being a "contender". Playoff experience with the same core really is invaluable. Bulls also match up extremely poorly with us on paper. Giannis, Bobby and Brook(if he's healthy) will kill them in the paint, and then Jrue will be able to neutralize whoever is hot between Lavine or Demar while Donte/Middleton/Wes can hang with the other one.

The Bulls are not a pushover but give me the Bulls over the Nets or the Heat any day of the week.

I don’t really view the bulls as an ECF threat, if we play them in the playoffs I think we’ll do well against them. Their best defenders are Caruso and Lonzo, but Caruso doesn’t start. Lavine and DeMar are not great defenders and none of them can guard Giannis. Vooch is the only one who could guard giannis and historically he hasn’t been very good at containing him. It’ll be interesting though, see if we can contain their offensive output or if we just simply outscore them. I would like to see defensive matchups be Jrue on Lonzo, Khris on LaVine and Giannis on DeMar, though.

I'll be there. Can't wait. Everyone should be back from Covid. The Bulls are crazy real. Shame on any Bucks fan who says they're not contenders; but Go Bucks!

The Bulls are not a championship contender and will get destroyed by the Bucks, Nets, or Heat in the playoffs. They are playing good regular season basketball.

I love this new Bulls squad, GREAT offseason moves. Im excited for the upcoming matchups and division rivalry. Playoffs will be the big test for them. A good friend of mine is from the chi, we’ve been waiting for the **** talking moments of these games.

I have zero problems with what is being said there.

We are totally unproven and probably overachieving right now. You still have to put Bucks/Nets (with Kyrie especially) and Heat above us. You can't dismiss Heat team. They have a ton of 3pt shooters and usually 2-3 of them are always HOT and then there is emergence of Herro. Butler gets every single calls and their role players know their roles so well, that's why they play good no matter who is out. Someone always steps up so I can''t count out Heat.

Then there is Philly team. I think we are better than them but if they get another all-star for Simmons then they could be better than us as well.

In short, we have not proven anything and no one knows how good/bad we will play in the post season. So none of what people say should hurt our feelings. It's one thing to say that we are barely a play-in team (in that regards, we were being disrespcted by Fridenll, Broushard etc) but in the playoffs we could be a ECF team or even lose in the 1st round - it's all fair on what anyone says.

[Chicago-Bull-E]

This Heat team is scary when clicking. No Butler, no Bam, and they’re up 21 at half on the road to a fully healthy Suns team? Wtf…

[nike1]

TIL nik stauskas is back in the league.

[umfan83]

If anyone is interested, there was a thread about the Bulls yesterday in the Bucks subreddit. Interesting to see what they say about us especially because they haven't played us this year and they are the reigning champs (and have a hatred for all things Chicago)

https://old.reddit.com/r/MkeBucks/comments/rypufc/chicago_bulls/

A few nuggets I found:

Honestly I don't see how the Bulls are gonna contain Giannis.

Every year there is a team that tries too hard in the regular season and bombs in the postseason. 2015 Hawks, 2016 raptors, 2017 spurs, jazz, (us, unfortunately a few times), last year's sixers..... I see the bulls as that exact mold. We'll probably lose a few in jan/Feb but don't see them as a serious ECF threat

Teams usually don't win in their first year of being a "contender". Playoff experience with the same core really is invaluable. Bulls also match up extremely poorly with us on paper. Giannis, Bobby and Brook(if he's healthy) will kill them in the paint, and then Jrue will be able to neutralize whoever is hot between Lavine or Demar while Donte/Middleton/Wes can hang with the other one.

The Bulls are not a pushover but give me the Bulls over the Nets or the Heat any day of the week.

I don’t really view the bulls as an ECF threat, if we play them in the playoffs I think we’ll do well against them. Their best defenders are Caruso and Lonzo, but Caruso doesn’t start. Lavine and DeMar are not great defenders and none of them can guard Giannis. Vooch is the only one who could guard giannis and historically he hasn’t been very good at containing him. It’ll be interesting though, see if we can contain their offensive output or if we just simply outscore them. I would like to see defensive matchups be Jrue on Lonzo, Khris on LaVine and Giannis on DeMar, though.

I'll be there. Can't wait. Everyone should be back from Covid. The Bulls are crazy real. Shame on any Bucks fan who says they're not contenders; but Go Bucks!

The Bulls are not a championship contender and will get destroyed by the Bucks, Nets, or Heat in the playoffs. They are playing good regular season basketball.

I love this new Bulls squad, GREAT offseason moves. Im excited for the upcoming matchups and division rivalry. Playoffs will be the big test for them. A good friend of mine is from the chi, we’ve been waiting for the **** talking moments of these games.

I have zero problems with what is being said there.

We are totally unproven and probably overachieving right now. You still have to put Bucks/Nets (with Kyrie especially) and Heat above us. You can't dismiss Heat team. They have a ton of 3pt shooters and usually 2-3 of them are always HOT and then there is emergence of Herro. Butler gets every single calls and their role players know their roles so well, that's why they play good no matter who is out. Someone always steps up so I can''t count out Heat.

Then there is Philly team. I think we are better than them but if they get another all-star for Simmons then they could be better than us as well.

In short, we have not proven anything and no one knows how good/bad we will play in the post season. So none of what people say should hurt our feelings. It's one thing to say that we are barely a play-in team (in that regards, we were being disrespcted by Fridenll, Broushard etc) but in the playoffs we could be a ECF team or even lose in the 1st round - it's all fair on what anyone says.

Yeah my post wasn’t a complaint or anything. I just like to hear what other fans are saying about us. If I was a Bucks fan I would feel the same way as the comments there. They’re the champs

[NecessaryEvil]

This Heat team is scary when clicking. No Butler, no Bam, and they’re up 21 at half on the road to a fully healthy Suns team? Wtf…

Meh, I like the Heat. They're very good but not great.

In a 7 game series, we'd have the two best scorers.

I'm not worried about the Heat.

[cool007]

This Heat team is scary when clicking. No Butler, no Bam, and they’re up 21 at half on the road to a fully healthy Suns team? Wtf…

Meh, I like the Heat. They're very good but not great.

In a 7 game series, we'd have the two best scorers.

I'm not worried about the Heat.

Lowry is so important to the Heat's system. IMO, they can afford to have Butler missing games or even Bam but they can't afford to lose Lowry for a while.

Lowry's penetration and kick is so what they need and when they have ton of body movement and ton of shooters and great role players who know their roles (play D and take and make your 3s) - they do it so well.

If I am playing the Heat, I would make Lowry the scorer and not collapse when he pentrates. he does this to find open guys so you can live with him scoring 30+ but can't let others shoot many 3s.

[TheSuzerain]

Miami is a threat.

East playoffs honestly going to be tough after round 1 I think.

Even round 1 could be tough if you're a middle seed

[Bulls2021]

Herro becoming as good as he is is definitely a problem. They've got so much firepower and some damn good defenders.

[OldSchoolNoBull]

2022 marks 30 years of following the Bulls and the NBA for me, and in that time, I have seldom seen a conference as deep and as competitive as the East is this year. The only comparisons off the top of my head are the West in the early 00s when they had the Shaq/Kobe Lakers, Duncan Spurs, Webber/Peja/Bibby Kings, Dirk/Nash/Finley Mavs, Garnett Wolves, and Rasheed Blazers, and then maybe the West in the mid-90s when they had Hakeem's Rockets, the Malone/Stockton Jazz, the Payton/Kemp Sonics, the Barkley Suns, and the Robinson Spurs.

There four, possibly five(depending on what happens with Philly at the deadline) teams in the conference that look capable of getting to the Finals. All of the top 8 seeds are over .500, and the next four are hovering close to it. There are only two bad teams in the conference - Detroit and Orlando.

Even the 3rd/4th seed is going to be looking potentially at the Sixers w/Embiid, or this Cavs team that, with its defense, could be an absolute PITA for whoever is facing them, in the first round. Even the 2nd seed could be looking at a hungry and well-coached Raptors team.

That's why I don't like this cold water 'Bulls aren't contenders' stuff. I see it more as the Bulls suddenly getting really, really good has happened to coincide with the conference becoming, arguably, historically competitive, only one team can come out of the conference, and we're one of the teams that actually has a relatively decent chance to do so, and that's something to be excited about.

Think about it - the top five teams right now are us, Brooklyn, Miami, Milwaukee, and Philly. All very good teams that might be an ECF lock in some seasons. One of these teams is not getting out of the first round this season. That's the kind of year it is in the East.

Health-permitting, the Eastern playoffs are probably going to be a bloodbath, and no team is going to have an easy path.

[dice]

Herro becoming as good as he is is definitely a problem. They've got so much firepower and some damn good defenders.

herro's a chucker w/o a conscience this season. given that he completely ignores defense he's hurt them more often than helped them

[dice]

2022 marks 30 years of following the Bulls and the NBA for me, and in that time, I have seldom seen a conference as deep and as competitive as the East is this year. The only comparisons off the top of my head are the West in the early 00s when they had the Shaq/Kobe Lakers, Duncan Spurs, Webber/Peja/Bibby Kings, Dirk/Nash/Finley Mavs, Garnett Wolves, and Rasheed Blazers, and then maybe the West in the mid-90s when they had Hakeem's Rockets, the Malone/Stockton Jazz, the Payton/Kemp Sonics, the Barkley Suns, and the Robinson Spurs.

There four, possibly five(depending on what happens with Philly at the deadline) teams in the conference that look capable of getting to the Finals. All of the top 8 seeds are over .500, and the next four are hovering close to it. There are only two bad teams in the conference - Detroit and Orlando.

Even the 3rd/4th seed is going to be looking potentially at the Sixers w/Embiid, or this Cavs team that, with its defense, could be an absolute PITA for whoever is facing them, in the first round. Even the 2nd seed could be looking at a hungry and well-coached Raptors team.

That's why I don't like this cold water 'Bulls aren't contenders' stuff. I see it more as the Bulls suddenly getting really, really good has happened to coincide with the conference becoming, arguably, historically competitive, only one team can come out of the conference, and we're one of the teams that actually has a relatively decent chance to do so, and that's something to be excited about.

Think about it - the top five teams right now are us, Brooklyn, Miami, Milwaukee, and Philly. All very good teams that might be an ECF lock in some seasons. One of these teams is not getting out of the first round this season. That's the kind of year it is in the East.

Health-permitting, the Eastern playoffs are probably going to be a bloodbath, and no team is going to have an easy path.

the east only has 2 terrible teams, but not a single team has been terrific either. which is why the conference is still under .500

[erlim]

Just going to lay the prediction down that Klay drops more than 50 upon his return in a absolutely massive blowout win for the Dubs tonight. I see the NBA narrative and Sport’s media coverage turning away from the Lakers and whatever is going on there to how monstrously deadly and dominant the dubs are.

[Ice Man]

herro's a chucker w/o a conscience this season

Three weeks ago, I would have said that Herro is what Coby needs to become. Now I say the reverse.

[Ice Man]

This Heat team is scary when clicking. No Butler, no Bam, and they’re up 21 at half on the road to a fully healthy Suns team? Wtf…

The Bam and Butler injuries forced Miami to redo its offense, since it lost its two inside scorers. The Heat has since become an extreme spread 4 team, with a bevy of 3-point shooters: Robinson, Strus, Vincent, Herro, Tucker, Caleb Martin. (Lowry takes them too, but opponents should want him to do so.)

The Heat look to me clearly better than their bubble year. The Heat is currently on 50-win pace despite massive injuries and having played the most road games in the league, including both of its long Western road trips. Of course, it all came together for them in the playoffs 2 years ago and they might blow a flat tire in this year's playoffs. But a better team now, I think.

[Chicago-Bull-E]

This Heat team is scary when clicking. No Butler, no Bam, and they’re up 21 at half on the road to a fully healthy Suns team? Wtf…

The Bam and Butler injuries forced Miami to redo its offense, since it lost its two inside scorers. The Heat has since become an extreme spread 4 team, with a bevy of 3-point shooters: Robinson, Strus, Vincent, Herro, Tucker, Caleb Martin. (Lowry takes them too, but opponents should want him to do so.)

The Heat look to me clearly better than their bubble year. The Heat is currently on 50-win pace despite massive injuries and having played the most road games in the league, including both of its long Western road trips. Of course, it all came together for them in the playoffs 2 years ago and they might blow a flat tire in this year's playoffs. But a better team now, I think.

I agree.

I used to think the 1 seed was important because it meant you’d potentially only have to player Brooklyn/Milwaukee once. But I don’t think that anymore. And Miami may leapfrog those teams anyways.

The 1 seed is still really important for the Bulls to get the easiest 1st round opponent and have HCA throughout, but the 2nd round is going to be brutal no matter what. There’s no avoiding it.

The Heat are 9-3 against the top 3 seeds in the NBA. They’re the anti Nets, who are 0-8 against those same teams.