It has been a LONG time since I was nearly brought to tears with a Bulls loss, but tonight it happened. Losing at home to the worst team in the NBA that was on pace (I know it's WAY early) to destroy the lowest season win total "record" (they were on pace to win 4 games for the season while the record is 9) just about killed me. Thank goodness I wasn't there to see it although I was at the debacle against Toronto on Saturday when they lost by 32 again at home.
For tonight's game I know there were a million reasons they lost and you really shouldn't point to a single moment that lost the game, but that disastrous decision by John Salmons to take a step-back 3-pointer with over 10 seconds left on the clock with the Bulls down by 1 was just horrendous. Of all the guys on the floor at that point, the one guy you just didn't want taking an outside shot (forget the fact that there were still 10 seconds left and NO RUSH and they didn't need a 3 at that point), John Salmons was THE guy NOT to take the shot. Luol was 10-17 from the field; Rose (who was a beast tonight) was 13-23; Taj was 8-12; and Noah was 3-6. Salmons was 4-11 before his ill-fated shot. If they had ANYONE else on the bench that could do anything, I would hope that Vinny wouldn't have even had him on the floor at that point but Pargo was 1-8 and Johnson was 0-5 and well on his way to bust status.
The missed free throws were a HUGE problem AGAIN tonight as the Bulls finished up 15-23 for 65% (Nets were 24-28 for nearly 86%) including going 0-4 to start the 4th quarter down by 10 points. The 19 turnovers leading to about 20 points for the Nets were also a huge problem as well. But with the game on the line, how does the ball end up in the hands of the coldest guy on the floor? And WHY is he chucking up a step-back 3 with 10 seconds left down by only 1 point? There was still plenty of time to get the ball to Rose (does this team no how to set a dang pick?) and let HIM take the last shot or at least drive and kick it to someone having a better night than Salmons.
The Bulls have now lost 7-of-8 including two pretty embarrassing home losses to a sub-.500 Toronto team and the loss tonight to the worst team in the NBA (this was their first road win of the season after dropping their first 12). Yes, they are missing a couple of key players in Tyrus and Kirk, but injuries are a part of the game and everyone always says they aren't an excuse so what is the problem here? I watched the post-game press conference with Vinny and someone actually had the guts to ask him if he felt he still had job security. GREAT question! And a perfect lead-in to this post.
I mentioned in my first post in this series that I have never been much of a fan of Vinny's considering how young this team is and his total lack of coaching experience having never coached anywhere ever before. He certainly came here on the cheap but as a 10+ year season ticket holder paying a ridiculous amount of money for the tickets, that is NOT what I want to hear. Seeing former Bulls coach Scott Skiles hold together a pretty bad Bucks team without Michael Redd (played only 5 of their 19 games) only aggravates me that much more. This Bulls team started the season with a nice defensive attitude because we all knew they'd have some trouble scoring without BG but that disappeared very quickly as they have given up 100+ points in 7 of their last 9 which resulted in losses each time. What is this team's identity? They absolutely suck at defending the pick-and-roll and give up too many easy shots to be a defensive minded team but then they can't score either (reaching 100 twice in 19 games - not a good combo.
So who's working with this team on their outside shooting? What about their free throws? Do they have any "go-to" plays they can run at the end of a game that will at least guarantee a good shot? The plain truth is that they don't have anyone or they just don't work on it. Sure at some point the players need to take responsibility for their weaknesses, but do you see any improvement in any of these areas? I sure don't. The rest of the truth is that this team is NOT positioned very well for this season and the worse they play, the less likely they will be to attract any of the upcoming free agents. After dismantling the Bulls on their home floor, why would Chris Bosh want to come here to play? Or why would Wade want to come back "home" to play rather than stay in Miami? And with LeBron doing his special dance in advance of their home win against the Bulls, that doesn't seem like the antics of a guy that wants to play here rather than fulfill D-Rose's dream of playing with him.
What the heck was Vinny thinking when he changed the starting lineup to bench Taj and start the OLD and SLOW Brad Miller (hey, at least he's tall) against a young, quick, up and coming Center in Brook Lopez? I'm all for shaking up a lineup that's struggling, but Brad Miller?!? As anyone that's ever seen Lopez or Miller play could guess, Lopez OWNED Miller in the first quarter. Brutal Vinny! I know he was trying to cover for his player when asked about the ill-fated Salmons 3-point shot near the end, but his response about checking the tape made it sound like he had no idea what happened. Anyone watching the game knew there was at least 8 seconds left when he chucked it up there so what is there to check? He was the LAST guy on teh floor that you'd want to take that shot and that should have been made explicitly clear in teh team huddle during the timeout preceding the play.
The Bulls, like the Bears and Cubs as highlighted in the previous two posts need a NEW coaching perspective and staff...one with some respect to help lure free agents here in the most important off-season in NBA history.
Again, why do we put up with this here in Chicago?
Next up...off-season baseball and the winter meetings.
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