Sorry it took me so long to post this...I have been brooding since storming out of the United Center last Thursday night after watching that travesty put on display by the NBA.
That was the WORST officiated game in the HISTORY of sports...not just NBA or even pro sports, but I'm including Olympic boxing, Little League games, et al....WHY is NOBODY talking about this? The Bulls should have been up 30 in the 4th quarter if not for the PUTRID officiating that kept bringing Miami back into the game each time the Bulls stretched out to a double-digit lead and then that run of lucky off-balanced shots those guys were able to throw in wouldn't have mattered. Instead everyone is talking about how LeBron is all of sudden clutch and how he might be better than Michael Jordan...GIVE ME A BREAK!
It started with the flagrant foul call on LeBron by Boozer...Bosh must have been working with LeBron on his acting skills because that was terrible! Bulls were up 11, flagrant allows Miami to shoot 4 FTs in the possession scoring 3 points; Korver gets called for a travel, then Joakim is called (actually called on Taj originally) for a ticky tack foul on a rebound, Taj gets T-d up for arguing a call they actually reversed netting the Heat 3 more FTs...that's 7 FTs in two possessions over 39 seconds (Bulls would shoot 6 FTs for the entire quarter!). Following a layup by Derrick where he was fouled THREE times on his way to the basket without a call, LeBron gets the benefit of another call for two more FTs...that's NINE FTs for the Heat in 1:12 taking a Bulls 11-point lead back down to 5.
And then what might have been the "play of the game" for me...the one where you just absolutely KNEW the fix was in...right after the Heat called timeout following Brewer's "nail in the coffin" 3-pointer gave the Bulls their 12-point lead with 3:53 left, Brewer knocked the ball away from LeBron back to half court, both guys trying to get the ball and what??? Foul call on Brewer 45 feet from the basket with about 5 seconds left on the shot clock with BOTH guys laying on the ground...two FTs for LeBron since the Heat were already in the bonus.
Here's the final numbers to review:
LeBron - 2
Bosh - 1
Wade - 4
Anthony - 3
Bibby - 1
Rose - 5
Boozer - 4
Deng - 5
Noah - 4
Bogans - 3
That's the number of fouls called on each team's starters...pretty significant difference, wouldn't you say? That's why Deng couldn't guard LeBron in the 4th quarter (because every time he breathed on LeBron, he was called for a foul)...not a big deal? Well with Luol guarding LeBron pretty much exclusively in the 1st half, LeBron scored 11...he had 17 in the second half...many of which came with the skinnier 2-guard Ronnie Brewer trying to guard him.
What happened to home court advantage? The Bulls were called for 28 personal fouls while Miami was called for only 18 (10-foul difference for two great defensive teams). Miami shoots 33 FTs on the road; 12 more than the Bulls and the Bulls lost by 3 lousy points. I'm sorry, but that is RIDICULOUS! It wasn't like Miami was going inside either...they had a meager 22 points in the paint (that includes FTs as a result of fouls inside the paint).
I stand by my story from last week...the NBA and ESPN/ABC just has too much invested in the Miami Heat for them not to be in the Finals. You say Miami is a much smaller market than Chicago...I say look at the ratings...when Miami plays, people watch...most people are rooting hard against Miami, but they still watch and THAT, my friends is how the NBA, ESPN, ABC, etc. make their money. So as they say...the fix was in, were you? I sure wasn't!
I for one will NOT be watching the NBA Finals...it's going to be a FT shooting contest anyway which is SOOOO boring...David Stern better wake up and do something about this officiating BS because it is ruining the game! The NBA could be so much fun to watch...they have arguably the best athletes in the world and yet the way they call flops and arms flailing around as fouls, it just doesn't have any flow any more...that makes for more commercials (cha-ching!) but sure doesn't make it fun to watch for the fans.
Showing posts with label dwyane wade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dwyane wade. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
NBA, ESPN, ABC Too Invested in Heat?
Starting with an hour long special where LeBron announced he was taking his "talents to South Beach", the hype associated with the Miami Heat by the NBA and especially Disney owned ESPN and ABC has been unprecedented. How many specific teams does ESPN have a webpage dedicated? Just one as far as I know.
So how are the rest of us supposed to ignore these facts as we watch the playoffs without wondering about the integrity of the game? I mean it doesn't take more than a couple calls to change a game...get Derrick a second foul in the first quarter like we saw in Game 2 and he goes the bench. Call an offensive charge on Boozer instead of a blocking foul on LeBron and that takes Carlos and not LeBron out of the game too. Make a questionable over the back call on Joakim for his second and he's gone either mentally or physically if not both like we saw in Game 3.
If you don't think a couple calls in a close game can make all the difference in the outcome, then you just don't watch enough games. Of course there are other factors like stupid interior passes like Derrick made to LeBron to seal Game 3 or Luol did earlier in the game, blown lay-ups or tip-ins, or losing a ball out of bounds, but the refs and NBA can't really control that...they certainly CAN and DO control the officiating...I mean I know the refs are supposed to be scrutinized following each game, but by who? And if they're told ahead of time how to call a game..."let em play" like Game 1 or "call it tight" like Games 2 & 3...that changes the entire complexion of the game. As we all saw, the "let em play" officiating greatly benefits the non-whiner Bulls because LeBron and Wade are used to getting a TON of calls to go their way and when they don't, they struggle just as they did in Game 1...when the game is called tight and they can get to the line 8+ times each, they usually win those games.
I was thrilled with the old school Eastern Conference Finals officiating in Game 1 that allowed the PLAYERS to determine the outcome of the game, but for whatever reason (and this was my fear going into Game 2), starting with Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals (ya, the one where Dirk was 24-for-24 and the Thunder shot 43 FTs), the refs went to the tight calls because NBA fans really like watching a free throw parade rather than watching the best athletes in the world make athletic plays that the rest of us can't do. I can stand in a gym and make 8-of-10 FTs; heck one night a few years ago, just messing around, I dropped 31 straight FTs...what I can't do is dunk an offensive rebound in traffic...THAT is what I want to see! That is what makes the NBA amazing...isn't that their theme? NBA: Where Amazing Happens! Well I'm sorry, but amazing isn't done at the FT line.
LET THEM PLAY!!! LET'S GO BULLS!!!
So how are the rest of us supposed to ignore these facts as we watch the playoffs without wondering about the integrity of the game? I mean it doesn't take more than a couple calls to change a game...get Derrick a second foul in the first quarter like we saw in Game 2 and he goes the bench. Call an offensive charge on Boozer instead of a blocking foul on LeBron and that takes Carlos and not LeBron out of the game too. Make a questionable over the back call on Joakim for his second and he's gone either mentally or physically if not both like we saw in Game 3.
If you don't think a couple calls in a close game can make all the difference in the outcome, then you just don't watch enough games. Of course there are other factors like stupid interior passes like Derrick made to LeBron to seal Game 3 or Luol did earlier in the game, blown lay-ups or tip-ins, or losing a ball out of bounds, but the refs and NBA can't really control that...they certainly CAN and DO control the officiating...I mean I know the refs are supposed to be scrutinized following each game, but by who? And if they're told ahead of time how to call a game..."let em play" like Game 1 or "call it tight" like Games 2 & 3...that changes the entire complexion of the game. As we all saw, the "let em play" officiating greatly benefits the non-whiner Bulls because LeBron and Wade are used to getting a TON of calls to go their way and when they don't, they struggle just as they did in Game 1...when the game is called tight and they can get to the line 8+ times each, they usually win those games.
I was thrilled with the old school Eastern Conference Finals officiating in Game 1 that allowed the PLAYERS to determine the outcome of the game, but for whatever reason (and this was my fear going into Game 2), starting with Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals (ya, the one where Dirk was 24-for-24 and the Thunder shot 43 FTs), the refs went to the tight calls because NBA fans really like watching a free throw parade rather than watching the best athletes in the world make athletic plays that the rest of us can't do. I can stand in a gym and make 8-of-10 FTs; heck one night a few years ago, just messing around, I dropped 31 straight FTs...what I can't do is dunk an offensive rebound in traffic...THAT is what I want to see! That is what makes the NBA amazing...isn't that their theme? NBA: Where Amazing Happens! Well I'm sorry, but amazing isn't done at the FT line.
LET THEM PLAY!!! LET'S GO BULLS!!!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!
There has been a LOT of talk around the NBA "circles" (are these crop circles because I haven't seen any circles labeled NBA) about our own Derrick Rose for MVP. Derrick tried to nominate himself for the title in the pre-season by asking the question "why not me?" when asked about the MVP. Most people laughed it off, but take a look folks...he's doing it...he's right there in the mix. And we've been hearing the chants when he steps to the free throw line at the United Center...I thought it was a little premature back in November, but apparently not. Heck, he's hearing those chants on the road too! The Bulls are #1 in home attendance (#2 in home percentage) and #4 in road attendance...so lots of people are seeing this team and more specifically, this kid of ours play some ball.
For me the MVP must be the answer to the following question...can Player X' team win without him? Obviously any player on this list is affecting his team's win total so I'm not asking...can his team win at the same rate, but rather can they win at a decent rate...say .500 or so?
The top 3 guys this year in my opinion are LeBron, Dirk, and Derrick Rose...so let's talk about each of them one at a time...
So can the Heat win without LeBron? I would argue that YES, the Heat can win without LeBron as they have another superstar (and NO, I am not talking about "fake tough guy" Chris Bosh!) on their team that can and has already carried them at times even with LeBron in the lineup. LeBron has only missed two games this season as he continues to prove that he's a pretty durable player...he's never played in all 82 regular season games, but he's never played fewer than 75 either. The Heat are 0-2 in those two games which occurred back-to-back against the Nuggets (as a side note, Wade has never beaten Carmelo in Denver) and Bulls. While that's obviously not .500, it's hardly a large enough sample size to call that record a determining factor...the Heat also lost the game before with the Clippers while LeBron played nearly 40 minutes and the game following against the Hawks while LeBron played 44 minutes in an OT loss.
So can the Mavs win without Dirk? Well, Dirk has missed 9 games this season and his Mavs went 2-7 over that time frame so the instinctual answer is NO. They also lost Caron Butler in the middle of Dirk's absence although they had already lost the first two with Butler. The Bulls swept the season series with the Mavs this year and Dirk played in both games; Derrick played in both games; Butler played in the first game in Dallas, but missed the second at the UC; no Boozer for the first, and no Boozer and no Joakim for the second as Derrick was the only Bull in double figures in that second game...result - Bulls 2; Dallas 0.
Can the Bulls win without Derrick Rose? Ummm...I really don't think so especially in this first part of the season with Boozer out, Joakim out or even both guys out. Can they scrape together a win or two out of 10, maybe. The Bulls lost the only game Derrick has missed this season (knock on wood!) although it was in heartbreaking fashion when Melo hit that fade-away J over Luol at the buzzer. But let me explain by bringing up a situation from last season...the Bulls lost Joakim Noah for a 10 games in the second half...they went on to lose ALL 10 which seemed to end their playoff hopes in March (luckily Chris Bosh had already given up in Toronto so the Bulls were able to slip into the playoffs with a bit of a late season surge going 10-4 to finish up 41-41). That was last year...this year, Joakim has already missed the last 28 games, but this is Derrick's year...he's not only kept the Bulls going, but they are 21-7 in those 28 games. Of course, the Bulls have played the entire season with either their #2 or #3 players hurt or out or even BOTH out at the same time (Derrick's Bulls are 2-1 with both out) and yet, they still have the 5th best record in the NBA! I'm sorry, but THOSE are MVP numbers. Need more...here's a quote from ESPN's Maurice Brooks who does the "Awards Watch" page for them (http://espn.go.com/nba/notebook/_/page/Awards-110215/nba-awards-watch) - "On 13 occasions, the Bulls have trailed in the fourth quarter only to have Rose rescue them. That is another stat on what is turning into a long list of reasons to give him the award." Really...what else is there!
So how will Derrick perform as the starting (and healthy) point guard for the Eastern Conference All-Stars? I don't know...this type of show-off game isn't really his thing as he's not the ego-maniac LeBron, Kobe, Amar'e, and Wade are...I think he's probably going to want to show he belongs so its not like he's going to be cowering in the corner...he still loves to play in front of the big stage...he sure proved that Thu night on TNT in front of a national TV audience, so I expect him to have a pretty good game.
I don't know why I didn't think about this before with Michael and Scottie as regulars in the All-Star games, but how will these guys even get along? The East consists of 3 Heat, 4 Celtics, 2 Hawks, 1 Knick, 1 Magic, and Derrick...that's all 12 guys representing the top 6 teams in the East right now. I know Derrick is a very competitive guy, but most of the rest of the guys really seem to enjoy this type of game. Interestingly, he'll be paired in the starting lineup with LeBron and Wade, both of whom spurned the Bulls this summer; otherwise we could have potentially watched the three of them play together every night. In addition to playing with two of the Three Am-EGOS to start, the third Am-EGO is also there as a reserve and then there's the issues with the cheap shots by new teammate Dwight Howard which helped somewhat ruin Derrick's last trip to the All-Star Game. Then there's the 4 Celtics including Rajon Rondo who Derrick beat out in the voting to become the starter. Remember that epic playoff series between the Bulls and Celtics in the first round during Derrick's rookie season? NOBODY that I've ever heard has ever said anything really negative about Derrick so I'm sure he'll do well with everyone.
Other than the 4 Celtics who each won a ring 3 years ago, the rest of the East has just one ring combined. The West have a LOT more rings on their side as the West has pretty well dominated the ring collection since the Bulls second three-peat winning 9 of the last 12 NBA Titles. So what kind of game can we expect to see from Derrick tomorrow? I'd be thrilled to see him throw down a couple of nice 2-handed dunks and dish out about 12 assists...most importantly, I want him to really enjoy the moment and learn from it just like he did with the Team USA experience over the summer.
Let's keep those M-V-P! chants going nice and loud at the UC! Heck, I've even been hearing it on the road when he goes to the free throw line; let's keep em going there too!
By the way, I started writing this earlier in the week before the San Antonio game...if you weren't convinced of his MVP status before that game, hopefully his career high 42 points pushed you in the right direction. He shot 18-for-28 against the league's best team and added 8 assists and 5 boards. It started out as a battle between Rose and San Antonio's Tony Parker...kind of a battle between two of the leagues best PGs. This was the 3rd such match-up in the Bulls last 4 games after matching up with and totally outplaying Deron Williams in Utah (longest tenured coach in US pro sports was gone following that game) and Chris Paul in New Orleans back-to-back the week before.
Charles Barkley (a lot smarter than he makes himself out to be) thinks Derrick's Bulls are the best team in the East now that Joakim Noah is coming back following the All-Star Game tomorrow. I tend to agree, but I'm trying not to get ahead of myself...but I am REALLY excited at the same time.
GO BULLS!
For me the MVP must be the answer to the following question...can Player X' team win without him? Obviously any player on this list is affecting his team's win total so I'm not asking...can his team win at the same rate, but rather can they win at a decent rate...say .500 or so?
The top 3 guys this year in my opinion are LeBron, Dirk, and Derrick Rose...so let's talk about each of them one at a time...
So can the Heat win without LeBron? I would argue that YES, the Heat can win without LeBron as they have another superstar (and NO, I am not talking about "fake tough guy" Chris Bosh!) on their team that can and has already carried them at times even with LeBron in the lineup. LeBron has only missed two games this season as he continues to prove that he's a pretty durable player...he's never played in all 82 regular season games, but he's never played fewer than 75 either. The Heat are 0-2 in those two games which occurred back-to-back against the Nuggets (as a side note, Wade has never beaten Carmelo in Denver) and Bulls. While that's obviously not .500, it's hardly a large enough sample size to call that record a determining factor...the Heat also lost the game before with the Clippers while LeBron played nearly 40 minutes and the game following against the Hawks while LeBron played 44 minutes in an OT loss.
So can the Mavs win without Dirk? Well, Dirk has missed 9 games this season and his Mavs went 2-7 over that time frame so the instinctual answer is NO. They also lost Caron Butler in the middle of Dirk's absence although they had already lost the first two with Butler. The Bulls swept the season series with the Mavs this year and Dirk played in both games; Derrick played in both games; Butler played in the first game in Dallas, but missed the second at the UC; no Boozer for the first, and no Boozer and no Joakim for the second as Derrick was the only Bull in double figures in that second game...result - Bulls 2; Dallas 0.
Can the Bulls win without Derrick Rose? Ummm...I really don't think so especially in this first part of the season with Boozer out, Joakim out or even both guys out. Can they scrape together a win or two out of 10, maybe. The Bulls lost the only game Derrick has missed this season (knock on wood!) although it was in heartbreaking fashion when Melo hit that fade-away J over Luol at the buzzer. But let me explain by bringing up a situation from last season...the Bulls lost Joakim Noah for a 10 games in the second half...they went on to lose ALL 10 which seemed to end their playoff hopes in March (luckily Chris Bosh had already given up in Toronto so the Bulls were able to slip into the playoffs with a bit of a late season surge going 10-4 to finish up 41-41). That was last year...this year, Joakim has already missed the last 28 games, but this is Derrick's year...he's not only kept the Bulls going, but they are 21-7 in those 28 games. Of course, the Bulls have played the entire season with either their #2 or #3 players hurt or out or even BOTH out at the same time (Derrick's Bulls are 2-1 with both out) and yet, they still have the 5th best record in the NBA! I'm sorry, but THOSE are MVP numbers. Need more...here's a quote from ESPN's Maurice Brooks who does the "Awards Watch" page for them (http://espn.go.com/nba/notebook/_/page/Awards-110215/nba-awards-watch) - "On 13 occasions, the Bulls have trailed in the fourth quarter only to have Rose rescue them. That is another stat on what is turning into a long list of reasons to give him the award." Really...what else is there!
So how will Derrick perform as the starting (and healthy) point guard for the Eastern Conference All-Stars? I don't know...this type of show-off game isn't really his thing as he's not the ego-maniac LeBron, Kobe, Amar'e, and Wade are...I think he's probably going to want to show he belongs so its not like he's going to be cowering in the corner...he still loves to play in front of the big stage...he sure proved that Thu night on TNT in front of a national TV audience, so I expect him to have a pretty good game.
I don't know why I didn't think about this before with Michael and Scottie as regulars in the All-Star games, but how will these guys even get along? The East consists of 3 Heat, 4 Celtics, 2 Hawks, 1 Knick, 1 Magic, and Derrick...that's all 12 guys representing the top 6 teams in the East right now. I know Derrick is a very competitive guy, but most of the rest of the guys really seem to enjoy this type of game. Interestingly, he'll be paired in the starting lineup with LeBron and Wade, both of whom spurned the Bulls this summer; otherwise we could have potentially watched the three of them play together every night. In addition to playing with two of the Three Am-EGOS to start, the third Am-EGO is also there as a reserve and then there's the issues with the cheap shots by new teammate Dwight Howard which helped somewhat ruin Derrick's last trip to the All-Star Game. Then there's the 4 Celtics including Rajon Rondo who Derrick beat out in the voting to become the starter. Remember that epic playoff series between the Bulls and Celtics in the first round during Derrick's rookie season? NOBODY that I've ever heard has ever said anything really negative about Derrick so I'm sure he'll do well with everyone.
Other than the 4 Celtics who each won a ring 3 years ago, the rest of the East has just one ring combined. The West have a LOT more rings on their side as the West has pretty well dominated the ring collection since the Bulls second three-peat winning 9 of the last 12 NBA Titles. So what kind of game can we expect to see from Derrick tomorrow? I'd be thrilled to see him throw down a couple of nice 2-handed dunks and dish out about 12 assists...most importantly, I want him to really enjoy the moment and learn from it just like he did with the Team USA experience over the summer.
Let's keep those M-V-P! chants going nice and loud at the UC! Heck, I've even been hearing it on the road when he goes to the free throw line; let's keep em going there too!
By the way, I started writing this earlier in the week before the San Antonio game...if you weren't convinced of his MVP status before that game, hopefully his career high 42 points pushed you in the right direction. He shot 18-for-28 against the league's best team and added 8 assists and 5 boards. It started out as a battle between Rose and San Antonio's Tony Parker...kind of a battle between two of the leagues best PGs. This was the 3rd such match-up in the Bulls last 4 games after matching up with and totally outplaying Deron Williams in Utah (longest tenured coach in US pro sports was gone following that game) and Chris Paul in New Orleans back-to-back the week before.
Charles Barkley (a lot smarter than he makes himself out to be) thinks Derrick's Bulls are the best team in the East now that Joakim Noah is coming back following the All-Star Game tomorrow. I tend to agree, but I'm trying not to get ahead of myself...but I am REALLY excited at the same time.
GO BULLS!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
DA BULLS vs. THE THREE AM-EGOS part 1
Well, the Bulls got their chance to face off against the NBA's most hated team (at least hated by the fans) at the United Center on Saturday this past weekend in what was reportedly the biggest ticket in Chicago this weekend even with the Bears hosting a playoff game for the first time in 4 years. I guess everyone was saving up for this weekend's showdown with the Packers for the NFC Championship.
So in front of a celebrity filled crowd with sightings of Jesse Jackson, Devin Hester, Johnny Knox, White Sox GM Kenny Williams, Cubs 3B Aramis Ramirez and former Bull Will Perdue (I'm sure there were others as well), the Bulls faced off against The Three Am-EGOS less LeBron James who remained out with a sprained ankle. Of course, the Bulls weren't exactly healthy either as they remain a man short with Joakim recovering from hand surgery.
How do you like the poster? I designed it and had some help from a friend with better software to finish it up. You might have seen it during the game as I sat somewhat behind the east basket.
The game was a back and forth battle between two pretty good teams. The Heat remained in it with unbelievable shooting from the 3-point line making 13 of them while Derrick carried the Bulls. While Wade was joined by Bosh, House and Chalmers in double-digit scoring, Derrick just had Boozer and Deng with 12 points each. It still ended up mostly as Rose vs. Wade down the stretch, but I'll get to that...
Bosh started out poorly but picked it up as the ever disappointing Carlos Boozer failed to keep him from doing anything he wanted in the 2nd quarter. His day finished in the 3rd quarter as Omer Asik rolled up on Bosh's ankle as both were going after a loose ball on the floor. First off, that may have been the first time I've ever seen Bosh on the floor going for a loose ball rather than just flopping trying to draw a foul. Second, his comments after the game were unbelievable as he basically blamed the Bulls rookie for diving for the loose ball with a "star" in the neighborhood. "C'mon, that is how guys get hurt, that is how serious injuries happen. You've got to watch people's legs. I know guys want to hustle and everything but we all want to play and provide for our families and have a job. We all want to be healthy and that is very important," Bosh said. "If it is by somebody's leg, don't dive for the ball, it's too close." Did he forget his $100 million contract is fully guaranteed and I'm pretty sure that money will provide pretty well for his family. And what is this if "it's too close" "don't dive for the ball" BS? Just because you're 6'11" but play like a pansy, don't bring that type of play on everyone else.
While it is very difficult to argue with the ultimate results especially under the circumstances the Bulls have been given with Boozer, then Noah, and now Boozer again being out of the lineup, I'm still not 100% happy with Coach Thibs. He seems to simply have a set rotation and doesn't like to adjust it regardless of the circumstances or game situation...like why not double Carmelo at the very end of that Denver game when everyone on the planet knows he's going to be the guy to take the shot? But Sat night against the Heat, I was literally SCREAMING my head off calling for Brewer on Wade, but Thibs decided to stick with Luol to keep him off the line supposedly and then finally after CJ Watson gave up the go-ahead 3 which actually could have been a 4-point play as Wade leaned into CJ while seeming to primarily draw the foul. That was the second 3 the Heat had actually hit while trying to draw a foul.
I'll give them credit...every time the Bulls seemed to be getting going and heading to blow out the Heat less LeBron, the Heat answered back...mostly it was Wade and Bosh had his moments until the ankle injury late in the third, but there was also the outside shooting that kept them in it. The Heat finished the first half on a 17-4 run to turn an 8-point deficit into a 5-point halftime lead. Well, the Bulls came back to start the 3rd quarter with a run of their own...this one was 17-0! I don't know how many TOs Spoelstra called in that span but he couldn't find an answer through the first several minutes of that second half. They eventually figured it out and came right back again.
Back and forth they went...like two heavyweights hammering on each other. But then it came down to the last couple of minutes...Rose, Wade, Rose, Wade, Rose...it was a crazy playoff like atmosphere with cheers for the Bulls and boos for the Heat (mostly Wade). Some of the loudest cheers were directed at Wade when he was called for a foul and then when he got knocked down and laid on the floor for a couple minutes. I did think it was awfully nice of the refs to give him all the time he needed to make himself right before continuing the game without making the Heat use a timeout. Boy, that was some serious star treatment and this for a guy that did nothing but whine and moan about every single call throughout the entire game. I couldn't believe Ken Mauer (he's the ref that T'd up the Timberwolves 5 times in 10 seconds earlier in the week) put up with Wade's behavior without ever issuing him a T.
At the end, the Bulls were able to make one more play than the Heat and the Bulls were able to escape with the W. Korver hit the big 3 following Rose's missed floater and Boozer's brutal miss from point blank range which Wade then tapped out in an attempt to start a fast break...unfortunately for Wade (what was LeBron saying about karma?), he tipped it where Korver was able to outrace 2 Heat players and set himself up for a wide open 3 which turned out to be the game winner. The Heat called timeout and Thibs FINALLY made the substitution I had been begging for throughout the 4th quarter when he put Ronnie Brewer (wasn't he brought here specifically for his defense?) on Wade. So what did Brewer do in his 25 seconds of PT down the stretch? Well, he got the big rebound after the mad scramble in the Heat's second to last possession; got fouled but was only able to split the FTs giving the Bulls a 3-point lead so even the one FT was HUGE as it limited the Heat options with only 4.4 seconds left; and then he was ALL OVER Wade forcing a horrible shot that landed woefully short giving the Bulls the W. While his missed FT did cost us our Big Macs, had he been in the game for the final 2+ minutes instead, the Heat would have been fouling like crazy and the Bulls would have ended up well above 100.
So the question remains...is the Bulls' rookie head coach learning anything or is just looking at his own record and thinking he's got the right mix right now? I'm afraid it is the latter as he hasn't made any changes or adjustments other than based on injuries. The Bulls are like 9-0 when Bogans scores 6 points or more...how pathetic is that? The Bulls starting shooting guard has only scored 6 lousy points 9 times in 41 games! He has started every game this season and hasn't hit double-digits in the last 33 games. What the heck IS that? Doesn't he want to try a couple different things to see if what he has is the best they can do? Why not spread the floor with Korver starting with Rose? I'm fine with Brewer off the bench in most cases although I would have adjusted the starting lineup specifically for Miami (Thibs does know he can do that, right?). I would have started Taj over Thomas and stuck him on Bosh and would have started Brewer over Bogans and stuck him on Wade. Deng usually does a pretty good job on LeBron so even with The Three Am-EGOS all playing, I still think the Bulls match up pretty well. While neither Taj nor Brewer are considered scorers, they can both put the ball in the basket. Now on the other side of the ball, who from Miami is going to guard Derrick? Obviously nobody based on Sat night's game! I would certainly hope that Boozer plays MUCH, MUCH better than he did on Sat night as he looked as tentative as I've seen him even counting his first few games back from injury.
Look, if Boozer wants to stay in the lineup (no given in my opinion), he needs to provide a better effort on the defensive end. This waving at guys driving the lane without getting in their way to draw a charge or at least impact the shot just doesn't work for me! So for Miami part 2 assuming the Bulls are 100% healthy and so are the Heat, I would go with Joakim, Taj, Deng, Brewer, and Derrick with Boozer coming off the bench with Korver along with Asik (can this guy EVER get a call?). Beat the Heat with your advantage...they have no bench, no answer for Derrick and no answer to Joakim...DONE!
GO BULLS!
So in front of a celebrity filled crowd with sightings of Jesse Jackson, Devin Hester, Johnny Knox, White Sox GM Kenny Williams, Cubs 3B Aramis Ramirez and former Bull Will Perdue (I'm sure there were others as well), the Bulls faced off against The Three Am-EGOS less LeBron James who remained out with a sprained ankle. Of course, the Bulls weren't exactly healthy either as they remain a man short with Joakim recovering from hand surgery.
The game was a back and forth battle between two pretty good teams. The Heat remained in it with unbelievable shooting from the 3-point line making 13 of them while Derrick carried the Bulls. While Wade was joined by Bosh, House and Chalmers in double-digit scoring, Derrick just had Boozer and Deng with 12 points each. It still ended up mostly as Rose vs. Wade down the stretch, but I'll get to that...
Bosh started out poorly but picked it up as the ever disappointing Carlos Boozer failed to keep him from doing anything he wanted in the 2nd quarter. His day finished in the 3rd quarter as Omer Asik rolled up on Bosh's ankle as both were going after a loose ball on the floor. First off, that may have been the first time I've ever seen Bosh on the floor going for a loose ball rather than just flopping trying to draw a foul. Second, his comments after the game were unbelievable as he basically blamed the Bulls rookie for diving for the loose ball with a "star" in the neighborhood. "C'mon, that is how guys get hurt, that is how serious injuries happen. You've got to watch people's legs. I know guys want to hustle and everything but we all want to play and provide for our families and have a job. We all want to be healthy and that is very important," Bosh said. "If it is by somebody's leg, don't dive for the ball, it's too close." Did he forget his $100 million contract is fully guaranteed and I'm pretty sure that money will provide pretty well for his family. And what is this if "it's too close" "don't dive for the ball" BS? Just because you're 6'11" but play like a pansy, don't bring that type of play on everyone else.
While it is very difficult to argue with the ultimate results especially under the circumstances the Bulls have been given with Boozer, then Noah, and now Boozer again being out of the lineup, I'm still not 100% happy with Coach Thibs. He seems to simply have a set rotation and doesn't like to adjust it regardless of the circumstances or game situation...like why not double Carmelo at the very end of that Denver game when everyone on the planet knows he's going to be the guy to take the shot? But Sat night against the Heat, I was literally SCREAMING my head off calling for Brewer on Wade, but Thibs decided to stick with Luol to keep him off the line supposedly and then finally after CJ Watson gave up the go-ahead 3 which actually could have been a 4-point play as Wade leaned into CJ while seeming to primarily draw the foul. That was the second 3 the Heat had actually hit while trying to draw a foul.
I'll give them credit...every time the Bulls seemed to be getting going and heading to blow out the Heat less LeBron, the Heat answered back...mostly it was Wade and Bosh had his moments until the ankle injury late in the third, but there was also the outside shooting that kept them in it. The Heat finished the first half on a 17-4 run to turn an 8-point deficit into a 5-point halftime lead. Well, the Bulls came back to start the 3rd quarter with a run of their own...this one was 17-0! I don't know how many TOs Spoelstra called in that span but he couldn't find an answer through the first several minutes of that second half. They eventually figured it out and came right back again.
Back and forth they went...like two heavyweights hammering on each other. But then it came down to the last couple of minutes...Rose, Wade, Rose, Wade, Rose...it was a crazy playoff like atmosphere with cheers for the Bulls and boos for the Heat (mostly Wade). Some of the loudest cheers were directed at Wade when he was called for a foul and then when he got knocked down and laid on the floor for a couple minutes. I did think it was awfully nice of the refs to give him all the time he needed to make himself right before continuing the game without making the Heat use a timeout. Boy, that was some serious star treatment and this for a guy that did nothing but whine and moan about every single call throughout the entire game. I couldn't believe Ken Mauer (he's the ref that T'd up the Timberwolves 5 times in 10 seconds earlier in the week) put up with Wade's behavior without ever issuing him a T.
At the end, the Bulls were able to make one more play than the Heat and the Bulls were able to escape with the W. Korver hit the big 3 following Rose's missed floater and Boozer's brutal miss from point blank range which Wade then tapped out in an attempt to start a fast break...unfortunately for Wade (what was LeBron saying about karma?), he tipped it where Korver was able to outrace 2 Heat players and set himself up for a wide open 3 which turned out to be the game winner. The Heat called timeout and Thibs FINALLY made the substitution I had been begging for throughout the 4th quarter when he put Ronnie Brewer (wasn't he brought here specifically for his defense?) on Wade. So what did Brewer do in his 25 seconds of PT down the stretch? Well, he got the big rebound after the mad scramble in the Heat's second to last possession; got fouled but was only able to split the FTs giving the Bulls a 3-point lead so even the one FT was HUGE as it limited the Heat options with only 4.4 seconds left; and then he was ALL OVER Wade forcing a horrible shot that landed woefully short giving the Bulls the W. While his missed FT did cost us our Big Macs, had he been in the game for the final 2+ minutes instead, the Heat would have been fouling like crazy and the Bulls would have ended up well above 100.
So the question remains...is the Bulls' rookie head coach learning anything or is just looking at his own record and thinking he's got the right mix right now? I'm afraid it is the latter as he hasn't made any changes or adjustments other than based on injuries. The Bulls are like 9-0 when Bogans scores 6 points or more...how pathetic is that? The Bulls starting shooting guard has only scored 6 lousy points 9 times in 41 games! He has started every game this season and hasn't hit double-digits in the last 33 games. What the heck IS that? Doesn't he want to try a couple different things to see if what he has is the best they can do? Why not spread the floor with Korver starting with Rose? I'm fine with Brewer off the bench in most cases although I would have adjusted the starting lineup specifically for Miami (Thibs does know he can do that, right?). I would have started Taj over Thomas and stuck him on Bosh and would have started Brewer over Bogans and stuck him on Wade. Deng usually does a pretty good job on LeBron so even with The Three Am-EGOS all playing, I still think the Bulls match up pretty well. While neither Taj nor Brewer are considered scorers, they can both put the ball in the basket. Now on the other side of the ball, who from Miami is going to guard Derrick? Obviously nobody based on Sat night's game! I would certainly hope that Boozer plays MUCH, MUCH better than he did on Sat night as he looked as tentative as I've seen him even counting his first few games back from injury.
Look, if Boozer wants to stay in the lineup (no given in my opinion), he needs to provide a better effort on the defensive end. This waving at guys driving the lane without getting in their way to draw a charge or at least impact the shot just doesn't work for me! So for Miami part 2 assuming the Bulls are 100% healthy and so are the Heat, I would go with Joakim, Taj, Deng, Brewer, and Derrick with Boozer coming off the bench with Korver along with Asik (can this guy EVER get a call?). Beat the Heat with your advantage...they have no bench, no answer for Derrick and no answer to Joakim...DONE!
GO BULLS!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
How about that team in South Beach?!?
WOW! The supposedly almighty Miami Heat who were supposed to challenge the 1995-96 Bulls record of 72 regular season wins has now lost their 3rd game. They're are just a touch behind the Bulls' pace...NOT! That Bulls team didn't lose their third game until after Christmas leaving them with a 23-3 record to that point. The supposedly unbeatable Heat are now 5-3 or just 1/2 game ahead of spurned Cavs who are 4-3 without LeBron (more on him later).
Tonight's loss happened at home against a seemingly undermanned Jazz team. They blew a 19-point half-time lead and led by as much as 22 points. Paul Millsap, who ironically allowed the Jazz to not resign Boozer, scored a career high 46 points with 33 in the second half including a very Reggie Miller like 11 points in the final 28 seconds to tie it at the regulation buzzer. The Heat allowed 84 points after halftime. That's an incredible number!
First LeBron...while he did finish with a triple double, where the heck was he in the OT? He stood around and watched Dwyane Wade score all 10 of the Heat's points in OT which wasn't quite enough as the Jazz scored 12 and won 116-114. Wade scored a team high 39 on a pretty impressive 12-23 shooting and I say impressive because his running mate in LeBron shot 5-18. Both guys made their living at the line as usual as LeBron was 10-11 and Wade was 12-16. By the way, LeBron who has been mentioned by some as a potential Defensive Player of the Year candidate through 7 games (must be the same guys that voted for Derek Jeter to get the Gold Glove this year - what a joke!) failed to close out on Andrei Kirilenko who hit the "big 3" in OT to give the Jazz the lead they would never relinquish. Oops!
Bosh & Millsap...so who was "guarding" Millsap during his 33-point outburst after halftime? Well, Bosh is supposed to be the South Beach PF which is the same position Millsap plays...hmmmm. I didn't see the whole game, but I watched some of the first half and then the entire OT. I think Bosh had 6-7 boards early in the first half...well, he finished with 9. Big 3, huh? He did exceed his pathetic season averages with 17 (14.4) and 9 (5.4), but didn't do much in crunch time either except one nice block in OT.
Heat depth...for a game that went into OT, the bench really didn't do much scoring only 24 points (only 4 guys) while the Jazz had 7 bench players combine for 28. With no real center on the team and with Bosh's lack of D inside, the Jazz outscored the Heat 58-38 in the paint...combine that with being outscored 24-18 from the arc too. LeBron tied Deron Williams of the Jazz with a game high 14 assists, but the next highest assist total on the Heat was Wade's 3...not exactly great ball movement.
Lastly and most importantly for us Bulls' fans...the Heat have now lost 3 games and I mentioned this yesterday...the first two losses were to teams with dynamic point guards...well, chalk up #3 as the Jazz are led by the very dynamic Deron Williams. January 15th...put it on your calendar if it isn't already on there...Heat @ Bulls!
It is still WAY early and you don't win (or lose) an NBA title in November, but for the MANY, MANY fans out there hating on the Heat for the way The Three Am-EGOS handled their free agency, you must all be LOVING this...I know I am. My hope is that the team just implodes with so many egos over there including Pat Riley who undoubtedly will be coming down to the bench if they continue to lose games like this...I mean they blew a 19-point halftime lead...AT HOME!
Other NBA Notes
Did you see the Indy game against the Nuggets? The Pacers shot 20-21 from the field in the quarter including 8 3s. The only miss came with under 10 seconds left in the quarter by rookie McRoberts on a long 3 at the end of the shot clock. They had a 10-point lead at halftime and scored 54 in the 3rd quarter which extended their lead to 37 at that point. They won 144-113...yikes! Tough trip through the Midwest for Carmelo after a tough 2-point loss to the Bulls last night.
Tonight's loss happened at home against a seemingly undermanned Jazz team. They blew a 19-point half-time lead and led by as much as 22 points. Paul Millsap, who ironically allowed the Jazz to not resign Boozer, scored a career high 46 points with 33 in the second half including a very Reggie Miller like 11 points in the final 28 seconds to tie it at the regulation buzzer. The Heat allowed 84 points after halftime. That's an incredible number!
First LeBron...while he did finish with a triple double, where the heck was he in the OT? He stood around and watched Dwyane Wade score all 10 of the Heat's points in OT which wasn't quite enough as the Jazz scored 12 and won 116-114. Wade scored a team high 39 on a pretty impressive 12-23 shooting and I say impressive because his running mate in LeBron shot 5-18. Both guys made their living at the line as usual as LeBron was 10-11 and Wade was 12-16. By the way, LeBron who has been mentioned by some as a potential Defensive Player of the Year candidate through 7 games (must be the same guys that voted for Derek Jeter to get the Gold Glove this year - what a joke!) failed to close out on Andrei Kirilenko who hit the "big 3" in OT to give the Jazz the lead they would never relinquish. Oops!
Bosh & Millsap...so who was "guarding" Millsap during his 33-point outburst after halftime? Well, Bosh is supposed to be the South Beach PF which is the same position Millsap plays...hmmmm. I didn't see the whole game, but I watched some of the first half and then the entire OT. I think Bosh had 6-7 boards early in the first half...well, he finished with 9. Big 3, huh? He did exceed his pathetic season averages with 17 (14.4) and 9 (5.4), but didn't do much in crunch time either except one nice block in OT.
Heat depth...for a game that went into OT, the bench really didn't do much scoring only 24 points (only 4 guys) while the Jazz had 7 bench players combine for 28. With no real center on the team and with Bosh's lack of D inside, the Jazz outscored the Heat 58-38 in the paint...combine that with being outscored 24-18 from the arc too. LeBron tied Deron Williams of the Jazz with a game high 14 assists, but the next highest assist total on the Heat was Wade's 3...not exactly great ball movement.
Lastly and most importantly for us Bulls' fans...the Heat have now lost 3 games and I mentioned this yesterday...the first two losses were to teams with dynamic point guards...well, chalk up #3 as the Jazz are led by the very dynamic Deron Williams. January 15th...put it on your calendar if it isn't already on there...Heat @ Bulls!
It is still WAY early and you don't win (or lose) an NBA title in November, but for the MANY, MANY fans out there hating on the Heat for the way The Three Am-EGOS handled their free agency, you must all be LOVING this...I know I am. My hope is that the team just implodes with so many egos over there including Pat Riley who undoubtedly will be coming down to the bench if they continue to lose games like this...I mean they blew a 19-point halftime lead...AT HOME!
Other NBA Notes
Did you see the Indy game against the Nuggets? The Pacers shot 20-21 from the field in the quarter including 8 3s. The only miss came with under 10 seconds left in the quarter by rookie McRoberts on a long 3 at the end of the shot clock. They had a 10-point lead at halftime and scored 54 in the 3rd quarter which extended their lead to 37 at that point. They won 144-113...yikes! Tough trip through the Midwest for Carmelo after a tough 2-point loss to the Bulls last night.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
1995-96 Bulls vs. 2010-11 Heat (part 2)
Corrections
I messed up a few things in my post last night (I guess that's what happens when you're up typing at 1am) so I'll start with those and then finish up some other thoughts I have on this.
Point Guard comparison should be Ron Harper vs. Mike Miller
These guys are the starters as opposed to the guys I compared in last night's post (oops!) who all get added to their team's bench. Even though Steve Kerr actually played more minutes than Ron Harper, Harper was the starter for 80 of 82 games and Kerr never started. This is an interesting match-up as Mike Miller is a pretty decent offensive player although his numbers the last two seasons weren't as good as they were earlier in his career and Ron Harper is a pretty good defensive player. Maybe it is simply a matter of aging but that makes the match-up even more interesting as Ron Harper was also aging by the time the 1995-96 season rolled around. Just strictly looking at the numbers makes them nearly identical - 11.3/10.9 ppg, 4.0/3.9 apg, and 4.1/6.2 rpg (the difference here is probably because Miller plays more SF that Harper). I would argue Harper was a much better defender but Miller is a much better shooter. As I really don't think Miami is going to use Miller much for offense (Harper actually scored a little more than Miller anyway) with The Three Am-EGOS handling the ball 95% of the time, I'm going to call this a wash.
Edge Even
Heat Game Schedule
Since the Heat and Bulls are NOT in the same division, they only face off 3 times instead of the 4 I mentioned yesterday although 2 of the 3 are in the United Center (i.e. tougher road games for Heat). They still play the Bucks 4 times although the Bucks are in the same division as the Bulls. Interestingly, the Bulls are the only Central Division team not to play the Heat four times which does make it a little easier for the Heat overall as they get to play two pretty bad teams in Detroit and decimated Cleveland 4 times each. That means they "only" have to go 16-9 in those tough games I mentioned yesterday but 57-0 in the rest in order outdo the 1995-96 Bulls...I still think they will NOT be able to do it.
Edge Bulls
NBA Expansion
The Bulls also had the advantage of facing a somewhat weaker NBA in 1995-96 as expansion added two teams north of the border in Vancouver (Grizzlies - now in Memphis) and Toronto (Raptors). When teams are added, they do start from scratch, but not totally...there was an expansion draft where the new teams could draft players from other NBA teams. The Raptors picked 14 players while the Grizzlies picked 13 from current NBA teams. It's not like the new teams could pick the top players from the current teams as the teams were allowed to protect a certain number of players, but what an expansion draft tends to do is weaken the benches of all the teams. Ironically, the first player selected in that expansion draft was BJ Armstrong from the Bulls which certainly hurt their depth a bit, but apparently not too much as they went on to decimate the league to the tune of 72-10 during the regular season. With no expansion happening this year, that further hurts the Heat from exceeding that 72-win total as predicted by Jeff Van Gundy.Edge Bulls
====================================================
I meant to also discuss coaching as well as bench comparisons...
Phil Jackson vs. Erik Spoelstra or Pat Riley
This isn't much of a contest, but that's why I want to bring it up...Let's just count rings to start with - Phil has 11, Erik has ZERO (should work well combined with LeBron and Bosh also with ZERO), and Riley has 5 plus both Phil and Riley each won a ring as NBA players as well (Phil - Knicks and Riley - Lakers and they beat each other in the Finals back-to-back years). I'm not sure how long Erik will last as head coach which is why I added Pat Riley to this discussion as most everyone believes he will be coaching this team before the end of the season. So let's just play it Phil vs. Riley...they have faced off against each other in the playoffs on several occasions. Riley's Knicks "beat" Phil's Bulls in 1994 on the infamous phantom foul call on Scottie Pippen that sent Hubert Davis to the foul line in Game 5 of that series. Other than that, Phil has gotten the better of Riley each of the other times they faced each other in the playoffs - 1991 Finals (Bulls beat Lakers 4-1), 1992 EC Second Round (Bulls beat Knicks 4-3), 1993 EC Finals (Bulls beat Knicks 4-2), and 1996 EC First Round (Bulls beat Heat 3-0), 1997 EC Finals (Bulls beat Heat 4-1). That makes Phil 5-1 against Riley in the playoffs. Of course, Riley would LOVE to change that this year by taking over the Heat and keeping Phil from achieving his unbelievable 4th threepeat (more irony...I believe Riley is the one that coined the term threepeat although NONE of his teams have ever achieved it).
Edge Bulls
Bulls Bench vs. Heat Bench
This may be the biggest difference in the two teams. The Bulls bench featured the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year in Toni Kukoc along with several important role players. The Heat bench features Udonis Haslem and whoever isn't starting from my previous post. Kukoc alone is enough to give the Bulls the edge here, but let's talk a bit more on the rest of the bench. The Bulls had defensive players like Randy Brown and John Salley as well as a few other role players that would run through a wall for this team like Jud Buechler and Bill Wennington. But in addition to Kukoc, the Bulls also had sharp-shooting Steve Kerr on the bench. The Heat have Jamaal Magloire who hasn't done much of anything since leaving the Bucks following the 2005-06 season (that's 5 years ago!), Juwan Howard who is on his 9th team and also hasn't done much in 5 years, Carlos Arroyo, Eddie House, and Mario Chalmers who I discussed in yesterday's post. This one just isn't close folks...
Edge Bulls
It's the age old story...wouldn't it be cool to see how this team from this era would fair against this other team in this other era? As much as I'd love to see how these Bulls would stack up against that 1971-72 Lakers team, I'd REALLY love to see how they match-up with this year's Heat! Heck, I can't wait to see how this year's Bulls match-up with this year's Heat! At least I know that match-up IS going to happen (although not until Jan 15th) where the others will most certainly NOT happen without a time machine and I'm still working out the kinks there.
GO BULLS!!!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
1995-96 Bulls vs. 2010-11 Heat
I rarely even refer to the team from South Beach by their actual team name, but since I want to compare the entire team rosters between the 72-10 Bulls and this year's Heat, I had to use their team name.
Jeff Van Gundy recently came out stating that the Heat had a real chance to surpass the record of the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls which was 72-10. He also said that they could even break the 1971-72 Lakers record of 33 straight games. Personally, I don't think either are real possibilities, but let's take a look, shall we? I don't know enough about the 71-72 Lakers to compare them but will concede that they were one of if not THE best teams ever with Hall of Famers like Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Gail Goodrich, and NBA Logo Jerry West; not to mention Pat Riley (ironic, huh?) who was a pretty good player as well.
The 95-96 Bulls have their second player being inducted into the Hall of Fame this weekend in Scottie Pippen. Michael Jordan (THE BEST EVER) was inducted last year. Will Dennis Rodman ever get in? He was a rebounding and defensive machine, but that was pretty much his whole game so I doubt it.
Anyway, let's layout the starters first:
Bulls:
Do I really need to go into this match-up? This really just isn't close folks. Wade is a very good basketball player, but he is NOT, let me repeat, he is NOT Michael Jordan. Michael averaged over 30ppg with NO HAND CHECK rules like they have today! Can you imagine how many points he'd be averaging today? Wade averaged 26.6ppg last year and shot a respectable 48% from the field and 76% from the stripe. Michael shot 50% from the field and 83% from the stripe. Wade shot nearly 50 more FTs than Michael (think the hand check rules helped him at all?). Michael was All-NBA first team as well as All-NBA Defensive first team as well while Wade was All-NBA first team but was second team for D. Does anyone think the shorter Wade would be able to guard Michael in the post? Didn't think so...
Edge Bulls
Scottie Pippen vs. LeBron James
Funny how now people are starting to refer to LeBron as Scottie Pippen referring to his new "second fiddle" status on Wade's team. Both of these guys are fabulous basketball players; no question about it and this would be an AWESOME match-up to watch. Would anyone be better at guarding LeBron than Scottie Pippen? I mean EVER in the NBA? Yes, LeBron is stronger than Scottie ever was, but with ZERO post-game (maybe in his 8th year in the NBA, it might just be time to expand the game a bit), I truly believe Scottie's length and quickness would severely offset LeBron's offensive game. The question then becomes how well would LeBron be able to guard Scottie? I think this would be a virtual stalemate...
Edge Even
Now that the Bulls have negated the best two players from South Beach, where does that leave the match-ups?
Dennis Rodman vs. Chris Bosh
Most people agree that Chris Bosh is a very soft player with limited interest in playing any type of defense. Well Chris, let me introduce you to Mr. Rodman...his job is defense and he LOVES to do nothing more than stop the other team's PF or even C. Did you get a chance to watch any tape of the Bulls vs. Jazz in 1996-97 or 97-98? Rodman drove Karl Malone (NBA's 2nd all-time leading scorer - i.e. MUCH better than you will EVER be!) nuts in those series. What do you think he'll do to you when all he has to do is focus on your offensive game?
Edge Bulls
Steve Kerr vs. Carlos Arroyo or Eddie House or Mario Chalmers
Neither of these guys are big impact guys. Kerr's job on the Bulls was to spread the floor and provide Michael and Scottie an option out at the arc for the "drive and kick". Kerr led the NBA in 3-pt FG% a couple of times including 1994-95 which was the season before. He "slumped" in 1995-96 making "only" 51.5% of his 3s to finish 2nd in the NBA. I'm not exactly sure what Arroyo's job will be on this team because he's a career 31.5% 3-pt shooter so he won't exactly put a lot of fear in defenses. Maybe Arroyo won't be the starter and Eddie House will be the PG instead. I've read articles calling Eddie a "sharpshooter" but let's look at his career numbers and see how well the 6'1" guard shoots before we just agree with that assessment. Eddie's a career 39% 3-pt shooter (Kerr shot 45.4%) and shoots 41% overall (Kerr shot 47.9%) so "sharpshooter" may be a little strong. What about Mario Chalmers? After two years in the league, he's shooting 34.6% from the arc and 41.2% overall - both numbers were down last year compared to his rookie season.
Edge Bulls
Luc Longley vs. Joel Anthony or Zydrunas Ilgauskas
I was never much of a fan of Luc but he was definitely the best offensive center Michael and Scottie played with together on the Bulls. Ilgauskas hasn't played more than 70 games since 2007-08 playing only 64 games last year; starting only 6. He averaged a career low 7.4ppg and his overall production has gone down steadily over the last 3 years. This team needs a defensive minded center and Z is NOT it. Joel Anthony sure is making some money (5-year $18 million) with the Heat, but for what? Just a warm body? He hasn't averaged more than 3.5 ppg and that was his rookie year. He's not exactly a big rebounder either maxing out at 3.9 rpg also during his rookie season. Again, Luc was no stud, but come on...he was better than both of these guys averaging 9.1 ppg and 5.1 rpg during the year. Luc wasn't much on D, but he won't have to do much against the Heat's tandem up front.
Edge Bulls
Here are a few other items:
- the Bulls were rated #1 in the NBA in both offense and defense (http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/1996_games.html)
- the Bulls were #1 in scoring with 105.2 ppg and #3 in points allowed giving up a mere 92.9 ppg
- the Bulls finished the season 18-3 in their final 21 games losing all 3 games by one point each
- Michael Jordan played all 82 games in each season of their second 3-peat including the 95-96 season; sorry LeBron, no games off at the end of the season if you want to win 70+
- Michael, Scottie and Dennis Rodman each made the All-Defensive First Team while Michael and Scottie also added All-NBA First Team
- LeBron made the All-Defensive First Team last year, Wade made All-Defensive Second Team, and both made All-NBA First Team; Bosh wasn't on any of these lists
I think I've made my point - the 1995-96 Bulls team would beat the 2009-10 Heat, but again I know this really wasn't the question and doesn't really argue Jeff Van Gundy's point that this year's Heat can win more than 72 games in this year's NBA. Here's what I do know...the Heat have to play the Bulls 4 times, the Lakers twice, OKC twice, the Celtics 4 times, a well-coached Jazz team twice, and Orlando 4 times. Scott Skiles' Milwaukee Bucks won't exactly back down and neither will Joe Johnson's Atlanta Hawks and the Heat play them 4 times each too. So let's assume they lose only 9 games out of this bunch and win all the rest of their games; that's what they would need to do in order to outdo the Bulls giving them a 73-9 record...what does that mean their record has to be? Well, adding up all those games comes to 26 games which means they would need to go 17-9 against the rest of the best teams in the league and 56-0 against the rest and "the rest" includes San Antonio, Portland and Dallas with 2 games each against the Heat.
I just don't see it...these guys have ONE championship TOTAL between them over 21 combined seasons! They never won anything at the college level either...do they even know how to win the big game? Are they going to deal well with the pressure? History says NO! LeBron's teams have gone backwards - since getting swept in the Finals by San Antonio, LeBron's teams have not only still not won a championship, but haven't even made it back to the Finals. I already mentioned Bosh's 3-8 overall playoff record in 7 seasons so I don't need to further elaborate there as this "star" can't even get his team TO the playoffs, let alone win in the playoffs. What has Wade done? He won the championship with Shaq in 2005-06 but were swept in the first round by the Bulls in 06-07, won all of 15 games (Wade was hurt, but still played in 51 games) in 07-08 (many people believe they were sand-bagging to get the top pick - so sorry, you get #2 instead and end up with Michael Beasley who they gave away this off-season instead of Derrick Rose - sort of a "cheaters proof"), and then lost in the first round each of the last two years...not exactly inspiring.
And what about LeBron's comments about his "mental notes of everyone taking shots at me". It was the "me" part of the comment that caught my attention most...while a lot of attention has been focused specifically on LeBron, I think it would have been MUCH better for him to address his comments on the shots taken at his new team rather than focus solely on himself...again, this just confirms my The Three Am-EGOS name. Of course, the fact that this knucklehead is doing anything "mental" is laughable anyway. This guy has NO CLUE and really should just focus on basketball rather than worry about doing anything "mental". For example, who's brainiac idea was it for LeBron to head to Cedar Point just over an hour outside of Cleveland a month after he tore the hearts out of everyone from his hometown? Keep your "talent" in South Beach LeBron!
The way I see it, the team from South Beach makes a pretty good fantasy team, but these guys are NOT winners and don't play much D and they don't have enough of a bench regardless of Jeff Van Gundy's comments - "they have put together a much better roster than anyone could ever have expected". Look, Jeff works for ABC who also owns ESPN which obviously has a vested interest in maintaining the hype of this team after "The Decision" fiasco. Jeff's also an emotional guy (remember the picture of him holding onto Alonzo Mourning during the Heat (more irony) vs. Knicks brawl way back when?); maybe he's got a fantasy basketball team too. There's a LOT of intangibles that go into an ultra-special season he's predicting for these guys. What if ANY of these three guys get hurt for any length of time? In 7 NBA seasons, Dwyane Wade has played 471 regular season games which works out to just over 67 games per season which means he's averaging missing 15 games per season. If Wade misses 15 games next season, they may lose ALL of those games with their total lack of depth. Who steps in for Wade during those 15 games? They'll need to start two of the three guys I listed above as PGs (Chalmers, Arroyo, or Eddie House) which would NOT be too good for them. Bosh has never played a full 82-game season averaging 72.7 games. LeBron is the best of the three, but sill has never played all 82 games either averaging 78 games.
And then, what's the goal this season? Is it to win a ring or beat the Bulls record? I'm not sure that these goals will work together. Again, look at what the C's did this year...they were struggling down the stretch but they were laying low and resting up for a deep playoff run. Granted these three guys are young and maybe they can make it through a full 82-game season without letting up AND maintain their intensity and focus throughout to minimize the number of losses AND handle all the ridiculous pressure and microscope that will be on them all season AND be able to deal with each team's best effort with the giant target they put on their own backs with that ridiculous "coming out" party they through for themselves...NAH...don't think so; not these guys.
Jeff Van Gundy recently came out stating that the Heat had a real chance to surpass the record of the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls which was 72-10. He also said that they could even break the 1971-72 Lakers record of 33 straight games. Personally, I don't think either are real possibilities, but let's take a look, shall we? I don't know enough about the 71-72 Lakers to compare them but will concede that they were one of if not THE best teams ever with Hall of Famers like Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Gail Goodrich, and NBA Logo Jerry West; not to mention Pat Riley (ironic, huh?) who was a pretty good player as well.
The 95-96 Bulls have their second player being inducted into the Hall of Fame this weekend in Scottie Pippen. Michael Jordan (THE BEST EVER) was inducted last year. Will Dennis Rodman ever get in? He was a rebounding and defensive machine, but that was pretty much his whole game so I doubt it.
Anyway, let's layout the starters first:
Bulls:
- Steve Kerr
- Michael Jordan
- Scottie Pippen
- Dennis Rodman
- Luc Longley
- Carlos Arroyo
- Dwyane Wade
- LeBron James
- Chris Bosh
- Joel Anthony
Do I really need to go into this match-up? This really just isn't close folks. Wade is a very good basketball player, but he is NOT, let me repeat, he is NOT Michael Jordan. Michael averaged over 30ppg with NO HAND CHECK rules like they have today! Can you imagine how many points he'd be averaging today? Wade averaged 26.6ppg last year and shot a respectable 48% from the field and 76% from the stripe. Michael shot 50% from the field and 83% from the stripe. Wade shot nearly 50 more FTs than Michael (think the hand check rules helped him at all?). Michael was All-NBA first team as well as All-NBA Defensive first team as well while Wade was All-NBA first team but was second team for D. Does anyone think the shorter Wade would be able to guard Michael in the post? Didn't think so...
Edge Bulls
Scottie Pippen vs. LeBron James
Funny how now people are starting to refer to LeBron as Scottie Pippen referring to his new "second fiddle" status on Wade's team. Both of these guys are fabulous basketball players; no question about it and this would be an AWESOME match-up to watch. Would anyone be better at guarding LeBron than Scottie Pippen? I mean EVER in the NBA? Yes, LeBron is stronger than Scottie ever was, but with ZERO post-game (maybe in his 8th year in the NBA, it might just be time to expand the game a bit), I truly believe Scottie's length and quickness would severely offset LeBron's offensive game. The question then becomes how well would LeBron be able to guard Scottie? I think this would be a virtual stalemate...
Edge Even
Now that the Bulls have negated the best two players from South Beach, where does that leave the match-ups?
Dennis Rodman vs. Chris Bosh
Most people agree that Chris Bosh is a very soft player with limited interest in playing any type of defense. Well Chris, let me introduce you to Mr. Rodman...his job is defense and he LOVES to do nothing more than stop the other team's PF or even C. Did you get a chance to watch any tape of the Bulls vs. Jazz in 1996-97 or 97-98? Rodman drove Karl Malone (NBA's 2nd all-time leading scorer - i.e. MUCH better than you will EVER be!) nuts in those series. What do you think he'll do to you when all he has to do is focus on your offensive game?
Edge Bulls
Steve Kerr vs. Carlos Arroyo or Eddie House or Mario Chalmers
Neither of these guys are big impact guys. Kerr's job on the Bulls was to spread the floor and provide Michael and Scottie an option out at the arc for the "drive and kick". Kerr led the NBA in 3-pt FG% a couple of times including 1994-95 which was the season before. He "slumped" in 1995-96 making "only" 51.5% of his 3s to finish 2nd in the NBA. I'm not exactly sure what Arroyo's job will be on this team because he's a career 31.5% 3-pt shooter so he won't exactly put a lot of fear in defenses. Maybe Arroyo won't be the starter and Eddie House will be the PG instead. I've read articles calling Eddie a "sharpshooter" but let's look at his career numbers and see how well the 6'1" guard shoots before we just agree with that assessment. Eddie's a career 39% 3-pt shooter (Kerr shot 45.4%) and shoots 41% overall (Kerr shot 47.9%) so "sharpshooter" may be a little strong. What about Mario Chalmers? After two years in the league, he's shooting 34.6% from the arc and 41.2% overall - both numbers were down last year compared to his rookie season.
Edge Bulls
Luc Longley vs. Joel Anthony or Zydrunas Ilgauskas
I was never much of a fan of Luc but he was definitely the best offensive center Michael and Scottie played with together on the Bulls. Ilgauskas hasn't played more than 70 games since 2007-08 playing only 64 games last year; starting only 6. He averaged a career low 7.4ppg and his overall production has gone down steadily over the last 3 years. This team needs a defensive minded center and Z is NOT it. Joel Anthony sure is making some money (5-year $18 million) with the Heat, but for what? Just a warm body? He hasn't averaged more than 3.5 ppg and that was his rookie year. He's not exactly a big rebounder either maxing out at 3.9 rpg also during his rookie season. Again, Luc was no stud, but come on...he was better than both of these guys averaging 9.1 ppg and 5.1 rpg during the year. Luc wasn't much on D, but he won't have to do much against the Heat's tandem up front.
Edge Bulls
Here are a few other items:
- the Bulls were rated #1 in the NBA in both offense and defense (http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/1996_games.html)
- the Bulls were #1 in scoring with 105.2 ppg and #3 in points allowed giving up a mere 92.9 ppg
- the Bulls finished the season 18-3 in their final 21 games losing all 3 games by one point each
- Michael Jordan played all 82 games in each season of their second 3-peat including the 95-96 season; sorry LeBron, no games off at the end of the season if you want to win 70+
- Michael, Scottie and Dennis Rodman each made the All-Defensive First Team while Michael and Scottie also added All-NBA First Team
- LeBron made the All-Defensive First Team last year, Wade made All-Defensive Second Team, and both made All-NBA First Team; Bosh wasn't on any of these lists
I think I've made my point - the 1995-96 Bulls team would beat the 2009-10 Heat, but again I know this really wasn't the question and doesn't really argue Jeff Van Gundy's point that this year's Heat can win more than 72 games in this year's NBA. Here's what I do know...the Heat have to play the Bulls 4 times, the Lakers twice, OKC twice, the Celtics 4 times, a well-coached Jazz team twice, and Orlando 4 times. Scott Skiles' Milwaukee Bucks won't exactly back down and neither will Joe Johnson's Atlanta Hawks and the Heat play them 4 times each too. So let's assume they lose only 9 games out of this bunch and win all the rest of their games; that's what they would need to do in order to outdo the Bulls giving them a 73-9 record...what does that mean their record has to be? Well, adding up all those games comes to 26 games which means they would need to go 17-9 against the rest of the best teams in the league and 56-0 against the rest and "the rest" includes San Antonio, Portland and Dallas with 2 games each against the Heat.
I just don't see it...these guys have ONE championship TOTAL between them over 21 combined seasons! They never won anything at the college level either...do they even know how to win the big game? Are they going to deal well with the pressure? History says NO! LeBron's teams have gone backwards - since getting swept in the Finals by San Antonio, LeBron's teams have not only still not won a championship, but haven't even made it back to the Finals. I already mentioned Bosh's 3-8 overall playoff record in 7 seasons so I don't need to further elaborate there as this "star" can't even get his team TO the playoffs, let alone win in the playoffs. What has Wade done? He won the championship with Shaq in 2005-06 but were swept in the first round by the Bulls in 06-07, won all of 15 games (Wade was hurt, but still played in 51 games) in 07-08 (many people believe they were sand-bagging to get the top pick - so sorry, you get #2 instead and end up with Michael Beasley who they gave away this off-season instead of Derrick Rose - sort of a "cheaters proof"), and then lost in the first round each of the last two years...not exactly inspiring.
And what about LeBron's comments about his "mental notes of everyone taking shots at me". It was the "me" part of the comment that caught my attention most...while a lot of attention has been focused specifically on LeBron, I think it would have been MUCH better for him to address his comments on the shots taken at his new team rather than focus solely on himself...again, this just confirms my The Three Am-EGOS name. Of course, the fact that this knucklehead is doing anything "mental" is laughable anyway. This guy has NO CLUE and really should just focus on basketball rather than worry about doing anything "mental". For example, who's brainiac idea was it for LeBron to head to Cedar Point just over an hour outside of Cleveland a month after he tore the hearts out of everyone from his hometown? Keep your "talent" in South Beach LeBron!
The way I see it, the team from South Beach makes a pretty good fantasy team, but these guys are NOT winners and don't play much D and they don't have enough of a bench regardless of Jeff Van Gundy's comments - "they have put together a much better roster than anyone could ever have expected". Look, Jeff works for ABC who also owns ESPN which obviously has a vested interest in maintaining the hype of this team after "The Decision" fiasco. Jeff's also an emotional guy (remember the picture of him holding onto Alonzo Mourning during the Heat (more irony) vs. Knicks brawl way back when?); maybe he's got a fantasy basketball team too. There's a LOT of intangibles that go into an ultra-special season he's predicting for these guys. What if ANY of these three guys get hurt for any length of time? In 7 NBA seasons, Dwyane Wade has played 471 regular season games which works out to just over 67 games per season which means he's averaging missing 15 games per season. If Wade misses 15 games next season, they may lose ALL of those games with their total lack of depth. Who steps in for Wade during those 15 games? They'll need to start two of the three guys I listed above as PGs (Chalmers, Arroyo, or Eddie House) which would NOT be too good for them. Bosh has never played a full 82-game season averaging 72.7 games. LeBron is the best of the three, but sill has never played all 82 games either averaging 78 games.
And then, what's the goal this season? Is it to win a ring or beat the Bulls record? I'm not sure that these goals will work together. Again, look at what the C's did this year...they were struggling down the stretch but they were laying low and resting up for a deep playoff run. Granted these three guys are young and maybe they can make it through a full 82-game season without letting up AND maintain their intensity and focus throughout to minimize the number of losses AND handle all the ridiculous pressure and microscope that will be on them all season AND be able to deal with each team's best effort with the giant target they put on their own backs with that ridiculous "coming out" party they through for themselves...NAH...don't think so; not these guys.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Hold on one minute D-Wade...
I am working late tonight with a long night ahead of me, but I have the TV on in the background and saw an interview with The Three Am-EGOS (I guess it hasn't caught on quite yet, as I didn't see that as a caption...). At one point they were talking about the backlash and whether these three knuckleheads were surprised. Well, I wasn't surprised that only Wade and Bosh responded. Bosh basically said he didn't care...he's been on a losing team (most would suggest he was part of the problem) and he's just happy not to be in that situation any more ("I've struggled; I know"). Wade though decided to challenge the thought that Michael Jordan, Magic, and Bird "did it by themselves" in comparing how these guys must feel like they need each other to win. He disputed that those REAL legends "did it by themselves"...of course, they didn't do it by themselves! Nobody said they did Dwyane! The argument against you guys colluding to join the same team BEFORE the season was even over (and give me a break that this wasn't the case - Bosh quit on his team the last week of the season so the Raptors didn't even make the playoffs and LeBron gave up on his team in front of his then home crowd in Game 5) was that each of the legends named stuck with their teams (MJ in particular) rather than bolting for another team when things got tough. They each took on the challenge (LeBron, do you even know what this word means?) to get their OWN teams over the hump rather than bail and go join someone else's team. Well, I hate to break it to you guys...that's PRECISELY what you guys have done and diminished each of your legacies and marketability. I'm sure LeBron is starting to figure that out when he talks to Nike when his shoes stop selling. I'm sure they're trying to figure out how to spin this disaster as they are masters at doing just that...that must be why they have been so quiet since The Decision.
Best defensive team of all-time?!? That is what Wade is looking forward to? Really? I like Dwyane Wade and while he has quick hands and gets his share of steals and LeBron gets his share of blocks from behind, these guys are hardly defensive stalwarts. And Bosh?!? Really? Who is he going to guard because I've yet to see him play D in 7 years? He's averaged exactly 1.0 blocks from the front court and 0.6 steals per game the last 3 years running! I'm sorry, but that's not defense! Maybe you should have watched some tape of your new teammate because I think you're going to be a little disappointed. LeBron, while he certainly gets his share of highlights shone on ESPN, also averages 1.0 blocks but does get an extra steal per game (1.6). The block "king" from The Three Am-EGOS is actually Wade averaging a whole 1.1; he also leads the group in steals with 1.8. Let's totalize those numbers - 3.1 bpg and 4 spg. Dwight Howard averaged 3.5 bpg by himself while Manu Ginobli nearly matched The Three Am-EGOS on his own with 2.6 spg. I'm sorry, but defense is NOT at all what first (second, third, fourth, fifth...eightieth) comes to my mind with these three guys.
Bosh has started his last All-Star Game and will be a barely above average player starting today as long as Wade and LeBron are healthy. First, being the third option is certainly going to crush his offensive numbers; second, who is going to vote for him besides people in Miami? The health of these guys is certainly no guarantee - remember LeBron's elbow? What about the numerous Wade injuries and all the miles on his 6'4" frame while getting beat to a pulp bouncing off all those big guys for the last 7 years. And now that Bosh will seemingly be forced to play C most of the time, he'll be banging with the big boys too which he REALLY doesn't like to do so his rebound numbers could take a hit too.
Let's face it...the number one piece of the plan was exactly how LeBron announced his decision...to take your talents to South Beach...oh ya, and we might play some basketball in Miami too! Have fun boys...LeBron likes to win 60 regular season games, but he seems to prefer to take the summer off...that'll work out perfectly as Miami gets a little too hot in June anyway.
Best defensive team of all-time?!? That is what Wade is looking forward to? Really? I like Dwyane Wade and while he has quick hands and gets his share of steals and LeBron gets his share of blocks from behind, these guys are hardly defensive stalwarts. And Bosh?!? Really? Who is he going to guard because I've yet to see him play D in 7 years? He's averaged exactly 1.0 blocks from the front court and 0.6 steals per game the last 3 years running! I'm sorry, but that's not defense! Maybe you should have watched some tape of your new teammate because I think you're going to be a little disappointed. LeBron, while he certainly gets his share of highlights shone on ESPN, also averages 1.0 blocks but does get an extra steal per game (1.6). The block "king" from The Three Am-EGOS is actually Wade averaging a whole 1.1; he also leads the group in steals with 1.8. Let's totalize those numbers - 3.1 bpg and 4 spg. Dwight Howard averaged 3.5 bpg by himself while Manu Ginobli nearly matched The Three Am-EGOS on his own with 2.6 spg. I'm sorry, but defense is NOT at all what first (second, third, fourth, fifth...eightieth) comes to my mind with these three guys.
Bosh has started his last All-Star Game and will be a barely above average player starting today as long as Wade and LeBron are healthy. First, being the third option is certainly going to crush his offensive numbers; second, who is going to vote for him besides people in Miami? The health of these guys is certainly no guarantee - remember LeBron's elbow? What about the numerous Wade injuries and all the miles on his 6'4" frame while getting beat to a pulp bouncing off all those big guys for the last 7 years. And now that Bosh will seemingly be forced to play C most of the time, he'll be banging with the big boys too which he REALLY doesn't like to do so his rebound numbers could take a hit too.
Let's face it...the number one piece of the plan was exactly how LeBron announced his decision...to take your talents to South Beach...oh ya, and we might play some basketball in Miami too! Have fun boys...LeBron likes to win 60 regular season games, but he seems to prefer to take the summer off...that'll work out perfectly as Miami gets a little too hot in June anyway.
Friday, July 9, 2010
The Three Am-EGOS
Can you picture it??? A sandy beach background, Dwyane Wade sitting on a big horse with his first lap dog Chris Bosh sitting on a small burro on one side and his latest sidekick on another small burro on the other side; all three wearing sombreros with flip flops on their feet to further symbolize how none of them will be able to sell another pair of basketball shoes outside of South Beach (that's what HE called it, so I'm done saying Miami - ok, now I'm done). They're all smiling for different reasons...Wade because he just added two more guys to his peeps, Bosh because he's just along for the ride and is just happy to be back in the US, and LeBron...well, because he's too stupid to know any better. The final touch has their new nickname...The Three Am-EGOS across the bottom! Would MGM have a problem with that name?
I'm looking forward to the first same-team fist fight between Bosh and LeBron when Bosh only gets up 5 shots in a game while LeBron and Wade are chucking it up there 25 times each trying to outdo each other. Does Bosh really think he's going to average 24 ppg with those two guys distributing the ball? Won't it be fun when Carlos Boozer beats out Bosh to even make the All-Star team this year? All the fair weather South Beach fans can't get internet service on the beach and won't bother to vote while TRUE basketball fans in Chicago and NY stuff the ballot box to send Boozer and Amare to the big game; of course LeBron will still get there too.
How did Chris Bosh get lumped in with these other two as a superstar anyway? Boy, he must have a much better marketing department than LeBron, huh? Ya, he can score, but he has made only two trips to the playoffs in his 7-year career and his team only won 3 of 11 playoff games losing both 1st round series. Ya, he puts up some sexy numbers - 20.2/9.4 for his career, but is he that much better than Carlos Boozer - 17.2/10.2? Boozer has been to the playoffs the last 4 straight years playing in 44 playoff games and actually winning 4 series in a much more competitive Western Conference.
I read that Riley signed his second player for the 2010-11 season (last I heard, The Three Am-EGOS have yet to finalize their deals...hey, there's still hope Cleveland!)...the oft-injured although talented Mike Miller. Miller only played in 54 games last year for the Wizards, but then again, the Wizards barely played that many as a team anyway. Is Shaq going to fill (and I do mean FILL) the role at center for this team because Bosh isn't going to do it? “The thing I said when I came into free agency is I'm going to be a forward,” Bosh said. “I'm going to play my natural position.” Would Shaq stoop that low in trying to even things up with Kobe (Kobe now has 5 rings while Shaq has 4)? I'm not sure where we'd squeeze him in for my t-shirt idea so I say he can't go there.
Did anyone EVER think Kobe would be considered the hero? Certainly not me! Yet, there he is...the only superstar who not only didn't sell out to avoid the challenge; he pushed out another superstar insuring he'd be THE MAN. What has he done since? Just win back-to-back NBA championships and make 3 consecutive trips to the Finals; that's all. Now THAT is an alpha male!
I'm looking forward to the first same-team fist fight between Bosh and LeBron when Bosh only gets up 5 shots in a game while LeBron and Wade are chucking it up there 25 times each trying to outdo each other. Does Bosh really think he's going to average 24 ppg with those two guys distributing the ball? Won't it be fun when Carlos Boozer beats out Bosh to even make the All-Star team this year? All the fair weather South Beach fans can't get internet service on the beach and won't bother to vote while TRUE basketball fans in Chicago and NY stuff the ballot box to send Boozer and Amare to the big game; of course LeBron will still get there too.
How did Chris Bosh get lumped in with these other two as a superstar anyway? Boy, he must have a much better marketing department than LeBron, huh? Ya, he can score, but he has made only two trips to the playoffs in his 7-year career and his team only won 3 of 11 playoff games losing both 1st round series. Ya, he puts up some sexy numbers - 20.2/9.4 for his career, but is he that much better than Carlos Boozer - 17.2/10.2? Boozer has been to the playoffs the last 4 straight years playing in 44 playoff games and actually winning 4 series in a much more competitive Western Conference.
I read that Riley signed his second player for the 2010-11 season (last I heard, The Three Am-EGOS have yet to finalize their deals...hey, there's still hope Cleveland!)...the oft-injured although talented Mike Miller. Miller only played in 54 games last year for the Wizards, but then again, the Wizards barely played that many as a team anyway. Is Shaq going to fill (and I do mean FILL) the role at center for this team because Bosh isn't going to do it? “The thing I said when I came into free agency is I'm going to be a forward,” Bosh said. “I'm going to play my natural position.” Would Shaq stoop that low in trying to even things up with Kobe (Kobe now has 5 rings while Shaq has 4)? I'm not sure where we'd squeeze him in for my t-shirt idea so I say he can't go there.
Did anyone EVER think Kobe would be considered the hero? Certainly not me! Yet, there he is...the only superstar who not only didn't sell out to avoid the challenge; he pushed out another superstar insuring he'd be THE MAN. What has he done since? Just win back-to-back NBA championships and make 3 consecutive trips to the Finals; that's all. Now THAT is an alpha male!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
King or Jester?
First off, kudos to the Bulls for jumping on their second choice after Bosh made the fateful mistake (I think this will prove itself out) of not signing here and instead heading to South Beach with Wade. I can't wait to see Derrick Rose's numbers this year working the pick-and-roll with a guy that a) knows how to run it properly and b) can actually knock down that shot.
So the big question right now is whether LeBron is King James as he likes to call himself or is he going to cop out and go play with Wade as his second jester. Did Michael go play with Magic? Did Magic go play with Bird? Did Bird go play with Dr. J? HELL NO! They rose to the challenge and won the titles without joining forces. Does LeBron think we will all still think of him as King James if he ends up packing his bags and going to play on Wade's team? Let's make NO mistake here either...this is most definitely Wade's team. If you're King James, people play with you not the other way around. Well, Wade has one thing LeBron doesn't have...an NBA ring! And after watching his rival for #1 in Kobe Bryant win his 5th ring, how can he stay in Cleveland another year hoping the stars somehow align and he can win there?
Well, I think LeBron heard all he needs to know about his home town club when the previous Toronto Raptor (nice hair cut Chris!) turned down a fairly no-brainer sign-and-trade offer with the Cavs to join LeBron. NOBODY really wants to play in Cleveland! That should include YOU LeBron! Get out while the gettin' is good my friend.
Wade dropped a bit of a gauntlet saying he wanted to play against LeBron, so let him have his wish but this time have the guns backing you up.
So where should he go? Duh...how about the Bulls? It's only a 6-hour drive back to Akron (I've done it!). If this is truly a basketball decision (and of course ego enters in), how can he justify not signing here and playing with Rose, Noah, and now apparently Boozer?
What disappoints me most about D-Wade going back to Miami (and there are PLENTY of things that bother me about it) and not signing with his hometown Bulls is the deal with his kids. He's in the middle of a custody battle with the kids' mother and they all live here in Chicago. If he REALLY wanted to gain custody of his kids and/or just spend time with them, wouldn't he have signed with the Bulls and spend some time at "home"? Even his dad said he would have signed here to be with his family. So why sign back with Miami who has done ZERO for him in the last several years allowing him to blow 3 years of his prime? SELFISHNESS - clear and simple! He can sign a bigger deal with the Heat and there's no state tax in FL so instead of helping to rebuild his hometown franchise, he dragged a guy down there with him. OK - he didn't exactly have to drag Bosh out of Toronto to South Beach, but neither are going to win anything down in Miami; not without some serious magical effort by Pat Riley. This after ignoring Wade's needs for the last 3 years...did he just awake from a coma?
Chris Bosh couldn't even get his team into the playoffs in a WEAK Eastern Conference instead folding down the stretch so our young, over-achieving Bulls could go back again led by second-year phenom - D-Rose. How Chris Bosh is included with Wade who has won an NBA title and LeBron who is the best or second best player in the NBA as one of the "big 3" free agents is beyond me. Granted, he'd look nice in a Bulls uni playing with Joakim and Rose, but who is going to play C in Miami? Shaq? HAHAHA!
So if LeBron makes the right decision, here's the roster comparison between the Bulls and Heat with their ages in parenthesis:
1. Rose (21)
2. Ray Allen (35)/Redick (26)/Korver (29)
3. LeBron (25)
4. Boozer (28)
5. Joakim (25)
Bench - Deng (25), Taj (25), James Johnson (23)
1. Chalmers (24)
2. Wade (28 - with a LOT of wear and tear)
3. ???
4. Beasley (21)
5. Bosh (26)
Bench - EMPTY
I'll take the Bulls roster there! Heck, even if you (gasp!) don't pull in LeBron, I'd STILL take the Bulls roster over Miami's. Again, what has Bosh EVER won? In 7 NBA seasons, his teams have been to the playoffs twice (um, Rose has been to the playoffs twice in TWO seasons!) and his teams were 3-8 in those games. If he's so good, how come he couldn't even bring his teams to the playoffs in either of the last two years.
So we are under 24 hours from the LeBron Reality Show live on ESPN...we'll know a lot more then...just in case, I'm wearing my Derrick Rose All-Star jersey along with my Blackhawks Stanley Cup hat (hey, the Hawks were undefeated in the playoffs when I was wearing my Bulls gear so I'm hoping the karma translates the other way too).
GO BULLS!
So the big question right now is whether LeBron is King James as he likes to call himself or is he going to cop out and go play with Wade as his second jester. Did Michael go play with Magic? Did Magic go play with Bird? Did Bird go play with Dr. J? HELL NO! They rose to the challenge and won the titles without joining forces. Does LeBron think we will all still think of him as King James if he ends up packing his bags and going to play on Wade's team? Let's make NO mistake here either...this is most definitely Wade's team. If you're King James, people play with you not the other way around. Well, Wade has one thing LeBron doesn't have...an NBA ring! And after watching his rival for #1 in Kobe Bryant win his 5th ring, how can he stay in Cleveland another year hoping the stars somehow align and he can win there?
Well, I think LeBron heard all he needs to know about his home town club when the previous Toronto Raptor (nice hair cut Chris!) turned down a fairly no-brainer sign-and-trade offer with the Cavs to join LeBron. NOBODY really wants to play in Cleveland! That should include YOU LeBron! Get out while the gettin' is good my friend.
Wade dropped a bit of a gauntlet saying he wanted to play against LeBron, so let him have his wish but this time have the guns backing you up.
So where should he go? Duh...how about the Bulls? It's only a 6-hour drive back to Akron (I've done it!). If this is truly a basketball decision (and of course ego enters in), how can he justify not signing here and playing with Rose, Noah, and now apparently Boozer?
What disappoints me most about D-Wade going back to Miami (and there are PLENTY of things that bother me about it) and not signing with his hometown Bulls is the deal with his kids. He's in the middle of a custody battle with the kids' mother and they all live here in Chicago. If he REALLY wanted to gain custody of his kids and/or just spend time with them, wouldn't he have signed with the Bulls and spend some time at "home"? Even his dad said he would have signed here to be with his family. So why sign back with Miami who has done ZERO for him in the last several years allowing him to blow 3 years of his prime? SELFISHNESS - clear and simple! He can sign a bigger deal with the Heat and there's no state tax in FL so instead of helping to rebuild his hometown franchise, he dragged a guy down there with him. OK - he didn't exactly have to drag Bosh out of Toronto to South Beach, but neither are going to win anything down in Miami; not without some serious magical effort by Pat Riley. This after ignoring Wade's needs for the last 3 years...did he just awake from a coma?
Chris Bosh couldn't even get his team into the playoffs in a WEAK Eastern Conference instead folding down the stretch so our young, over-achieving Bulls could go back again led by second-year phenom - D-Rose. How Chris Bosh is included with Wade who has won an NBA title and LeBron who is the best or second best player in the NBA as one of the "big 3" free agents is beyond me. Granted, he'd look nice in a Bulls uni playing with Joakim and Rose, but who is going to play C in Miami? Shaq? HAHAHA!
So if LeBron makes the right decision, here's the roster comparison between the Bulls and Heat with their ages in parenthesis:
1. Rose (21)
2. Ray Allen (35)/Redick (26)/Korver (29)
3. LeBron (25)
4. Boozer (28)
5. Joakim (25)
Bench - Deng (25), Taj (25), James Johnson (23)
1. Chalmers (24)
2. Wade (28 - with a LOT of wear and tear)
3. ???
4. Beasley (21)
5. Bosh (26)
Bench - EMPTY
I'll take the Bulls roster there! Heck, even if you (gasp!) don't pull in LeBron, I'd STILL take the Bulls roster over Miami's. Again, what has Bosh EVER won? In 7 NBA seasons, his teams have been to the playoffs twice (um, Rose has been to the playoffs twice in TWO seasons!) and his teams were 3-8 in those games. If he's so good, how come he couldn't even bring his teams to the playoffs in either of the last two years.
So we are under 24 hours from the LeBron Reality Show live on ESPN...we'll know a lot more then...just in case, I'm wearing my Derrick Rose All-Star jersey along with my Blackhawks Stanley Cup hat (hey, the Hawks were undefeated in the playoffs when I was wearing my Bulls gear so I'm hoping the karma translates the other way too).
GO BULLS!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Chicago Bulls All-Star Derrick Rose
Don't look now Bulls fans but after 12 LONG years, we FINALLY have a hometown player to watch in the annual event the NBA calls the All-Star Game. Unlike baseball, basketball teams don't get an automatic player added to the team; they actually have to earn it (shocking, I know). Well, after the joke that was the fans voting which nearly included Tracy McGrady who has only played in 6 NBA games for a total of 46 minutes, they did vote in Allen Iverson who has played only 24 games between Memphis and the 76ers. AI was cut from the mighty (actually, they've been much better recently) Memphis Grizzlies after being not much more than major distraction for 3 games. NO teams showed any interest and he finally signed with his original team - Philadelphia 76ers. His numbers just don't compare to Joe Johnson, Rajon Rondo, or Derrick Rose yet he was inexplicably voted in by the fans ahead of each of these guys.
Each of the guys I mentioned were then voted in by the Eastern Conference coaches which obviously have a more realistic picture of the players. So THAT is how our very own Derrick Rose was voted in and will represent the Chicago Bulls as their first All-Star since Michael Jordan was the game's MVP in 1998. For you math wizards, that's 12 years since one of the most storied franchises in the NBA (6 Bulls championships is 3rd behind the Celtics and Lakers) had an All-Star. That's sad and ridiculous, BUT we're all good now folks as we now have a potential perennial All-Star in Derrick Rose.
When I read the announcement that he made it, I felt like DeNiro's character (Jimmy Conway) in "Good Fellas" when he found out Joe Pesci's character (Tommy) was going to become a mafia made man. Jimmy was very excited as if HE were being made and that's how I felt to hear "my guy" Derrick Rose was going to be an All-Star. Hopefully it ends better for Derrick as Tommy gets whacked. I'm quite sure it will.
But this is more than just one Bulls player getting to play in the All-Star Game. This is a BIG step for the franchise. Why? Because good players want to play with other good players. You've heard a lot of talk that the Knicks are trying to work it so they get 2 of the big free agents. Why? Because good players want to play with other good players and the Knicks don't have any of their own good players so they need to get two. Well, the Bulls have one of their own already AND here's the capper...all the big free agents will be playing in the All-Star Game too and most on the East team so he'll be playing WITH them...LeBron, Wade, Bosh, and Joe Johnson. That means these guys will get a chance to play WITH Derrick rather than just watch film on him. Amare is on the West too. They'll be able to talk to him and socialize with him too.
I hate to put any more pressure on this 21-year old kid, but he needs to perform pretty well in this game and be very social with these other guys. He has that "aw-shucks" attitude who doesn't seem to really believe he's as good as he is so who wouldn't want to play with a guy like that?
How much better could Bosh be with a better PG that draws double teams? He's really my guy. I've pretty much scratched Amare off my list after watching the recent Suns vs. Mavs game the other night. If you just looked at his points for the game which is pretty much all they ever show on SportsCenter, you wouldn't think he had a bad game with 22 points, but look closer. He only had one more rebound than you or me and maybe most telling, he didn't see the court in the 4th quarter; instead he was watching from the bench as his Suns turned a 6-point deficit into a 6-point win against a tough Mavs team. Charles Barkley answered THE question on the post game show - "What do you call a power forward that gets 1 rebound?"; "A small forward".
The Bulls as a team have committed to defense this year and are ranked 5th in field goal percentage against which is probably the most telling defensive stat in my opinion. Trading for a guy that has ZERO intention of playing defense would send the wrong message to the team in general. Now Bosh isn't exactly up for Defensive Player of the Year, but the guy does at least hit the boards as he's averaging 3 boards more than Amare. Can you imagine Bosh playing next to Noah for the next 5+ years along with Luol along with Derrick Rose and WHO CARES playing shooting guard? Now THAT works for me!
Anyway, more trade talk later...GOOD LUCK D-Rose!
Oh ya, I'll actually BE THERE in Dallas to root you on Derrick although you might have trouble picking me out among the record 85,000+ fans in attendance.
GO BULLS!!!
Each of the guys I mentioned were then voted in by the Eastern Conference coaches which obviously have a more realistic picture of the players. So THAT is how our very own Derrick Rose was voted in and will represent the Chicago Bulls as their first All-Star since Michael Jordan was the game's MVP in 1998. For you math wizards, that's 12 years since one of the most storied franchises in the NBA (6 Bulls championships is 3rd behind the Celtics and Lakers) had an All-Star. That's sad and ridiculous, BUT we're all good now folks as we now have a potential perennial All-Star in Derrick Rose.
When I read the announcement that he made it, I felt like DeNiro's character (Jimmy Conway) in "Good Fellas" when he found out Joe Pesci's character (Tommy) was going to become a mafia made man. Jimmy was very excited as if HE were being made and that's how I felt to hear "my guy" Derrick Rose was going to be an All-Star. Hopefully it ends better for Derrick as Tommy gets whacked. I'm quite sure it will.
But this is more than just one Bulls player getting to play in the All-Star Game. This is a BIG step for the franchise. Why? Because good players want to play with other good players. You've heard a lot of talk that the Knicks are trying to work it so they get 2 of the big free agents. Why? Because good players want to play with other good players and the Knicks don't have any of their own good players so they need to get two. Well, the Bulls have one of their own already AND here's the capper...all the big free agents will be playing in the All-Star Game too and most on the East team so he'll be playing WITH them...LeBron, Wade, Bosh, and Joe Johnson. That means these guys will get a chance to play WITH Derrick rather than just watch film on him. Amare is on the West too. They'll be able to talk to him and socialize with him too.
I hate to put any more pressure on this 21-year old kid, but he needs to perform pretty well in this game and be very social with these other guys. He has that "aw-shucks" attitude who doesn't seem to really believe he's as good as he is so who wouldn't want to play with a guy like that?
How much better could Bosh be with a better PG that draws double teams? He's really my guy. I've pretty much scratched Amare off my list after watching the recent Suns vs. Mavs game the other night. If you just looked at his points for the game which is pretty much all they ever show on SportsCenter, you wouldn't think he had a bad game with 22 points, but look closer. He only had one more rebound than you or me and maybe most telling, he didn't see the court in the 4th quarter; instead he was watching from the bench as his Suns turned a 6-point deficit into a 6-point win against a tough Mavs team. Charles Barkley answered THE question on the post game show - "What do you call a power forward that gets 1 rebound?"; "A small forward".
The Bulls as a team have committed to defense this year and are ranked 5th in field goal percentage against which is probably the most telling defensive stat in my opinion. Trading for a guy that has ZERO intention of playing defense would send the wrong message to the team in general. Now Bosh isn't exactly up for Defensive Player of the Year, but the guy does at least hit the boards as he's averaging 3 boards more than Amare. Can you imagine Bosh playing next to Noah for the next 5+ years along with Luol along with Derrick Rose and WHO CARES playing shooting guard? Now THAT works for me!
Anyway, more trade talk later...GOOD LUCK D-Rose!
Oh ya, I'll actually BE THERE in Dallas to root you on Derrick although you might have trouble picking me out among the record 85,000+ fans in attendance.
GO BULLS!!!
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