2 minutes ago, bmags said:

I see a lot of young players play much better defense than LaVine. His youth is a crutch. 

I didn't say he'd be a good defender...he isn't and he will probably never be good, but I'm not ready to write him off for being solid.  It takes a few years to really emerge defensively (for many young players...not all, but many).  In general though, Lavine has thus far been a net positive (preseason and game 1) in the sense that he looks the real deal offensively.  

I think I'm okay with what the Bulls got for Jimmy Butler, with a little bit of hindsight.

LaVine's defense wasn't even bad tonight. Parker's, on the other hand... good lord 

1 hour ago, Jose Abreu said:

LaVine's defense wasn't even bad tonight. Parker's, on the other hand... good lord 

If Parker continues to suck this badly, all it cost the Bulls was money. It was a good(albeit expensive) flier. Unfortunately, there just isn't anything there. Next year is a team option so if he is bad, he'll be here only for this season. They could even cut him if it gets that bad. 

Edited October 19, 20187 yr by Jack Parkman

11 hours ago, Jose Abreu said:

LaVine's defense wasn't even bad tonight. Parker's, on the other hand... good lord 

No it was really bad. He just cannot stay with his assignments on the perimeter and then he just starts pointing wildly. Switches didn't help him at all.

This is an example of stuff I really admire about the NBA. From stats to media, they really push to enhance fan experience:

 

I think the entire NBA forgot how to play defense. Jesus. Some of these final scores are outrageous 

I think I'd rather Arci start than Payne if we're being honest.

Fred Hoiberg is an idiot. Why is Parker out on the floor when you need a defensive stop?

Tank is on.

How else is Parker in on defense with 24 seconds left?

Agreed with the Hoiberg/Parker comments. At least Zach looked good again. 

 

So...LaVine looks good.

Need Lauri and Dunn back.

Lavine looks really good. I know he had tough matchups, but Wendell Carter Jr. looks awful. He seems to have less offensive game than Noah did during the Rose/Thibs years.  Very underwhelming so far for a top 10 pick. 

Edited October 23, 20187 yr by Jack Parkman

2 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

Lavine looks really good. I know he had tough matchups, but Wendell Carter Jr. looks awful. He seems to have less offensive game than Noah did during the Rose/Thibs here. Very underwhelming so far for a top 10 pick. 

Thats a horrific hot take. Carter's shot is immensely better than Noah. He is maybe the best defender on the Bulls and there is a reason why when he left the game its when the Mavs ran up the lead.

I mean less than Noah? Come on. 

22 minutes ago, Soxbadger said:

Thats a horrific hot take. Carter's shot is immensely better than Noah. He is maybe the best defender on the Bulls and there is a reason why when he left the game its when the Mavs ran up the lead.

I mean less than Noah? Come on. 

It's early, and this is the only game I watched. 2 baskets is 2 baskets. He might be better, but they're not letting him show what he can do. Granted he didn't have the ball a lot, but guy isnt going to develop offensively if they don't give him the ball. The Bulls have a ball distribution problem that is only going to get worse when Markkanen returns from injury. 

Sometimes I don't get stuff straight, and what I actually meant is that if he doesn't get the ball because there are better players around, then people should be happy if he maxes out at Noah levels. I kept hearing during the leadup to the draft that he was going to be a 20-10 player right off the bat with great defense. If he's got that, let him show it. Fred surely didn't do that tonight. Maybe he will as he goes up against worse big men.  Not enough ball to go around. 

Edited October 23, 20187 yr by Jack Parkman

Just now, Jack Parkman said:

It's early, and this is the only game I watched. 2 baskets is 2 baskets. He might be better, but they're not letting him show what he can do. Granted he didn't have the ball a lot, but guy isnt going to develop offensively if they don't give him the ball. 

He plays with a lot of black holes on offense. He shot 19/46 from 3 in college and shot over 58% from the floor.

In comparison, Noah has only shot 17 3's in his entire career (NCAA and NBA). He has made 1.

The bulls offense is going to be a lot different when Lauri gets back. With Lavine playing really well, Carter's offense is really not a huge issue. Hes young and tentative. Look at Bosh's stat lines his first year. He had a lot of games where she shot really poorly. 

How soon is Lauri coming back?

31 minutes ago, lostfan said:

How soon is Lauri coming back?

I have seen around the 2nd week of November if everything goes well

20 minutes ago, BigHurt3515 said:

I have seen around the 2nd week of November if everything goes well

Sprained elbow wasn't it? I lose track of things like that these days.

LaVinr looks good.

Carter's shot ain't falling, but the team DRtg is 10 points better with him on the court.

God send Lauri.

No, Lauri stay away. TANK TANK TANK

Couple thoughts from last nights game:

- Doncic is wonderful. Complete command of the floor, though doing it against bulls isn't particularly difficult. S

- WCJ is doing yeoman's work making a lot of things happen. He sets some beautiful screens and is incredibly selfless.

- Lopez on other hand has been playing really dumb basketball. I loved how professional he was last year but it looks like he lost a lot this offseason. It's one of the reasons I felt bad about the tank last year, you only get so many years of your life you can be an NBA player.

- Kris Dunn was probably exhausted and it's his first game back, but this year he has to cut down on his turnovers if he wants to be effective.

- Arcidiacano over payne (just a reminder we cut spencer dinwiddie and he looks pretty good)

- I just hate the roster construction on this team. I don't care if we aren't supposed to be a playoff team this year. Players like Holliday and Blakeney being the bench pieces on this team while discarding Nwaba just makes no sense. THere is zero second look. You have a pupu platter of black hole offensive players combined with terrible defense. What else was there to learn about justin holliday you did not already know?

- The bulls have to do more offball movement when their forwards post up, considering who they have as their forwards.

- Hutchinson has his first "well, okay!" game. Would much rather have a reserve unit of arcidiacano, hutch, nwaba, parker/portis, lopez than payne, holliday/hutch/blakeney, parker/portis, lopez. (neither are good)

- Lavine certain is playing well. He is getting fouls, he is making smart shots. I just hate this roster construction and I think it's hard for him to learn team defense when you surround him with more defensively bad bad bad players.

Yeah the roster construction isnt that great right now. The other problem is that the defense is just horrible. Several times yesterday guys just ran to double for no reason, which then led to open shots. Its crazy but it seems like WCJ is basically the defensive anchor. Its a lot to pin on a 19 year old, but the Bulls need to start trusting him 1 on 1 on defense because the rest of the team just doesnt have the capability to switch well.

The good news is that Lavine is playing better than anyone could have imagined. A starting line up of WJC/Lauri/Lavine/Dunn actually looks like a place to start. They need a SF badly, whether its by tank or FA.

Most importantly, Hoiberg needs to give WCJ 30+ minutes a night. There is no reason not to. 

1 minute ago, Soxbadger said:

Yeah the roster construction isnt that great right now. The other problem is that the defense is just horrible. Several times yesterday guys just ran to double for no reason, which then led to open shots. Its crazy but it seems like WCJ is basically the defensive anchor. Its a lot to pin on a 19 year old, but the Bulls need to start trusting him 1 on 1 on defense because the rest of the team just doesnt have the capability to switch well.

The good news is that Lavine is playing better than anyone could have imagined. A starting line up of WJC/Lauri/Lavine/Dunn actually looks like a place to start. They need a SF badly, whether its by tank or FA.

Most importantly, Hoiberg needs to give WCJ 30+ minutes a night. There is no reason not to. 

They have a 19 year old trying to cover everyones mistakes and he's really not doing that bad of a job. He definitely needs some more muscle though.

Hutch really did look fine, especially on doncic, it would be very helpful if he could be a rotation player.