I am glad Bulls ended up sitting Derozan tonight. Presume nothing more than get the man some rest (as I've posted a few times on here recently).  Ayo having a great 1st half.  

Bulls playing with so much more pace in this 1H with Lavine in.  He just changes the tempo on misses with his athleticism.  Helps that the ball movement is significantly more crisp and defensively they are actually playing it.  Also OKC stinks (not that at this point it says anything and there is a whole nother half of basketball (at this point I dont' know what to expect with this team given how depleted they are). 

28 point lead down to 6 with some of the worst turnovers and defense you will see at this level.

18 minutes ago, fathom said:

28 point lead down to 6 with some of the worst turnovers and defense you will see at this level.

At least they got a big lead - but man - crazy how they blew it. Thank goodness they held on.  

Does someone want to explain to me why Caruso has already had surgery yet Lonzo Ball isn't set to have surgery until the end of this week.  That would seem like his surgery is literally almost 10-14 days after the team announced he would have surgery.  Are they waiting for a 2nd opinion or something here?  Or is there an extended time to let swelling go down or something.  Something seems really odd with the Ball thing (I mean 2 weeks of potential recovery time is huge for this squad).  

Six points in the last seven minutes?  Good enough is good enough for me.

10 hours ago, Chisoxfn said:

Does someone want to explain to me why Caruso has already had surgery yet Lonzo Ball isn't set to have surgery until the end of this week.  That would seem like his surgery is literally almost 10-14 days after the team announced he would have surgery.  Are they waiting for a 2nd opinion or something here?  Or is there an extended time to let swelling go down or something.  Something seems really odd with the Ball thing (I mean 2 weeks of potential recovery time is huge for this squad).  

I’d guess swelling, but haven’t seen any specific reasons why.  I’d also imagine wrist surgery to repair a break is less complicated than arthroscopic meniscus surgery.  I’m a layman so I could be totally off. 

Edited January 25, 20224 yr by Tnetennba

11 hours ago, fathom said:

28 point lead down to 6 with some of the worst turnovers and defense you will see at this level.

11 hours ago, Chisoxfn said:

At least they got a big lead - but man - crazy how they blew it. Thank goodness they held on.  

Zach was clearly gassed at the end and was forcing things.  Coby couldn’t hit the side of a barn.  Loosing Cook and Ayo fouling out really hurt too.  Refs did them no favors either.  No one else could really step up and make shots when it mattered.  They definitely have to be better about breaking those traps though. And some kind of set play to generate points would help too. 

If the Bulls can get another hardship player, I'd honestly bring back Arci or Dunn. 

Arci knows the system and is basically just Prototype 3rd String PG. Dunn could bring defense.

Just now, Quin said:

If the Bulls can get another hardship player, I'd honestly bring back Arci or Dunn. 

Arci knows the system and is basically just Prototype 3rd String PG. Dunn might be able to bring defense.

Dunn was lazy - don't want him. But Arci I would be okay with. Shaq Harrison has had some 10 day stuff too - I would prefer him over Dunn (for sure) but reality is arci is best fit right now since they need someone who can handle some back-up PG minutes.  

1 minute ago, Chisoxfn said:

Dunn was lazy - don't want him. But Arci I would be okay with. Shaq Harrison has had some 10 day stuff too - I would prefer him over Dunn (for sure) but reality is arci is best fit right now since they need someone who can handle some back-up PG minutes.  

At this point I'd prefer Arci to Matt Thomas, what with all the injuries.

1 hour ago, Quin said:

At this point I'd prefer Arci to Matt Thomas, what with all the injuries.

I'd take Archi, Dunn, or Shaq over Matt Thomas right now.  If he's not in position to catch & shoot he's pretty worthless out there.

Last night vs OKC was an embarrassing W but it's still a W. OKC turned the defensive intensity up to 10 and the Bulls had no response, their offense would just freeze up under full court press and traps the way the Thibodeau/Rose offenses used to do. Their normal lineup with Ball-Lavine-DeRozan-whoever the 4 is that day-Vucevic probably could've handled that.

10 minutes ago, lostfan said:

Last night vs OKC was an embarrassing W but it's still a W. OKC turned the defensive intensity up to 10 and the Bulls had no response, their offense would just freeze up under full court press and traps the way the Thibodeau/Rose offenses used to do. Their normal lineup with Ball-Lavine-DeRozan-whoever the 4 is that day-Vucevic probably could've handled that.

Lavine was gassed - so pretty good excuse there (hadn't played in 10 days and needed more minutes). Same with Green.  Outside of that - they didn't have 3 guys who are primary ball handlers (along with Lavine) in that situation - Ball, Caruso, and Derozan.  So I actually think having that happen was good - because it will be developmental for individuals like Ayo and White.  But it does highlight while Ball/Caruso are out - it can be helpful to have someone who can actually handle legit back up PG duties in that type of situational pinch (i.e., Arci...who is on day 5 of his 10 day contract with Knicks).  

4 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

Lavine was gassed - so pretty good excuse there (hadn't played in 10 days and needed more minutes). Same with Green.  Outside of that - they didn't have 3 guys who are primary ball handlers (along with Lavine) in that situation - Ball, Caruso, and Derozan.  So I actually think having that happen was good - because it will be developmental for individuals like Ayo and White.  But it does highlight while Ball/Caruso are out - it can be helpful to have someone who can actually handle legit back up PG duties in that type of situational pinch (i.e., Arci...who is on day 5 of his 10 day contract with Knicks).  

I fucking love Ayo

Do yourself a favor and see last 10 seconds of Clippers game. 

 

55 minutes ago, Tnetennba said:

 

Is this a joke - is someone like messing with me on Soxtalk and the Caruso playing through a flagrant but than waking up the next day and getting surgery, now Jones Jr almost being ready to come back and this happens.  JR just needs to give a partial ownership of the franchise to Scottie Pippen and MJ to somehow get whatever curse exists from that glorious era of greatness!!! 

Even the timeline - for an index finger seems significant (knowing how many guys play with jammed fingers / things in splints). This is just crazy - beyond crazy.  

This might be an injury that forces Jones Jr onto another team.  I believe his contract expires this year so you want to do something with his payroll / salary space (vs. letting it walk and losing that flexibility). Knowing he is out 2 months - it likely makes sense to dangle that expiring deal in a package to get you something you can use (sooner vs. later) - whether that is a 4 or something else. 

Evidently Bulls are atop / on Jerami Grant's preferred list of teams.  I just don't see / want to trade Pat Williams for someone who walks / they can't retain.  If you can get him for the Portland pick and some other players fine by me though (but that isn't realistic - at least not by my old Bulls standards - but maybe this front office has more tricks up its sleeve).  

8 hours ago, Chisoxfn said:

Evidently Bulls are atop / on Jerami Grant's preferred list of teams.  I just don't see / want to trade Pat Williams for someone who walks / they can't retain.  If you can get him for the Portland pick and some other players fine by me though (but that isn't realistic - at least not by my old Bulls standards - but maybe this front office has more tricks up its sleeve).  

I'm still not 100% that he's the guy I want, probably because I'm looking too much into his rebound numbers, but if he wants to be here, they can make it work long term. He's still under contract for next year and Vucs contract is up in 2 years. They can go over the cap to sign Lavine next season.

8 hours ago, Chisoxfn said:

Evidently Bulls are atop / on Jerami Grant's preferred list of teams.  I just don't see / want to trade Pat Williams for someone who walks / they can't retain.  If you can get him for the Portland pick and some other players fine by me though (but that isn't realistic - at least not by my old Bulls standards - but maybe this front office has more tricks up its sleeve).  

I’m still going by the earlier reports that he doesn’t want to go somewhere to play 2nd fiddle until I hear otherwise.  I still haven’t seen a legit source report on his list of preferred destinations.  If he really does want to come here and win, great, I’m open to finding a fair deal.  But I hope the FO is doing its due diligence on him and his potential impact beyond his good stats on a bad team. 

I’m also skeptical that adding Grant puts this team over the top.  And if it doesn’t, you’ve probably burned your best trade assets for a guy that will likely bounce for a bigger roll/payday elsewhere. 

8 hours ago, Chisoxfn said:

This might be an injury that forces Jones Jr onto another team.  I believe his contract expires this year so you want to do something with his payroll / salary space (vs. letting it walk and losing that flexibility). Knowing he is out 2 months - it likely makes sense to dangle that expiring deal in a package to get you something you can use (sooner vs. later) - whether that is a 4 or something else. 

It’s unfortunate but this seems most likely at this point.  I love DJJ’s contributions but with an extended absence his contract figure becomes rather useful in matching salaries in trade. 

31 minutes ago, Tnetennba said:

I’m still going by the earlier reports that he doesn’t want to go somewhere to play 2nd fiddle until I hear otherwise.  I still haven’t seen a legit source report on his list of preferred destinations.  If he really does want to come here and win, great, I’m open to finding a fair deal.  But I hope the FO is doing its due diligence on him and his potential impact beyond his good stats on a bad team. 

Yeah, take NBA Central/Bleacher Report with a grain of salt but, he doesn't want to play third string to AD and LeBron. He'd still be third string here.