2010-2011 NBA Thread

[Steve9347]

I can't predict injuries. Rose could get decapitated tonight and Steve would end his life.

Accurate post is accurate.

 

Hopefully the good Lord doesn't want to cut down yet another young Bulls point guard 10 years after the last.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Their effort is what has surprised me. I never expected them to match the Bulls in work ethic.

 

I don't understand this. And you're not the only person that says this. Because their three best players are superstars they're less inclined to try as hard as a bunch of roleplayers? Jordan, Pippen and Rodman ring a bell? LeBron's d has infinitely improved over the last few years. Wade has always been a good defensive player. Bosh played for a s***ty Toronto team. So nobody noticed his defensive abilities (think Ron Harper when he was with the Clippers).

[sircaffey]

It's the playoffs. Defenses should be up a notch. The preparation time you have for one opponent is far greater than in the regular season. The schemes are more complex. It's not the Heat all-of-a-sudden trying harder. It's the same with the Bulls.

[Soxbadger]

Miami's defense has been elite because the Bulls offense has been below average.

 

6 of 16 in the playoffs, and they were the only team of the final 4 to be under 105 efficiency.

 

In comparison, the Bulls and Heat are basically tied on the defensive side, which makes sense.

[ZoomSlowik]

Miami was the 5th most efficient defense during the regular season, and that was without Wade etc for stretches of time.

 

Im not sure why anyone thought Miami would be anything but a top tier defense, which is why the Bulls horrific offense is really being exposed.

 

In fact Miami's defense efficiency is only down a point (which is better) in the playoffs.

 

The Bulls defense is up a point and their offense is down 3 points (worse).

 

In the playoffs you have to score points, the Bulls dont score points because of how the Bulls play. Lebron being a monster just makes it harder for the Bulls to get the easy points they rely on, but the major problem is that the Bulls can not shoot from the floor with any consistency.

 

if you cant make jump shots, you arent going to beat a team like Miami.

 

This is what worries me: there's no real reason to expect this roster to consistently hit jumpers. Korver is the only guy on the roster that can consistently hit open jump-shots, and he has to play in spots because of his defense. Virtually everyone else on the roster is average or worse as a shooter, especially from behind the arc.

 

It's compounded by the fact that pretty much none of these guys can create their own shot. Obviously Rose can, Deng and Boozer will on rare occasions, and everyone else is strictly catch-and-shoot.

 

That makes it pretty hard to have a top-tier offense. Rose has shown he can pull shots out of nothing, but the other players have to make them. That's the only thing the Cavs did right when they had Lebron: they surrounded him with guys that can actually hit open 3's.

 

They have to remedy that to some extent this off-season. You can't just sit there looking surprised when Keith Bogans and Luol Deng miss open 3's.

[Jordan4life_2007]

5th out of 30 isn't elite, that is good. The D in this series has been elite, as in the best.

 

Then what is elite? You have to be first? Whatever. They were a really good defensive team all year. Scoring typically goes down in the playoffs, anyway. So that's not shocking. I get what you're saying. I'm just not in amazement that their D has been so good. And the Bulls lack of consistent offensive options certainly doesn't help matters. They won't look this good against Dallas. I can promise you that.

[Steve9347]

I don't understand this. And you're not the only person that says this. Because their three best players are superstars they're less inclined to try as hard as a bunch of roleplayers? Jordan, Pippen and Rodman ring a bell? LeBron's d has infinitely improved over the last few years. Wade has always been a good defensive player. Bosh played for a s***ty Toronto team. So nobody noticed his defensive abilities (think Ron Harper when he was with the Clippers).

Wow. How often did we see the Heat getting beat by above .500 teams this year? In retrospect, they were still learning to play together and blah blah, but they looked flat out lazy and over-matched against good, deep teams for the better part of an 82 game schedule. Poor shot selection seemed to be dooming them against teams that made them work. If you don't agree with this you either watched nothing in the regular season (I know that's not true) or have very short-term, selective memory.

[ZoomSlowik]

I don't understand this. And you're not the only person that says this. Because their three best players are superstars they're less inclined to try as hard as a bunch of roleplayers? Jordan, Pippen and Rodman ring a bell? LeBron's d has infinitely improved over the last few years. Wade has always been a good defensive player. Bosh played for a s***ty Toronto team. So nobody noticed his defensive abilities (think Ron Harper when he was with the Clippers).

 

I agree on the other two, but Bosh rightfully took some s*** for his defense. Even he said that he wasn't used to having to work on rebounding and defense before coming to Miami. He's useful in pick and roll situations because of his length and mobility, but he's not exactly going to out-work and out-muscle you for space down low.

 

Then again, the Raptors didn't exactly do him any favors by making Andrea f***ing Bargnani his starting center the past few years. Even paired with a slug like Rasho Nesterovic that's at least an actual center and not a SF, their defense was passable.

[southsider2k5]

I don't understand this. And you're not the only person that says this. Because their three best players are superstars they're less inclined to try as hard as a bunch of roleplayers? Jordan, Pippen and Rodman ring a bell? LeBron's d has infinitely improved over the last few years. Wade has always been a good defensive player. Bosh played for a s***ty Toronto team. So nobody noticed his defensive abilities (think Ron Harper when he was with the Clippers).

 

They have players who routinely took plays/quarters/games off on the defensive end of the ball. It has nothing to do with their relative status in the game.

[Steve9347]

You can't just sit there looking surprised when Keith Bogans and Luol Deng miss open 3's.

[Soxbadger]

They won't look this good against Dallas. I can promise you that.

 

You mean they wont look as good playing a team that has legitimate shooters and whose best player is a 7 foot German who can shoot and make awkward shots?

 

The Heat still have to beat the Bulls, and if the Bulls can shoot and hit shots, they can win the next 3 games. I dont agree with people who say the Bulls have had no shot, the Bulls have had great chances, they just have not executed.

 

The Bulls just need to play 2 good offensive games to get to an anything goes game 7, because its not like the Miami offense is scoring 100+ points, its just the question of can the Bulls score 90.

[StrangeSox]

Their effort is what has surprised me. I never expected them to match the Bulls in work ethic.

 

When James and Wade and Bosh play just as hard as the Bulls, they're going to win.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Wow. How often did we see the Heat getting beat by above .500 teams this year? In retrospect, they were still learning to play together and blah blah, but they looked flat out lazy and over-matched against good, deep teams for the better part of an 82 game schedule. Poor shot selection seemed to be dooming them against teams that made them work. If you don't agree with this you either watched nothing in the regular season (I know that's not true) or have very short-term, selective memory.

 

What I'm saying is why are the Bulls supposed to be a harder working team? The Heat had their issues earlier. But it wasn't because of lack of work ethic. It's all about expectations. The Heat were supposed to win 75 games. They didn't. So they weren't trying?

[southsider2k5]

What I'm saying is why are the Bulls supposed to be a harder working team? The Heat had their issues earlier. But it wasn't because of lack of work ethic. It's all about expectations. The Heat were supposed to win 75 games. They didn't. So they weren't trying?

 

The Bulls were the harder working team this season. There are no if's, and's or but's about it.

[StrangeSox]

What I'm saying is why are the Bulls supposed to be a harder working team? The Heat had their issues earlier. But it wasn't because of lack of work ethic. It's all about expectations. The Heat were supposed to win 75 games. They didn't. So they weren't trying?

 

The Bulls played all-out pretty much all year. The Heat did not. Bosh took games off. Lebron's never been known as an excessively hard-worker (he'd be completely unstoppable if he was one of the most dedicated guys).

[Steve9347]

What I'm saying is why are the Bulls supposed to be a harder working team? The Heat had their issues earlier. But it wasn't because of lack of work ethic. It's all about expectations. The Heat were supposed to win 75 games. They didn't. So they weren't trying?

Seriously, man, the Heat had stretches where it was evident their work ethic wasn't at 100%. The Bulls spent all year running and playing big minutes and Thibs losing his s*** on the sidelines. The Bulls are the quintessential "high-effort" team, and it showed when they used that effort to sweep the Heat in the regular season.

[Steve9347]

The Heat were supposed to win 75 games. They didn't. So they weren't trying?

Only complete idiots thought the Heat would break the 72-10 record with their lack of depth.

[LittleHurt05]

The Bulls should have chances in the future, I just worry that may have blown the easiest road to the title they will ever see.

 

-They have homecourt throughout

-They had early season injuries, but were relatively healthy in the playoffs (until Omer)

-The East only had two other capable teams and they played each other

-Miami is still figuring it all out, Haslem/Miller are not 100% (coulda fooled me), they still have little depth

-Dallas is playing great basketball & Dirk is on fire, but they aren't some all-time great team

 

 

Miami will only get better (DRose will still be much shorter than LeBron), OKC will grow up & improve and has more "superstar" potential than the Bulls, the Knicks might find a coach to make them play defense, CP3 & Howard might end up somewhere creating another super team, even the Celtics still have two more years in them and will be more rested

 

I'm not all gloom & doom on the Bulls future, but man did the cards line up in their favor this season

[Soxbadger]

Lebron is one of the hardest workers in the NBA (at least thats what I thought), they were just pacing themselves in the regular season.

 

 

[Steve9347]

-They had early season injuries, but were relatively healthy in the playoffs (until Omer)

Eh, their two best offensive players are playing through injuries. Still, I see your point. It is what it is... the Heat got hot at the right time and they are the better team... but anything can happen. The Bulls won 4 straight against the Heat already, and there's no reason they can't win 3 straight now.

[Jordan4life_2007]

The Bulls were the harder working team this season. There are no if's, and's or but's about it.

 

You (and I for that matter) don't have the authority to claim this. We both obviously watch the Bulls A LOT more than any other team. And the Bulls simply aren't as talented. Even all the s*** I talked last summer, I knew the Heat were going to go through that adjustment faze. Two Jordan's on the same team are going to need some time to gel.

 

The Bulls played all-out pretty much all year. The Heat did not. Bosh took games off. Lebron's never been known as an excessively hard-worker (he'd be completely unstoppable if he was one of the most dedicated guys).

 

LeBron is not unstoppable now? How good is he supposed to get?

[Balta1701]

Lebron is one of the hardest workers in the NBA (at least thats what I thought)

I don't believe that for a second. He's the most athletically gifted player in the NBA and that covers up for everything else.

[Soxbadger]

The Bulls just need to win 1 game, 3 times.

 

You cant think of it as 3 straight, Bulls hadnt lost 3 straight this season, until they did.

 

The question tonight will be does Thib put the Bulls in the best position to win. If he does, I think the Bulls win, if he does not, I think its the end of the series.

 

This is all on the Bulls, this is a series they can win, its just whether or not they are willing to make changes.

[Balta1701]

LeBron is not unstoppable now? How good is he supposed to get?

If he spent the summer working on a post game as hard as Rose spent last summer working on his jumpshot, it'd be a sight to behold. Suddenly give him multilple methods of scoring the ball making use of his size.

[StrangeSox]

Lebron is one of the hardest workers in the NBA (at least thats what I thought), they were just pacing themselves in the regular season.

 

He's not necessarily lazy in-game, but he's not really known for busting his ass and working on his game in the summer, right? He should be an unstoppable domination machine with his size, athleticism and skills but he's never bothered with a post game.