Keep Your Chin Up Chicago

The 2010-11 Bulls season, as you well know, is a wrap. The Bulls went down swinging, although history books will show a 4-1 defeat, that raw number will never grasp just how close the Bulls were to winning some of these games.

·         In Game 2: Tied 73-73 with 4:35 remaining in the 4^th quarter. Lost 85-75.

·         In Game 3: Trailed 65-68 to begin the 4^th quarter. Lost 96-85.

·         In Game 4: Led 68-63 to begin the 4^th quarter. Trailed 84-85 with 1:05 remaining and Derrick Rose at the line to shoot 2. Lost 101-93 in OT.

·         In Game 5: 76-64 with 3:35 remaining in the 4^th quarter. Lost 83-80.

Here’s what I thought about the Miami series (along with a few sets of statistics loaded up in these images below (click to expand)):

• I thought we played really well defensively.
• People complaining about Carlos Boozer “killing us” on defense, don’t forget he’s playing with torn ligaments in his foot. I’m not saying he’s a good defender when healthy, but he’s been banged up for weeks, and was playing every other day from Game 3-5. There’s going to be commotion about trading him the entire off-season, but ultimately, we won’t and we’ll be fine with him. He’s going to bounce back; the first year on a new team is always tough.
• Don’t forget that the Bulls added nine new players to their regularly active line-up in the off-season, just as many as Miami.
• I thought the series, for the most part, was well officiated. The things I question are the ticky-tack fouls that were being called for Miami that the Bulls simply were not getting. I also thought that the 2 technicals on Boozer were suspect. I remember watching Dennis Rodman get T’d up (many, many times in both SA and CHI). I think that Boozer’s 2 flagrants would have been the weakest of any of Rodman’s flagrants in his career. But I guess that’s the state of the NBA these days.
• Don’t make as big of a deal about Rose’s low FG% in the playoffs as the media is making it. He was constantly double-teamed which definitely hurt his FG% from his mid-range game. On top of that, in the Miami series especially, he just wasn’t getting foul calls on lay-up attempts. Rather than not count that as a FG and receiving 2 FTA’s, he was registering an 0-1 every single time. I thought that Miami played Derrick very similarly to Indiana in the interior, yet Derrick averaged twice as many FTA’s against Indiana vs. against Miami. Hmm…
• I suggested to friends before the series that Kurt Thomas should be active this series and getting ~15 minutes a game simply to be “the enforcer”. He changed the game in Game 5, but may have stayed in for a bit too long during the fourth quarter as he seemed tired and he lost a bit of a defensive edge.
• Ultimately, we played very well against Miami, but the team collectively shrunk in big moments down the stretch and couldn’t find the bucket. That’s going to happen with a young team lacking a veteran on the court with confidence (not Carlos Boozer) to keep their heads in it. The same thing happened to Oklahoma City, it’s almost scary how similar those series were.
• I wouldn’t put the blame for this series on any one player, we just weren’t knocking down shots. With the addition of another offensive weapon or two, hopefully this changes.

• People that don’t watch the NBA/Bulls regularly (most of the general public) have been clamoring about our need for a 2-guard and throwing names out there like teams are just going to give these guys to us. They bitched and moaned about our lack of a 2-guard, but ultimately, Gar Forman and Jim Paxson did everything they could last off-season and signed a great class of free agents. I would have loved to have Ray Allen as our SG, but he simply was not available, despite the nonsense that Bill Simmons keeps referencing on The B.S. Report (he’s essentially claimed that the Bulls should have given Allen a godfather offer to pry him away, when in reality, he was practically resigned with the Celtics before free agency even began. Simmons occasionally forgets important details like that.) There is some bad news however, for the people that have been saying we’re going to get a 2-guard to solve all of our problems in the off-season. There really aren’t any guys that fit our team in this year’s free agent class (looking at Unrestricted FA’s). Here are the decent options:
• Mickael Pietrus
• Leandro Barbosa
• JR Smith
• Jeff Green

That’s it. Don’t forget that the Bulls at one point had JR Smith and we flipped him for Howard Eisely (who never suited up for the Bulls and for all intensive purposes, simply hadn’t filed his retirement papers yet). JR Smith is not a guy that the Bulls are going to have on their team. He’s not a player that GarPax would risk contaminating our players. So please, don’t talk about him in your office at the water cooler. The rest of the players are solid guys, but none of them are really a significant improvement over Bogans or Brewer.  So our options then lie in Restricted Free Agents (also, slim pickings), the draft, and trading. It’ll be interesting to see how GarPax solves this one.

• I’d really like to see the Bulls draft Marshon Brooks, simply because he knows how to carry an offense (Evidence: He dropped 52 points in a game last season for the Providence Friars… a team with, you guessed it, limitations on offense.) I want this kid. Hopefully we can package together the 28/30 picks in Round 1 and move up to grab him. He'd be a great compliment, especially coming out of college as a Senior, we've had great luck with that in the recent past (see Taj Gibson).
• And in case you’re wondering, here are the specs on Marshon Brooks:
• Height – 6’5”, Weight – 195lbs
• Senior Year: 24.6ppg, 7rpg, 2.5apg, 48.3%FG, 77.2%FT, 34%3pt
• Wingspan – 7’1”, Standing Reach – 8’5”
• Standing Vert. Leap – 34”, Max Vert. Leap – 38.5”
• ¾ Court Sprint (70.5ft) – 3.09s
  

Ultimately, it was a great season for the Bulls. Most writers didn’t predict them to finish in the Top 4 in the East, yet they won the conference. They put up a hell of a fight in the playoffs, but got swallowed up in the moment at the end. On the plus side, Derrick Rose won the MVP award and he’s only 22. I’d say the future is looking up.

Especially with a kid like this:

Take ‘em to church, Derrick.

The ROSE is my shepherd; I shall not lose.

He maketh me to celebrate in Grant Park: he leadeth me beside the roaring crowds.

He restoreth Chicago: he leadeth us in the paths of winningness for his team's sake.

Ye, though I walk through South Beach in the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy bigness, fastness, strongness and thy goodness they galvanize me.

Thou preparest a table of 6 Championship Trophies before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my hands with Championship Rings; my enemies you runneth over.

Surely fastness and strongness shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the BULLS for ever.

A Debate Frank Ricard Would Be Proud Of

So, to all 4 million of you that read this, yesterday I posted a topic discussing LeBron and comparing him and his teams to teams of old (as well as a brief on Derrick Rose). The comments section got heated with a buddy of mine, Dan. We went back and forth on some points, some good banter.

Then, today, ESPN Insider’s Chris Broussard and Ric Bucher had nearly the exact same back and forth. It was unbelievable. In their post, Dan is Broussard and I am Bucher. If you don’t have Insider but would like to read the article, I can pass it along to you via email. But, I thought that the back and forth Dan and I had would make for a good follow-up to yesterday’s post, so here’s the transcript (starting with Dan’s reaction):

DAN: 

Lots of good stuff here. Interesting how the numbers show how comparable those three LeBron-related teams are offensively. Also interesting, when you look at offensive efficiencies, this year's Heat are at 109.3, last year's Heat (who stunk aside from Wade) were at 104.5 and last year's Cavs were at 108.8. So you're right, LeBron's teams have always been about the same level over the years.

I think you kind of miss a bit of my point when when I talk about his teammates holding him back. When I say that (and I think when other people do too), they mean that for the playoffs, not the regular season. Obviously, the 2009 regular season Cavs were a great team. They won 66 games! I don't think anyone's arguing that they should be winning 70 every year just because they have LeBron on the team. The type of cast might have had a decent enough talent level for the regular season, but that talent was distributed the wrong way for the playoffs. 

The playoffs are a different animal. You can get by in the regular season following the '09 Cavs' model of one great player surrounded by a bunch of role players, but over the course of a 7 game series against a tough defensive opponent, that simply is not going to work. No matter how great LeBron was in those '09 playoffs against the Magic (and take a look back, he was incredible), it would have been damn near impossible for the Cavs to win that series, especially with no-shows from the other "good" players on the team. Mo Williams shot 35% in their four losses to the Magic. 35%! He's supposed to be their second best player! The level of play that would be required to overcome that would have been incredibly high. Sure, LeBron did not play well enough for his team to win, but I don't you could substituted a single other player in the NBA from that season (or any season that didn't have Michael Jordan) for LeBron and the result would have been any different. In fact, they probably don't even win 2 games. It's unreasonable to expect LeBron to be Jordan.

The point is, that team depended on LeBron's greatness more than any other team. Regardless of Mo Williams' talent and ability as a basketball player, he's not the kind of guy you want shouldering the load in the playoffs. He proved that in 2009 and again in 2010 when he shot 41% in the playoffs. It's not that LeBron's team was full of a bunch of bums. It was that none of them could be a true second banana. Duncan had Ginobili and Parker who could take over when necessary. Kobe couldn't win without Shaq or Gasol. That's how these things go.

That's why I don't think comparing that Cavs team to this year's Bulls is a fair comparison. This years Bulls are FAR deeper. While they won't win 66 games, this team is much more equipped to win in the playoffs. Think of all the guys on this team capable of stepping up if Rose falters (or just doesn't have a typical unfuckingbelievable Derrick Rose game) - Deng, Boozer, maybe Noah, even Kyle Korver. Think about it, there's a better chance of Korver getting hot (in my opinion) and knocking down 6 threes in a game than any player on the Cavs team other than LeBron or Williams. And he's, like, the 5th or 6th offensive option! Like the '09 Cavs, the Bulls don't have a chance at winning a seven game series if their best player doesn't play at an extremely high level. But they're is also less of a chance the critical members of the supporting cast lay an egg for an entire series either. No player, no matter how great, can win when that happens.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like your main point is that this Heat team is good, that Cavs team was good, so LeBron should stop making excuses and win a championship already. You acknowledge that he's a great player, so what exactly are you saying is the problem? Why do you think his teams haven't won? Was it his fault? Does he need to get better? How much better do you expect him to be? It has to be somebody's fault, right? If you're not going to blame LeBron, you have to look somewhere. You can say he's not clutch, but the stats Hollinger linked to today proved that's not true (You have to admit he was at least comparable to Rose and Kobe and other people who have been labeled clutch). So what is it? My basic point is that the Cavs team was constructed to be a good regular season team, but not a good playoff team. That's why I think they didn't win.

MARK: 

There were basically two points to this.

1) That Cavs team wasn't terrible. They went 66-16 and lost to a Magic team in the ECF that was really good defensively and was a terrible matchup for Cleveland due to their size. I think it's ridiculous that people say LeBron has never played on a good team. Yes, if you isolate each player, they don't look good on paper. But they were the classic case of the whole being bigger than the sum of the parts (why I compared them to this year's Bulls). They may have lacked the elite All-Star level players he has now, but they were a good team. I think too many people make excuses for LeBron, and I think he's too willing to accept those excuses instead of going out and getting better himself (not that he isn't great, but there are ways he could improve. Also, this is why I made the comment about DRose).

I don't hate LeBron. I don't like LeBron. I'm just disappointed in what he is, because he could be better. But when you're the most gifted player in the league and your body is built like Stan Lee drew it when you're only 18, it's probably tough to push yourself. 

Do I think he should already have a ring? Yes. Compare the Bulls 90-91 team and the Lakers team that they faced. On paper, the Bulls were totally overmatched. The Lakers frontcourt was unbelievable in comparison to what the Bulls rolled out. But Jordan still won.

History, the players we root for, and who comes through has such an enormous influence on how we perceive athletes. Horace Grant averaged 11pt/8reb for his career, but people in Chicago think of him as so much more than he was. Grant, Bill Cartright (9.6pts/6.2reb), Cliff Levingston, and Will Perdue outplayed James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Vlade Divac, and Elden Campbell. Huh?!

Isolate those names and think about that. Those guys stink in comparison to who the Lakers rolled out! We don't think of Grant and Cartright as crap that Jordan played with...because we won. But ultimately, that was due to Jordan. The guy was insane in that series. It's a different league now than it wasn't then. Teams aren't as deep. But Jordan won with guys that believed in a system, he helped mold Pippen into who he was (a guy that wasn't even destined to make it to the NBA coming out of high school). That's why I'm disappointed in LeBron. He had 3 chances to do that. But because they lost, his teammates get perceived as losers and not legends like the Championship teams. All of these guys in the NBA are elite players when it comes down to it. Jordan DID single-handedly carry a team with a bunch of scraps to a championship (Pippen wasn't quite the guy he would become in 90-91, but he was close). I don't think we should make excuses for LeBron. He just came up short. That's it. I feel like people are LeBron apologists simply because they want to see him become what Jordan was. A perennial winner. But he isn't yet. He's just a highly talented player. If you want to crown their asses, then crown 'em!

By the way, Jordan in 90-91 vs the Lakers: 31ppg, 11apg, 6.6rpg, 56%(fg), 50%(3pt), 85%(ft), 2.8stl, 1.4blk... he was only being guarded by Magic Johnson...and being hand-checked... i'm sure Hedo Turkoglu is a far superior defender. (To be fair, LeBron's #'s vs ORL in 08-09 were: 39ppg, 8apg, 8.3rpg, 49%(fg), 29.7%(3pt), 75%(ft), 1.2stl, 1.2blk. Still, nasty...but he shot 37 3's at a 29.7% clip. Questionable.) 

2) Basically, the whole point of this for me was just being annoyed by Hollinger. He operates in a world where statistics, and his PER system, are the end-all be-all. And it's not. There is so much that happens on a basketball court that isn't captured by numbers. You can use them to argue things any way you want (as I showed in #1 up there, which I'm sure is counterable with other #'s). But I am just bewildered by Hollinger. I don't think he can just watch and appreciate basketball without using #'s to say that Player X is better than Player Y. There are a million intangibles! The system that guy is in, things he's asked to do, does he carry the offense? How much energy does he use on offense compared to defense? It's not a video game, ya know. The guy doesn't have an energy bar with 100stamina and pre-loaded attributes. 

There are always intangibles and things that aren't captured by statistics, despite how fun it is to argue about them. Hollinger doesn't really care about that stuff, which is why I think it's moronic for people to view his opinion as always correct - or to get violently angry in his comments section. Yeah, sometimes you can use those #'s to help make a point one way or another. But you still need to watch the game. 

He's giving you his best opinion based on calculations HE makes, on a system he feels is "accurate". It's totally circumstantial. Maybe a REB should be worth more or less in PER, but right now, it's worth what Hollinger thinks a REB is worth. Maybe he should figure out a way to calculate one-timers and incorporate those (DRose drives, kicks to Bogans, swings to Korver for 3 = a different type of assist). Maybe he should calculate assists where a guy winds up going to the FT-line after not converting the basket. 

I'm just rambling at this point. But intangibles is why I can't take Hollinger seriously, and the fact that he seems to ignore them when stating his opinions is kind of ridiculous. 

E.g. Kobe beat LeBron for MVP in 2006-07, but LeBron's #'s were actaully better. LeBron was really freaking good that year. So, does that mean we were "wrong" for giving it to Kobe? Should we throw the award out? How often have we been wrong in the history of this award? I'd say probably more times than we were "right" if we based it off Hollinger's calculations. Obviously, you have to weigh intangibles, which Hollinger does not do.

DAN: 

First off, I don't think I'm making "excuses" for LeBron. Do I like LeBron? Yes. Do I enjoy watching him play? Absolutely. But I watched those series. And if the numbers aren't good enough to prove that he wasn't the biggest reason his team lost to the Magic, then the eye test sure was. His team missed so many shots - open shots- when they needed to it was ridiculous. Seriously, name me another player who wins that series single-handedly against a Magic team that was great on defense. Aside from Jordan, there's not a single player I think for which a strong case can be made.

Could LeBron be a better player? Of course. You can say that about anyone in the league. But in my opinion he's the best player in basketball right now and has been for at least the past 3 years. You trade him for any player in the league and his new team gets better. I believe that based on watching him and the numbers back me up. Could he take fewer threes? Sure (he's actually done that this year). Could he develop his post game (which he has made some effort to do this year)? You bet. These are things he will continue to work on. Shot selection improves with maturity and experience. And you can add facets to your game with time. You can't just snap you fingers and have a post game. Remember, Kobe didn't have his famous summer with Hakeem until last year - after his 13th season in the league. Yes, Derrick Rose added some stuff this year and he deserves enormous credit for that. Is that something you really really love to see a player do? Yes. Does that make him a better player than LeBron? No. Intangibles are important, but I'm taking tangibles over them every time.

But it seems like the fact that he's so athletically gifted almost raises the bar too high. For his first few years in the league he was doing things athletically we had only rarely seen before. This raised people's expectations for him (and he sure helped that with the whole "Chosen One" thing) to the point of thinking he might be the greatest ever. But the fact remains, he's been the best player in the league for a few years and apparently that's not good enough for people. They want him to be even better. They want every facet of his game to be as jaw-dropping as his dunks. And I think that's unreasonable. If you want him to be Jordan, that's not going to happen. But seriously, is that the standard? That seems ridiculous to me. You know who else isn't as good as Jordan? Every other player ever. That includes Kobe, one of the 10 best of all time. And only now, after over a decade of measuring him up against the greatest athlete in team sports history, are we beginning to let Kobe be his own level of greatness. If you think that's being an apologist for LeBron, then mark me down as one. But saying he's not the greatest player ever isn't my definition of apologizing for him.

And again, if you want to compare Jordan's numbers against the Lakers to LeBron's in the Orlando series, it's going to be tough for us to do so since we weren't there in 1991 (because stats don't mean much without context - a point we agree on). But from what I've heard about Magic, he was a pretty bad defender. And those Lakers didn't exactly have Dwight Howard in the middle protecting the rim. You know why LeBron had to take all those threes? Because his team was losing, they needed to come back and the rest of the guys on his team sure as hell weren't hitting there's. I think you put it best when you said the Cavs "came up short". They did. Sometimes that just happens. You run into a bad matchup (like the Celtics in '08. I think people forget how good LeBron was in that series too against one of the better teams of the decade). Saying he should have a championship right now makes sense when looking at his talent, but explain to me when he should have won that championship. It sure as hell wasn't in 2009 and it probably wasn't before that when he was running with Larry Hughes and Ricky Davis either.

I'm not going to get into the Hollinger stuff much. That's a matter of opinion. But I don't think you give him enough credit for watching games. Just because he likes stats doesn't mean he doesn't watch the games. He might emphasize stats more than other writers, but that doesn't mean he doesn't put those into context by watching the games. He does. I read him a lot. Maybe not enough for your liking, but that's a matter of opinion.

I realized I asked and answered myself a lot of questions in that post. Do I regret that? No. Was it a little annoying? Maybe.

MARK: 

Clarification: Kobe didn't spend the summer with Hakeem, Dwight Howard did. And it was actually only 3 days. The media/tv broadcasters have kind of misconstrued that into them moving into an apartment together. Kobe actually began heavily using his post-game after his 2002-03 knee injury that he rehabbed in Colorado (so when he was 25 years old).

Don't agree with you that LeBron taking the 3's because his team is losing makes that a good decision. He's shooting at a 30% clip. That's when you drive to the hole and get fouled (LeBron's best basketball move), or kick it out to an open teammate. That is how they won 66 out of 82 games during the regular season. 

Also of note: Dwight Howard wasn't in the lane in 1991, but you were allowed to hit guys a whole lot harder back then than you can now.

My point really though is that people have made a lot of excuses for why he hasn't won (not necessarily you). I'm sure he'll win one eventually, and I personally don't want to put him on this Jordan pedestal (on top of the fact that it's a completely different league and Jordan was a completely different type of player). But the media does want him on that pedestal, and that's where "apologists" come from. 

These are the same people that, if Cleveland beats Orlando in that series and wins the title, would revere how well guys like Mo Williams, Z, Wally, Delonte, and Big Ben played for them. Instead, they lose, and LeBron's never played with a good player (until Miami). 

You don't go 66-16 by accident. I obviously agree with you and the playoff numbers that those guys didn't play at the same level against Orlando that they did in the regular season (whether it was the matchup or them coming up short, who knows). But an 82 game litmus test of 66-16 basketball is probably a better test than a 6 game series to evaluate a team based on "if they can play basketball". 

I think the media just lacks some accountability with LeBron because they want him to be as good as Jordan. And as you and I both know, that's impossible. Like I said, the purpose of this was not to hate on LeBron, but on the media's portrayal of his career - which I think has been misleading.

Through The Looking Glass

A conversation today about the worthiness of the MVP award and a player’s attributes required to achieve it somehow, of course, brought us to LeBron. The discussion focused on players performances in the clutch, and I made the statement that: “LeBron still can’t hit a shot with 5 seconds left to save his life”. To which the obvious counter was Game 2 of the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals, where LeBron poured in a deep 3 from the top of the key to win the game. I remember where I was when he hit it, it was quite the shot. I was impressed.

After receiving the expected counter (the ECF game-winner) I quickly took a cheap shot at LeBron: “Was waiting for that. Good thing Delonte wasn't boning his Mom then or he would have just thrown the ball out of bounds.”

Too soon? Nahhhh.

The banter continues: “When Big Z, West & Sasha Pavlovic have the 2nd, 3rd & 4th best games on your team in the ECF's you earn the benefit of the doubt.”

I posed the question: “Can you really still use teammates as an excuse? He's doing the same thing in Miami he did in Cleveland. I don't think it matters.”

Honestly, I really don’t know how much who LeBron is playing with does matter. It was a key reason I didn’t want him to come to Chicago. Your team goes as LeBron goes (which is usually a good thing, the guy is built like a tank). But I felt like he wouldn’t have meshed well with Derrick Rose and he would have hindered him based on his offensive style. High usage rate, needs the ball in his hands… we kind of already had that player. I didn’t think he fit, and as we’ve seen this year in Miami, it’s been a tough adjustment having two players with this playing style in the starting lineup.

I will give you a disclaimer now, this is not an anti-LeBron post. This is a post explaining what LeBron gives you.

I’ve made arguments that LeBron’s teammates during his Cleveland days were not as bad as we thought, and honestly, I think they hold up. LeBron is an incredibly gifted athlete. He’s one of the best players in the NBA. He’s very good at basketball. These are all facts.

Also facts: his game hasn’t improved since he was 20 years old. He’s still the same guy you remember hammering down dunks and crashing fast breaks (something he is incredible at). I am not arguing that LeBron is bad. I am simply saying: he could be better. He still takes too many contested jumpers, too many bad 3pt shots, and has only recently started trying to incorporate a post-up game (which he should do constantly, I don’t know if there’s anyone in the league that could shut him down in the post if he developed this).

So let’s take a look at some teams that LeBron is associated with (these stats are per 240 minutes played, evaluating the Top 11 players on each team):

  

Which team is the best? Team C? Team A? Team B? Looking purely at the statistics, Team A seems like the best defensive team, while it looks like Team C is a slightly superior offensive team. Team B appears to be the weakest of the bunch, but their numbers aren’t far off.

Team A: 2008-09 Cleveland Cavaliers (Overall Record: 66-16, lost ECF)

Team B: 2009-10 Miami Heat (Overall Record: 45-37, lost EC Round 1)

Team C: 2010-11 Miami Heat (Projected: 58-24, TBD)

Team A: had LeBron as its only “All-Star” (everyone said Mo Williams was a sympathy vote-in that year, but he also made it. Not to mention the fact that he’s been consistently bashed by people saying LeBron never played with a good player.) According to the media, everyone else on this team sucked terribly.

Team C: has 3 players that made the All-Star team this year. They also have older, veteran players, including two others with previous All-Star experience. Most of the guys on this squad are veteran players, outside of their prime. However, with the assembled squad, the Heat were considered the favorite by a good portion of the media (anyone that didn’t pick Boston) to represent the East in the NBA Finals this season (not by me though).

My question: were LeBron’s teammates holding him back in 2008-09? Did they really suck? From what I can tell, they were just as good, if not better than this Heat team… and they only had 1 true All-Star according to the talking heads on ESPN.

Look at the numbers:

I don’t know if the Heat are going to win it all this year. I don’t know if LeBron is going to get his 3^rd straight NBA MVP award either (I’m still blown away that Kobe only has 1 NBA MVP award. This is a travesty. I blame the sexy nurse Kobe met in Colorado for that). But one thing is true about LeBron, and hell, it’s even somewhat true about Derrick Rose: all their teammates need to do for them to win is hit open jumpers and play defense. They command so much attention from the opposing team and they are able to drive to the basket and kick out so easily, that in reality, you just need guys with decent jump shots to score points. You need guys that hustle and play defense to shut down the opposition, but you just go to work with your workhorse and let the supporting cast handle the rest.

At the end of this season, why will the 2008-09 Cavs team have won 6-8 more games than this year’s Heat team? Probably due to this Heat team not having the same level of team chemistry as that Cavs team. Probably because the Heat have been a traveling circus with reports all year round. They’ve had it tough.

But I absolutely don’t think you could say that a 66-16 team was filled with crap. Those guys succeeded for a reason. They knew how to play with each other and they could hit shots. LeBron was the worst 3pt shooter on that team (34.4% - looking at guys that shot 3s). Everyone else on the team was near 40% from 3pt land. Everyone could hit free throws. They had good defenders (Varejao, younger/healthier Ilgauskas, Delonte West).

That 2008-09 Cavs team is a lot like this year’s Bulls team. They have one great player and a lot of other really good pieces. LeBron matching up with Rose (LeBron was nasty in 2008-09, he’s got the edge there). Boozer and Mo Williams are probably a wash (I don’t think Boozer has been great for what he’s being paid this year, and Mo Williams was actually really solid in 2008-09). Noah and Varejao fill the same role (Noah is a superior when healthy, but he’s missed half the season with injury).

If you square the rest of the squads against each other:

Deng, Taj, Bogans, Korver, Asik /// Delonte, Joe Smith, Gibson (or Pavlovic), Wally, Ben Wallace

They aren’t that different. The biggest advantage would be Luol, but for the most part, these teams are fairly similar and the Bulls overall are on pace to perform at a level just below what that Cavs team did (albeit in a much stronger Eastern Conference in 2010-11).

I didn’t like the Mike Brown offense for the Cavaliers, but they got results. They won. He used LeBron and the next 7 guys and maxed out their potential. That’s the exact same thing that the Bulls have done this year – yet with this Bulls team – everyone raves about how great their bench is. But when LeBron didn’t win in 2008-09, it wasn’t his fault; it was the rest of the team.

By the way – the season that Derrick Rose is having is very comparable to LeBron’s 2008-09 season. A lot of the same stories floating about regarding the team, how well they get along, etc (do people forget that we tacked on these same reasons to LeBron’s gaudy stats 2 years ago when deciding the MVP award?).

The best part about Derrick Rose: If he doesn’t win the NBA Championship, he’s going to say it was entirely his fault. He wasn’t big enough. He wasn’t strong enough. He wasn’t fast enough. He wasn’t good enough. That kind of drive is what I want from my MVP (but more on this in the next post).

(Seriously, why does Kobe only have 1 MVP award? Stern?)

LeBron did have a team in 2008-09. He had teammates that could play basketball. He had a team that finished the season 2^nd in 3pt % and 3^rd in 3PM. Cleveland was 4^th in eFG% and 2^nd in Opp. eFG%. They were a complete team. He had exactly what he needed to win playing his way. Forget the names when you’re looking at these squads and look at what they did. They won. They just came up short in the post-season.

Rule #71: No excuses, play like a champion.

The Other 11

FROM CHI-CA-GO…

The Chicago Bulls held the rights to the 1^st pick of the 2008 NBA Draft. The national consensus was that the first pick would most likely be Michael Beasley, but that Derrick Rose was also a legitimate contender. The Bulls selected Derrick Rose over Michael Beasley, as we all know. I’ll go ahead and let you decipher which player, at the beginning of the 2010-11 NBA season, said the following:

“I feel like everything we’ve been working on since training camp went out the window tonight. As of right now, we’re the worst team in the NBA.”

"I just want to win; winning gets you everything in this league, so I just want to be labeled as a winner. I’m not worried about triple-doubles; I’m just going for the win. I just want to be the best player out there."

With a 1.7% chance of landing the #1 pick in the 2008 Draft, the Bulls completely redirected the state of their franchise and have added another name that will eventually be rattled off alongside Jordan and Pippen.

I came across this story about the Bulls pre-draft interviews in 2008 a couple months back. In the story, Jack Fertig writes about Rose and Beasley’s backgrounds and notes each of their responses to the same question that Jerry Reinsdorf asked them:

Reinsdorf asked: “What about college basketball bothered you most?”

Beasley answered: “When you go on the road and the referees make bad calls.”

Rose answered with a single word: “Losing.”

Derrick Rose’s contribution to the Bulls has been covered thoroughly this season. Chicago sports media members have been assaulting opposing players and coaches to get their thoughts on Rose. “Do you think he deserves to be the MVP? Is he the best point guard in the NBA? How tough is Derrick to guard?” I’ve seen these questions, and their respective answers, from more players and coaches this season about Rose than any player I can remember for a long time. I think that tells you a lot about the leap that Derrick has made from his sophomore season. I thought he was great, even underrated last year, but this year he has been nothing short of phenomenal. He may or may not win MVP, but I think he must win the Most Improved Player award. Who else has taken a bigger leap?

The Other 11

He’s hitting 3’s now. He’s attacking relentlessly. He’s getting to the free throw line. Crap, sorry, I briefly thought I was part of the media and forgot that the Bulls other players exist for more reasons than answering questions about Derrick Rose. (Don’t worry Derrick; I still want to borrow you to father my children. My future wife is cool with it.)

Beyond the injuries, beyond the team chemistry, beyond the Bulls “lack of a 2-guard”, there is still something that is frequently overlooked: the complete and utter dominance of the Bulls second unit. How many games have there been this year where the Bulls start off slow through the first quarter, but suddenly, the second unit comes in and the Bulls are taking control of the game. Thibodeau uses the Bulls second unit like he’s jockeying Zenyatta through her last turn. Thibodeau has his heels to the gut, relentless, trying to recapture the distance lost by the first unit. And they’ve come through time and time again this year. By the time the Bulls first unit gets back into the game, they’re so excited about how well the second unit played, they play even harder. It’s like Vin Diesel injects a “NOS” button into the first unit’s veins as they retake the court.

Just how good has the Bulls bench been this season? Well the first thing that needs to be realized is that these guys aren’t offensive wizards. This is where much of the clamoring in the media for a 2-guard came from. It would have been great to plug in an offensive star at the shooting guard position, but I’m not sure whether that works unless you can land someone who never needs control of the basketball (e.g. Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton). Rose controls the ball for much of the offensive clock, and the Bulls frontcourt will only become more important as Boozer and Noah continue to familiarize themselves with each other. Based on usage rates, it was going to be hard to find a guy that could fill the Bogans role, without needing to take over, and contribute more successfully offensively. Ironically, the Bulls traded their ideal 2-guard away two years ago: Thabo Sefolosha. A shut-down defender, who can hit open shots.

Back to the Bulls bench. While they may be offensive journeyman; defensively, the Bulls are the Ancient Romans, conquering the world using the Testudo formation. The Bulls are bottlenecking opposing teams, and forcing them into poor, low-percentage opportunities. And Ronnie Brewer is reaping the benefits. The guy sneaks around and picks off opposing offensive players as well as Mel Gibson picks off British soldiers in a forest. Brewer is completely worthy of Gibson’s nickname in The Patriot, “The Ghost”.

Here’s where the Bulls second unit ranks defensively (per-48min) (what they hold teams to):

15.7ppg (1^st), 7.4reb (Tied-2^nd), 2.7ast (1^st), 1.3stl (Tied-2^nd), 2.7 TO’s (8^th), 40.1% FG% (1^st), 33.4% 3pt% (9^th)

Basically, the Bulls second unit was built to prevent teams from extending leads or to stop them from catching up to the Bulls lead that is already in place. Rarely this season, have I witnessed members of the second unit execute poor decision making that led to the opponent crawling back into the game. They have been flat out phenomenal.

As great of a leap as Derrick Rose has taken, Tom Thibodeau has done the same, if not more, for how the team as a unit operates. He’s been outstanding. I defended Vinny after his first 2 years, because I thought he was getting the hang of it and improving, much like Derrick was. But at this point, there’s not a doubt in my mind that I would have been beyond furious this season if Vinny was still around. He would have spoiled Derrick’s breakout season with poor offensive sets and ridiculous substitution packages. Thibodeau has been a godsend, and he deserves to win Coach of the Year for leading the Bulls to a 41-17 record, despite Noah’s 30-missed games and Boozer’s 17-missed games this season.

Where Are We Going

I’ll save the hard numbers for another post, but based on how the Bulls are composed and some of the big wins they’ve had recently, it’s safe to say that they can hang with anyone in the East. The Bulls are blessed by having extremely gifted athletes and great balance. They can run with Miami and can force them into using half-court offensive sets, they can match-up with Boston (especially after the Perkins trade), with Noah back they can contain Dwight, and they have the defensive mind-set to stop New York.

You could certainly argue that the Bulls have the most potential of any team in the East as the playoffs near, and are undeniably focused and dedicated on their goal: winning.

Mid-Season Review

Let's see how my early-season predictions are looking so far:

Makes (0-3 Ranking Differential): Miami (0), Minnesota (0), Memphis (1), New Jersey (1), New York (1), Indiana (1), Charlotte (2), Sacramento (2), Cleveland (2), Chicago (2), Boston (3),

It doesn’t surprise me that I hit most of these. I think nailing Memphis, New York, Charlotte, and Chicago are my proudest victories here. Memphis and New York were better than Vegas was willing to give odds for. Cleveland was way worse than anyone could imagine (longest losing streak in NBA-history, and nearly sports-history). Charlotte was a classic over-achiever last year, went through all sorts of problems this year (Tyrus Thomas, everybody!), lost Larry Brown, and is returning to being the mercy flush of the NBA. And lastly, I knew Chicago would step it up, that was free money.

Tweeners (4-6 Ranking Differential): Orlando (4), Golden State (4), Detroit (4), Toronto (4), Los Angeles Lakers (5), Phoenix (5), Houston (5), Oklahoma City (6), Portland (6), Utah (6), Dallas (6), Atlanta (6)

Western Conference playoff teams comprise most of this list. Honestly, I’m not surprised. These teams look good every year, and it’s really hard to pinpoint where exactly they’ll fall in the seeding. I knew Houston was due for a step back, I thought Oklahoma City would have kept rising this year, and injuries (Portland) and nonsense (Utah) caused me to miss a few others. Dallas was a huge surprise for me. Atlanta is on pace for another 50 win season (which they’ve essentially been doing for 3 years now).

Misses (7+ Ranking Differential): Los Angeles Clippers (7), Milwaukee (8), Philadelphia (8), Washington (9), San Antonio (9), Denver (9), New Orleans (12)

These are either crappy teams that I thought would be good, or really good teams that I thought were due for a step back. I really thought that the Clippers and Bucks were going to be playoff teams this year. I even thought Washington was on the fringe. I thought New Orleans was in for a huge decline, but they came out of the gate really hot and are a top seed in the West. San Antonio has been better and healthier than anyone could have anticipated. I thought Denver was going to deal Anthony a lot earlier in the season, and acquire a much worse haul. Instead, they might have improved their team by dealing a superstar, incredible.

Money Makers

These are teams where I hit the over/under and they flat out crushed the Vegas odds by more than 5 games:

Miami

I’m just going to quote Scottie Pippen: “I just felt it was an insult to every team that’s played in this League to think that one team can be put together, and now all of a sudden we got—excuse my word—a jackass like Jeff Van Gundy saying they can win 72 games and break the Bulls’ record. Who is he? So that was just something that he totally took out of proportion, to some degree—with respect to those two players, or I would say two and a half players, since I don’t think Chris Bosh is half the player of LeBron James. But there’s no way those guys are gonna break any type of record. I don’t think they can break the franchise record in Miami, or the state of Florida, I should say.” (Source: Adam Figman)

To think that Miami would win 70-games was pretty ludicrous. Even 64.5 was pretty ballsy. They are a good team. They do some things exceptionally well (fast-break, run you out the gym, crowd-killing plays) and can’t do some things at all (half-court offense, Joel Anthony). I think they’ve been a fairly solid defensive team. One underrated aspect: LeBron and Bosh being big, long armed players really cuts down the passing lanes, which is noticeable. Unfortunately, that does not help Bosh if he’s already being posted up. He’s about as good in the post defensively as the chair Yi Jianlian used to play against.

Other items of note: Spoelstra’s been inputting plays into their half-court offense. They’re good. They work. They scare me. The Bulls beat the Heat last week, but I think Spoelstra’s still got a few tricks he hasn’t used. I can’t wait to see Miami in the playoffs, especially after the Knicks-Heat game last night (which I kept wishing had been at the Garden).

Memphis

This team bums me out. I want to like them every year, and they always disappoint me. This year, they had finally put all the wheels in motion. Then OJ Mayo and Tony Allen come to blows during a card game. Then, OJ Mayo gets suspended for 10 games for some kind of performance enhancing drug. Then, Rudy Gay partially separates his shoulder. Moving Hasheem Thabeet for Shane Battier is probably a win. Thabeet wasn’t contributing, and you can only start Sam Young and Tony Allen in the same lineup so many times before David Stern just bans you from the playoffs. Really hope Mayo finds his game and Gay recovers from his injury. This team could upset someone in the playoffs.

New York

When the Knicks traded for Carmelo Anthony last week, they performed the rarely seen Michael Scott transaction: a Win-Win-Win.

·   New York lands two All-Star players (Anthony & Billups).

·   Denver lands a heap of talented young players with good heads on their shoulders and picks.

·   The NBA lands the New York market for the playoffs.

I loved the trade for everyone. For New York fans, might want to be concerned that the Knicks were playing Bill Walker during crunch-time against Miami last night. Bill Walker, famously known for being the 12^th man on the Celtics a couple years back… to Brian Scalabrine’s 11^th man role. That’s a concern. But the Billups, Anthony, Stoudemire pieces seem to fit really well together.

Cleveland

I think Humphrey Bogart said it best, “We’ll always have the Rock’n’Roll Hall-of-Fame.” Or maybe it was Paris. Either way, that thing is staying there until it takes it’s talents to South Beach.

Chicago

Red Alert. There are WMD’s in Derrick Rose’s arms. I could go on for pages on this, but I’ll refrain for now (there’s more coming this week).

Toronto

Starting lineup: Jose Calderon, DeMar DeRozan, Julian Wright, Amir Johnson, Andrea Bargnani.

That’s all. Their level of suckitude could not have been more easily predictable. Was I inconsolable when the Bulls blew a game to them last week? Of course.

Golden State

I should have just written about Golden State and Memphis simultaneously. I love Golden State. I really want them to be good. They’re close. If David Lee doesn’t get a tooth imbedded into his elbow and a life-threatening infection early on, we might be talking about a fringe playoff team. Either way, I still love watching Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry light it up every time they’re on National TV. Hopefully next year.

Houston

Tom Petty sang it best.

“Free fallin’”

Later this week: Bulls first half recap, second half projection.

How to Fix the Pro-Bowl

I can honestly tell you that I have never been interested in watching the Pro Bowl, regardless of them having it before or after the Super Bowl. I just don’t care. I’d wake up hungover in college, realize it was on, and shut the TV off instead of watching it. There’s no point to it. That led me to wonder what about football players – and these specific Pro Bowlers – am I most interested in?

I think seeing these guys, allegedly the elite of the elite football players in the world, go through combine type activities would be fascinating. I want to know that my MLB can bench 225lbs-37x. Why? I have no idea, but it seems like it would be cool to brag that Brian Urlacher is stronger than Clay Matthews as a Bears fan. I want to know how high Andre Johnson can jump. I want to know if BJ Raji can push an 18-wheeler. I want to know how many attempts it would take for Tom Brady to throw a football 60 yards and land the ball inside of a target.

We need the Pro Bowl to be a Combine / World’s Strongest Man / Festivus Feats of Strength type competition. I think that would get people tuned in. There won't even be a game, we're just doing a competition. It's AFC vs NFC, Feats of Strength style.

So, here are 10 ideas for the competition:

1. Target Practice - QB’s:

I want this whole event to have a backyard atmosphere to it. Six QB’s make the Pro Bowl, so we’ll have 6 guys in competition in this event.

Starting at 20 yards away, each QB will try to throw the fewest number of footballs until they’re able to hit a standard fire hydrant on a fly. The QB with the most throws will be eliminated, and the QB’s will move 10 yards further away and repeat the process. Championship round features the top-2 QBs throwing from 60 yards out.

2. Paintball – RB’s

A RB is supposed to be quick and shifty, right? The six Pro Bowl RB’s will be playing paintball against each other on a small field, with minimal protection. They will have to use their speed and agility to win. If you’re hit, you’re out. Three rounds, points allocated from 6-1 based on how you finish (6 for 1^st place, 1 for last place). Points accumulate across the three rounds. Most points at the end of 3 wins.

Why it’s a great idea: If you win Round 1, you’ve immediately got a target on your head in Round 2. This could be vicious.

3. Car Flipping – O-Line

Teams of 2 offensive linemen get together to flip cars over in the shortest amount of time possible. There are 16 offensive linemen selected to the Pro Bowl, so we’ll have 8 teams. Each round, the car gets heavier. Winning tandem wins 2 (unflipped) cars.

We’ll start with something like a Toyota Prius and end with a big ass Cadillac.

Fun Addition: After being flipped, these cars will decorate the paintball field for the RB’s Paintball match and act as cover. It’ll look like a war zone.

4. Semi-Truck Tug – D-Line

This one is for the defensive linemen. With a rope attached to the front of a semi-truck, your goal is to drag a semi 250 feet in the shortest amount of time possible. There are 10 defensive linemen selected to the Pro Bowl. We’ll have 3 heats, with the slowest 4 players eliminated after each heat. Fastest average time wins.

5. The Ultimate Sacrifice – CB’s & Safety’s

A stupid Pass interference penalty can ruin a great defensive play. I hate that. So does America. There are 12 CB’s, and Safety’s selected to the Pro Bowl. Pairs of two will be doing battle to catch a football being thrown over a pool that’s 25 feet below where they are running their route. If you catch the ball and hang on to it as you hit the water, you eliminate your opponent. If neither of you catches the ball, you have to endure the risk of a full speed belly flop from 25 feet up again.

Imagination Help: You’re running your route on flat ground, ball is thrown to you as a normal pass from flat ground, but the location that ball will be landing is a pool that is 25 feet below you. You will be forced to jump, catch the ball, and land into the pool.

6. The “THIS IS SPARTA!!!!!” Bench-Off – LB’s

There are 10 LB’s selected to the Pro Bowl. They will be doing battle in pairs to see which player can bench 225lbs more times in Round 1.

Also: they will be having their bench-off battle on a small circular stage surrounded by a pit so dark, you can’t see how far down it goes and no light shines from within (it’s actually about 15 feet deep and it’s filled with Oreos, please sponsor this Nabisco, k thx).

The winner of each battle in Round 1 gets to yell “THIS IS SPARTA!!!!” and kick their opponent in the chest down into the abyss below them (where they enjoy cookies, shhh).

At this point, 5 LB’s remain. They will do a simultaneous bench-off, last man standing gets to kick the other 4 LB’s into the abyss below.

Winning Prize: Gerard Butler gives you a certificate for free Oreo cookies for life. Gotta buy your own milk though.

7. Baskickball – K’s & P’s

Similar to the fire hydrant QB competition, our four Kickers and Punters will be playing a game of accuracy. Starting 40 yards out, they will attempt to kick or punt (whichever they prefer) a football into a basketball hoop. The player needing the most attempts to make a baskickball is eliminated. After a player is eliminated, the remaining players will move 10 yards further from the hoop. The championship round will be decided from a distance of 60 yards.

Downside to winning this competition: You’re prize is being the best at kicking of all dorky 150lb white guys.

8. All-Madden – Coaches

Coaches will battle against mediocre 15-year old Madden players to see if literally, everyone in America is better at running the 2-minute drill than the head coaches being paid millions of dollars every year. All of the kids get free season NFL tickets on the sideline. All of the coaches get a copy of Madden 2011 and an Xbox to practice the 2-minute drill on.

FYI – None of the coaches will win this competition, and it will not be rigged.

9. Supermarket Sweep – The Leftover Guys

Some guys are on NFL teams that don’t really have a position. Some of them are Long Snappers, some of them are Special Teams guys, but none of them are truly great at a lot of things. Really, they’re only good at one or two things. These guys tend to do the dirty work, they get stuff done when their teammates need them, and they are dependable.

That’s why their going to be competing in a contest that will directly affect every other player in the upcoming and final Pro Bowl competition.

Fullbacks, Long Snappers, and Special Teams players will be competing in tandems at your favorite TV show Supermarket Sweep. If you haven’t seen it, welcome to America, get off Ellis Island. The team with the fastest times at acquiring their items wins (no prizes, just pride, that’s all these types of players care about anyways).

These teams will be selecting various foods and ingredients needed to make the dishes to be used in…

10. The Ultimate Eating Contest – Every Pro Bowler

Football players (typically the big guys) are known for their eating prowess. Players can select any type of food they like to eat. The eat-off champion will be whoever has eaten the most pounds of food without throwing up in 3 hours.

FYI – don’t pick Skittles. Derrick Rose has 2 ulcers to thank from those.

Conclusion:

Would you not spend 24 hours watching this? I wouldn’t leave my couch. It’s the greatest thing to happen to the Pro Bowl since they thought that having a Pro Bowl was a good idea.

I’m disappointed that I couldn’t incorporate fire into any of these competitions, but I figured that the teams might not want to put their players to that much risk with the upcoming 18-game concussion season…I mean NFL season.