I know its the New Year, but I can't let this hang over me. My eyes are set on Bulls with the Bears demise. And from what I can tell, the Bulls are not very good. If they continue to go down the small ball, inconsistent lineup route that From Black has orchestrated the Bulls will either not make the playoffs or get thumped by a real team in the 1st round.
My suggestion you ask? Play Tyrus Thomas at small forward. If we're going to go with Derick Rose and the midget Ben Gordon as our back-court, then we have to go big in the front. So here's this experiment: A starting lineup of Rose, Gordon, Tyrus, Gooden and Gray (or Noah).
Just like the Pistons with the smallish Billups and Richard Hamitlon in the back-court, Dumars subsided their height weakness with a very tall front court of Ben Wallace, Rasheed and Tayshawn. Billups and Hamilton aren't good man-man defenders, but when you put the 6-11 Prince, 7ft Rasheed and enormous presence of Ben Wallace in the front court, teams no longer could attack the basket. Similarly, a front court of Thomas, Gooden and Gray/Noah should overcome the defensive liabilities of our short guards.
Of course this means that Deng would need to be benched. No problem here. I'd trade him in a second. He still has value in this league.
Lastly, I'll note that Del Negro has been upset with his team's defensive effort. He only has himself to blame for going to small ball (Did he not notice that small ball didn't get the Suns to a championship?). As I've said before, sure scoring 100 points is great, but it means nothing when you give up 115.
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4 comments:
I agree that smallball is a failed experiment, but moving Skyrus to the 3 spot would be a terrible move at both ends of the floor. Offensively the farther TT is from the basket, the more of a detriment he is to the team. Defensively, Prince can stay in front of his man, whereas most sfs in the league will blow by him. The problem with small ball is in the middle. Havin a lineup where deng and/or Noce plays pf or C is what prevents us from rebounding and defending the rim.
That being said, I'm totally against smallball and would completely endorse shipping deng (and hinrich, noce, noah, hughes, TT) out of town
I think you make a good point regarding whether Tyrus could guard faster SFs. I think he could do it though. You are also right in saying that Thomas is probably better closer to the basket. But, let's face it, he's not big enough (strong enough) to guard PFs in the NBA. I think he's more Shaun Marrion than Carlos Boozer. Placing him at SF also doesn't prohibit him from crashing the boards. That's exactly what made MArrion so good in Phoenix. Again, this is just a thought in my mind, an experiment. I just wonder how better defensively we would play with a bigger front court. Plus, its not like Deng's outside presence is markedly any better thant TT's inconsistent jumper.
You can't just bench Deng. He's too big a part of the team.
U can't be serious. You must not be watching the Bulls. Deng's impact on the Bulls is analogous to Dicky Simpkins on the 90's Bulls.
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