Sunday, November 28, 2010

Bears-Eagles Open Thread

I like what I'm seeing so far. Martz is calling plays that take advantage of Philly's blitzes, and the front four are getting pressure on Vick. Keep this up and we could have a nice 1 game lead on our hands at the end of the day.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Umm....Tom?

What the hell is a guy we signed 10 hours ago doing in the game with 24 seconds left? I would have killed VDN for that, and I've been giving TT a little slack since I like a lot of what he's brought to the table (this whole "running plays" thing intrigues me, and I wish to learn more.) I haven't been entirely impressed by his rotations, however, and tonight he paid for it. I don't care if John Lucas is 100% for his career (he's not, he's 79%, albeit in a very small sample size of 15-19), I would much rather see players that are in the flow of the game, and more importantly, players that have been in the NBA for the last 3 years in a position to take clutch free throws. Ronnie Brewer is a 70% career FT shooter, Bogans is 72%. Either one I would feel much more comfortable with taking those throws. Lucas wasn't even close on either of those shots, it was clear he was nervous.

The sad part is that this completely overshadows what this post was supposed to be about, which is the emergence of CJ Watson. CJ played, basically, like a poor man's Derrick Rose, someone that the other team needs to respect to go to the hole at any time, but can also hit a pull up mid-range jump shot if you give him too much space. Obviously it helps playing 44 minutes instead of the usual 12-15, but if he can find a rhythm like that, then the Bulls just get deeper and deeper.

Anyways, that one hurts, but let's remember it was without Rose, Boozer, and mostly without Taj, and we were 2 free throws away from winning. This is a good thing, despite the outcome.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Credit Where Credit is Due- Bulls/Suns

I introduced "The Blame Game" in the beginning of this blog's life, where we assign percentage values to everyone responsible party in a game. Credit Where Credit is Due is the flipside to that, where we assign percentage values to the heroes in important games (or in this case, "character-building, season defining wins"). The envelope please:

Derrick Rose- 25%
I love that Derrick took 33 shots, and I don't even mind that some of them were forced. I know I would be killing Ben Gordon if he had the same stat line at the end of the night (14-33 from the field, 1-5 from downtown) but the difference is many of the shots Derrick missed were good shots, where he got some separation or at least was in position to draw a foul. Ben would have drawn the same line by taking bad fall away threes over two defenders. It also doesn't feel like everyone else is taken out of the game when Derrick goes into takeover mode, but that might be a testament to the next name on the list.

Tom Thibodeau- 25%
I texted a few buddies when TT was drawing up the last play in the 2nd OT with "Derrick to the rack. Book it." Everyone in the building thought that play was a high pick and roll with Rose and Noah, which is why it worked so well. That was the kind of play VDN never had the creativity to come up with nor the guts to call. I've heard in the past that the only time an NBA head coach really has a direct effect on the game is coming out of a timeout. With VDN, 9 times out of 10 the play was " dribbles around for a little bit and jacks up a shot." Now we have a coach who calls real plays! It's very refreshing.

Joakim Noah- 20%
Maybe it's unfair, but from Joakim I've come to expect at least two great hustle plays in a close game, plus for him to get every rebound in sight. Noah gets extra credit for treating Nash like his personal ATM every time he switched on to him, and for both great passes in OT (the back-cut to Rose and the feed for Korver cutting to the basket). I love that Noah can do all these unique things most big men can't, I love that I'm never more confident in our defense and rebounding than when Noah is in the game, and I love that I'm going to Joakim Noah bobblehead night next Wednesday.

Ronnie Brewer- 10%
If you just look at the stats, you'll wonder why Brewer is getting so much credit. His final line is 1-2 for 3 points, 5 rebounds, and a -17 on the night. But the +/- is so low because he was on the court for a lot of the first quarter, but that mess wasn't really his fault, and he played amazing defense on Grant Hill and Jason Richardson in the overtimes, forcing them to take bad, contested shots. And I thought Bogans was supposed to be the defensive stopper.

James Johnson- 5%
I got a text from my buddy Smitty during the game suggesting JJ is Tyrus Thomas 2.0. I want to give him until the end a season where he has actual coaching and doesn't have him minutes jerked around (although TT has already done a little of that, and probably will see even more of it when Boozer is healthy.) But I think JJ's immaturity can be fixed. If not, the nice thing is we're deep enough for it not to be too big of a deal. Until then we'll see a lot of sequences like the end of regulation where he hits a huge 3 to cut the lead to 1, then bails Nash out with a dumb foul on the other end.

Luol Deng- 5%
I know, I know, he dropped 27, he deserves more credit, I'm a Deng hater, whatever. At the end of close game you can't miss open layups and let Hedo freaking' Turkoglu get rebounds over you.

Grant Hill- 5%
I don't fault Hill for getting beat on the back-cut by Rose. But a lot of open looks were created throughout the game by taking Hill to his left or running around screens. Hill can't keep up anymore, and the Suns are going to have a hard time being competitive this year if they need to rely on Hill as their wing defensive specialist.

Kyle Korver- 3%
I'll give Korver a little credit for hitting some shots to help bring us back in the 4th, but my god did he suck in the overtimes, and was a huge defensive liability. Any open look the Suns got was when Korver wasn't quick enough to help and recover. I know you need him on the court to spread the floor for Rose on offense, but then he needs to make his open looks.

And that shot he took on the play Derrick fouled out on was moronic. Even had it went in, it's better to run 24 seconds off the clock than take that shot. Be aware of the game situation, Korver.

Jason Richardson- 2%
Thanks for missing your second free throw and keeping the window open!

There you go, feel free to dispute my grading in the comments.

Jeff Van Gundy Has a Very Short Memory

During tonight's Heat-Magic game, commenting on comments by Phil Jackson that Heat players don't respect Erik Spoelstra, JVG said Jackson's comments were inappropriate and completely out of character.

I love the Zen-Master, but playing mind games with competitive team's coaches is completely in character for Phil. It happened repeatedly in the 90's, and a few times the target was Van Gundy. I'm pretty sure JVG is trying to sort of defend Jackson in a "oh, he never normally does things like this" way, but I find it totally believeable that Phil would try to get the Heat's Big Two-and-a-Half thinking "maybe Spoelstra isn't the right coach for us."

God I hope the Bulls play the Heat in the playoffs this year.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Bleeding stopped

Huge overtime win for the Hawks. The completely dominated the extra period, even with a minute plus of power play to kill. I figured when they lost the zone with about a minute left that we'd be heading to a shootout. Great finish in a must-win for the Hawks.

Let's-Hope-Cutler-Doesn't-Get-Killed Open Thread

A quick rant before I talk football...

If there's one thing I hate about the holiday season its those stupid Lottery commercials where they try to convince you lottery tickets make good Christmas presents for people you don't really care about. "Here, I most likely got you a piece of cardboard!"
It would be even worse if they did win, because then you'd feel stupid for giving away free money to someone marginally in your life. The commercials themselves are usually obnoxious and smarmy, too.

Jay Cutler might get broken in half today. I know the Vikings front four hasn't been having as great of a year as usual, but they still make me very nervous. I don't have faith we can run on them, either, so I think if the Bears are going to have a chance today, there need to be a lot quick slants and outs. Keep it to 3-step drops and don't try to be greedy. Also, it would be nice to see some pressure from our side, too.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Three-Sport Open Thread

The Bulls welcome home Captain Kirk, the Hawks travel to Nashville to play hockey for some reason, and Manny Pacquiao beats the living snot out of Antonio Margarito. I'll be sitting here commenting on all three, hopefully someone will join me later. If not I'll just talk to myself all night. That's cool too.

Friday, November 12, 2010

First FJM-style post

I loved Firejoemorgan.com. Sometimes when I'm bored, I go back and read old posts out of the archives. I also follow one of the founders on Twitter, who linked to this article on Derek Jeter. Since the Bulls and Hawks both don't play tonight (boo) I have nothing better to do than rip apart this stupidity. I hope I do Dak, Ken Tremendous, and Junior proud.

Derek Jeter: The Ridiculous, Stupid, Clueless Speculation Continues

Appropriate that all those adjectives are in the title of this article.

Derek Jeter’s 10-year, $189 million contract with the New York Yankees came to an end with the final out of the 2010 World Series. With that, thousands of clueless neanderthals began speculating on his possible future.

I don't know, they seem to be more concerned with insurance company advertisements, but I don't know that many neanderthals.

Free agency now beckons the 36-year-old, whose future suddenly appears to be murky after coming off the worst offensive year of his illustrious career.

I suppose I should clarify the aforementioned statement. His future is only murky to those that are totally clueless in the way of the New York Yankees and Derek Jeter.

Consider this column an open letter to the buffoons, be they professional writers or Red Sox fans, that actually wasted their time and mine by even speculating on Jeter’s future as anything but a Yankee or on his ability to still play the game after an off-year.

How'd they waste your time? No one's making you speculate on anything. Also, that buffoon comment hurts. I hate being called a buffoon almost as much as I hate being called a nincompoop.

Let the education begin…

At the ripe old age of 36 and coming off the worst offensive year of his illustrious career, Jeter is apparently done, according to the self-proclaimed Einsteins of the Web.

This, of course, is what Jeter’s detractors (mainly comprised of Red Sox fans, some Mets fans and the entire staff of ESPN—you know, "The Red Sox Network") want us to believe.

As an unbiased Cubs fan, I feel like ESPN shoves at least as much Yankees coverage down my throat as Red Sox, if not more so.

It’s interesting that when posing such a claim they forget to include the following about Jeter’s 2010 season:

A) Every player in every sport experiences a down year. Jeter apparently just experienced his.

So every time us buffoons talk about Jeter we're supposed to say "he had a down year, just like every other player in sports." Good to know.

B) Unlike players like David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Sammy Sosa and others, Jeter’s offensive decline did not come in the wake of his being named as a steroid abuser. Yes, I omitted A-Rod because unlike the others, so far, his power outage seems to be due to injury.

Yep, A-Rod is just a coincidence. The rest are dirty cheaters.

C) While it is true that some of Jeter’s offensive numbers were not “Jeter-esque,” such as the .270 BA and leading the league in outs made, placing fifth in the league in grounding into double plays, they conveniently forget what he actually did do from a leadoff spot minus the bat of A-Rod and the slow bat of Mark Teixeira behind him for much of the season…

His 663 at-bats were the most he has had since 2002 and second-most in the league in 201o.

That'll happen when you lead off.

He led the league in plate appearances.

You say Jeter's fallen off! He led the league in plate appearances! Let's see Juan Pierre do that! Wait, Juan Pierre did that?

His 30 doubles were three more than the previous season, when he finished third in MVP voting, and were his most since 2007.

I'm sure he was 3rd in MVP voting entirely based on those 30 doubles, too. (I wanted to find where those monster 27 doubles put Jeter on the leaderboard, but the only list I could find on Yahoo Sports only lists the top 50, which ended at 35. Oh well.)

He drove in 67 runs from the leadoff spot, one more RBI than last season, when (ahem) he finished third in MVP voting.

Yeah, that didn't put him the top 50, either. Also, the Yankees lineup is stacked and in the American League, so it's really not that much of a handicap RBI wise for him to hit leadoff.

He was 10th in the league in times on base.

Hey that's almost a relevant stat! It's just like OBP...except it included times you reached due to error, or by fielder's choice. And, of course, it's not a percentage, so Jeter is helped out greatly by that plate appearance stat you cited earlier.

He led the league in fielding percentage at short.

Oh, I'll get to his defense later.

Any other team, in contention or not, with a shortstop leading the league in fielding, scoring over 100 runs and driving in nearly 70 from the leadoff spot would be considered successful.

However, because the numbers were posted by Jeter, the world—and seemingly his career—is coming to an end.

Excuse me if I don’t rush to get my affairs in order.

What the hell are you talking about?

Now being realistic and objective,

because those are two things you've been the epitome of thus far

something Jeter detractors never experience, Jeter could very well be on a decline. His age suggests his best years are behind him. He has played a lot of games over his career, and after 15 years the opposition is going to find out how to pitch Jeter and defend against his hitting spray.

1. "hitting spray" sounds gross.

2. Admittedly I didn't watch a whole lot of Yankee games this year, so I missed the part where opposing defenses spread the 8 position players (7 if someone was on base) in the shallow outfield. Kudos to Billy Beane for coming up with that.

However, the decline of most athletes who have enjoyed a relatively injury-free career like Jeter is a natural and gradual one that takes a period of years. Jeter does not show that pattern just yet. If Jeter experiences a similar season in 2011, then the detractors might have something. Until then, it’s merely wishful thinking on the part of the currently clueless, jealous and jaded.

The only problem is Jeter doesn't need a new contract after 2011, he needs a new contract now. Otherwise I'm sure we wouldn't be debating this.

Jeter needs to move to the outfield. His defense is too poor and he is too old to continue to play that position.

I really love this argument. Nothing makes a Jeter detractor sound more ignorant than this old chestnut.

Speaking of "old chestnuts": your writing.

Let’s just be quick about this one, shall we?

Jeter led the league at short in fielding percentage.

Which is very easy to do when you're too damn slow to ever get to a ball not hit directly at you. Let's try to find a better a stat, shall we?
Fielding Runs Above Average -10
Defensive Runs Saved Above Average -13
Range Factor per 9 inn. 3.78

For reference Alexei Ramirez was +9, +16, and 4.89. Want someone a little more average? Cesar Izturis was +6, +3, and 4.24 for the Orioles.

Jeter’s FA combined with his offensive contributions, even in a "off-year,” made him more valuable than most at his position.

Jeter's WARP: 3.1
Ramirez: 6.2
Troy Tulowitzki: 6.7
Hanley Ramirez: 4.4
Jason Bartlett: 3.2

I know he said "most", but still.

Jeter’s strong and accurate arm shows no sign of the advanced “age” that he is constantly tagged with.

Age ain't nuthin but a number, baby!

Jeter is a student of the game and leader on the field. He knows how and where to position himself per batter and communicates this knowledge to those in the field with him. It’s called intangibles—this does not show up in the box score or on a stat line, but it is infinitely more valuable.

Infinitely more valuable! See, Pujols, instead of hitting all those stupid home runs all over the place, you should have just been positioning the other fielders better. Than the Cardinals might have made the playoffs. After all, that's infinitely more valuable.

Jeter has a head for the game—when is the last time you saw Jeter make a “bonehead” play?

When he settled down with Minka Kelly instead of staying a swinging bachelor. Amirite, fellas? (*Wife slams door, walks out*)

—he is a thinking man’s player that typically makes the "right" out.


To be fair, the range of Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano on either side, along with the glove of Teixeira, make things easier on Jeter, but that is what an infield is supposed to do.

The suggestion that Jeter needs to move to the outfield is a laughable one that clueless people who know nothing about baseball continue to make.

Really? I haven't heard people saying that. Probably because he'd be just as much of a liability.

If Jeter is to be moved, and that is questionable, it would make more sense to move Alex Rodriguez to DH, which would possibly help reduce what appear to be chronic leg and hip issues and move Jeter to third, where his strong arm would feel at home and his range issue won’t be so much of a factor.

The problem with moving Jeter anywhere is the Yankees do not have his replacement lined up (if you believe the Nunez stuff, I am laughing at you right now),

"Ha Ha, I say, you old chestnut of a buffoon. Let me go get my affairs in order."

so get used to seeing him at short for the next year or two.

Posada, Chamberlain, Burnett, one more starter and the pen are all more pressing problems than anything real or perceived about Jeter.

First sentence I've agreed with so far.

Still concerned with Jeter at short?

Ask yourself one question: How many games, regular season or playoff, has Jeter’s glove, arm or range cost the Yankees during his career?

Probably a few, considering his WARP would probably higher if it wasn't for defense.

What was that?

I said probably a few, turn your hearing aid up, old guy.

That’s what I thought. You can collectively shut up now.

Jeter is not worth $20 million per year and is not worth what he expects or will ask for.

I love this one. I really do. I’m laughing at you.

LOLzers!

1) It’s not your money, so why worry? Save me the “the more money he makes the higher the ticket prices…” etc. Is Jeter’s salary responsible for the rising cost of gas, milk, etc.? It’s called inflation. Look it up.

2) Baseball is a game that we played in Little League. It’s a game that our kids play at the park. Jeter is a professional Major League Baseball player and Major League Baseball is not a game, it’s a business. The Yankees are the most valued franchise by far in MLB. In the first year of their new stadium, the Yankees netted $441 million. That’s after all the bills were paid, including the luxury tax, player and staff salaries, etc. Pretty successful enterprise, I must say—and Derek Jeter plays a large role in that profit.

Merchandise with Jeter’s name on it sells more than any other Yankee and quite possibly more than most players in the game. His continued presence in the lineup sells tickets. His pursuit of career and MLB milestones opens all kinds of opportunities for revenue. Jeter is a money-making machine, and for the Yankees the near-$20 million annual investment has been well worth it.

Sure, what the hell, give him $40 million. Just don't expect him to give you more than average numbers for a shortstop back.

3) Jeter is a private person and has never come out and revealed what he wants, expects or is willing to play for. What he has done is accepted what was offered. No one, not professional writers or armchair hacks, knows what Jeter wants or is willing to play for. As for what he deserves, until you are running the Yankees and paying their bills, opinions on his worth and value mean nothing more than what can be scraped off the bottom of his cleats.

In terms of advertising, merchandising, stature, reputation and image to the league, franchise and the game, Jeter, more so than many in baseball, is worth every penny he has earned.

No one's saying he's not, but the question is more is he worth continuing to pay him like the best shortstop in the league when he's 37-40?

The Yankees need to think younger, and in order to land Cliff Lee the Yankees might need to dump Jeter and Mo.

I actually read that in a column right here on Bleacher Report. Are you done laughing yet? Yes, it took me a while to stop too.

Yeah, that's pretty dumb, unless Cliff Lee hates old people or something. Pretty sure the Yankees can afford to overpay all 3 of them.

I won’t spend too much time on this because it’s so...Red Sox "stupid-esque."

Buffoonery, I say!

Jeter is a career Yankee. He is this generation's Joe DiMaggio. He is 73 hits shy of 3,000 for his career, a feat few players have reached and one that no other Yankee in history has reached. It’s another revenue opportunity for the Yankees, and Jeter is responsible for it.

Anyone actually speculating that Jeter will reach that milestone in another uniform is in need of immediate therapy and possible medication.

Debate 101: It strengths your argument when you insult everyone who disagrees with you.

While no one knows for certain that he'll never be in another uniform, it’s very hard for a logical, forward-thinking, upright-standing, non-low-browed human to picture Jeter in another uniform. Unless Minka Kelly likes to play dress-up in the bedroom.

Mariano Rivera is still dominant in his role—regardless of age.

The idea that the Yankees would even consider dropping these two iconic franchise players for any reason, let alone acquiring someone like Cliff Lee is amateurish speculation at best. It’s simply laughable.

Is Terry Bradshaw writing this article?

Lee will be a free agent, and, if he wants to play for the Yankees as much as the Yankees want him, no other team will be able to outbid the Bombers for his services. The Yankees want to stay within a budget, but make no mistake about it—they have the revenue to get the job done without dropping their cornerstones to do it.

2nd sentence I've agreed with you.

Bottom line, people…

Derek Jeter is a Yankee for life. Anyone thinking otherwise is clueless, a disgruntled Mets fan or a wishful-thinking and bitter Red Sox fan. It’s laughable to think anything else.

You haven't laughed yourself out yet?

If I had to guess (and why not, everyone else is doing so)…

Jeter is not a “hang-around” type of player—if he is not performing to a level that he feels he should play, he will retire mid-contract.

I see Jeter getting $16-18 million per year for three to four years (taking him to age 40). Depending on how he performs will determine one-year contracts after that. He might even ask for percentages of profit or may accept less with a more incentive-laden contract.

As for next year, when Jeter once again hits over .300, the roaches—I mean his detractors—will return back under the woodwork.

"Hey, man, can I borrow your debate 101 notes? I was sick that day."

Derek Jeter is a first-ballot Hall of Famer that has played the game the way it should be played. Sabermetricians that churn out stats as to his fielding ability, or lack thereof, and anyone else that detracts from Jeter are merely jealous that he does not play for their team of choice.

The man's record speaks for itself.

On a serious note, I get not wanting to see your franchise superstar who's won you multiple championships play the twilight of his career somewhere else (see Jordan, Michael.) That doesn't mean it's "laughable" that it will happen, though. Especially since the Yankees are a fairly smart organization that might not want to pay an at-best average shortstop $16-18 mil until he's 40.


Anyways, that was a fun way to spend a couple hours while watching the stupid Jazz-(basketball)Hawks game. On a programming note, I might miss both Hawks and Bulls games tomorrow night due to a birthday party, but I'll be home in time to comment on Pacquiao taking Margarito down.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Bulls-Warrios Open Thread

I think the Bulls match up really well here. Although I'm assuming Bogans and Brewers take turns guarding Ellis while DRose follows Curry around all night. I could be wrong, we'll see. I actually have my own basketball game to attend to, so I'll have to check in with thoughts later, but everyone else, knock yourselves out.

The 5 worst commercials on ESPN 1000

Conall's post about Duncan Keith reminded me of one of my pet peeves: terrible, terrible radio commercials. I listen to Mike and Mike on the way to work in the morning, mainly because while I don't always agree with them, they aren't ginormous assholes (like Silvy) and mostly talk about sports the whole time (unlike that Afternoon Saloon crap.) Unfortunately I have to sit through some terrible commercials in between. Off the top of my head, here are the 5 worst:

5. 1-877-kars4kids

All the "donate your car for a cause!" commercials are terrible, but this one takes the cake, with a little obnoxious kid that can't sing singing the annoying verse, then an older guy condescendingly sings the same verse much better. It would be higher, but it makes me think the cars actually get donated to the kids who need a new ride, and then I laugh at them driving off the road in my head.

4. Head and Shoulders commercials with Troy Polamalu

In the radio version of these commercials, which is somehow worse than the TV ones, the interviewer is trying to conduct an actual interview, but all Troy will talk about is his goddamn hair. Head and Shoulders is doing for Troy what Subway did for Jared, taking someone I have no problem with and making me want to punch him in the head if I ever saw him in real life. (Of course, the difference being Troy would kick my ass.)

3. McDonalds

Conall illustrated the awfulness of the radio ones, so let me go off on a tangent to the stupid TV ones where this pretentious asshole keeps blowing everyone off because he hasn't had his coffee yet, including the woman manning the counter at the McDonalds that he walked in to. NO ONE WANTS TO TALK TO YOUR DUMBASS ANYWAY! It reminds me of the Simpsons where Homer goes up to the drive-thru and says "Nothing for me today, I have a class to teach!"

2. Gerber Collision and Glass

(Set to an incredibly obnoxious tune)
Driving in my car beep-beep/
Obeying the law sure is neat/
Hope no one crashes into me/
Oh wait! Here comes a car/
It's my lucky day/
Plenty of time to get out of it's waaaay....

This is the asshole that drives 30 on the expressway and refuses to turn in front of you on a red light when it's perfectly legal. You are just as dangerous as the guy going 90, you overly-cautious weenie. It does, however lend itself to another excellent Simpsons quote:

Simpson, Homer Simpson, he's the greatest guy in history/
From the, town of Springfield, he's about to hit a chestnut tree...Ah!

1. Anything during the friggin Mike and Mike broadcast

They've started this thing where they interrupt the actual talk segments for live commercials read by whoever's hosting. I'm fine with radio hosts selling me things during clear commercial breaks, but I have a problem with them weaving it into the content. And the commercials have been for terrible things like something useless called stamps.com, and an auction site that makes you pay to make bids whether you win the item or not.

I'm watching PTI right now and Jaworski just said "Favre literally put the Vikings on his shoulders and led them to victory." Favre is worse than all of these commercials combined.

Joakim and Derrick on ESPN 1000

If you can listen to this broadcast and tell me that Joakim Noah isn't the smartest player in the NBA, or at least is better aware of the spectacle of the NBA better than any other player out there, then you are probably from Cleveland. Or Boston. Or you know individual NBA players better than I do; I'll admit, I don't know non-Bulls quite as well as our boys. However, I am hard-pressed to imagine there being a smarter player in the NBA. I'm dead serious. I've been saying it for awhile now. The guy is on another level.

Settle in, it's 37 minutes. Albeit 37 minutes of pure Derrick-and-Joakim-joy. Enjoy.

PS: What a treat to take a trip back home and hear a Chicago sports-radio broadcast from Morton's in Northbrook. Believe it or not, they do not have Italian beef over here...

"Mc onal 's put the 'M' back in my morning."

"Mc onal 's put the 'M' back in my morning," sai uncan Keith. But for the Hawks #1 efenseman, an last year's Norris Trophy winner, something still seems to be missing.
"Missing? My skates finally feel great again, so I feel like I'm skating better. My sticks are the same sticks, and my helmet feels okay. I mean, I've got 12 points on the season so far. I on't know... o you guys think I'm playing up to the stan ar s of a efen ing Norris Trophy winner?"

Womp. After letting in a goal against Edmonton, and then blowing the puck out his rear end straight into 3 consecutive odd man rushes that lead to game-winning goals in 2 different games, I think it's safe to say Keith is not playing up to his Norris Trophy winning standards. In fact, fuck the standards. Right now Keith looks more like a balloon when you blow it up and then let it go without tying it, and it goes zipping around the room going "pbhppbbhhbpppbphhbpbp" until it plops down scraping the puck out of his own net. Sure his 12 points on the season are great until you factor in his -7 rating, hi-lighting the -4 in the last 2 games. The thing is, when you're a -2 in a game when the other team only scored 2 goals, you might be a factor.

The 2 goals in 35 seconds that Phoenix scored to take the lead and win can be placed right at Keith's doorstep. He not only coughed up the puck twice for 2 odd man rushes, but he left a couple nice piles of crap in place of himself on the other end of the ice for Nick Boynton and Marty Turco to lay in while the Yotes scored on them.

Wilferd, you asked what's going on, and questioned if it could be Turco. Turco's playing surprisingly well. Much better than I thought he would. He's actually-dare I say-been pretty great. But not only did our defense forget how to skate this year, but we lost some essential forwards that not only brought game, but brought ENERGY. We need our forwards now to step up their defense, pressure, and energy, and stop looking like they're here to be substitute teachers until the other forwards come back. And actually that goes for the guys that are still here from the last year. It's time to start playing hard-nosed hockey and stop looking like they're waiting for the other guys to come back.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

For the Bulls to win a championship...

Family,
The bulls greatest weakness is their PG play when DRose is not on the court. They failed to take the back-up pg need seriously this off-season, getting rid of hinrich to clear space for lebron and also failing to sign chris duhon once lebron had announced his decision.
Forget Carmelo Anthony. The player the bulls need to acquire as soon as possible, and the player that I truly believe will put them over the edge is Chauncy Billups.
Chauncy's name came up in a number of possible deals over the summer when it was thought denver was trying to cut payroll and would also be dealing melo. Who knows about melo at this time, but the bulls need to make a strong play for chauncy NOW instead of waiting to see what denver wants to do with him once they do or don't trade melo. If the nuggets lose melo it would be silly for them to keep chauncy - they would be in full youth and rebuilding mode and would hand the reigns over to Ty Lawson, who IS the real deal.
Act now. Offer anyone on the bulls except the untouchable core (rose, noah, taj, boozer). I know no one wants luol's contract, and frankly I'm happy to keep him - he has been playing very very well this season, particularly on defense, thibidou knows how to use him, and he will be even better as a third option once boozer is back. Offer jjohnson, draft picks, and cash. Even consider giving up asik. Trade for chauncy: renegotiate his contract and give him a reasonable three year extension (the last multi-year contract of his career); guarantee him serious minutes (not always starting, but the same kind of minutes); let him relish the chance, as he winds down his career, to mentor the most exciting and athletic point guard in the league right now; explain to him that adding him to this mix to back-up and mentor rose, to teach him and help him develop his post game, and even to play alongside him at the 2 guard at times will give the bulls a championship caliber team right NOW and for a couple of seasons to come.
we need chauncy. Something tells me we can attain him. The future is now, and cj watson won't cut it. (And it's clear that thibidou is having trouble trusting him, even though he should be developing his bench this early in the season. He played watson for only about 4 minutes in the 4th quarter last night before bringing back rose).
PG: drose, billups
SG: bogans (played great in the denver game), brewer (my pick for player to watch, really starting to play well)
SF: deng, korver
PF: boozer, taj
C: noah, asik, thomas
This line-up will win a championship and its worth going into the luxury tax for: 2 all nba caliber players (rose and noah, who is a top 5 big man right now and not done yet), a perennial all-star (boozer), and chauncy who is a winner and absolutely dope, even if he doesn't make another all-star team.
Thoughts? I want to start a bring chauncy to chicago campaign.
EU

Monday, November 8, 2010

A year and a half without a post, then 2 in 5 minutes

Just wanted to add that my lovely wife just claimed that Derrick Rose will go down as one of the greatest athletes in Chicago when all is said and done. Also, she said she would leave me for him. I think she was joking, but I'm not totally sure...

Let's try this again!

So I'm not sure how we fell off so badly, other than that I fall into a time black-hole during the school year. I can't promise it won't happen again, but hopefully with other faithful bloggers, plus the fact that it's an exciting time for Chicago sports, we'll be able to keep the momentum going this time. We'll officially try to get his baby up and running Thursday for the Bulls-Warriors tilt in Chicago (although maybe we'll sneak some Hawks-Coyotes analysis in early on Wednesday.)

Please try to ignore the fact that last time I made a post, it was predicting Ricky Rubio was going to be a beast for the Timberwolves. Oops.