Watching Bulls games has made visibly and palpably angry lately. Angrier than I ever was in the early 00s Tim Floyd wasteland, angrier than the BG/Luol baby Bulls, even angrier than I ever was when VDN was failing to organize chaos.
The Tim Floyd era Bulls lost because they were supposed to lose. Their had all of 1 good player (Elton Brand) and tried to pass Rusty La fucking Rue off as a legitimate NBA point guard.
The Baby Bulls sometimes lost because BG would shoot them out of games, but they really didn't have many better options. Live by BG's fallaway threes, die by BG's fallaway threes.
And I'll say this for VDN. He may not have had any idea how to relate to players, diagram plays, or teach young players what they were supposed to be doing, but I always felt like the right players were on the court.
This Bulls team is more talented and deeper than any team in the East besides the Heat and Celtics (maybe you can make a case for the Magic.) They should not have trouble with the Nets and Bobcats of the world. But they frequently do because minutes are being eaten up by the Bulls 11th and 12th best players on the roster, who you can visibly see not playing as well as their counterparts.
Or am I crazy? Because why is no one else talking about this? Bogans, yes, everyone has been piling on TT about Bogans for the better part of the last few months. But I'm not here to talk about Bogans, he hasn't played more than 18 minutes since November.
But Kurt Thomas...What. The. Fuck. The only game since Taj's concussion Kurt hasn't played more than 20 minutes in was the Toronto game, where Taj put up 16 points and 14 rebounds. The next fucking night Taj only played 11 minutes to Kurt's 27, and I've already gone over how that cost us the game.
It happened again tonight. With about 6:45 left and the Bulls up 4, the Bobcats rotate the ball to Boris Diaw up top. Diaw drives to the hole, Kurt slides in front of him and barely offers any resistance at all as Diaw puts in the layup. The next possession for the Bobcats DJ Augustin drives baseline, Kurt Thomas comes over so late he practically sets a pick on CJ, who's forced to foul.
The problem is that in between those two plays Carlos Boozer blows a dunk, and that will look a lot better (or worse) on Sportscenter.
Later in the 4th Augustin drives, Kurt is late (as usual) and Augustin dishes to Tyrus for the layup. The Bulls were up 1 before that and never lead again. Kurt played 35 minutes of -4 ball, Taj played 18 minutes of +3. This is, and I hate using this word, but there's no other way to describe it: incredibly retarded. I can understand playing a young guy over a veteran to help him come along (although none of the last 3 Bulls coaches have understood that,) but I don't get why you would do the opposite. Taj is better than Kurt offensively. Taj is better than Kurt defensively. Taj is younger and a much bigger part of the Bulls plans going forward, even if it's as a trade chip. There is no single fucking logical explanation as to why Kurt should be getting double the minutes that Taj does, other than something to do with TT's fucking ego.
This makes at least 3 games I feel confident saying that if Kurt and Taj's minutes were flip-flopped, we would have won. And there's just no excuse for it. That's why I'm so mad right now. TT is not a stupid man, he's just stubborn, and that makes it 10 times worse. Blogabull, BytheHorns...help me out here. I can't be the only person outraged by this.
Help us, Joakim Noah. You're our only hope.
(I swear to God, though, if Kurt is still getting more minutes than Taj when Noah comes back...)
I completely agree with your point. Tonight, Taj did get 5 fouls, but at that point I probably would still like to see Luol and Asik share time to fill in. Then when the game is coming down to the end, play Taj until (if) he fouls out. Then I think it's still a tough decision between whether to put Thomas back in or Asik.
ReplyDeleteSince we're venting C."slow as molasses cant create a fucking play to save his life" J. needs to be benched permanently I would rather see anyone else out there seriously. I thought talent and hard work were requirements at this level apparently I was wrong.
ReplyDeleteWhy Taj is not playing to me more is probably the third greatest mystery on earth to me. Taj has got to get more minutes because his his offense is suffering and he can play better than Thomas. For a big man Thomas has very little inside presence on offense or defense. I'd even rather see Asik go in because he's young in this league and and at least has a chance at becoming legitimate NBA player. CJ would not be included in this category.
ReplyDeleteNo one here is crazy, minus TT for not playing Taj more. Winning at home only gets you so far. By not winning games on the road the Bulls will not be looked at as an elite team. Still, the defense is much improved from last year and Rose has become one of the best players in the league. How much this of him and how much of this is TT? He seems to be trying to match the other team rather than attack them. Bottom line: Bulls are an elite team (TT is partly responsible), who are better than their record shows (TT is responsible).
Once Noah is back... BYAAH!
wait, this guy played on the baby bulls?
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Tristan, I agree. Also, Carlos Boozer played horrible help defense in the 2nd half of the game. The next game, against the Heat, is truly the ideal game to start Taj. Start Taj.
ReplyDeleteThere's much more to say, but obviously something is wrong here.
I couldn't stop thinking about that last night after the first few minutes of the game...Kurt was getting beat all over the floor in spots where Taj could've handled business. Their minutes should've been the other way around. 100% feel you on that one.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Taj should NOT be traded. Bottom line. He's too good on both ends. We may need a 2 guard, we need a back up PG(CJ IS AWFUL!) but Taj is too strong a force coming off the bench, and may as well be a starter. He does too much for the Bulls, and unless the deal is definitely on our side, we can't give him up. I think he's going to be a huge part of our future, we can't ignore what he can do in years to come. With this team finally coming together this year, I'm not on the side of rushing to win a championship this year. We'll contend for it, for sure, but Taj is going to be huge in the next couple years, and it needs to be with the Bulls. That said, HE NEEDS WAY MORE PLAYING TIME.
Saper: I like CJ Watson. Don't know why others seem to think he's not ballin. He is pretty streaky though, so maybe you've been catching the bad and not the good of what he does. I'd like to see Taj out there more though. Agreed there. And no more bogans for me.
ReplyDeleteCJ is streaky, but he's been on much hotter than cold lately, and definitely improves our defense. Ethan is poisoning your minds on CJ. Come on, Ethan, come around on CJ like I'm doing on Deng...
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