Maybe I set my expectations way too high. I think after the VDN debacle, I was expecting the 2nd coming of Phil Jackson. TT is 18 games into his NBA career, and has a winning record. There's really no reason for me not to expect him to improve as well.
That being said, some of the habits I've seen from him so far fall in line with the things that irritated me most about VDN.
1. Players with no clear roles.
What's Keith Bogans' job on this team? I was under the impression he was our defensive 2-guard. But this is not the first time this season Bogans has played the first 7 minutes of the 1st and 3rd quarters, and no other time during the game. When the Bulls need stops at the end of the game, it's been Ronnie Brewer on the court. Which is fine, Brewer's been pretty good defensively. But then why isn't he starting? What good do we get out of having Bogans on the court to start each half?
From talking to other Bulls fans, I think I'm much higher on James Johnson than most people. I'm just really afraid that if we keep treating him like he's Tyrus Thomas, he's going to end up like Tyrus Thomas. JJ makes mistakes, and will take a dumb shot every now and then. However there hasn't been a game he's played all year where he didn't at least infuse some energy on the court and pick the pace up, and the Bulls are a better team in an up-tempo game. I just don't think JJ should be picking up DNP-CDs like he did tonight in games like this.
2. Using timeouts wisely.
I was at the game again tonight, so I didn't have the graphic with the amount of timeouts left in front of me. However, I did notice that with 24 seconds left, down 5, we were out of timeouts. Henry Abbot of TrueHoop wrote an excellent piece about the importance of late timeouts here, and this is a perfect example of that situation. We were helped immensely by Courtney Lee and Brad Miller splitting their free throws, and had either of them hit both, a timeout or two left could have extended the game. Also, while Derrick did manage to get open for his game-tying three, I'm sure TT wished he could have drawn up a play with 10 seconds left.
3. Waiting too long to make adjustments.
Carlos Boozer was absolutely getting killed on the screen-and-roll with Lee and Luis Scola, not showing at all, which directly led to some easy finishes for Lee or an open three as everyone else had to rotate. In the OT, he started with Noah and Taj up front (until Noah fouled out) and we didn't have that problem any more. I'm not sure why someone didn't suggest Taj taking Boozer's place earlier, but we probably wouldn't have needed OT if that was the case. (Side note: The crunch time lineup is going to have to be Taj and Noah up front until Boozer picks up his defense. Until then we'll have to treat him like 2005 Eddy Curry, providing offense in the first 3 quarters and letting Chandler come in for D in the 4th).
I hope TT's learning curve is quicker than VDN's was. I have faith that it will be. But I think the Bulls championship window is coming up sooner than we think, and we're going to need TT to not be getting out-coached anymore.
Kudos on the game analysis! Why did TT wait til overtime to bench Boozer for the lack of D? I almost had an aneurism! Also, I retract my previous comments about Ashton Kutcher I mean Kyle Korver cuz he sees to be stepping up and hitting some good shots.
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