How About Them Coconuts? 4/1

I decided the roundup posts needed a more creative name, so in honor of Joakim Noah's second job choice, we're going to call it How About Them Coconuts from here on out.

Bulls

Wanted to pass along the following exchange between Ethan (posing as Piet, for some reason) and KC Johnson:

"I read your article about Carlos Boozer's declining offensive
production. I am far more concerned with what seems to be his blatant
lack of effort on the defensive end. He doesn't move his feet to keep
defensive position. He swats at the ball as his man drives past and
then players behind him are forced to foul. Everyone else has bought
into a team defensive scheme predicated on working hard. We see him
yelling and communicating, but it really seems he's unwilling to try
harder. Does Coach T get on him about this? -- Piet, Chicago

It's always dangerous to question players' effort. I think it's fair
to call Boozer a poor defender and unfair to question his effort. I
also think he has battled conditioning issues all season with the
preseason injury and the two sprained ankles. Those aren't excuses for
him. He needs to defend better. And remember when he repeatedly got
beat downcourt by Kris Humphries at New Jersey in early January,
Thibodeau benched him for the fourth quarter. I think it will be very
interesting to see the big-man rotation come playoff time, when
defense is at a premium."

It sounds a little like KC is suggesting TT would pull Boozer in the same situation in the playoffs. Don't see it happening. I love what TT has done in 95% of aspects of the game, but I still worry about the frontcourt rotations, especially in crunch time. It's become clea at the end of games (I'm talking final 2 minutes here) it's going to be all Derrick, all the time. In situations like that, unless Boozer has a clear mismatch, I'd rather see Taj in there for defensive/rebounding/screening purposes. If Boozer is in the game, they need to be more courageous about actually going to him in the last two minutes. Which brings me to the #1 thing I'm worried about for when the playoffs come around: Our over-reliance on Derrick at the end of the game. Everything I've been reading lately has been about how Derrick is the extent of our offense, which isn't true. Boozer can create his own shots, Deng can create his own shots, and the Fredo curl play is very effective when run properly. The Bulls need to get into the habit now of using all these options at the end of games, so good defensive teams (like, say, the Celtics) can't cheat on Derrick.

Also, as much as I like TBN, if Fredo is going to be on the floor in crunch time, I want him getting a few more minutes during the rest of the game. If he's going to be asked to hit clutch shots, I want him a little more warmed up than he sometimes is in the 4th quarter.

Also, ha, the Pistons retired Vinny Johnson's #15? That's like if the Bulls retired BJ Armstrong's number. (I realize BJ's # is already retired in honor of Bob Love, but still, that's the closest equivalent I can think of.)

Blackhawks

I have very little to say about the Hawks right now. At this point I'd consider it a decent season if they get past the first round. Especially since it looks like they're going to be the 8 seed and play Vancouver in the first round. They need to get some things straightened out in the offseason, but I'm going to have to read up on free agents and whatnot to figure out exactly what that is (other than getting rid of Thomas Kopecky. I'm sick of watching him fuck up. He sucks.)

Cubs

I wanted to write a Cubs season preview, but didn't have time this week, and won't probably have time until sometime next week, so I'll make my predictions here, and hopefully flesh them out further at a later date.

I think the Cubs are going to be around .500 this year. They could be really good if Soriano and Ramirez and Pena hit like they're capable of and Zambrano avoids any more mental breakdowns and Randy Wells reverts to rookie form and Kerry Wood stays healthy to set The Usher up and Matt Garza doesn't continue his horrible spring. As my students learned during the probability unit, the more ands you have in a problem, the lower your chances are. I hope I'm pleasantly surprised (like I was with the Bears this season,) but I still think they're going to get worse before they get better (and will need to rid themselves of a couple really bad contracts, too.)

Bears

I think of all big time non-golf-or-Nascar related sports events, the one I care the least about is the NFL draft. I just don't have the time to care that much when there are so many other exciting things going on in other sports. I got nothing for ya, Bears. Draft an offensive lineman from a decent college (but not too decent, so that he's an egotistical jackass.)

Fire

I just started trying to be a MLS fan last year, and when I watched the first Fire game this year, I recognized about 3 players. Is there always this much turnover? Or is it because the Fire had so many players that probably could have been in better leagues? Either way, it's a little frustrating, and is making me less excited about them.