On Boozer and TT

Look, I get the reasons to play Boozer. He's making $80 million over 5 years. It would be nice to enter the Eastern Conference Finals (if that comes to pass) firing on all cylinders. He's making $80 million over 5 years. When he's on, he's capable of creating his own shots in the post as well as anyone still in the playoffs not named Gasol. He's making $80 million over 5 years. Then there's the money thing.

But it's impossible to get around the fact that the Bulls are a better team when Taj is on the floor. On both sides of the ball. Defensively, Taj and Noah are able to cover so much ground around the basket that the perimeter defenders are able to take risks without the fear of giving up an easy 2. Offensively with Taj active on the offensive glass and knocking down 15 footers, he's giving us a lot more than this:



Seriously. Injured or not, Boozer has done nothing Taj (or even Kurt Thomas for that matter) can't do, and has been an obvious drain on defense. And it's getting tiring to have to overcome his play to win.

The Bulls would be perfectly capable of winning this series if Boozer doesn't play a minute. And honestly, I think they can beat the Heat without Boozer, too. Here's why:

1. Joakim has his post game back. It's been coming for a few games now, but you could really see it in Game 2 last night. Jo's left hand hook was falling, and he wasn't afraid to take it off the dribble from 15 feet away and finish at the rim. If Jo is scoring in the post, what they mainly need from the other big man is to space the floor and keep him from being doubled, which Taj or Kurt could do anyway.

2. The Derrick-Ronnie/Bogans-Deng-Taj-Noah lineup is TT's dream defensive lineup. And against the Heat, they're going to need two good help defenders to help against Wade and Lebron drives. And Boozer being 2 seconds too late to every rotation is going to get them even further in the hole.

3. The last thing the Bulls need is Boozer getting booed every time he steps on the floor (or cheered on the road, as I intend to do with Josh Smith.) Derrick and Noah said the right things after the game, but I don't blame Bulls fans at all for getting on Boozer. He needs to know, even if he is hurt, that the half-assed defensive effort is hurting the team.

Maybe TT was even listening. Despite how stubborn he usually is with his rotations (see previous rant here), the fact that he pulled Boozer in the last 4 minutes last night was encouraging. I have hope that if Boozer pulls this crap again in game 3, we'll have to see if TT will pull him earlier, or if I'll have to root for him to get into foul trouble (a la Ben Gordon.)

Boozer. Get it together. Or get out of the way. Please.