The Bulls as Ninja Turtles (Part 1)

People say to me all the time: "Tristan, why haven't you compared each of the members of the Bulls to who they'd be in the Ninja Turtles universe?" My answer is "I don't know, that probably should have been the first post ever."

So I'm going to rectify that mistake now. Ground rules: this is from the comic book canon, no children's cartoon exclusive morons like Bebop and Rocksteady. Also, players only (at least last year's players, since we don't know exactly what the roster will look like.) This means TT can't be splinter (and probably wouldn't be anyway.)

I'll start with the most obvious:

Joakim Noah= Michelangelo

I assume we've all seen the wonderful pictures of Joakim Noah and his girlfriend at the beach? (NSFW link). That is exactly what Michelangelo would have done during a lockout.

Derrick= Raphael


I know the natural inclination is Derrick should be Leo, since they're both the leaders of the team, but I feel like what Derrick did after the Heat series was a very Raphael thing to do. (Full disclosure: Raphael is my favorite ninja turtle.)

Luol Deng= Leonardo


I know Lu isn't the most vocal leader in the world, but he still exudes quiet leadership abilities, and I think after last season it's fair to say the team often goes as Deng does. When he's taking smart shots and locked in on D, the Bulls are a tough team to beat.

Kyle Korver= Donatello

Not sure why, I just have a gut feeling Fredo is the type of guy that wouldn't mind working on fixing an old truck and making up alphabetical insults.

Since I wanted pictures, I had to split this post into 2 threads. Here's part 2.

Top 5 Reasons I'm Excited for this NBA Season

As you may have noticed, things have decidedly slowed down a bit around here. And as much as I'm enjoying the Bears and Blackhawks this year, and would love to write more about them, nothing inspires me like the Bulls, and the pall of not having an NBA season has been giving me writer's block.

But no more! Thank you players and owners for reaching an agreement (and after having read the key points of the agreement here, it doesn't seem to me like the clear cut loss for the players that people are saying.)

So here are the top 5 things I'm excited for this NBA season:
5. The lack of training camp time benefits teams with low player turnover

There are a few teams that are going to look drastically different when the season starts, due to just general free agency and losing players to locked-in contracts overseas (sorry, Denver Nuggets fans). But look at this list of potential free agents over the next two offseasons. For the Bulls, it's Rasual Butler, Big Sexy and White Mamba this offseason. For contrast, look two teams down at what the Mavs have to deal with.
The future looks solid, too. Other than Derrick (who will undoubtedly receive the max deal possible), is there anything to be worried about for the future? Without delving too much into the finances (aka, I'll wait until someone with a firmer grip of the CBA breaks it down for me,) I feel like they should be able to resign Turkish D to a modest deal as well after this season. They have the amnesty clause to use on Boozer if he doesn't figure out how to play defense soon, so it looks like Foreman and Pax have a little bit of flexibility to use, too.

4. A solution to the shooting guard situation

I was firmly on the "don't-change-a-thing" bandwagon, but I came around to many of your lines of thinking during the Heat series last year when we couldn't, you know, hit an outside shot to save our lives. Personally, I think Jason Richardson meets our needs perfectly. Consistent from the outside, but the ability to create his own shot as well. And while he wouldn't provide the defense of Bogans and Brewer, he wouldn't be a huge drop-off (like JR Smith) or mess up chemistry on the offensive end (like JR Smith).

3. More Bench Mob!

As we saw in 1999, NBA players aren't always the best at staying in shape when they don't have teams holding them accountable. And while I'm sure this doesn't apply to any Bulls (right, Joakim?) there is definitely going to be an advantage to having a deeper bench this year. Enter the Bench Mob. The schedule is going to be a little condensed, so if your team can go 10 deep for significant minutes, it's going to help a lot, especially when the playoffs come around.

2. A rematch with the Heat

Not much else to say here, except I think I hate the Heat more than any other professional team right now (which is saying something, when you consider how the Cardinals and Packers have been doing recently.) I just know I want to see the Bulls get revenge on the Heat more than anything else in sports right now.

1. The MVP

I think the hardest part of the lockout for me was seeing Derrick's Adidas commercial all the time. I would get a little bit excited just to see him cross over matadors. I literally can not wait to see him do more of this:



Screw it, we might have to liveblog opening day. I don't care that it's Christmas. I'll sneak it past Sam somehow...maybe...

Blame Game: Hawks-Stars 10/7

At least until the NBA lockout is lifted (wishful thinking), it looks like the Blackhawks get to be the primary source of my blogging energy. Why not write more about the Bears, you say? Good question. The only thing I can say is that Sunday afternoons are not the best time for me to be doing things other than work. Don't expect these to be nearly as detailed as a Bulls one, though.

Hammer-25%
Napping on the 2nd goal, and could have been responsible for more, he's still making me nervous when he has the puck in the corner.

Lehtonen-25%
Ridiculous. The Hawks skated better than the Stars for the last 35 minutes, but Lehtonen made some nice saves to keep the Stars in the lead.

The ice-20%
I know, I know, both teams skated on the same ice. But it definitely slowed the Hawks down, and our speed is an advantage. It's like the Colts (when Peyton is healthy) playing in the mud, and I feel anecdotally like the Hawks had more bouncing pucks they couldn't do anything with.

Craw-15%
Good job with the stick hand, Craw, but work on the glove hand. Those were not the two best goals ever scored against you.

Frolik- 5%
I know Frolik is only playing so much because of the injuries, but I don't like it. The shot in the 2nd period I could have made, and I can barely skate. I'm fine with Frolik on line 3 (maybe Davey B., Frolik, and Bickell?), but he was not in sync with line 2.

Bickell-5%
I'll give him credit for the screen on Leddy's goal, but other than that, he was pretty quiet. I know it's not his game, but as one of the few big men on the roster he needs to find his way in front of the net more.

Pirri-3%
No. I know we need centers but...no.

Q-2%
I thought we were getting more Brandon Saad? Q panics with lines waaay too early, give Saad a little time with Toews and Sharp to find a rhythm. Instead he was on line 4 by the first intermission. Come on, Q, I want to see the kid play.

Alright, Hawks, get it back against them at home tomorrow night.