Bulls

I've avoided talking about the Bulls so far this season. I wish I would have wrote something sooner because early on I was about to write a glowing review. How things change after the circus trip. To briefly summarize the season, the Bulls started out well with big victories against the Spurs and Cavs in Cleveland. Things were looking up before the road trip out west. The Bulls had a sputtering offense but a much improved defense. Ben Gordon gone = sputtering offense and better defense. The world made sense. Luol and Noah also looked to be much improved with Rose struggling early on.

The Circus trip even started out well with a victory over the Kings who had had a 4 game winning streak. Then, the Bulls played the Lakers, Blazers, and Nuggets and have never looked the same. I don't think anyone was surprised that they lost those 3. Without Tyrus, the Bulls were forced into a short lineup depthwise and heightwise. However ever since then, the early season strong defensive effort has disappeared. Kirk Hinrich missed games, which probably hurt the defensive effort. But recent blowout losses and a loss to the at the time 1-18 Nets, have me yearning for the Skiles days. At least in those days the team seemed to be more than the sum of their parts. There was a good effort every game. So I'll try and breakdown the ups and downs thus far.

• Ups. Taj Gibson looks like a veteran. He played 4 years in college and it shows. I don't remember the last time I saw a rookie as composed as he is. He plays with a lot of energy and under control. He also has a nice mid-range jumper. Derrick Rose has bounced back from a slow start with a bad ankle to look impressive in recent games. Noah and Deng look like they can be locks for a double double nearly every game. Deng has bulked up and is a stronger presence when battling for rebounds.
• Downs. Well, I'll be brief since there's a lot. I agree with Stacy King, they need to reduce the screen roll and let Rose navigate the floor free of other players. Also, we need a more complicated offense. If I were an opponent, they basically have to be ready for the high screen roll and thats about it. The high screen roll doesn't work when the do a hard show on Rose and Noah gets the ball 17 feet from the basket. Salmons needs to go harder to the hoop. I like it when he drives, but he often fades away from contact which he needs to go after to get some foul calls. James Johnson looks very raw. I hope someday he looks smoother. But it looks like he is forcing things on offense and lost on defense. Pargo looks like Ben Gordon lite and has been forced to play longer with Hinrich out. I think the plan was use him as a spark off the bench. While he has done that in some games, he seems more like a defense liability.
• The Worst. It seems that the team suffers from a lack of concentration and effort often. It seems that the other team just wants it more. I've already seen in the Nets game some of the players playing for themselves and attempting to make their own shot instead of find something through the offense. I saw Johnson, Deng, Salmons, and Noah all do this. Nothing speaks to this whole situation more than the Bulls final possession against the Nets. The Bulls were unable to inbound to Rose so Salmons got it. Salmons made a move and launched a 3 point shot with 7 seconds left when we were down 1 point. While its already bad that the Bulls couldn't get it to Rose, Salmons made it worse by throwing up the 3 with 7 seconds left. Down 1 point he could have tried to draw a foul or taken more time to find something. 7 seconds is a lot of time.