How Could I Forget... Game vs Thunder

I can't think of any better way to open the season... ESPN...National Audience...Pre-eminent MVP candidate. 

Damnit. 

Let's take a look at tonight's opponent real quick shall we.

The Good:

Kevin Durant # 35

The biggest "overrated for being underrated" as an MVP candidate of the season. You saw the world championships. KD can light it up better than anyone in the NBA. I'm to the point now where I just might take him over Kobe Bryant in the closing seconds of a big game. I would imagine Lu and Ronny Brewer try to guard him, but it's going to be tough. He will probably go for 30 tonight, even with the Bulls improved team defense. 

Russell Westbrook #0

Where the Durant hype machine ended, the Westbrook machine picked right up. And rightfully so. He can run the floor, plays suffocating defense, and can pass the ball quite well. That being said, he torched D. Rose for about 20ppg last season. The two guards have come to the point where they are both just too good to guard each other. Luckily, he shoots the three maybe slightly better than myself. 

Jeff Green #22

Green is often considered the swing dynamic of this team. He can be a lock-down defender, and he also attacks the glass on the defensive end allowing KD to really run the floor. That being said, he reminds me of a young Josh Smith, in the sense that he really likes taking bad shots. Brewer, Taj, or Lu could all guard him sufficiently. And we know the way Joakim owns the paint. Great player, but not much of a threat tonight. 

The Bad

White Clones (Byron Mullens #23, Nick Collison #4, Cole Aldrich #45, Nenard Kristic #12)

Honestly, they aren't all bad. Mullens is a Buckeye, but even given my bias, he sucks. 

Nick Collison came out of Kansas with Captain Kirk way back in 02, and he has been a solid back-up power forward. Pretty much the ceiling of Mullens' career.

As for Cole Aldrich, he's another Kansas boy. But he ain't in Kansas anymore. Now, his new point guard is a bit of an improvement of Sherron Collins (not that I don't love him!), but if there's one thing I can spot, it's mediocre white bigs. No threat to Joakim, and I bet he gets into foul trouble early.

Nenard sucks. 

The Unknown

Serge Ibaka #9

Undoubtedly raw, I like Ibaka. He defends, rebounds, and can even put in an easy shot or two. He easily projects as Eric Dampier on steroids, which isn't half bad if you don't pay him over $10 million a season. Or maybe he's the next Tyson Chandler. Who knows? Either way, he'll probably play for the Mavs someday. 

James Harden #13

I would be lying if I said it doesn't hurt, just a little, to see anyone losing PT to Thabo Sefolosha. I loved him as a Bull, but he just has no offensive game. Harden is a solid defender, insane athlete, and could be a Jeff Green-like ex-factor for the Thunder. Regardless, don't expect much more than 15 points out of him tonight, and that's assuming a good game. 

The Incredibly Mediocre (maybe the Chris Duhon)

Thabo Sefolosha #2, Morris Peterson (Mo-Pete) #42, DJ White #3, Royal Ivey #7, Daequan Cook #14

There's a common theme among these guys: None of them are bad. 

There's another common theme: None of them are good. 

Thabo provides lock down defense, as we all know, but looks like that kid in a pick up game that missed one shot and the overzealous-wanna-be-D-Leaguer just screamed at him, so no way in hell is he taking another wide open shot. 

Royal Ivey kind of sucks, maybe he should go under the bad. 

Mo-Pete is past his prime, but we all know he has the potential to light it up.

Daequan Cook just keeps getting put on teams that probably have no use for his three point shooting prowess. But hell, maybe one day they'll let him spell Russ and he''ll go for 25 points.   

Guy I really like, like kind of how I liked Casey Jacobsen, Roger Mason Jr, and Mario Austin. And I'm still hoping he gets more burn some day because he will be good, I promise.

Eric Maynor #6

He's just a really good player. Phenomenal scorer, great passer good defender, great athlete. I could go on and on. He just happened to come around at a time when very good point guards aren't hard to find. Poor guy. 

As for tonight's match-up, I like the Bulls new team defense and outside shooting to give OKC a really big fit. Durant will get his points, and so will Westbrook. But D. Rose is too quick to be guarded by anyone, and I think he will make this a statement game. Anyone who says he's a second star guy (not me if you've read previous posts) will be put to shame tonight. Look for Rose and Deng to be the focal points, with the outside shooters having a field day when these defenses have to collapse on Rose. And to Thunder Coach Scott Brooks: Please leave Thabo out there to kill your extremely fun and fluid offense.

Final Score: 

Bulls 101

Thunder 97

RJ 

 

     

 

Opening DAY!

Opening day is here, you know what that means... Predictions.

For the Bulls, I ran a few statistical regressions and such. Here's my line for Derrick Rose...

24.6 ppg, 6.7 apg, 4.1 rpg while shooting 51%! (data tables...just email me)

That assist number even seems a little low now, considering we have Boozer down low and some nice shooters to spread the floor.

Bulls record this season?

Well, after seeing the Heat game last night, I'll say this is a 55 win ball club. So much more complete. I'm loving the likely addition of Patrick Beverly as our third point guard. It's an under the radar move, but the boy can ball.

Kyle Korver, finally having some plays run for him, looks like Ben Gordon light, which I can deal with. Expect him to really light it up in excess of 15 points a night.

[Amhad Rashard] My main man Luol Deng [/end Ahmad Rashard] played his heart out this preseason. He looks like a top ten pick again, and I think he will take a huge burden off D.Rose now that he can hit three's. Remember Lu, just don't dribble.


Joakim... He's Joakim. I'm fine with that.



I also see that LeBron is destined to return to premier chucker status, and absolutely ruin Pat Riley's dream of a championship team. Frankly, I couldn't be happier. Sorry for the short post, but Stormin Normin' should become significantly easier once the only contributor's future job situation gets shaken out.

-RJ

Initial Pre-Season Reactions

When I looked at my notes for this post, the one thing that stuck out is that Omer Asik is absolutely terrible. As I told fellow contributor Corey Hickman, his top potential is 13th man off the bench. He doesn't put his hands up on defense, he looks more scared than girlfriends around centipedes. He can explode, but he compliments that explosiveness with the ability to airball fade-away hook shots like nothing we've ever seen. He would exceed my expectations if he could even be better than Dalibor. WOW.

Other observations:

• Derrick is ready to take the leap to top 10 player in the NBA, if he's not already there. Such an improved jumpshot.
• The defense is swarming. Tommy T's got even Lu playing D!
• Luol is much better in this offense. I'm hoping this year I don't have a heart attack every time he puts the ball on the floor. Shoot it Lu, but please do not dribble.
• Korver can play. Not defense, but his offense is superb. Can you imagine the drive and kicks? Either he'll score 15-17ppg or Rose will score 30 if they don't collapse on him. 
• Whoever starts in the backcourt opposite Rose is 100000x better than Pargo or Kirk. Make that 1000000000x. 
• I am getting hot and bothered thinking about Boozer in this offense. Yes.

Boozin' and Losin'

If you don't know, now you know. Our new hog, Carlos Boozer, is out 6-8 weeks after he tripped over a bag and broke is hand.

Regardless of how dumb this story sounds (let's take him at face value), we do have a solid replacement in Taj Gibson to step up, put his hard hat on, grab that lunch pal, and get to work. I can see Taj filling in with maybe 12/9/2, which although it is not nearly what Booze could do, it's not that bad.

In addition to Boozer being out, Joakim Noah re-upped for 5 years and $60 million. Jo's 25, and he appears to be only getting better and better. I'm loving what he's provided the Bulls in terms of both leadership and great defense. He never fears getting into it with LeBron, and he is an animal on the boards.

However, his injury history has me all hot and bothered. $12 million a year for a healthy Joakim is a fine deal (albeit a little overpaid). His plantar fasciitis can come and go. It's a calculated risk that has a very high reward attached to it. I'm excited.

More importantly, it crushes the Melo rumors, and gives us a true picture of what we'll be heading into the season with.

Coming up this week:

-Season predictions
-Reactions to the preseason
-Some statistical analysis of Derrick Rose and why he will finish top 5 in MVP voting.