SB Nation - Chicago Bulls

Preview: Kings at Bulls

Ziller — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:00:38 -0000

by Rich Pedroncelli - AP

THE OPPONENT

Last we met the Bulls, the Kings came in 5-4, winners of a shocking four straight once Kevin Martin got knocked off his torrid All-Star pace with a hand fracture. Sacramento had subpar performances from three key talismen (Tyreke Evans, Jason Thompson and most notably Spencer Hawes) and lost handily to the then-struggling Red and Black.

Andres Nocioni was unavailable in that game, though any boost you could portend from him here can be dismissed when you consider his replacement, Donte Greene, ripped Chicago apart with 24 points. Still, Chapu is a beloved player in most corners of the CHI, and I imagine he'll have a touch more swag this evening. Well that hurts or helps is, of course, another matter entirely.

Really, where the Kings need help here is with Evans, Thompson and Hawes. Surely Young Spence will start again -- Paul Westphal called his understated (to my eyes) Milwaukee performance the season's best from the green pivot -- and supposing Hawes plays well, Thompson should get a bit more free. Derrick Rose finally seems healthy, and Evans has a touch of the limp, so we'll see whether Reke can get back to his superlative standard again.

Sergio Rodriguez also played terrific ball in the first game; he has been stuck to the bench a bit of late, but Westphal has a long memory, and I imagine we'd see him early on.

THE KEY BATTLE

Jason Thompson vs. Taj Gibson. J.T. should destroy Gibson. He didn't last time (Joakim Noah marked him or helped off Hawes frequently) and that killed the Kings. The Bulls are just the sort of team J.T. should be going 20-10 against. Let's see it happen!

BOLD PROCLAMATION

John Salmons will miss all 17 three-pointers he attempts.

NUMERIC PREDICTION

Kings by 1.

DETAILS

5 PM tip -- the last early start as the Kings come home this week. Game thread at 5, Game thread II at 6, post-gamer at 7:45, recap by Christmas.

Chicago Bulls 101, Atlanta Hawks 98 or Joe Johnson tries his hat at 06-07 Kobe Bryant

hawksdawgs — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 04:58:44 -0000

More photos » by Jim Prisching - AP

1 day ago: Chicago Bulls' Joakim Noah, left, and James Johnson (16) try to stop the Atlanta Hawks' Joe Johnson (2) from scoring during the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

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boxscore

recap

Oddly enough, Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson were the difference in this game. That and four horrible jump shots by Josh Smith.

Now I understand the desire to go crazy over the Joe Johnson show. There was way too much Joe Johnson. Especially when Al Horford was having a perfectly fine game and Joakim Noah had five fouls for what felt like the last 20 minutes of the game. I get that feeling. The Hawks probably could have used some more ball movement and diversity. And despite what Nique says, a fade away two point jump shot with a hand at your chin is not a good shot. I understand all this.

But with all that said, Joe really did have the advantage. Outside a few forced shots (and you are going to have a few when you shoot 32 of them), Joe could have made near every one of those looks. That last missed layup was so good my buddy and I were talking about how he went too soon in the game clock. Joe got his looks. He passed to open shooters. But Bibby missed open shots, Marvin missed open shots. And Josh took open shots.

On the other side of the ball, the Bulls did what we wanted them to do, only they succeeded. Rose, Taj, and Kirk hit jump shot after jump shot. Hats off to them. They deserved to win.

On a night when our defense forced them into jump shots, they hit them. VDN played one on one defense knowing Joe could get his shot and banking on the fact that he would not always hit it. Del Negro was right. And without any real help for Joe, every possession mattered for the Hawks and we wasted too many.

A lot of what ifs were left on the table, but I am going to answer the ones with blame toward the guys that did not score 40 points on 50% shooting.

The Hawks won't win them all. And that includes the ones they should. But anger tonight. Perspective tomorrow. Go Hawks!

Kobe More Clutch Than Jordan? Juuust A Bit Outside

aramnath — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:13:37 -0000

More photos » by Gary Dineen - NBAE/Getty Images

Kobe Bryant is a great player and has made a number of clutch shots, but he still can't come compare to Jordan. (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)

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Today on ESPN's 1st and 10 Jemele Hill proved why she should not have a job analyzing sports, particularly professional basketball. On the show she debated two points with Skip Bayless. The first was who between Kobe and Jordan was more clutch and the second was who was better at the age of 20, Durant or Lebron.

On the first point Jemele stated that Kobe was a better clutch player than His Airness. Am I a Kobe hater? Yes. Do I accept that Kobe Bryant is one of the 15 greatest players in NBA history? Yes.

To even put Kobe's ability to perform in pressure situations on the same level as Jordan's is absolutely ridiculous.

In 6 NBA Finals appearances, Jordan won six titles and six Finals MVP trophies with several game-winning Finals shots, including Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals, his last Finals appearance.

Kobe has also made 6 Finals appearances, winning 4 titles, 3 with the most dominating center of this era and has won a total of one Finals MVP trophy. He has made one game-winning Finals shot against the Pistons in Game 2 of the 2004 NBA Finals, a series the Lakers went on to lose comprehensively 4-1.

Jordan averaged 33.4 points in the playoffs, the all-time record, on 48.7% shooting from the field to go along with averages of 6.4 rebounds and 5.7 assists. All of these are increases from his regular season averages.

Kobe also has impressive playoff averages of 25.0 points on 44.7% shooting to go with 5.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists. His points and rebounds average slightly decrease from his regular season totals and his field goal percentage is nearly an entire percent lower than his regular season average. His assists average goes up by 0.1.

The fact that you can't hand check players and that the level of contact allowed now is far less than during MJ's prime makes it even more amazing to see what Jordan accomplished. I could keep going on, but if you want more proof of how in every way Jordan is more clutch, check out these stats.

Bryant: Career Achievements and Playoff Stats

Jordan: Career Achievements and Playoff Stats

Now her second argument was that Durant as 20 year-old was slightly better than James simply because he had a better outside touch. This is the most ridiculous premise to determine who's a better player because it simply neglects other aspects of the game.

Durant's average of 25.3 points per game on 47.6% shooting is outstanding. He also averaged 6.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists. All in all an extremely impressive second year in the league at the age of 20.

James played with more pressure on him as a phenom in his second year than Durant has ever experienced and averaged 27.2 points on 47.2% shooting. I will agree with Jemele that Durant has a more polished perimeter shooting game at this age than James had at that age. However James averaged 7.4 rebounds and a ridiculous 7.2 assists as well. He also averaged one more steal per game than Durant (2.2 to 1.3).

None of this is to say that Kobe is not a great player or that Durant is not one of the most talented young players in the history of the NBA. However to compare Kobe's or any player's pressure situation abilities to Jordan's is an act of stupidity anybody who watched playoff games in the 90's knows without looking at the numbers. Similarly Lebron's all-around game was so much more advanced than Durant's at the same age that looking at one aspect such as perimeter scoring and then using that as a basis to determine a better player is perhaps an even greater act of stupidity.

Then again rooting for the Celtics is exactly like rooting for Hitler, right Jemele?

Holiday Basketball Camps Hosted by the Orlando Magic

erivera7 — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:13:00 -0000

Via the Orlando Magic:

In celebration of the holiday season, the Orlando Magic will host four holiday basketball camps throughout the Central Florida community from December 21 – 23 and December 28 – 30.

Highlights of the holiday basketball camps, which make a great holiday gift, will include:

Three days of expert instruction from the National Basketball Academy (consisting of former college standouts, semi-professional players and top individual trainers).

Stations, drills, skills contests and live games.

Every participant receives an official camp T-shirt as well as various giveaways and prizes, and is recognized during the Orlando Magic Camp awards ceremony on the last day.

Select locations will feature guest appearances by Magic celebrities.

All campers receive a ticket to an Orlando Magic home game.

Magic Camp alumni includes include Marquis Daniels (Boston Celtics), Nick Calathes (2009 Dallas Maverick NBA Draft pick), Darius Washington (formerly of the Chicago Bulls) and scores of Division 1 college basketball players.

Locations: Four convenient locations are offered while local students are off on break at the following locations:

RDV Sportsplex, December 21-23, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

8701 Maitland Summit Blvd.

Orlando, FL 32810

Pro-Health Fitness Center, December 21-23, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

8705 N Wickham Road

Viera, FL 32940

Holy Family Catholic Chruch, December 28-30, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

5125 S. Apopka Vineland Road

Orlando, FL 32810

Lake Mary Preparatory School, December 28-30, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

650 Rantoul Lane

Lake Mary, FL 32746

Participants: Offered to kids ages 7 – 16. From beginner to advanced, all skill levels are welcome.

Cost: $115 per camper

Randy Livingston Memorial "On The Edge" Call-Up Rankings

Scott Schroeder — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:00:21 -0000

Dontell Jefferson, the 6'5" point guard, can dunk, as learned here by Reno's Marcus Hubbard. (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE)

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As you can see, we've collaborated with the top D-League blogger's in the universe (read: all that would answer my e-mail's) to come up with the top 10 players that are deserving of an NBA call-up. While 10-day contract's aren't able to be handed out until January 5th, there's typically two or three call-up's before that date, which is why we've put our heads together to bring you this list. As you'll remember last season, we alternated this type of post with a more specific list like this one. More than likely, I'll put one of those together as well, just because it serves a different sort of purpose.

Anyway, continue on to see the list and a breakdown of each of the top 10 players, an early holiday gift to all of our loyal readers from the D-League blogging contingent!

Livingston Memorial "On The Edge" Call-Up Rankings
Player w/ link to season stats	Jon L (RU)	Matt Moore (Hardwood Paroxysm)	Scott Schroeder (RU)	Steve Weinman (D-League Digest)	Composite Rankings

Dontell Jefferson	3	3	1	2	1
Anthony Tolliver	1	8	2	1	2
Morris Almond	4	2	3	3	2
Rod Benson	2	1	5	5	4
Desmon Farmer	8	4	4	4	5
Carlos Powell	5	5	7	6	6
Mike Harris	6	10	6	10	7
Sundiata Gaines	7	9	8	8	8
Alonzo Gee	10	6	NR	7	9
Dwayne Jones	NR	7	10	NR	10
Reggie Williams	9	NR	NR	9	NR
Cedric Simmons	NR	NR	9	NR	NR

(If I were to round out a top 15, I'd include Cartier Martin, Ron Howard and Romel Beck)

1. Dontell Jefferson, Utah Flash (20.5 ppg, 6 apg, 5.1 rpg, 1.6 spg, 47% FG) - Jefferson should be the poster child for the NBA Development League because I don't think there's been a player that's gotten consistently better like Jefferson has. Consider his D-League draft bio as a rookie back in 2006: to go from averaging 3.2 points and 4.4 assists in college to an call-up to the Bobcats last season is amazing. Having watched a couple of Flash games this year, he may have even gotten better. While his calling card will always be his defense and decision making, the 6'5" point guard is showing some impressive scoring ability this year as well. (Scott Schroeder)

2a. Anthony Tolliver, Idaho Stampede (20.7 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 47% FG, 43% 3pt) - I can't find a word more descriptive of Tolliver's performance than "everywhere." At 6-foot-9 and 240 pounds, Tolliver is a large man, even by basketball standards. But the threes he takes aren't typical of the 21st century pseudo-bigs who hang around the perimeter waiting for kickouts. To borrow the type of term Walt Frazier enjoys using, I can remember few other occasions when a player seems as omnipresent as AT - sprinting to the sideline to snare long rebounds from unsuspecting guards and fighting his way to loose balls amidst the pack inside as well. Defensively, more of the same. One second, Tolliver's jumping out to double a guard on a high screen-and-roll; the next, waiting at the rim to provide help on penetration or swat a shot out of vicinity of the basket. (Steve Weinman, D-League Digest)

2b. Morris Almond, Springfield Armor (33 ppg, 6 rpg, 49% FG) - Morris Almond is mostly known for his scoring, and it's true that putting the ball in the basket remains his best skill. He also does so fairly efficiently, getting to the free-throw line at a decent rate. Almond greatly improved his rebounding while in the NBA, though, jumping from just under two boards per-36 minutes as a rookie to around five last season. Almond wasn't able to crack Utah's
rotation but got some offseason looks from the Knicks (Summer League) and Magic (training camp). The one thing that might hold him back is, well, his back. He had some problems with it last year and teams might worry that they'll return, I suppose. He's not as athletic as some of his peers, but he has a very nice midrange game and so far in career has kept working to improve. What sounds bad about that? (Jon L)

4. Rod Benson, Reno Bighorns (16.8 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 2.4 bpg, 2.2 spg, 53% FG) - Benson's almost a volume rebounder, if there is such a thing. His DRR if he were to ever get a stinkin' flyer would be insane. All you're looking for is quality minutes and you know he'll give you that. He's added frame as he's gotten older and it's not like he's lost in terms of positioning. He's got a high basketball IQ. What's the downside here? The only thing I can figure at this point is that he peed on Adam Silver's rug at some point. And it tied the room together. (Matt Moore, Hardwood Paroxysm)

5. Desmon Farmer, Reno Bighorns (25 ppg, 6.7 apg, 5.5 rpg, 5.17 TO/g (doh!)) - Look, I get the push against guys from the D-League that aren't great at defense. I do. I appreciate that. And I certainly understand the turnover concern. But Farmer has been on summer league teams. He's been in camps. He's done his time. And he fills up the sheet when he's on the floor. He's had cups of coffee with San Antonio and the Pacers and the Sonics. But the Spurs never have room for anyone, and the rest were before the league had experienced success at the NBA-level. He's got potential to be a solid end-of-the-bench contributor with the possibility of a great fill-in in case of injury. (Matt Moore)

6. Carlos Powell, Albuquerque Thunderbirds (21.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 4 apg, 50% FG) - Carlos Powell, like Farmer, is he what he is - a big, polished wing that can put his head down and get to the hoop with ease. Powell has an affinity for scoring right around 25 points per game to go along with a handful of assists and rebounds a piece every where he plays. While he's obviously not going to put those numbers up in the NBA, he's a veteran scorer that has what it takes to succeed in the big leagues. (Scott Schroeder)

7. Mike Harris, Rio Grande Valley Vipers (26 ppg, 7 rpg, 59% FG, 45% 3pt) - Harris is currently third in the league in per-game scoring, amidst guys who are more likely to come to mind like Mo Almond, Reggie Williams, Desmon Farmer and Sundiata Gaines. He's making 45 percent of his three-pointers and averaging 10 rebounds per 48 minutes. So basically, he's good. The Rockets obviously like him, having retained him off of their Summer League team, but any other teams jealous of Houston's glut of 6'6" combo forward action too can get in on it by calling Harris up. He's been playing mostly inside next to Joey Dorsey, which helps, but he's also pretty athletic and has worked on his shot enough where he can play some small forward as well. (Jon L)

8. Sundiata Gaines, Idaho Stampede (25.4 ppg, 7.7 apg, 5.3 rpg, 56% FG, 2 spg - has started 1 of 7 games) - That's right, a (mostly) D-League reserve made our call-up rankings. Gaines is that good (and also Bob MacKinnon's bench usually plays a lot). A combo guard in college, Gaines has been playing more point in Idaho, and he's been one of the best in the league so far. He's second in the league in assists, both per-game and per-48 minutes, fourth in the league in scoring, and perhaps most impressive is the fact that he's averaging just three turnovers in that fast-paced MacKinnon offense. Gaines isn't the biggest point guard around, but he's really, really, talented, and his game should speak enough for itself for him to get some consideration. (Jon L)

9. Alonzo Gee, Austin Toros (20.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 55% FG) - You can't really take Gee in the Virtual Scout Game. I mean, he's a rookie, playing in a power system that rewards players of his ilk. And he's not really MVP worthy, despite being second in Pts+Reb+As, since he plays alongside the double-double machine Dwayne Jones and Curtis Jerrells. But if you're looking for top-level production that you could sign and immediately send back down? Gee would be a fantastic option for farming. You know, if anyone had managed to do that effectively. Thanks for ruining that dream, Ian Mahinmi. (Matt Moore)

10. Dwayne Jones, Austin Toros (18 ppg, 13.3 rpg, 2.2 bpg, 66% FG) - Jones has clearly been working on his post moves in the offseason, and while they're still not great, he looks a lot more fluid executing them. In addition to the spin move he "had" last year he's added one where he goes underneath the basket and lays it in from the other side, which was pretty effective. And, just so we're clear, his numbers have been helped tremendously by being matched up with Kevin Pittsnogle in five of his ten games. (Jon L)

Lakers Victorious in Basketball Contest

DexterFishmore — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:27:58 -0000

It's just as well the Lakers have a game on their schedule for Wednesday night. Tuesday's victory over the decaying organism known as the Chicago Bulls isn't one that we necessarily want to dwell on. It was choppy, uninspired and closer than it should have been. If the Lakers win another championship this year, very little from Tuesday's game will appear on the season-commemorative DVD. The final score was 96 to 87.

The good news, aside from the basic fact of the team's 19th win, is the return of Kobe Bryant's offensive game after the nightmare in Utah. Looking energized and much more comfortable with his jump shot, he dropped in 42 points on 64% True Shooting. His eight turnovers mean this won't go into the archives as one of his all-time great outings, but he did what needed done. It's not like there were a ton of other great scoring options on this occasion.

Aside from Kobe and Shannon Brown (4 for 4 off the bench), nobody on the Lakers had a good shooting night. The three-point game in particular continues to look ugly. After making only 3 of 21 from distance in Utah, the Lakers improved all the way to 4 for 20. Yuck. It was also a bad night on the boards.

The defense, however, by and large showed up. It didn't start out that way - the Bulls scored 14 points on their first eight possessions - but by midway through the first quarter the Laker D had its act together. Joakim Noah probably should not have been allowed to snare 14 offensive rebounds, though.

So northward to Milwaukee we go, 1-1 on the current road trip. Winning the second half of this back-to-back will require a cleaner, tighter performance.

	Poss.	TO%	FTA/ FGA	FT%	EFG%	TS%	Off Reb%	Def Reb%	PPP
L.A.	92	15	0.32	80	48	53	16	59	1.04
Chicago	92	15	0.17	69	40	42	41	84	0.95

Lakers 96, Bulls 87: Effort slumps, talent doesn't

your friendly BullsBlogger — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:04:41 -0000

More photos » by Jim Prisching - AP

Kobe Bryant reminds Derrick Rose that he'll be a free agent eventually, and L.A. is indeed sunny. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

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	Pace	Eff	eFG	FT/FG	OREB%	TOr
LA Lakers	93.0	103.2	48.1%	25.3	17.1	14.0
Chicago		93.5	39.6%	11.5	41.5	12.9

Before firing up the DVR for this one, I checked ShouldIWatch?com, and figured the 20 point loss. Nope. And it wasn't a 15, nor 10 point loss either. It was a 9 point loss after Luol Deng hit a meaningless three as the clock expired. If only the algorithms could've been tweaked to account for such things...

Though I'm actually glad it didn't. Not that I wouldn't watch it anyway, but watching and knowing the result would've made this certainly less enjoyable, as even though it never really felt like the Bulls were going to beat the Lakers Tuesday night, it shockingly didn't feel like an impossibility either.

The Bulls certainly dished their best opening blow, shooting a crazy percentage and 31 points (the Bulls!). But Kobe Bryant had 20 on his own and the Lakers scored 31 too. Right then it was correct to be worried, and over the course of the game the Bulls reverted to their cruddy shooting percentage and offensive inefficiency.

But they did certainly bring more effort than they had against much worse opponents, most evident on the offensive glass, headlined by Noah's incredible 14 rebounds on that end (20 overall). Noah was all over the Lakers less-mobile frontcourt tonight, another achievement in his season, possibly the lone undeniable bright spot for the Bulls in the year so far.

Other solid nights from Brad Miller, Derrick Rose (who came back from an early rib(?) injury and exploited the Lakers poor defensive PGs) and Kirk Hinrich, who managed to make me think of his defense as simultaneously underrated for the way he guarded Kobe Bryant, yet overrated because it didn't matter. Bryant's game is so refined, and any further praise is better left to those watching him more, as I'm guessing we only got a sample. And while the Bulls would try help, the passes and movement (real 'ball movement', not the wing-it-around-the-perimeter-hot-potato-until-the-clock-runs-out stuff the Bulls do) would also make them pay, though an awful shooting night from Ron Artest and a fairly passive (though give Noah credit for this) night from Pau Gasol made the pain much less than the usual Lakers dominance.

And sure, if the Bulls played like this every night they may have won more games up until now. But while they (I dunno, someone's said it somewhere) say shooting can slump but effort doesn't, effort undoubtedly isn't there for all 82 games. It can't be, and the franchise's unreasonable reliance on it for success keeps them from being as good as the teams the rely on talent.

It does indicate that the Bulls haven't completely given up on VDN. They're still a professional group, and while it means they're not tanking games before they step on the court, they also know within a game when they don't have it. Tonight they started hot and stayed close. But we can't expect any trend to come of it, as the effort wouldn't always need to be there if they were a better assembled and coached team.

A couple random things that bugged me:

I'm going over old territory, but why does Neil Funk insist on ripping players from opposing teams? I'm all for making fun of the less fortunate or able (in basketball, and in life!), but the Bulls are one of the worst teams in the league. Pau Gasol is miles better than any player the team has had in 10 years. Yet they spent the whole game ripping his play. Can't they instead laud Joakim Noah for doing what he did against great players like Gasol? Neil Funk sucks and he's blind. (alright, I did like him and King using Kobe's performance to further rip dancin' Lebron)
Shannon Brown had a nice game, giving token pressure to Rose and shooting perfect from the field, ranging from a 3-pointer to a thunderous breakaway dunk. I won't fully commit a 'why couldn't my favorite sports team keep that guy they once had who is now good on another team!' rant, but it is a bit annoying that the Bulls couldn't even give him (even though he was an impending free agent) more than a 22 minute tryout during a completely lost season. A real Org. during such a year tells bozo interim coaches to play guys like this over Larry Hughes.

Back-to-Back Preview: Bulls and Bucks

DexterFishmore — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:30:20 -0000

The United States has an unemployment rate of 10%, yet Vinny Del Negro still receives a paycheck for coaching the Chicago Bulls. This is called market failure. Anyone outraged over Goldman Sachs bonuses should reroute a little populist anger toward Coach Vinny, as no one in America gets paid more for so little achievement. He's turned Derrick Rose and a bunch of other guys you've actually heard of into one of the suckiest teams in the league.

He'll be fired soon if there's even a tincture of sanity in this world, but luckily for Lakers fans it won't be until after tonight's game. The Lake Show kicks off a back-to-back at the United Center against the woeful Bulls, followed tomorrow by a visit to the Milwaukee Bucks. With their loss on Sunday to Utah, the Lakers ceded the league's best record to the Boston Celtics, who've been masterful at taking care of business on the road. There's a little urgency here for the Lakers to keep up, lest they start falling behind in the race for playoff home-court advantage.

These games really do matter.

Tonight: Chicago

Let's start with a basic truth about the Bulls: they're awful. Their record of 8-14 belies the true depths of their badness. They're 28th in the league in net points per game, ahead of only New Jersey and Minnesota. Over their last five games they've been outscored by an incredible 0.18 points per possession. This stretch includes two separate home losses by more than 25 points, a 35-point road loss to Atlanta and a home loss to the Nets. The only win in the last five was an overtime home victory over Golden State.

Girlfriend, please.

Word around the league is the team has quit on Del Negro, and the numbers won't tell you otherwise. Despite having the prodigiously talented Rose at the controls, the offense ranks 28th. They run hardly anything resembling a planned system. Most of their "plays" are either half-assed pick-and-rolls, or flattened 1-4 sets that ask Rose to improvise off the dribble. They don't get to the line and they're some of the worst shooters in the league. Other than that they're awesome.

Rose, in his second season, is regressing under Del Negro's non-guidance. His turnovers are up over his rookie year, and every other of his offensive metrics are down. He's made only one three-pointer in eight attempts. As a defender he's just terrible, lacking the ability to stay in front of any half-decent point guard. Derek Fisher isn't going to blow by him, of course, but Jordan Farmar certainly could.

Rose, in his defense, is getting less than zero help from his teammates. Starting shooting guard John Salmons has a True Shooting Percentage of 48%; keep that up over the long haul, son, and you're out of the league. He's made 33% of his threes this year, which isn't at all good but actually makes him the Bulls' best perimeter threat. That role you'd think would fall to Kirk Hinrich, but he's having a nightmarish campaign in terms of both injuries and performance. Hinrich has missed his last 13 long-distance attempts.

Up front, there's a little more for the Lakers to worry about, but only a little. Luol Deng is back at small forward after missing the playoffs to injury last year. He's OK, but it's hard to look at his performance and remember why we all once considered him a lynchpin to a possible Kobe Bryant trade. Something tells me if that trade had gone through it would not be viewed fondly by either Lakers fans or Kobe Bryant.

During tonight's broadcast you'll hear at least a few times that Taj Gibson is having a "promising rookie year." This is a stretch, and even that's putting it generously. Gibby has certainly played a fair amount, about 25 minutes a night, but his output hasn't been anything special. He's been turnover happy, he's not a good passer and he hasn't scored efficiently. Also, he's two years older than Andrew Bynum, so please don't think he's bursting with Ridiculous Upside.

If there's a bright spot in Chicago's season so far, it's been Joakim Noah. He has a fun-to-watch all-around game and is rounding into one of the NBA's better centers. With his length and bounciness, you'd think he's one of the few opposing centers who could cause problems for Bynum. Recently, though, both Chris Bosh and Brook Lopez have had big offensive numbers against Noah, so I'm hopeful Drew will rock and roll as usual. When the Lakers beat the Bulls in November, 108 to 93, Drew and Pau Gasol combined for 35 points.

(I pause here to remind everyone that Joakim, whatever his quirks and limitations, did call LeBron a bitch to his face. That alone earns him some affection in these parts.)

Brad Miller and rook James Johnson provide "depth" in the frontcourt, but not really. Miller has fallen off steeply, and Johnson doesn't look ready for The Show yet. Also off the bench we'll see a little Jannero Pargo, who's always fun. He likes to shoot a lot, which shouldn't be confused with being any good at it.

On Saturday the Celtics visited the United Center and won by 26. With Kobe still hurting the Lakers aren't likely to run it up to the same extent, but a comfortable, 15-point W is a reasonable expectation. The goals tonight should be to get the three-point game working again (after shooting 3 for 21 in Utah) and make quick work of a demoralized, fractured opponent. That would give the starters plenty of rest for....

Tomorrow Night: Milwaukee

It's always heated when the Lakers and Bucks face off. That's to be expected when one city has stolen Penny Marshall from the other. There's also the Lew Alcindor thing, but it's mostly about Penny. Milwaukeeans have forgiven... but not forgotten.

The Bucks don't have an obvious talent edge on the Bulls, but they do have the advantage of a coach who's not grossly incompetent. Scott Skiles, true to his rep, has forged a strong D in Milwaukee where just a couple seasons ago was one of the worst in the league. The Bucks rank seventh in defensive efficiency thanks to an aggressive scheme that forces turnovers prolifically.

On Wednesday night Skiles will run waves of big and athletic wing defenders at Kobe. Starters Carlos Delfino and Ersan Ilyasova and reserve Luc Richard Mbah a Moute are all capable or better and are likely to alternate shifts on Mamba Duty. The Laker ballhandlers will need to pay close attention to securing the rock - I'm looking at you, Ron Artest - but fortunately that's been a team strength this year. The turnovers that Milwaukee generates, in any event, come at the cost of a wickedly high foul rate.

The Lake Show bigs will face some combination of Andrew Bogut, Ilyasova, Hakim Warrick and Mbah a Moute. No pushovers in that group, no Eddie Curries, but also nobody that should really bother either Bynum or Gasol. Bogut has the size but not the agility, the other three vice versa.

The Bucks' offense is more a work in progress. The big story this season, as you don't need me to tell you, has been Brandon Jennings, who's like Derrick Rose was last year but better. After his 55-point detonation back in November, Jennings cooled off for a bit. The last two games, though, he's looked rejuvenated as he led his teams to wins over Toronto and Portland. He has a rare ability to get his lefty shot off against anyone along with great range (even if his 45% percentage on threes is very unlikely to hold up). He's moreover an above-average rebounder for his posishe.

Backing up Jennings is veteran Luke Ridnour, who you might be surprised to learn is having a splendido year. His True Shooting is over 60%, which he combines with a low turnover rate to make him one of the best backup PGs around. I doubt that his current performance level is sustainable, but give the guy credit for showing renewed verve in the summer of his career.

For most of the season the Bucks' starting shooting guard has been Charlie Bell. In Saturday's game, however, Charlie got the DNP-CD despite seeming to be in good health. I was about to research why he got benched when I remembered my favorite Andrew Bogut Video:

After watching it three more times and laughing heartily, I forgot all about Charlie Bell. Is he going to play tomorrow? Let's watch and find out together!

The Lakers should have Milwaukee solidly outgunned, but between the Denver and Utah games they haven't really blown us away with their performance in back-to-backs. It's time to fix that. There are plenty of back-to-backs on the horizon, so the Lakers need to get in the habit of sustaining that Night One energy across two games.

The honor of Penny Marshall demands it.

	Lakers	Bulls	Bucks
*RECORD*	18-4	8-14	11-11
*NET POINTS PER GAME*	+8.5 (2nd)	-8.6 (28th)	+0.9 (14th)
*PACE*	94.9 (8th)	91.8 (21st)	93.4 (11th)
*OFFENSIVE RATING*	108.5 (11th)	98.0 (28th)	104.2 (24th)
Turnover Rate (Off.)	12.8% (4th)	13.9 (16th)	13.0 (7th)
FTA/FGA (Off.)	0.266 (26th)	0.274 (24th)	0.227 (30th)
Free-Throw %	75.4 (14th)	73.2 (22nd)	73.7 (1st)
Effective FG% (Off.)	50.1 (13th)	44.6 (29th)	48.9 (20th)
True Shooting% (Off.)	53.9 (16th)	48.8 (29th)	52.0 (26th)
Off Rebounding Rate	28.0% (10th)	28.7% (7th)	25.5% (22nd)
*DEFENSIVE RATING*	99.7 (2nd)	107.4 (19th)	103.3 (7th)
Turnover Rate (Def.)	14.6% (11th)	12.9% (24th)	15.9% (3rd)
FTA/FGA (Def.)	0.262 (2nd)	0.282 (8th)	0.328 (30th)
Effective FG% (Def.)	46.0 (1st)	49.3 (15th)	49.6 (17th)
True Shooting% (Def.)	50.3 (1st)	53.0 (9th)	54.9 (20th)
Def Rebounding Rate	72.4% (21st)	71.4% (26th)	76.2% (3rd)

All statistical terms defined here. Parentheses indicate league rankings. Numbers are courtesy of Basketball Prospectus and HoopData and, except for record and net points per game, are through Sunday night's action.

Rose and Vinny on Rose's role

your friendly BullsBlogger — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:26:59 -0000

More McGraw (as if there could be such a thing!) after Monday's practice, displaying the two most important influences on Rose's game.

Rose himself:

People are saying they want me to shoot more, but I’m the point guard, I can’t do that. I’ve got to pass the ball to people and get them open. So taking over as a point guard is getting people open and shooting it here and there. If I was the two guard, it would be something else. That’s just not my game right now.

And his first NBA coach:

Asked the same question, coach Vinny Del Negro’s first response was, "What do you think?" in sort of an "isn't it obvious we want him to take over" manner.

Del Negro went on to talk about how it’s a learning process for a young point guard; he wants him to be aggressive, but also set up teammates, etc. He added a line that was interesting.

"There are other areas Derrick will continue to improve in that are probably more important than that," Del Negro said.

Doug over at ChicagoNow says that Rose is shooting plenty of shots, just not doing what it takes (namely drawing contact) to maximize his efficiency. I suppose, but even when there are stretches where Rose is shooting plenty (of floaters), there are too many others where he's happy to just drift through the game.

(and if Rose is to eventually be the all-NBA superstar type, shouldn't there be one 40-point, 28 shot outburst in his early career?)

Is that something that can be coached out of him? I can't say for sure, it probably can be learned, but also a certain personality is required to recognize and embrace that the best way for your team to succeed ( especially if your team is full of overmatched teammates) is to be unabashedly selfish.

The Bulls have to continue to develop Rose and best foster this particular improvement, and as VDN says, improving many other facets as well. We expected a leap in production: getting to the line more, increased range on the jumper, passable defense...has any of this happened? The ankle injury slowed him for the start of the season, but we're 20 games in , and the explosion is there to see in enough of his spectacular plays to make me write that off as an ongoing excuse.

If the Org.'s mantra since winning the lottery was that Rose is #1 priority, then it follows that there are grounds for VDN to be fired if only to try and give Rose some better developmental coaching. Because right now I can't argue that he looks much different than when he entered the league.

Celtics Rolling

Jeff Clark — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:13:05 -0000

I just enjoyed this take on the game last night by Kelly Dwyer.

Behind the Box Score, where the C's outclassed the Bulls

The Celtics played a smarter, sounder, more expansive and better-studied brand of ball in Saturday night's win. Without ever appearing as if they were toying with Chicago, the Celtics just ran its offense to near-perfection, finding open men and options galore as the Bulls flailed away.