I am a fan of Scott Skiles, and I think that he is the best coach this team could ask for. He has brought out their grit, their hustle, their energy, all of those words that Matt absolutely despises. Quantitatively, he has made them into the best defensive team in the land even with some serious defensive question marks in the lineup.

But I worry that he might have Jerry Sloan disease.
Remember Greg Ostertag? He was a center for the Jazz teams with Stockton and Malone, and any burn he got was too much, because he might be the worst player to ever play in the NBA. But, because he sucked, he played really hard, and Sloan likes that. Same for John Amaechi: before he came out, he was known as another slow, unathletic, tall guy that Sloan gave too much PT to.

Obviously, PJ Brown isn't Greg Ostertag. But the predilection Skiles has shown for him (and, to a lesser extent, Noc and Du) over Thabo and Tyrus is troubling. The older guys play smarter, because they've been around more often, and make fewer mistakes. But their potential for doing amazing things is infinitesimal compared to Ty and Thabo's, and they aren't going to take over games.

Sloan never won a title in large part because he refused to play those high-risk, high-reward players.

What do you think? Can Skiles break out of this habit?

Continuing my tradition of random blog posts in the middle of important Bull-related episodes (also my effort to block this series out of my mind):

Does anyone else see a possible correlation between Brown and Duhon?
Both were starting point guards for NCAA Title contenders (Brown for Illinois, Duhon for Duke, where he actually won one).
Both played with more highly-touted, NBA-ready teammates (Deron Williams, Luther Head for Brown; Carlos Boozer, Jay Williams, Luol Deng for Duhon).
Both were thought to be college-only PGs who wouldn't translate to the NBA.
Both fell to the 2nd round, picked up by smart GMs.
Now, Duhon has established himself (cover your eyes, Matt) as a solid backup PG/emergency starter. And with Brown's performance tonight, I would not be surprised if he became a poor man's Leandro Barbosa, with an emphasis on dishing instead of scoring. (Hope he's not hurt too badly, btw. That collision looked nasty.)

I am of the opinion, like most others here, that the Bulls should sell high on Duhon this summer. And as terrible as he sometimes looked, I can think of at least 5 teams in need of a real PG (Atlanta, Cleveland, Lakers, Miami, Orlando) for whom Duhon would be an upgrade.

As a long-time Illinois fan, I pray Brown has a similar career arch. I'll never understand why more teams weren't interested in drafting him.

I know that, as Bulls fans, we love to bitch (legitimately) that no one gives us any love. That's true: every single article is about how the Heat are reeling, as if they're doing it to themselves, but are confident. Thorpe even said "Now win one on the road" (no link). But... we haven't PLAYED one on there road yet.

Anyways, we do have a beef, but it is NOTHING compared to poor Toronto. After the first game, where the Nets won, roughly 90% of the media handed the series to New Jersey, even though they poo-pooed Denver and Golden State winning. As much as I think that conspiracy "East Coast Bias" is silly, there is DEFINITELY a more complicated bias going on here. A combination of a Bigger Market/Bigger Star bias and a dislike (or, maybe, distrust) of up-and-coming teams.
Chicago has no stars and have rather paltry playoff history, but Toronto has it worse, in a small (Canadian) market, with no playoff experience and a second-tier star. And they're going up against a big market, star-laden, experienced team in the Nets.

So in solidarity with our Canadian brothers-in-arms, Go Raptors.

Matt:

I've said this before: watching the Bulls play in New Jersey just plain sucks.

The 10 game losing streak in that building doesn't help. The Nets team is boring, the stadium is usually half-empty and depressing-looking. The fact that it's a road game makes it non-HD picture (not to mention the sound quality) which always makes the viewing experience crap.

But wait, tonight's game is on ESPN? For some reason that makes me feel less nervous. The place should be somewhat energized, the Nets need this game nearly as much as the Bulls to guarantee them a more favorable matchup.

Cavs beat reporter Brian Windhorst relays the idea that this is the most important game of the post-dynasty Bulls. He acknowledges that game 5 in Miami (who are rooting for the Bulls, btw) last season may be a bit more important, but this is definitely a biggie.

Just win.

More on the seeing implications below, from Chalkwhite.

Continue reading this post »

Yay for commercials. I put this in the game thread for the Pistons game, and I got the link from TrueHoop, but everyone should take a look at:
http://bothteamsplayedhard.net/
They've got a list of the best basketball ads. Michael Jordan, as you can imagine, is ubiquitous.

And number one gives me goosebumps every time I watch it.

Enjoy.