SB Nation User Blog: MPG

A New Development in the Story of Rose:

MPG — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:03:45 -0000

teams are gameplanning him. For three nights now - at Portland, Golden State and Denver - the singular goal of their defenses was to stop Derrick. The strategy thus far is simple: double team hard, and as far from the hoop as necessary. Do what you have to get the ball out of his hands. And while it's cool that teams have decided, this early in his career, that Rose is a player worth gameplanning (you don't see, for instance, teams worrying in the same way about Mayo or Beasley), it also provides a unique challenge. He never saw this at Memphis, and in high school the talent divide was such that it didn't matter what defenses did. This is a new thing he's facing - elite athletes, several, who are bent on getting the ball out of his hands. He's getting the star treatment, and it's kinda cool.

But now it's time to for VDN to adjust. That's right - I'm asking him to "coach".

The reason is simple - it's a risky, bad defense to double that hard and that far from the basket. One play demonstrates what I'm talking about. Rose was doubled in no-man's land, Nocioni cuts to the top of the key. Easy pass to Noc. Noc, in the middle of the floor, has easy passes to one of three players spaced around the perimeter. There are only two players remaining to defend. Simple pass to wide open Hunter; and the three pointer is good.

Easy passes made easy by one cut. One. Every person who played high school basketball on this forum has made that cut, and seen those options open up literally hundreds times. For most of us, that cut and those passes are muscular memory by now. It's why teams don't try that b.s. with Nash, Parker, or CP3 - they know that they'll get torched.

The other option, of course, is this.

Noah's a superb player to make that cut. He's a big target, got good hands, good vision, and if the perimeter is well spaced he just has to beat one man for the dunk. Surrounded by good perimeter shooters like Gordon, Noc, Deng, and even Gooden, teams would have no choice but to go back to a soft-double, or no double at all, in which case Derrick can go back to killing them.

It's on VDN. He's at the helm, manning the wheel. Teams have adjusted to his offense, the famed GDG (go Derrick go), and now it's up to him to adjust in turn.

It's a simple play, too. Any experienced coach would know that.

Now, 2010 Makes Sense

MPG — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:47:12 -0000

Superstars want three things: money, a market, and a chance to win it all. I'd like to suggest that, in the summer of 2010, no team in the NBA will be able to offer more of what's good than your Chicago Bulls.

Let's look at the competition. New York will spend money, as always, and it's the best city in the world if money is never an issue. But the Knicks stink. There's not one star on that team, unless you count Starbury, and nobody except Starbury does. The Lakers will be capped out with their own formidable big three. And New Jersey: good God just go to New Jersey. Go to the Izod center. That stadium and those fans are awful. Unless the Nets move to Brooklyn, which is looking increasingly doubtful, they can't offer nearly the package of place and players that the Bulls can. Which is this:

Max money, enormous marketing opportunities, and the opportunity to play with one of the best young players in the game. Excellent role players - Deng and Gordon - entering their prime. An amazing city to live in.

Hello, Chris Bosh.

The Bulls need to position themselves now. The best part is, they can do so while still winning. Trade Hinrich for Brad Miller. Trade Nocioni and Sefolosha for Al Harrington. Take Gooden's expiring deal and use it to sign Gordon. The tandem of Noah and Miller up front would be better than anything we have now, and playing with a credible big man will only accelerate Rose's growth. That team would be a rising playoff team in the improved East, making the Bulls even more attractive to the likes of Bosh, Wade, Dirk...you know the drill.

Then, in 2010, you'd have Harrington, Hughes and Miller coming off the books. That's thirty million dollars. That's a prime free agent and, to my way of thinking, a championship-caliber team.

Free-agency was never an option for the Bulls before. They didn't have a star to play alongside - Derrick Rose is in the process of changing that. They had a meddling, slightly creepy GM - Pax changed that. They had an egomaniacal coach with a reputation for being a hardass - now VDN's in town. Almost completely by accident, the Bulls have stumbled into being the most attractive destination for the marquee players that, to the best of my knowledge, they've never considered.

Thank you, ping-pong-balls. Let's hope Pax shows his gratitude by turning on his blue-tooth, getting off his ass, doing his job and making a deal.

Bulls-Blazers Trade

MPG — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:08:47 -0000

Hello all,

Long time Blogabull poster here, and a fan of the city of Portland. I'm sorry to hear about Oden, but encouraged that the injury isn't serious - the kid is a future star, no doubt about it. On to the potential trade:

The Bulls roster is a mess. We have too many point guards, too many power forwards, and no established shooting guards or centers. You guys have two terrific shooting guards and no established point guard. You've also got an enormous talent in Jerryd Bayless who's riding the pine for lack of playing time. If you saw that kid at Arizona, you know that needs to be rectified. You've also got a superb post scorer in LMA (a pox upon you, Pritchard) who doesn't rebound that much (well maybe not a pox, exactly). The Oden plan to complement him with a strong rebounder/defender is a good one. Unfortunately, it may not work this year due to injuries - and the lack of conditioning those injuries cause.

How about Kirk Hinrich and Drew Gooden for Rudy Fernandez, Raef and Steve Blake?

Here's my reasoning: a three guard rotation of Hinrich, Brandon Roy and Jerryd Bayless would be one of the best in the league. You'd have an excellent ballhandler/defender in Kirk, an all-around star in Roy, and tons of scoring punch off the bench in Bayless. Jerryd is a combo guard - so let him get tick playing behind both Hinrich and Roy. Sergio could get spot minutes - which is more than he'll be getting as it is.

In terms of down low, I think Gooden would complement LMA pretty well. He's a great rebounder, strong, and can knock down jumpshots when teams try to double LaMarcus. Then, when Oden comes back, he can slide into a backup role. Best of all: next season, when Greg is ready to dominate, you don't have to pay Gooden. His contract is up after this year.

It helps the Bulls in two ways. First, Kirk's gotta go - while he's a very good point, he's not a good two guard, and the Bulls' point guard for the next decade or so is Derrick Rose. Secondly, we're probably losing Ben Gordon next year. We need a two who can complement Derrick - and that means somebody you can run and shoot from long range. Rudy can do both.

Anyhow, good luck to you all. It's easy to like the Blazers - exciting youth and a paucity of jerks. It should be an exciting season (for both teams).

I just want to be consistent," Thomas said. "If I play hard every night, I'm capable of at least...

MPG — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:13:53 -0000

I just want to be consistent," Thomas said. "If I play hard every night, I'm capable of at least double-digit rebounding.

"My shot is falling right now and I'm getting some offensive touches, but I'm not a prolific scorer. My rebounding should always be there. That's just effort.

"My big thing last year was mentally not wanting to make mistakes. I tried to be perfect. Now I can play hard and focus on each play at a time and not try to do too much. The coaches are showing confidence in me."

Tyrus Thomas showing some self-awareness in today's Trib

Trade of the Day (Bulls/Bobcats)

MPG — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:12:09 -0000

The Bobcats are screwed in the front office and the front court. They've got big money allocated to redundant players (Wallace and Richardson), no power forward, and two pseudo pointguards - both of whom happen to be bad. Augustin has been physically outclassed during the preseason and will continue to be during the regular season; they view Felton as a combo guard, otherwise they wouldn't have drafted Augustin. Confused? So are they.

The upshot is, we're here to help. We still love you, MJ, so we'd like to send you not only a point guard with the grittiness Larry Brown loves, but a real-life power forward and a shiny new draft pick, too.

How about this trade? (That's Kirk, Gooden, Gray, and a #1 for Richardson and Nazr Mohammed for those who don't want to follow the link.)

Why it helps Charlotte from a basketball point of view

First of all, they need a power forward, and an Okafor/Gooden pairing could actually be one of the better combos in the east. Emeka's strength is defending the basket and scoring a little from the post; Gooden is a good rebounder and jump-shooter.

Secondly, it improves them at the point. They've shown in numerous ways that they don't view Felton as the answer, and I don't blame them. Augustin is going to be better served as a mighty-mouse type off the bench, somewhere between Eddie House and Ben Gordon on that spectrum. A Hinrich and Felton backcourt wouldn't be bad because Hinrich could guard twos (as he's shown), and it would allow them to slide Felton into the slot they want him to play, anyway. Hinrich is also a Larry Brown type player. He's a grind-it-out-and-play-tough-D point, not a sprint-downcourt-with-your-hair-on-fire point. In a word, he fits.

Why it helps Charlotte from a front office of view

Money. Filthy lucre. The Bobcats not only have poor attendance and TV revenue, they've allocated their cap space terribly. They're paying Nazr Mohammed six million a year to impersonate Emeka Okafor for ten minutes a game. They're paying Richardson 12 million over the next three years to be the run-the-floor 2 they don't want, but already have (in Wallace). This would give them a boatload of expiring deals next year (Gooden, Felton, Morrison, May) to pursue free agents, and a potential lottery pick.

It's time to start over for the Bobcats. They've paid big money to players who are never going to win. Picks and capspace are the way to go because occasionally those draft picks do work out beautifully.

I'll now wipe the shit-eating grin from my face.

Why it helps the Bulls from a basketball point of view

Richardson fits us for the same reasons he doesn't fit the Bobcats. He is so good when he's running the floor, as he did in Golden State. He also would give us something we don't have: some post scoring. To the best of my knowledge there's no rule that states a big man has to be your on-the-block scorer. Lastly, he shoots a respectable 41% from 3, so he'll be able to take advantage of those wide-open looks that Rose gets him.

In other words, he might be the M2GWCSAD.

In terms of the interior, Nazr could really help. We're light inside, and so bigger, stronger dudes just kill us. Noah can't handle them. Nazr could. He also brings a little nastiness to the floor, which I think we need. No team is complete without a war daddy.

Why it helps the Bulls financially

It doesn't, and it means we've seen the last of Gordon, which may be a mistake. My point is this: the Bulls should go for it. Not in 2010, now. Get the best players you can, give Rose the ball, and run. It's expensive, yes, but only a little more so than what Hinrich was giving you to essentially back up Rose. And six million a year isn't too bad for a backup of Nazr's quality.

* * *

Of course, there are numerous caveats. Richardson needs to understand that he's the second wheel to Rose, the Bobcats might be loathe to acquire a point guard after they just drafted one. And I want to see how Rose and Gordon play together before they move anybody.

The point remains, though, that the Bulls are going to have to make a move at some point, and it better be with this season, not 2010, in mind. A guard rotation of Rose, Richardson and Gordon would be dynamic, balanced, and definitely the league's most exciting. A center position with Noah and Nazr would provide 48 minutes of defense and rebounding. And by moving Gooden, we're giving the pf position to Tyrus, who's been looking great, and the backup pf minutes to Nocioni, who's meshed with Rose better than any other Bull.

It's an imperfect trade. But it would get us into the playoffs, and more importantly, the Bulls would be fun as hell to watch.

Preseason Open Game Thread #4: Bulls vs Utah Jazz

MPG — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:52:50 -0000

[I'll just promote this FanPost as today's game thread. Tonight's game will be played at Assembly Hall in Champaign, a place where I had some great memories cheering on my Alma Mater. Though not so much in the Deron Williams (the man of the hour tonight in Champaign) era ... this group was more my team. Awesome memory #1 and #2. Original FanPost is after the jump -ed.]

Tonight (7:30 CT) Assembly Hall welcomes back the finest point guard to play for the Illini in recent memory, and hopefully the finest point guard to come out of Chicago in...ever. There's a lot to be excited about tonight: the possible appearance of Ben Gordon and disappearance of Larry Hughes, more time for Joakim Noah now that he's had a few practices, and of course the general thrill of seeing (semi) pro hoops again. I'm looking for three things. First, for the defense to play with more consistent intensity, as this will go a long way to determining how quickly the Bulls play well overall. Second, I'm watching the Derrick Rose, hoping he'll show the same aggressiveness early that he does in the fourth quarter. Most importantly I'm hoping that he and his teammates continue to mesh. Imagine when Tyrus starts catching those lobs, and when Thabo realizes that, with Derrick, you can start throwing them.

Nasty.

Did I mention Larry Hughes probably won't play?

There's other cause for intrigue. Utah is at something of a crossroads this season, and has been linked to the Bulls in a few trade rumors, like most of the league. In this case, however, there's good reason; Boozer may leave after this year, and Utah may be spooked into trading him before the deadline. There's no available player who would look better in the red and white. A deadline deal of Ben Gordon, Tyrus Thomas, Gooden and number 1 for Boozer, Kyle Korver and Collins the Lesser would make me the happiest trade-nik this side of Marty Burns. Or Montgomery Burns.

A fan can dream, anyway.

Grow your beard and get to the rack

MPG — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:11:02 -0000

Was Andres Nocioni ever good?

It certainly seems like he was; I have a pretty vivid memory of the "Happy Birthday" game against the Wizards, a few improbable dunks, and a bearded madman who spooked the olympic field when Argentina won the gold in 2004. Unfortunately, I have much more recent memories of last season, when Nocioni shot 346 3-pointers (his career high) and averaged 4.2 rebounds (his career low). That's more three-point attempts than Ben Gordon, and fewer rebounds than Chris Paul has averaged over his career. Granted, I've said before that if there's one player the Bulls would benefit from trading, it's Noce. However, in light of his bad contract, I can't help wondering which Andres we'll be stuck with: the authentically-tough (and hirsute) Noce that came into the league and threw his body around, or the histrionically-tough (and clean-shaven) Noce we saw last year.

When Noce plays an ugly game, he's good; when Noce plays a pretty game, he's bad. Time for Noce to get good and ugly again.

I believe Andres is well-suited for VDN's pseudo-Phoenix sprint - if he plays power forward. The offense VDN is preaching, and that the Bulls have shown so far, is predicated on 3 things: running in transition, taking the ball to the rim, and a really fast point guard (ahem) using pick and rolls to free up outside shooters. For a 4, Andres both shoots and runs the floor exceptionally, and he can also take the ball to the rim when he sets his mind to it. Paired with Luol Deng and Ben Gordon, that's three players that shoot open set-shots at a very high clip. (Shooting and creating off the dribble is a different matter - but that's why we've got Derrick Rose.)

There's another issue at stake here. Andres succeeded at the onset of his career because his aggressive style of play was in sync the Bulls' identity. The Bulls were Team Grit. While Skiles didn't make us the league's best team, he certainly made us the most annoying - and Noce was the most annoying of the annoying.

That's changed. Last year, we weren't Team Grit anymore, and it doesn't seem like we're trying to be. Skiles' scowl has been replaced with VDN's pompadour. It's the difference between Kirk and Rose, Antonio Davis and Tyrus Thomas, and while I'll admit (happily) that the latter are exponentially more talented than the former, I'll also note that they haven't won a thing on the NBA level.

Upshot being: don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. I sincerely hope that both VDN and Paxson recognize what was good about the Skiles-Bulls, and that this new effort is to synchronize elite talent with elite effort. As such, Nocioni can be an integral part of this new team. He can back up Luol at the 3 and Tyrus at the 4, hitting open threes when Rose kicks it out, and outrunning slower 4s on the break. He can grunt, flop, draw charges, get dirty rebounds, and make other teams annoyed, out of control, and eager to go home. He can only do this, of course, if he gets ugly again.

I think he's more than capable of that.

Derrick Rose?

MPG — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 14:23:58 -0000

Does he still play for us?

Two-a-days have concluded and there hasn't been a single peep about the ostensible future of the franchise, though we do know Noah got poked in the eye, Gray is 30 lbs slimmer, and BG doesn't like being called a greedy bastard.

We also know, courtesy of the Trib, that there's a "log jam" at guard.

Thanks a lot.

Has anyone heard anything about how he's performed? Knee good or not so good?

Gordon's Next Move Revealed!

MPG — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:51:53 -0000

This from numerous, well-informed anonymous sources:

"Today it was announced that Ben Gordon, formally of the Chicago Bulls, would forgo the rest of his basketball career to dedicate himself to his numerous business ventures, foremost among them the refreshing sports/tea drink, BG7.

Said Gordon: ’I’ve always thought of myself as equal parts businessman and basketball player, and clearly the time has come to transition myself into this new and exciting role. After leading the team in scoring for the past three seasons, I’m physically exhausted, and unrewarded financially. BG-7 solves both my problems.’

This marks the end of a long and arduous negotion with Bulls management, who used the luxury tax to entrench themselves defensively. Gordon and his numerous agents went on the offensive admirably - contacting teams for sign-and-trades, looking for options overseas - but in the end the shot-clock simply expired.

Gordon said he will miss professional basketball, but not the grueling hours in the gym, or the media scrutiny it entails.

‘Bloggers, man. Smart-asses. Do they know how the market works? Do they know what it’s like to play for Scott Skiles?" After a long sip of the florescent, florally-scented sports beverage, the original BG-7 finally managed to smile. “But I’ve got a new team now. I’m set. Russians are crazy about tea.’”

Our crap for your crap: Bulls-Denver

MPG — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:17:33 -0000

Denver is done.

More importantly, they know it.

A team doesn't give away the best defensive and rebounding center in the league without essentially saying basta. Iverson and Anthony were a bad match to begin with: they both dominate the ball, they're both (oft) disinterested defenders. They've taken on hideous contracts (Kenyon Martin's right knee makes 14mil per year!) and they have little depth outside of Linas Kleiza. Worst of all: Iverson is a free agent after this year. They can't keep him, since they've got a losing formula, and they're not going to be able to replace him.

Outside of Carmelo Anthony, they're going to be left with jack.

What makes the most sense is to get what you can, complementing Anthony with players that maximize his considerable strengths and similarly glaring weaknesses. The dude can score, but he's not big on D, and he's not a ball-handling point-forward in the mold of Pippen. The ideal team would surround him with solid long-range shooters, good defenders and ball-handlers, allowing him to do what he does best - score - while keeping defenses from sagging. The other player they've committed to (for which they should be commited) is J.R. Smith. He can shoot, and dunk, but he's possibly a worse defender than Michael Redd - at least the pre-Skiles version - and he's another crappy ballhandler.

Take into account the fact that they have a considerable savings from the Camby giveaway, and you see where I'm going with this.

Let's send Hinrich, Nocioni, Larry Hughes, and Drew Gooden to Denver for Allen Iverson and Kenyon Martin: http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=1711~1981~356~2456~366~515&teams=7~7~7~7~4~4&te=&cash=

Here's why I think it helps Denver:

They get a defensive minded ball-handler who compensates for the gunners they apparently love. They get a solid perimeter shooter and tough guy to add to their lack of depth. They get a rebounder to fill the (gaping!) void caused by Camby's departure. In short, they get viable, good-but-not-great, young players to surround their star with instead of a collection of aging, soon-to-depart mercenaries. Back in the good old Skiles-days a common BaB refrain was that "if we could just add a superstar" to our hardworking core, they would be superb. I still believe this was the case, and I believe it would be the case if we added the role-players to the superstar instead of vice-versa. Denver should, too.

So why should we want these "aging, soon-to-depart mercenaries?"

For one, Iverson is soon to depart. They same commitments we made to Hinrich and Nocioni - reasonable if you've got a star to build around - are unreasonable for us when our supposed "stars" (Derrick Rose and Luol Deng, apparently) happen to play the same positions as your role players. And I'd prefer to have one bad contract for 3 years (KMart's) than two bad contracts for 4 and 5.

Secondly, it saves us 3 million this year to sign Ben Gordon. I still think the man can play. And I think he can play exceptionally when paired with a point guard that nobody can stay in front of. There's a reason both Utah and New Orleans have been sending out feelers for BG. Because BG + a great point could be deadly. I mean, even Morris Peterson isn't bad when paired with Chris Paul.

Morris Peterson!

Third, Iverson can still ball, especially from the shooting guard position. We need an elite scorer, unlike Denver. Even if he just happens to score for us during the lag year before Derrick Rose grows into his game.

Four, it gets rid of Larry Hughes. Kenyon Martin could back up Tyrus at the four more effectively than Larry Hughes could...be...Larry Hughes.

Five, it gets Thabo minutes backing up Deng at the position he's best - sf. Then, after the departure of Iverson, he moves into a more central role.

That leaves the two teams with:

Rose......................................................Hinrich

Iverson/Gordon....................................J.R. Smith/Hughes

Deng/Sefo.............................................Anthony/Kleiza

Thomas/Martin.....................................Gooden/Nocioni

Noah.......................................................Nene

I'd say it's long-term improvment for both teams. Will Denver take a step backward this year? Undoubtedly. But they took that step already.

Problems abound, of course. Iverson may be just the Sith lord for young Derrick Rose, whose managed the supremely difficult feat of being absurdly talented without turning into a jackass. Denver may be playing the free agent 2010 sweepstakes. K-Mart might beat up Noah, and Hinrich might turn into a top point guard, leaving us feeling like jerks. But there's this: the Rose/Iverson backcourt might be flawed, but it would be the NBA's most exciting.

After last year, we deserve that much.