SB Nation User Blog: Prevenge

Game Preview # 6: Bulls vs Charlotte Bobcats

Prevenge — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:43:09 -0000

[Thanks to Prevenge for today's game preview. -ed.]

Which Team will get over 80?

Today, at 8 EST [probably a bit later, because of the nature of NBA games], the Chicago Bulls, currently first in the Central Division [thanks, Shaq!], face the Charlotte Bobcats in what promises to be the best basketball matchup this side of the Bulls-Bucks game.

That is to say, it's going to be awful.

Bobcats vs Bulls preview

If you're interested, here's the preview from the Charlotte fan's point of view. [That guy really likes our players. This is probably a bad sign for the Bobcats.]

Positional breakdown:

As everyone here knows already, Tyrus Thomas fractured his forearm. This would be a serious blow to the Bulls if Tyrus had played more than 20 minutes a game. As-is, imagine Tyrus sitting on the bench during all the pivotal moments of the game, and you'll get pretty much the same effect.

Who's starting in his place? Well, obviously Taj Gibson, the best PF that averages 11 and 7 ever - according to Bulls coaches. Luckily for Taj, he's up against Boris Diaw, who is slightly more temperamental than TT and will have games where he explodes for 26 points and a bunch of assists, and games where he has 0-for's. Hopefully Diaw has one of those games where he forgets what day it is, generally sleeps out at the three point line, and does nothing. The Rise of Taj indeed.

Other matchups:

Gerald Wallace vs. Luol Deng: Wallace normally would win this one running away [not only is he good, but Deng would be on the bench!], but Deng's had a pair of good performances and looks to be fully recovered from the stress fracture that had him playing so poorly in the preseason and last year before he shut it down. Hopefully this continues. He didn't exactly 'shut down' LeBron, but he stopped him on the last possession, and LeBron's stats were only 25 points [on 17 shots], 7 assists, and 6 rebounds.

... LeBron is good at basketball.

Where was I? Oh yeah. Gerald Wallace actually had a 20/20 game, much like Deng, earlier this season. He's more athletic than Deng, but ... they're both good. Seems like a draw to me.

Derrick Rose vs. Raymond Felton: We should [hopefully] see Rose continue to assert himself more after the Cleveland game. Felton's a decent defender, but he's not too large, and his sub Augustine is even shorter. Hopefully Rose's new dedication to defense will come through, too, those there may not be a need for it - Felton's a notoriously bad outside shooter.

John Salmons vs. Whoever the Bobcats are starting: As long as Salmons doesn't continue to shoot 3-for-15 [or whatever], we should have this matchup in the bag, at least. Who are the Bobcats starting? This guy ... I don't have any idea who he is. S. Graham, says ESPN. Here's a link to his ESPN stats page. He went 6-for-9 against the Knicks, but then went 2-for-11 against Boston. Not so good.

Joakim Noah vs. Tyson Chandler: It's like Joakim Noah ... vs. himself! Only if he went through a foot injury, and then didn't come back playing as well as before. Hopefully Noah wins this, but it could go either way ... though for my part, I'm going to be optimistic. Chandler hasn't played as well as he did pre-injury, and he seems on the way down, while Noah added an extremely awkward-looking but effective hook shot to his repertoire [and is 4-for-5 on jumpers! How did that happen?].

Well. Should we win this? Will we win this?

Well, let's see. Looking at the ESPN stats page, I noticed one thing about both of these teams: We're both 3-2, and yet we both have a negative points for to points against differential! I was going to call this differential the 'suck differential', but basketbawful already took that. So ... let's just say fail differential.

Charlotte has a fail differential of 2.2, while we have a fail differential of a staggering 5.2. Why? Well, look at that Bucks-Bulls game earlier. We've won two of our three games by two points or less. [Thanks, LeBron, for throwing your team's last chance to win into the stands, then whining for a foul call. Chicago salutes you ... almost as much as we salute Shaq.]

Oh, one other thing: Charlotte's on the second half of a back-to-back. I've heard those are bad for teams.

But ... before making a prediction, let me pull out the Magic 8-Ball of NBA Predictive Genius:

Will we win this basketball game?

Why?

Oh! Magic 8-Ball, I think I know what you're talking about: Look at the Boston Celtics fail differential for both teams!

The Bobcats have a fail differential of 33 against the Celtics!

Meanwhile, we only have a fail differential of 28!

Therefore, we're going to win. By 5. The Bobcats, despite their inability to score, also don't like letting other people score [they're real buzzkills ...], so ... I'll say 90 to 85. So the answer to the first question I asked in the title is [predictively] both teams, through some miracle of providence I can't even begin to try and appreciate.

Let's hope Taj does well in Tyrus's absence, even though Tyrus should have been playing more before he fell victim to a series of cataclysmic events [obviously brought to fruition by an evil spy agency]. Hey, we may even see some James Johnson this game! [I won't, since I'm working through the day ... but it would be cool to see him play more than 2 minutes a game, even through a box score.]

Oh, yeah, and Michael Jordan owns the Bobcats. ... Egghhhh. Let's forget I even mentioned that, OK?

*is now pretending MJ's post-basketball "career" didn't exist.*

Go Bulls!

Kirk Hinrich's Golf Tournament - over, some barely new info

Prevenge — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:38:13 -0000

More after the thing Brad Miller can't do.

So yeah. Kirk Hinrich had this golf tournament, see:

http://www.ktiv.com/global/story.asp?s=10747040

and now ... it's over. Yeah. Nick Collison apparently went and has amazing stories, like having Brad Miller bid on a Chris Duhon autographed jersey for $800 with his bid card. There's talk about him and Chris battling it out for 'second-worst NBA golfer', and then silence. I'm thinking he lost and then bought the jersey himself just so he'd have a memento of the one NBA golfer better than him but worse than everybody else, neh?

Also, on decorations:"I dare u to go into any establishment in sioux city and not see a kirk hinrich autographed jersey."

The event was the reason Hinrich had that chat where they typed with epileptic keyboards recently. I was looking for results, but apparently the internet doesn't have everything. Not even Kirk Hinrich's unofficial website had it! [Then again, they stopped updating around march, it appears.]

Kirk Hinrich's [theoretically] official website is on even worse times, ouch.

The same Sioux City newspaper that ran every other story about him confirms: it is indeed over. Makes no mention of who won, though it lists a couple people and says ... other worthless stuff. I don't know. Kirk's best round of golf ever was an 89.

May we live in interesting times. ...

Hope this makes the offseason go by a tad quicker!

Luol Deng, playing for Great Britain

Prevenge — Mon, 25 May 2009 05:10:41 -0000

Story originally found here, but that links to here if you don't want to click through.

Who's ready for more injuries next season? Yay!

...

Additionally, Doug Thonus ran a story much like this one a day and four hours ago on that site that's not live yet. chicagonow.com. I'd put a link but I don't know how ... great that would be.

Since this has only been reported on Thonus's website in a couple places [a forum post and blog post: and in Thonus's case he poo-poohs it a lot] and the website linked above, I'm not sure if it's entirely accurate, but the sources seem trustworthy.

The Bulls: Are they pirates or ninjas?

Prevenge — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:00:55 -0000

Several exhaustive end-of-season profiles of the Bulls have already been written – see the excellent 'End-of-season awards' post by T-boogie, or the post by rainman. I was struck, however, by the way that these profiles ignored what is perhaps the most important and involving question of these playoffs:

Are the Bulls pirates, or ninjas?

Oh, laugh if you must! But this question is one of the gravest importance. For only those who are ninjas have the perseverance and commitment in the off-season required to come back in the next stronger than ever before ... but only those who are pirates share the rock and get open shots.

Since the Bulls are a collection of players instead of a team [and nowhere is this more evident than when watching them play “offence” or “defence”], I'll analyze their affiliations individually before giving a final observation of how they play as a team.

Where better to start than Derrick Rose? Rose is the golden child – the captain of the ship at this point [sorry, Kirk, and Star Trek references everywhere]. Rose tries to share the ball – he's passive a lot of the time, not talking, waiting for his moment to strike. And then, when he strikes … it is often fatal. Though Rose needs to work on his finishing move at the end of games, and sometimes gets nervous and misses, this can be chalked up mainly to his status as a ninja-in-training.

Ben Gordon's called an 'assassin'. A lot. Ninjas assassinate things, nd Ben Gordon assassinates things - the only difference is that BG [usually] isn't ritually disemboweling people, instead settling for killer threes. He goes forward and attacks. People see him coming, and yet he still surprises them, doing things they thought were impossible. This was the easiest judgment to give by far.

John Salmons is very self-focused – his game is brood-y. He is a lone fighter, taking the ball and then jab-stepping his way into … something. [Originally I thought he was doing a Luol Deng impersonation, but he hits his jumpers.] Because of the deceptive speed and craftiness that Salmons uses to get his shots off, and his ability to hit daggers in crunch time, I have to say that Salmons is, again, a ninja. If he was an actual ninja, he would wander around in a stealthy boat and drink a lot, though. He may become a pirate at any time.

Tyrus Thomas is definitely stealthy – he's normally not even there! Especially when we need young, talented power forwards. I would say more about him, but I can't find him on the court at the end of games. He gets replaced, and then we lose.

Joakim Noah is a pirate. He likes recreational drugs [alcohol or otherwise] and partying, and his game is entirely team-focused. If Joakim was a lone ninja, he would be assassinated immediately. And look at his hair! That's hard to hide. Luckily, Joakim being a pirate means that he shares the ball with his teammates and retrieves key rebounds from the deep seas of Davy Jones' Locker, but unluckily, he isn't a scoring threat. That's all right, though. Everybody needs a pirate or two.

Kirk Hinrich is defensively-oriented and can guard a bunch of people. He's an everyman – therefore he's a pirate! Kirk also can not assassinate anybody or any team to save his life, though in the last half of Game 7 against the Celtics he did what he could to disprove that theory, meaning that this is an open question. Will Kirk take off the eyepatch and have a ninja mask under it, or will he be forced to switch ships [hopefully so he can instigate a mutiny wherever he goes so the Bulls have clearer oceans, but I digress]? Only time will tell.

Brad Miller is a pirate. Looking just at his final three-pointer would make you think that he's a ninja, but he's just not efficient or athletic enough to be in the business anymore – maybe he was a former ninja, but it's hard to tell the way that he attacks now. Underhanded layups and the same love of recreation in all its' forms that Noah has – he's even missing a tooth! Miller may as well wear an eyepatch and go “arrrrrrr!”.

Lindsay Hunter is the wise old sage who sits at the end of the bench and helps the young ninjas learn how to assassinate things - he improves their defense and awareness with drills such as 'dribble the basketball through cones' and 'avoid the knives as you hop on bamboo sticks [the secret origin of Derrick Rose's infamous apple-peeling accident]. He's an old, clever ninja, who can't really kill anybody anymore, but has enough moxie to be useful.

Anthony Roberson, Aaron Gray, and Lindon Johnson are the stereotypical disposable people at the end of the bench – since Aaron is so animated on the bench, though, I have to say that he's a pirate. Since there are far more easily killed ninjas than pirates, though, the other two are most definitely ninjas, Linton Johnson being that hapless and well-meaning ninja that a good ninja takes with him to battle only to see him die in a tragic way.

Jerome James is a fat ass, and is therefore a pirate. I don't think he would be able to get a ninja suit on, but maybe with a little inspiration this can be worked around.

Tim Thomas is a person who I refuse to believe exists, so I am unable to comment on his leanings. Demarcus Nelson didn't play this year, but I am assured that he is a ninja in training by those who know better.

Vinny Del Negro is so unused to being off of his ship for prolonged stretches that he attempted to force the team to attend his own Super Bowl party - he is a pirate, and a damaging one at that. Luckily[?], his lackadaisical camaraderie has not infected the rest of the team.

In conclusion, I have to say that this team is mostly composed of ninjas. While there are a couple pirates, they have not been able to sway the ninjas, who continue to destroy. Certain ninjas had additional incentives this year to attempt to work outside of the team structure as well, which could not have helped VDN's mission to create a scurvy crew to take over as the Minnesota Vikings of the NBA. It can be reasonably assumed from the data that Vinny Del Negro attempted to turn the Bulls into pirates, and then one of them [most likely Ben Gordon] abducted his child, threatening their lives unless he would allow them to do their own things.

The Bulls appear to have Real Ultimate Power, but I would not get in to a ship piloted by them – it would most likely be torn asunder from the awesome fury of the sword battles. Heed this advice well the next time you have a chance to be driven around by a Bull – it could save your life.

A Bulls group picture, showing the team's true identity, is available here.

In case you've forgotten, Joakim Noah is still on the Bulls.

Prevenge — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:59:57 -0000

[From the FanPosts. I only caught the last several minutes of this game, saw Brad Miller looking completely wiped (Hinrich too, but he always looks that way), and figured the worst of Vinny. Hey, it was happening when the Bulls were winning too, and it sucked then. Wins or losses, they're not going to be a good team anytime soon. -ed]

So. Joakim Noah.

To get the rote work out of the way:

Noah was out of shape at the beginning of the season. Oh wow, that sucks, etc. etc. Of course, as the season progressed, Noah hired a personal trainer and immediately started improving. Currently, looking at basketball-reference.com, Noah is second in total Win Score behind BG - but he's played less than 2/3 of BG's minutes, and Win Scores aren't per-minute scores. [He's second in Offensive Win Scores[!!!] behind Gordon and second in Defensive behind TT.] He's fifth in PER on the team - and PER is a strictly offensive measurement.

Let's use today as an example. When Noah was on the floor the Bulls were a +7, highest of anybody on the team. He got 7 rebounds and made all four of his FT's.

Miller ended up playing the entire fourth quarter and was completely gassed at the end of the game. He also jumped into Tyrus as he attempted to slam Gordon's miss home when time expired [joy!].

In the last five games, Noah's minute distribution has looked like this:

35,35,33,21,19

In the last five games, we have won three games and lost two in this order:

W,W,W,L,L

Looking at the other games, while the data doesn't exactly correlate [we've won games where Noah's been out and lost games [Lakers] where he's been in ... oh, the pitfalls of statistics], it's close. When the Bulls were blown out by the Magic, Noah had 12 minutes. [He also had four personal fouls, but that doesn't mean he can't play. No, that's 6 fouls, Vinny. And it's not as though anything else was working.] Noah played 24 minutes against the Nets when we lost to them 111-91, with Devin Harris going off for 42[!]. Let me think: who do we have to rotate and help on crafty guards that attack the basket?

Correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation, but in this case ... it's not exactly rocket science. Miller's great: he's been helping our bigs tremendously, but that doesn't mean that we have to play him 40 minutes a game until he breaks like Shaq did before he was traded.

Or, with Del Negro as our coach, perhaps it is rocket science.