It seems nobody understands why Bogans has been the starter at SG all season long.  When asked about it, Thibs either completely dodges the question or gives some vague reasons of "defense" or "toughness" for why he continues to start Bogans.  Even though he has been playing a little better of late, he's still clearly less talented than Korver and Brewer.   I've been with many of you guys in overall being very pleased with Thibs' overall coaching, but this one issue seems to be the fly in the ointment.  

With all the trade talk starting to heat up as we approach the trade deadline (has it really ever cooled down this season?), I've been thinking that perhaps there is a logical explanation for Bogans starting.  This is pure speculation on my part, and maybe others have expressed the same idea, but here's what I've come up with to reconcile Thibs' apparent deep understanding of basketball with the obvious mistake of who's starting at SG.

What I'm thinking is that Thibs likes the rotations where Brewer and Korver come off the bench due to their respective limited games.  Brewer is a disruptor on the defensive end, a good rebounder for his position, and a smart player.  However, while he can hit some jump shots and is an above average cutter, he's not a traditional scoring shooting guard.  Korver, on the other hand, is a cold-blooded shooter.  And while he puts in a good effort on defense to the point where he's not much of a liability - he's better than his reputation says he is - he just doesn't have the athleticism to guard some of the premier SG's in the league, especially those the Bulls will likely be facing in the playoffs.  Bringing both guys off the bench keeps the Bulls a deeper team (they have an underrated bench), and allows the Bulls to give minutes to the player who is a better fit for the game situation at hand.

So, because Thibs likes those two guys coming off the bench, he starts Bogans as a "placeholder" until either the Bulls make a trade for another SG (Mayo, Lee, et al) or the trade deadline passes with no trade.  If they do trade for another SG, that player would replace Bogans in the starting lineup, and Bogans would fall behind both Brewer and Korver in the rotation.  If the trade deadline passes with no trade, then at that point (or shortly thereafter), either Brewer or Korver will replace Bogans as the starter.  

As I said, it's merely speculation; an attempt to reconcile this seemingly obvious error in judgement when most everything else Thibs does maximizes the strengths of the players while minimizes the weaknesses.  I think most would agree that the Bulls are playing better than the sum of their parts.

Of course, should the deadline pass with no trade, and Bogans keeps starting into the playoffs, I cannot fathom why.  Likewise if the Bulls trade for an SG, only to bring him off the bench.

What do you guys think?

Glad we're not the only ones who are noticing.

Before we start, a few caveats: First of all, I didn't pick on players who are having unusually poor shooting seasons taking the shots they normally take (Rodney Stuckey and Kirk Hinrich, for instance) -- that's not the idea here. Second, I cut some slack for players on bad offensive teams. Stuckey and Richard Hamilton have ridiculously high usage rates, for instance, but that's in part because they play with three non-scorers around them most of the time -- somebody has to shoot the thing.

While many of the names should be obvious, a few have escaped attention this season. Without further ado, here are 15 players we'd like to see show a whole lot more discretion offensively:

 

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Jannero Pargo, Bulls
People don't lump Pargo into conversations like this because he's a deep reserve, and because he's generally a good dude. But when it comes to jacking indiscriminately he has few peers, despite a jumper that's somewhere south of deadly. Pargo's TS% is a shockingly bad 43.4, the seventh-worst mark in basketball this season, but he's still firing away. Only one other player in the TS% bottom 25 (Bobby Brown) fires this indiscriminately, and Brown hardly plays; Pargo is a rotation player for a playoff contender. Let's hope he tones it down a little with the long J's off the dribble.

Obviously, Rose has exceeded everyone's expectations for his rookie year.  However, his game isn't perfect and has much room to improve.  So what do you want Rose to primarily focus on during the offseason and going in to next season?  

I think he should work on his jumpshot.  He's definitely gotten better at shooting as the season has gone along, but once he gets to the point where his jumpshot is consistent, and he can hit the 3 when open, that's going to force defenders to fight through screens, when then opens up the pick & roll, pick & pop or drive and kick.