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TalkBulls Forums _ Bulls Talk _ We shulda kept Curry.....
Posted by: 72-10 Sep 21 2007, 09:17 AM
I am not so upset that we didnt keep tyson (see other thread), but rather that we didnt keep eddie curry. Both of those guys technically are just coming out of "college." And the bulls are one eddy curry away from being all that they could be. Of course this is something we cant do anything about now, but what do you all think?--Curry is a great threat in the paint.......any one else miss him?
Posted by: ZoomSlowik Sep 21 2007, 10:16 AM
Between the sizeable pay raise, the poor defense and rebounding, and the fact that Skiles didn't like having him on the floor in the 4th quarter because of the last two, I'm not exactly heart-broken. Yeah, his post-scoring would help a lot, but he was starting to wear out his welcome here, especially with our coach.
Unless he's going to consistently average 19.5 like he did last year as opposed to the 14-16 from the previous few years (possible, but IMO unlikely with Randolph joining the team), I don't see us missing him that much, not while we have far superior post defense in there right now and with Tyrus and Noah developing. My only real gripe with the current situation is the size of Wallace's contract. Curry totally changes the dynamics of this team if he's still there, without a strong defender and rebounder inside our defense loses an awful lot of its bite.
Posted by: Balta1701-B Sep 21 2007, 10:19 AM
Wallace's Contract, which in 2 years becomes a tradeable expiring contract...and which robs us of salary cap space that we wouldn't have had anyway after signing Gordon and Deng this year whenever it happens.
I'm fairly certain I like the way this team is constructed now vastly more than I would have with a Curry and Chandler frontcourt. We have a lot more depth, we're a lot younger, we don't have to worry about our center keeling over some day, and we have guys who seem to be working very well with our coach. And I'm probably not the only one who thinks that in a few years, we'll really be thrilled about the combo of Noah and Thomas that we picked up for Curry.
Posted by: ZoomSlowik Sep 21 2007, 10:53 AM
I'm fairly certain I like the way this team is constructed now vastly more than I would have with a Curry and Chandler frontcourt. We have a lot more depth, we're a lot younger, we don't have to worry about our center keeling over some day, and we have guys who seem to be working very well with our coach. And I'm probably not the only one who thinks that in a few years, we'll really be thrilled about the combo of Noah and Thomas that we picked up for Curry.
We wouldn't really be any older if we still had them, they're both still only 24. Yeah, they're a bit older than Tyrus and Noah, but we also wouldn't have Wallace or probably Smith either. It cancels out a bit.
That said, I do think that eventually they still would have tried to add a veteran presence to our young core, probably not someone as pricey as Big Ben though.
Posted by: madisonsmadhouse Sep 21 2007, 12:07 PM
There is no chance we get into the playoffs two years ago, and win a playoff round last year with Eddy Curry still on this team.
Posted by: steve9347 Sep 21 2007, 01:14 PM
snore.
get over it.
bulls = playoffs
knicks = not
Posted by: sport1016 Sep 22 2007, 12:53 PM
Forget Curry and chandler I miss Elton Brand!
....An Elton Brand with Walace, noah, TT, whoever would've been championship caliber
Last year if you replace Wallace with Brand and start PJ at C....certainly a championship team
Posted by: steve9347 Sep 24 2007, 09:14 AM
Except for that whole injury thing and the PJ Brown playing 35+ minutes a game at center. Yikes.
Posted by: Wanne Sep 28 2007, 11:52 AM
No way. Curry just had huge moments of complete laziness...which does not work well with Skiles or this team. While I do miss an inside scoring presence...I DON'T miss the fact Curry rarely plays D...and doesn't hit the boards well. He has his moments...but overall...I don't miss him. If Curry was still here...we wouldn't have Tyrus...so no thanks. That alone should be the reason.
Posted by: Balta1701-B Sep 28 2007, 12:11 PM
I for one can't wait to see how our inside game develops over this and next year.
Posted by: Balta1701-B Sep 28 2007, 12:18 PM
http://dberri.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/the-return-of-the-bulls/
Table One: The Chicago Bulls in 2006-07 and 2005-06
The big addition to this squad was Big Ben Wallace. Wallace posted a 0.335 WP48 (Wins Produced per 48 minutes) in 2005-06 with the Pistons. With the Bulls he was not quite as good. Still, both his 15.8 Wins Produced and 0.281 WP48 led the team. And both marks were an improvement over what Tyson Chandler offered in 2005-06 (although not over what Chandler did in 2006-07).
Beyond Big Ben, the Bulls also were bolstered by the improvement seen in the play of Luol Deng (who went from great to greater) and Ben Gordon (who went from below average to close to average).
Going Forward
One player who was added in 2006-07 that did not help was P.J. Brown. Looking back at the 1992 draft, Brown is second in this class - to Shaquille O’Neal - in career Wins Produced. So Brown has generally been very good. But now he is just generally very old. After offering only -0.7 Wins Produced last year, Brown has been let go by Chicago.
There are three candidates to take his minutes: Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, and Joe Smith. Let’s start with Smith. After being taken with the number one pick in the 1995 draft, Smith embarked on a career where often he has been a bit below average. His career WP48 stands at 0.065 while last year he had a mark of 0.083. Given that average is 0.100, acquiring Smith should not make anyone that excited. Still, he is likely to be more productive than Brown.
What might make Chicago fans excited - at least if “potential” is your thing (and I argued earlier in the week it shouldn’t be, so I am not being consistent here) - is the acquisition of both Thomas and Noah. Each player came as part of the Eddy Curry trade. http://dberri.wordpress.com/2007/03/13/the-curry-scoring-illusion/ having either one of these players would be a bit of a steal. Getting both is grand larceny (or some such term meaning more than a bit of a steal).
To see this point, consider what each did his last year in college. As a freshman in 2005-06, Thomas posted a 0.452 Win Score per-minute. Last year, as a junior, Noah posted a 0.398 mark. To put these numbers in perspective, Greg Oden had a 0.402 mark last year. Yes, I still expect Oden to be good. And yes, there is a good chance that both Noah and Thomas will develop into above average players.
Last year we saw a glimpse of this potential. In only 966 minutes, Thomas posted a 0.105 mark. Okay, that’s only slightly above average. Still, that is better than anything Curry has ever done.
With Thomas, Noah, and Smith assisting Wallace in the frontcourt, it looks like the Bulls can make another step forward in 2007-08. Of course we have to assume that Wallace doesn’t decline further (perhaps a big if). But if Wallace is steady, the Bulls should be better without Brown.
And since the efficiency differential of the team told us 54 wins in 2006-07, it looks like this team should clearly be a strong contender to win the East in 2007-08.
Can they hold off the improved Celtics, as well as the Pistons and Cavaliers (or anyone else)? Well, this is why they play the games. Still, just looking at what this roster did in the past - which is a good but not perfect predictor of the future in the NBA - Chicago fans should expect a team that surpasses 54 wins. And that means the Bulls — or Da Bulls — have returned.
- DJ
Posted by: Wanne Sep 28 2007, 12:32 PM
Nice read. While I still am not that excited about Noah...I'm very excited to see a much improved Thomas this year. I do keep forgetting about Joe Smith...but TT should get the majority of minutes I feel at PF. I think that was one of Skiles downfalls last year in the Piston series was he didn't use TT enough until it was too late. He ALWAYS brought a spark at both ends of the floor.
Noah...I guess time will tell. Any word on how his shoulder is doing and if he'll be ready for the start of the season?
Posted by: Balta1701-B Sep 28 2007, 12:34 PM
Noah...I guess time will tell. Any word on how his shoulder is doing and if he'll be ready for the start of the season?
Everything I have heard on Noah this offseason has been very positive. Although some of that is certainly the Bulls talking up their shiny new toy, the talk has been he's performed well in workouts, has added strength and about 10-15 lbs, and is catching people's attention with his maturity and interest in the game. Barring a setback in training camp, I'd say the stuff I've heard suggests he's 98% surely ready for opening day.
Posted by: Wanne Sep 28 2007, 01:47 PM
I thought they discovered a shoulder injury with him this summer that he'd played with all year at Florida...that they thought may require surgery?
Posted by: Schalke Sep 28 2007, 02:34 PM
I'm more upset that we gave up Tyson for basically nothing. We got an expiring contract in PJ which we didn't even use.
Curry, on the other hand, I have no doubts about. We got two top 10 picks for that bum. Eddy is the type of player that doesn't really have much of an impact on a basketball game, at least in a positive sense. He might put up some nice scoring numbers, but that's about all he does. He's not really efficient; yes he scores at a high percentage, but he's also turnover prone and bad from the foul line, which means that it takes him a lot of possessions to get his points. I know people will argue that he's improved, but to me he's the same player he was here. The only difference is that now he's given more minutes; probably because Isiah Thomas doesn't care if Curry puts in any effort on defense.
The way I see it, on offense you're as good as your best player. Eddy Curry is a decent offensive player, not great, but not bad. He can score in the post, and do it on a good field goal percentage. But you don't get much else outside of that. He's a terrible passer, highly turnover prone player, poor foul shooter, and generally uses up a lot of the clock to get his looks. It's a little different on the defensive end, where you're not as good as your best player, but as bad as your worst. And you can't get much worse on defense than Eddy Curry. Everyone knows he's a bad rebounder and shot blocker, but he's also simply a dumb player. He wouldn't know help defense if it took a dump on his head. That's the type of player that the other team can easily exploit, especially when you consider that Curry plays arguably the most important position on defense. That's why it's always a lay up drill for opposing guards when Curry's is in the game.
You can probably tell I've never been a big fan of Curry.
Posted by: Balta1701-B Sep 28 2007, 03:04 PM
Yes, he does have the shoulder issue. He elected to rehab it instead of surgery, and so far the indications don't sound bad. We won't know until the season runs the whole way through, of course.
Here's the http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Basketball/NBA/2007/09/26/4527529-sun.html anywhere in the dark dungeons of the internets.
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