Bulls @ Celtics 05/02/09, Game 7 - Do Or Die Options

[Balta1701-B]

Either or works for me. I'd probably lean towards Amare because Bosh takes too many jumpers for me, though his defense is better. We need a pure post player and Amar'e is an automatic 24-26 ppg guy on this team where most of it comes from dunks and PiP.

Amare is an automatic 24-26 ppg...when he's actually playing hard, when he has steve nash setting him up, and when he's playing in the Suns tempo system. And when he's healthy. Which you have to start wondering...

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

Amare is an automatic 24-26 ppg...when he's actually playing hard, when he has steve nash setting him up, and when he's playing in the Suns tempo system. And when he's healthy. Which you have to start wondering...

If he was in our pick and roll system he would thrive because we like to spread the floor for DRose. It would be an alley oop fest with him and Rose. Basically we would be the Orlando Magic because we have 3 point shooters and one dominant big man. The difference though is Dwight Howard is a rebounding machine and Amare isn't though he does things Dwight doesn't and we run a faster paced game compared to Orlando. Were almost there, just need that big man. Priority #1 should be resign Ben Gordon and #2 look to trade Kirk, and Deng or make a deal for those two All Star PF's.

[Sanitarium]

I think tyrus could get a fair share of alleyoops if he was actually on the floor for more than the first quarter

[Balta1701-B]

Kelly Dwyer spends like an hour of writing just ripping VDN.

I know that it's a coach's job to create an atmosphere suitable for winning. It's a coach's job to prepare his or her team. It's a coach's job to do what's necessary, with the parts he has, to come out victorious in competition.

Vinny Del Negro did none of these things in Game 7, or for most of the series, for that matter. All series long the Chicago Bulls were getting by on talent and talent alone, playing as essentially the sum of their parts and no more, utilizing one-on-one ball, and only coming through with a passable rotation because John Paxson traded all the players (like Andres Nocioni) that Del Negro used to hurt his team with, or traded for players that stopped him from giving minutes to guys (like Aaron Gray) who were hurting the team.

Chicago could not put itself in a position to win in the second half of this game because Vinny Del Negro ran with a four guard lineup that could not set a screen to save its life on offense (because, newsflash, 6-2 guards aren't really great at setting screens on 6-7 forwards), and was consistently dominated in the paint on defense. If Boston hits its usual rate of free throws in the third quarter, or if the team makes a few more of those gimmies in the paint, this could have been a 25-point loss.

Why? Because Vinny Del Negro could not think on his feet, adapt, and put his team in a position to win.

I don't know what he has against power forwards, but tossing out 20-year old rookie Derrick Rose as a weak-side helper is just the height of ... well, you know what I'm getting at. It's hard enough to try and get Rose to understand NBA-level defense on opposing point guards, how's he going to know how to act like Udonis Haslem in the fourth quarter of a Game 7? And yet, that's what Del Negro was asking of him.

Did you see how many hats, all in one possession, Joakim Noah had to wear? He had to show on a screen and roll, contest a shot in the paint, try to block out his man, try to block out the opposing power forward, and do all this within a five-second turn. For a guy in his second year in the NBA. I wouldn't ask Dwight Howard to do that. Why? Because the Magic would lose, and Dwight Howard would be angry with me.

But that's Vinny Del Negro. He's turned what was a top-flight defensive team under Scott Skiles that covered all angles, moved the ball offensively, and had a drive-and-kick offense into predictable, one-on-one mess that was bailed out in the second half of the season by Chicago's solid offensive talent, and a post-trade deadline schedule that was rife with crummy and injured teams.

One through eight, you can't tell me that Boston is more talented than Chicago. And you can't tell me that it was Boston's "championship pedigree" or "veteran savvy" that was tossing in baskets in the paint while Derrick Rose or Ben Gordon helplessly tried to cover the role that a power forward should be covering. I picked Boston in seven to begin this series, but that was only because I expected Chicago -- the more talented basketball team -- to suffer because of the whims of their coaching staff. I'm being completely honest. I had no faith in that crew. And I turned out to be right. And I hate it.

....
The Bulls turned the ball over way too much in the second quarter. Kirk Hinrich came out and laid an egg. Brad Miller made more bad decisions. Vinny Del Negro didn't cuase these things. Yet, those are mitigating factors you can overcome.

But not with a lineup that features four guards, having to ignore every defensive instinct (now they have to guard the front of the rim?) they've been taught, as guards, since grade school. Not with Noah or Brad Miller (by themselves, not together) out there having to do the work of two positions.

Not with Tyrus Thomas on the bench, pulling in more rebounds (five) than his replacement "power forward" (John Salmons) did in 42 minutes. I don't care if Thomas makes mistakes. I don't care if he takes possessions off. I don't care if the Bulls should have drafted Brandon Roy or LaMarcus Aldridge. Thomas' flighty, typical play is still better than an injured shooting guard having to play power forward in a Game 7 on the road.

The stats for Thomas are modest, though pretty solid per-minute. Four points, five rebounds, two blocks, two steals, two assists, one turnover in about 17 minutes. That's not the point. The point is that you need a power forward out there to cover the rim. To rebound. To play his role. You don't ask Salmons or Rose or Gordon or Hinrich to try that out. Not in any playoff game, much less this one.

More ripping happens at link.

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

Our offense gets in trouble when we hold the ball. It's an execution problem. We are far more effective when our guards get past the first line of defense and can get into the paint. The iso problems happen when Salmons and Gordon can't take there man off the dribble. I think coming into next year his biggest improvement should be to try and strengthen our defense! We are awful defensively. We often times loose a 3 point shooter wide open and that was the death of us in game 7. They shot almost 60% from three and Eddie House and Scal drained 6 threes total, that can't happen. The team we have now is definitely good enough to be a top 4 or 5 seed in the East next year but unless we improve our defense, we won't be able to touch seeds 1-3.

[Sanitarium]

Having deng back at least gives us a 3 who can defend well... Salmons is great driving to the paint and shooting in rhythm but cannot dribble and create to save his life

[rockren]

Our offense gets in trouble when we hold the ball. It's an execution problem. We are far more effective when our guards get past the first line of defense and can get into the paint. The iso problems happen when Salmons and Gordon can't take there man off the dribble. I think coming into next year his biggest improvement should be to try and strengthen our defense! We are awful defensively. We often times loose a 3 point shooter wide open and that was the death of us in game 7. They shot almost 60% from three and Eddie House and Scal drained 6 threes total, that can't happen. The team we have now is definitely good enough to be a top 4 or 5 seed in the East next year but unless we improve our defense, we won't be able to touch seeds 1-3.

The bottom line (as its been for years) the Bulls need someone they can throw the ball into. Someone that score with their back to the basket. It can help control the pace of the game and give us a chance to play inside out every once in a while. When all you do is shoot jumpers all game...you'll go through long scoring droughts (very much like the 20-2 run Boston had us in the 2nd Quarter of Game 7).

Whether they can trade for Bosh this off-season or make a run at him in FA for 2010...they need to plan as such.