What is your Ideal minute distribution? Heres mine..

PG Hinrich (34), Sefolosha (4) JamesOn (5), Gordon (5)

SG Gordon (28), Sefolosha (12), JamesOn (8)

SF Deng (38), Nocioni (10)

PF Thomas (22), Smith (15), Nocioni (11)

C Wallace (30), Noah (11), Gray (7)

I purposely left off Duhon because I don't see how he can be a Bull by the regular season.

PG Hinrich (34), Sefolosha (4) JamesOn (5), Gordon (5)

SG Gordon (28), Sefolosha (16), JamesOn (4)

SF Deng (38), Nocioni (10)

PF Thomas (22), Smith (15), Nocioni (11)

C Wallace (30), Noah (15), Gray (3)

PG - Hinrich (36), Sefolosha (10), JamesOn (2)

SG - Gordon (33), Sefolosha (12), JamesOn (3)

SF - Deng (38), Nocioni (10)

PF - Smith (20), Tyrus (15), Nocioni (13)

C - Wallace (32), Tyrus (8), Noah (8)

One problem I see with this lineup is that Noc is only getting 23 mpg, whereas he'll likely get about 26. So maybe he plays a few minutes at SG instead of JamesOn. The other problem is that Noah is only getting 8 mpg, whereas he'll likely get at least 13-15. Not sure where he'd get the extra minutes, though.

If Smith is the starting PF at the beginning of the season, then I find it hard to see how TT will have more minutes then him to end the year. I think people are going to be disappointed with his minutes. Smith will get about 20 and so will Tyrus. I hate making predictions, but I'll go ahead and do so anyway:

PG: Kirk/Thabo/Curry - 32/9/7
SG: Ben/Thabo/Curry - 36/10/2
SF: Luol/Noc - 38/10
PF: Smith/Tyrus/Noc - 22/20/6
C: Ben/Noah/Gray - 36/8/4

Kirk: 32 mpg
Gordon: 36 mpg
Luol: 38 mpg
Smith: 22 mog
Wallace: 36 mpg
Thabo: 19 mpg
Tyrus: 20 mpg
Noc: 16 mpg
Curry: 9 mpg
Noah: 8 mpg
Gray: 4 mpg

Factor in the decimals, leaves a few minutes a game for the 11/12 guys on the roster.

Deng=240.

Done and done.

I have to believe that a man making as much money as he does now (to go along with the fact that Skiles loves him) will play more than 16 mpg. He averaged 26 mpg last year, but even with the added depth on our team, it's hard to think his minutes would go down by more than a few.

Its hard but its likely going to happen, maybe not 16 mpg but they will definitely drop because of the rotation were going to have with our frontcourt now. I just can't see Nocioni getting anywhere around 24 mpg and on because there is no reason to mess around with him at SF because Luol is our franchise guy and is going to get the bulk of the minutes there, especially because he's so young he can handle it. His role on the team is going to be pretty simple, maybe a bit different from last year. He's gonna be a scoring threat off the bench because of guys like Tyrus, Noah, and Big Ben, offense from the bench will be a must this year.

Ben Gordon will not be an off the bench guy anymore from what I can see. Guys that are considered scorers are Nocioni, Curry, and maybe Smith?? Last year we had Gordon who 'was' the bench for a good portion of last year but as soon as he started we relied on the scoring by commitee thing which worked out OK I guess. I see Noc's minutes going down by quite a bit this year but I wouldn't be suprised if one week Skiles has him playing 27+ mpg and then the next he only gets about 16 mpg, its the way Skiles works.

Its a good problem to have too many good players and not enough minutes.

I'd really be unhappy if Joe Smith got 20+ minutes a game with his career averages and the 2 kids he's competing against.

My ideal: BWall: 28, Noah 15, Gray 5
TT 25, Smith 13, Noc 5, Noah/Gray 5
Hinrich 35, Curry 8, Gordon 5
Deng 40, Noc 8
Gordon 28, Thabo 15, Noc 5.

Gordon, our best scorer, getting 28 minutes a game and Smith with only 13? I don't see how this team scores more than 90 with that minute dispersal. 20 minutes for Noah, 25 for Tyrus, and 28 for Wallace? Who will score with a lineup of Kirk, Thabo, Noc, Ty, and Noah? In fact, I think I'd be upset if we only gave Smith 13 minutes a game. Why the heck not go and get Darko then? Darko/7 mil/30 minutes > Smith/5 mil/13 minutes. Thats just silly.

Hinrich 36, Thabo 10, Curry 2
Gordon 33, Thabo 13, Curry 2
Deng 38, Nocioni 10
Smith 20, Thomas 15, Nocioni 13
Wallace 35, Noah 10, Gray 3

Hinrich 36 mpg
Thabo 23 mpg
Curry 4 mpg
Gordon 33 mpg
Deng 38 mpg
Nocioni 23 mpg
Smith 20 mpg
Wallace 35 mg
Noah 10 mpg
Gray 3 mpg

the more thabo plays, the more we have a bigger SG

PG: Hinrich-35 Thabo-10 Curry-3
SG: Gordon-33 Thabo-15
SF: Deng-38 Noc-10
PF: Smith-20 TT-20 Noc-8
C: Wallace-34 Noah-12 Gray-2

Deng-38
Krich-35
wallace-34
Gordon-33
thabo-25
smith-20
TT-20
noc-18
noah-12
curry-3
gray-2

I am basing this on several things--

Gordon and Kirk could be 40 min players on plenty of teams, but they need to get thabo out there so 25 mins a game we have a 6'7 guard out there. that's only leaving about 15 mins for team X's star SG to not be guarded by thabo. And most of those 15 minutes would come in the first quarter.

PJ got 20 mpg, and thats probably what Smith will get.

TT got 13 mins last year, so noah probably gets about that.

We are really deep. Curry and Gray have looked decent in summer league, but they arent gonna get regular minutes. NOt even close.

Noc only 18 mpg? Idk where he would get more minutes. TT and Smith are both getting at least 20, and Deng needs all the minutes he can get.

This is why I love Scott Skiles, he isn't going to be playing guys, just to play guys. He is so good at looking at match ups and his players, and adjusting accordingly.

yeah.... the Bulls sure as spiff didn't sign Noc to that contract to have him play 16 minutes per game (including fewer than thabo/tyrus)

Long time, no post. It's pretty funny to me that people think Noc is going to be getting so little PT. Skiles will find ways to tweak our line-up, and get him on the court.


Kirk-34 Thabo-10 Curry-4
Gordon-34- Thabo-8 Noc-4 Curry-2
Deng-36 Noc-12
Smith-20 Tyrus-18 Noc-8 Noah-2
Wallace-34 Noah-9 Gray-5


We play a tall line-up with Thabo-Noc-Deng-Noah-Wallace when Skiles calls for it. Deng wont have to play so much with Noc hopefully back to full health, thus he will lose a couple of minutes.