It may still be early in the season, but I cant help being somewhat dissapointed by Big Ben. He went out of his way to state that he was not over his prime and still had a "chip on his shoulder." The games in which he plays well excite me and make me grateful for us having him...but he is not very consistant thus far and a lot of the big men he should be stopping are plowing right over us, costing us a lot of games. Should we be worried?

7 games into the season, I'm not worried. Once we get into rhythm with a steady lineup every night, and once Ben communicated better with his PF, we'll be fine.

Just for fun:

Ben Wallace
35.9 minutes per game
10 RPG
1.3 BPG
5.7 points per game
2 fouls per game

Tyson chandler
28.5 minutes per game
11.4 RPG
.8 BPG
6.1 points per game
3 fouls per game

you would hope the gulf would be bigger... hopefully Ben will start pulling away. It is still early.

Its too early to be disappointed.

It's too early, I think both Ben's will come around and get us going.

He has lost a step there is no question but he will still be extremley productive and probably win another DPOY award. It will take him a while to get used to this Bulls team but he is adjusting well from what I have seen the last few games. Give him time, I believe he will be fine.

i have bright hopes too...but we just got whooped by Yoa....Ben was mopepd up by him. No good D again. I hope you are all right.

Just wondering, but did you watch the entire game?

I thought Ben Wallace did a pretty good job on Yao.... Im more dissapointed in PJ Brown. The guy has been horrific offensively and his defense has only been so so. When he is in the starting lineup we get 0 offense down low.

Big Ben has had a couple of stellar nights and some off nights. What do you expect when you come into a new team. They are still finding themselves and learning how to play together, afterall there are 8 new faces. Big Ben and the Bulls will come around. They always do. Lets just be patient...

He is almost 40... and on is on the last year of his last big contract. If you're disappointed, your expectation were unrealistic.

I was gonna ask this...exactly what is Ben bringing that Tyson couldn't?!?

he gets more steals, more minutes, and less fouls...


although given time to mature... Tyson might have done the same.

best part of the deal is not letting detroit have him.

ben left yesterdays game because he has a right bicep strain, so maybe thats bothering him.

He looked like he could care less yesterday..

10 boards and 4 blocks tonight, 5 steals the other night...I'm not worried.

All I have to say is no way you can blame Wallace for the Bulls' problems so far. Another good game, with 13 boards, 2 blocks, and a steal. But he also provides you with things you dont see on the box score. All the passes he tips coming down low, for example.

There is a helluva lot more to defense than steals and blocks.

And rebounds.

Was just confirming your point, well said.

It also pisses me off that no one talks about how easily the guards let their man get past them. Instead, everyone blames Wallace for the opponent's amount of points in the paint.


Gotcha, my fault.

Ya, they were talking about that before the game.

Ben kinda has to play all over the place because of the ridiculous amount of help he needs to supply.

Interesting tidbit from Elias:

I totally agree with whoever said the gaurds and some others are not ding their job on D. The more you watch the games, the more clearly it is visible that people are just getting inside way too easy on us, and yes, Walalce cannot be accountable for every defensive play on the floor.

Big Ben has been great, but people tend to fly right past Ben Gordon and Luol Deng, so when he rotates, that tends to leave opposing centers wide open down low. See the Dampier game if you require evidence. That tid bit RME JICO posted shouldn't mean jack to any serious Bulls fans. It goes a hell of a lot deeper than Wallace vs. opposing centers.

Luol has them long arms that can wreak havoc on your outside shot, but he just doesn't have the foot speed to stop people from penetrating. You can live with that if you ship Ben Gordon the hell out of here, though.

Big Ben is a decent power forward but we need a more dominant presence at C... We are too undersized...

I hate how Ben just stands around on offense. He needs to be agressive and just force up some stuff cause we get him the ball in amazing position and he does nothing with it. Because of that no one has to even come close to him.

He's got to force the issue from time to time or just always try to throw it down when he gets amazing position. He may not make it that often, but it will keep the defense honest.

Another good thing about Ben is his passing. I think he's averaging about 2 apg, which could be
more if the Bulls were knocking down more shots.

Wow, Big Ben just tearin it up tonight huh....

everyone here is very insightful and has the "in"...so does anyone have any idea why big ben dint play very much at all tonight (VS. PHI)?

Bicep?

Because he couldnt manage to get a rebound or 1 point in 20 minutes?