Heres mine.

PG Kirk Hinrich
SG Thabo Sefolosha
SF Luol Deng
PF Michael Sweetney
C Ben Wallace

I struggle with putting Sweets in the starting lineup because Noc is red hot! But we need low post scoring and I would rather have Luol Deng (Our emerging star) in the starting rotation from the start while Nocioni can spar Sweetney when he gets tired 5 minutes into the 1st quarter

Thabo is a shutdown defender from the games he has played in thusfar. He will take alot of pressure off of Kirk from guarding the Dwayne Wades and Kobe Bryants of the world.. Of course Thabo will get about every foul call because hes a rookie but its a risk im willing to take. Sweetney we should try and get him established early and then have Nocioni come in and give us his energy about midway through the 1st quarter. Right now if you had to choose who gets the rebound between Ben Wallace and Nocioni, I would go with Noc 10/10 times because of his desire. Wallace may be hurt but his performance this season has been bad to say the least, from what WE were expecting. Maybe he has lost a step IDK but WE WON 3 IN A ROW!

PG Kirk Hinrich
SG Thabo Sefolosha
SF Luol Deng
PF Andres Nocioni
C Ben Wallace

That's it.

hinirich
Gordon
Deng
Nocioni
Wallace


Although, if Nocioni and Deng start putting together games like tonight on a regular basis, then I can live with out Gordon's offensive out put in the starting line up.

For the next few weeks

Hinrich
Unknown (Duhon, Griffin, Gordon?)
Wallace
Deng
Noc

I don't think Thabo is ready for a starting role yet. Maybe when I watch the game tomorrow night my opinion will change, but personally I favor those main 4 with a rotating Shooting Guard until Thabo is ready to take over that role, hopefully before the end of the season.

Most likely but you never know, Skiles doesnt mind mixing up the lineup early and frequently in the season as we have seen already. I just want Duhon the heck out of the starting lineup and off the bench where he belongs. Too much of an offensive liability with him starting. Our height are as follows with the current lineup

Duhon: 6'1
Hinrich: 6'3
Deng: 6'9 and 1/2
Nocioni: 6'7
Wallace: 6'8

With Thabo we add a 6'7 shooting guard that drastically changes the whole outlook on our size in the backcourt. I can take a 6'3 poing guard and 6'7 shooting guard but our lack of height with our current lineup disturbs me. As you can see, we aren't getting a whole lot of production from it since we established it.

The starting lineup in temrs of position, defense, scoring, etc., all has the potential to work out beautifully with Thabo in it and Gordon/Duhon on the bench. But the only question I have is...is Thabo ready to play 30 minutes a game, in terms of defense, scoring, rebounding, playing with the team on the floor, and so on.

When the answer to that question becomes "yes", then Thabo should move into the starting lineup. But not beforehand.

You never know untill Skiles starts him (30 mins). Only from what I have seen so far this season shows me this kid has all the skills in the world, and the only weakness he has is his ball handling isnt good enough to play point guard which he isnt going to play anyways. His court vision looks legendary quite honestly. I can't wait to see this kid explode.

I want to see Sweetney riding the bench for some other team.

Until dude is willing to give up the cheeseburgers and drop a good 50 pounds, he'll be useless.

So he cant put up 12 points 7 rebounds and 2 blocks like he did last night at his current weight? Sure he needs to lose that excessive weight but he can still have productive minutes when he is in there. Everyone seems to forget the guy was the number 9 pick in the draft a few years ago. (Maybe 14th? Cant remember).

A fat player is a tired player, and a tired player is TOAST on defense. That's my concern.

He'd be a quality bench player if he was in shape.

Draft position doesn't mean anything either. I mean, hell, Ben Gordon was selected #3 overall.

True, but Sweetney does have what we need, a low post scorer.

I'd like to start games off with Sweetney, trying to get him involved early so we can get some low post presence. I really think when used in spurts Sweetney is one of the better low post scorers in the league (he just gets tired and at that point on he's worthless).


That said Gordon has made a boatload of strides this year. He's driving to the hoop a lot more, actually getting to the line and looks far far better at passing. I have slammed Gordon a lot but once he gets comfortable with his shot I really think he'll be our most improved player this year (and while he still has noticeable holes, I think he's starting to become pretty worthwhile).

Ben G is playing well right now off the bench so when our starters come off we dont lose a step from scoring woes. He is a great asset to have while also being a good trading asset

I really want to see Thabo starting alongside Kirk. But other than that Id keep the rest the same with Deng/Noc/Wallace finishing it up. I really believe the less minutes Duhon gets the better this team becomes. Thats unless Duhon plays like he did vs Miami/NY when he isnt afraid to shoot the open shot.

G Hinrich
G Deng
F Nocioni
F Thomas
C Wallace

tyrus thomas should start no matter what. i know he doesnt shoot well atm, but look at his recent game. 9 pts 10 reb in 27min, and i think he'll do the bulls some good

At least for now, TT is really being helped by the fact that he doesn't have to come in and play against the opponent's #1 lineup. He's in against people that he's more talented than, and that gives him a little more room to make mistakes and not have to perish because of them.

Last night he really looked good, but just like all rookies, he's going to have good nights and bad. But he is developing faster and looking a LOT better than I thought he would at this point. He really does have a shot to develop into an excellent counterpart to BWall, especially if he keeps learning at the current pace.

He's not a starter yet. But it's not out of the question that he could be deserving of a starting spot by the end of the year.

Wow, 2 major problems with that lineup:

1) Deng is already an somewhat iffy defender at SF, put him at SG and he's a terrible fit. He's simply not quick enough to handle NBA 2-guards.

2) Tyrus can not be trusted to play heavy minutes consistently. He's very foul prone and is a suspect offensive player. He'll show flashes, but his weaknesses will also get exposed if he plays more. One game against an extremely flawed team like Washington isn't really enough to prove anything.

I think Hinrich, Deng, Noc, and Wallace have to be in the starting lineup. I don't really know about shooting guard though. Sefolosha is definitely the long term answer, but I'm not sure if he's ready for heavy minutes yet. I can live with Duhon as a starter until then.

I DON"T want to see Gordon as a starter though, let the offense run through Kirk, Deng, and Noc to start the game and go with a stronger defensive lineup. Let Gordon fill in when we need a boost to the offense, which would hopefully limit his ball-handling, defensive, and shot-selection issues.

Zoom as always puts things very concisely and accurately and he's right about all of it.

Tyrus will be a great player for the bulls, but please, he is so erratic right now, it won't be till next year at the earliest, maybe longer until he starts. I did like seeing him first off the bench tonight though.

Sefolosha needs to start at SG for the Bulls but it won't happen quite yet. My guess/hope would be around the all-star break it happens.

I think the fact that gordon has clearly regained his shooting touch and confidence, he's had several 20+ games off the bench already, but skiles has kept him out of the starting lineup is a signal that this may be the end of the debate, and gordon may be a 6th man for a while. I think the starting spot is being held for thabo, once he is ready for heavy minutes. Otherwise i think the change would've happened by now. If Gordon doesn't get the job back in the next week or two, I'd be pretty confident he doesn't start again unless it's bc of injury.

My starting line up at this point is as follows

Duhon
Hinrich
Deng
Nocioni
Wallace

my second rotation is
Gordon
Brown
Thomas
Sefalosha
Sweetney

Buried on the bench
Allen
Griffin

Hinrich
Deng
Nocioni
Brown
Wallace

or
Duhon
Hinrich
Deng
Nocioni
Wallace

Regardless I want Deng and Noc out on the court at the same time. They are really working well with each other and seemed to have great chemistry. Plus the two of them are by far our best players at attacking the rim and getting us points in the paint. When they do that, they make us a far less one dimension team (ie a jump shooting team) and those drives also get us a lot more wide open jump shots (which helps our offense that much more).