C-Ben Wallace (Do your thing!!! Blocks and Boards, earn that paycheck!!!!)
PF-Mike Sweetney (he might be big but thats a plus when banging down low with Webber)
SF-Luol Deng (run the offense through Lu, slashing to the hole, posting up on the baseline, hes our guy)
SG-Thabo Sefolosha (The only answer to our guard problem, he must start)
PG-Kirk Hinrich (Step up your game!!! We need quick passing around the perimeter for open 3's)

6th Man is Noc (has struggled alot, is playing hurt and although i admire that its hurting the team)
7th Man is Gordon (Hes more effective off the bench, it takes a little pressure off the guy hes still young)
8th Man is Tyrus (what a game 2! He adds a new Dimension on offense that can be our knockout punch)
9th Man is Duhon (solid back up for Hinrich, no big problems here apart from lack of size)
10th Man is PJ Brown (The Vet needs playing time too but his weak fouls can lead to 3 point plays)

Whos Your 5 and why?

I agree with a lot of what you said. Having said that i dont think they can change it up now. Gotta stick with the horses that got you there and play and hope they play a lot better. Plus, Skiles isn't going to make any changes.

Wallace
Tyrus
Deng
Gordon
Kirk (even though he's sucking it up)(I would even consider starting Sefolosha)

Sefolosha
Duhon (especially if Kirk looks lost again)
P.J.
Nocioni
Griffin
(I really don't want to see Sweetney or Allen)(Sweetney maybe offensively but not defensively)

We need to get off to a fast start offensively and I don't think that can happen with Gordon on the bench.

Agreed big time on that last part, we can't afford to dig another big hole. Tyrus at PF could conceivably work, though we gotta hope he's in the mood to play and not turn it over/foul every time like in the first game...

Kirk was actually decent in the first game, didn't contribute to the turnover-fest and shot well. If anything he probably needed to put up MORE shots, he was hitting. He couldn't do spiff in the second game though...

wallace
tyrus
deng
sefolosha
hinrich

(in order)
sweetney
nocioni
gordon
duhon

man, if sweets learned how to not foul every 2 minutes, and run down the court (and back again w/o dying) he'd be insane.

How about never play Kirk Hinrich again! I hate him more every time I watch the game.

Dribble, dribble, dribble bad pass. Dribble, dribble, dribble bad shot. Kirk is horrible. I thought for a while in the first half after his horrible half of the first quarter that I would get off his case but then he's plays the second half and I realize once again why I always have hated him.

Maybe he was tired, but his defense in the 4th was horrible as well. On one pick he fought through vary slow and Billups hit a 3. On another screen he didn't even fight through and Billups was 10 feet open for another 3. I really don't care if we trade Kirk for a 2nd round pick. He sucks.

Wow, your dislike for Kirk is worse than mine for Thomas. I don't see how you can blame Kirk but not Gordon.

In terms of next season...

IMO, it's an open competition between Thabo and Gordon at the 2 guard, if Thabo shows signs of offensive progress this summer and in camp next fall.

TT is the default starting PF assuming Brown is gone and a big man is drafted. If a signing or sign and trade is done, then that may change that.

My 5

PJ Brown PG
Michael Sweetney SG
Andre Barrett SF
Victor Kypra PF
Chris Duhon C

I hope to god Thabo and Deng work all summer like Luol did last year.

Seriously, what did Thomas do wrong? He played decent other than not hitting the jumper. Why didn't Skiles put in Thabo or Thomas in the 4th or 3rd when we were playing like crap? No Chris Duhon? Even though I don't like him that much, there is no reason you play Kirk 47 minutes. Gordon didn't shoot well, but at the end he was wide open for 3 and what does Kirk do? He kicks it out to him and throws it like 5 feet over his head and by the time Gordon jumps and catches it there is a defender on him. That 3 could have been a game changer if we had a PG who knew how to pass or play under pressure.

Maybe he was just tired from the extended minutes but you can't play like that down the stretch.



I'm fine with that but how about we draft Mike Conley so Kirk can have some competition and not have the starting job handed to him! PG is the most important position on the floor and I'm sorry but he just doesn't cut it. I was watching Nash, Davis, and most especially Deron Williams and they make Kirk's game look amateurish.

Kirk needs to run 3 a days not just 2 a days for the rest of his life to get that good. Only bad thing is that now he has the contract so he probably won't work as hard.

Boy, talk about nit-picking. What did Thomas do wrong? Well, outside the goaltending, which was clean block, he had a TO and a foul in 9 minutes. He leaves his man too much to go for the block, which left Rasheed open. He rebounded well, but went 1-6 from the field. That is highly mediocre, almost crappy. His only bucket came on a right time/right place alley oop. And like someone mentioned on SoxTalk, if we're relying on Tyrus or Thabo to pull us out of a jam and make a comeback, we're doomed in the 1st place.

And comparing ANY pg to Nash, Davis, Williams is just not fair at all. Those are arguably the top 3 PGs in the NBA.

It's not about making a comeback. It's about creating different matchups. Detroit can figure any scheme out if you leave the same lineup in long enough. We kept them on their heels with different rotations that were there in the first half but didn't have any subs in the 2nd half. Guys get frazeled and it's good to get them out and get them some rest. Our starters played extensive minutes at a high level and that's probably why they ran out of gas at the end.

Couple points.

First of all, another Point Guard is simply not what this team needs right now. Kirk may be amateurish, but replacing him will not take us to the next level unless TT rapidly develops into a Stoudemire level threat on offense. However, if Mr. Hinrich could be dealt for a big man who could score, if one were to be available, then that would change the calculation.

But secondly, and I said this in the other thread...I really don't think Mike Conley is going to last to the #8-#9 pick or wherever we wind up. He is the #1 point guard on everyone's board, and just like you say you want the Bulls to find the next Deron Williams or Chris Paul, so do a lot of teams. Conley isn't going 1-2, but I think it's very likely he'll go somewhere in the 3-6 range depending on team needs.

Stickin' with what you have is one thing...but there is no friggin way Tyrus and Thabo play a COMBINED 14 minutes last night. Skiles crapped down his leg on this one. I don't want to hear about the matchup bs....hey...they have to match up with our young ponies too. I'm still so friggin pissed about last nights game it ain't funny.

Eh its not really open competition at all, Gordon is going to be starting next year. Hell in the playoffs it seems Skiles has been running the offense through Gordon instead of Hinrich even more. Thabo will definitely be the first guard off the bench though, and will see an increase in minutes.

I dunno, Gordon still seems to me to be a real wierd player, in that he has great talent, but he just seems unable to develop anything to overcome his weaknesses.

Yesterday's game had a bunch of examples of this. In the 4th quarter, Chauncey got a couple easy baskets posting Ben up, because Ben was in no position to be defending him on his own. That's a weakness, Ben's height, and it's not one that's easily overcome. The Bulls as a team need to adapt to doubling on people Gordon is guarding if they manage to get him in the post area, because otherwise he's always going to be overmatched by people a half foot taller than him.

On the other hand, at the other end of the court, Ben showed some flashes of what he should be doing to overcome that problem. He's not big, but he's really, really quick, and he has a sweet shot when he's open. What he needs to do when he has the ball is push it into the lane as hard and quick as he can, and try to draw the defense onto him to draw contact or to open up the outside. The couple times he did that yesterday, he wound up at the line. He can use his quickness to beat people and get the people guarding him in foul trouble, but a lot of times he's just too tentative and spends too much time waiting for the jumper. Adding in a post threat would help him get more open jumpers, but it wouldn't take advantage of his quickness.

I agree with almost everything you said except this line. Getting a post threat would help Ben Gordon's offensive game in every aspect. It would definately get him more open jumpers but it would make his drive potential even that much more dangerous b/c if the PF's defender came to help on the drive, Gordon could dish to the big man for the easy finish. Also, right now, Gordon is the only player on the Bulls that gets doubled. He usually gets doubled by a big man and the PG at the arc to force him to pass the ball. With a real low post threat, teams won't be able to do that anymore. Gordon can beat most guys in the league off the dribble one on one. However, most of the silly turnovers come when he's pressured by more than one player. He seems to tighten up when that happens.

Anyway, I really hope we do get a great offensive low post player b/c I think Gordon and Deng will benefit the most from it. Heck, even Hinrich will get more open 3's. I love when Hinrich gets open shots but don't necessarily like it when he tries to create and shoots a running jumper. He either needs to take it all the way to the hole and make a layup or draw contact, or only shoot if he's open.

As for the Bulls, I pray that they find that low post threat. I'm thinking it's going to be Hibbert if they get a late pick. Hibbert has some offensive moves but he might be a bit slow at the next level. Hopefully, with the 7-2 height he'll create real big matchup problems. The only problem with rookie big men is that they sometimes take a couple of seasons to get strong enough and solid enough to become real impact players.