Well, since the last 2 practice games against Charlotte and Atlanta still have not seemed to help our shooting return, here's another one.

Jump shots guys. Make some freaking jump shots. I'm so sick of seeing 35% shooting for a game and 25% shooting for a quarter. You're in Detroit on Friday, so today's your last shot at a tuneup.

Gotta keep their three point shooters in check and don't let Gerald Wallace get on a roll.

Here is a lineup I want to see at some point tonight.

PG Hinrich/Duhon
SG Deng
SF Noc
PF Smith
C Noah

Great mix of O and D and terrific size. Your a little slow on the wings but make up for it with quick bigs.

Joe Smith starting over Tyrus.

I think its pretty clear Tyrus is better starting over riding the bench. His confidence must be shaken immensely seeing how our retard of a coach uses him; or doesn't use him.. Joe Smith missed an easy 2 incher, ug..

It's starting to seem more and more like we need to move Tyrus now while he still has significant value. And I hate the idea of doing so, but if he's not even going to get the additional minutes his performance would justify...

Gotta love the 0-7 run to start the 3rd quarter.

At what point do we call it a season & say that they just aren't nearly as good as we thought/hoped they were?

It's going to be a true joke if we pull this game out.

This team is so much better with Noah in the pivot than Wallace it's not even funny. This, and the lack of use of Tyrus Thomas, makes me more convinced than ever that Skiles is Doug Collins part deux. Is it time for a point B to point C coach?

The way this team is playing right now, it's hard to disagree with any claim about shaking things up. They're even making their shots tonight, but they've still found a way to look terrible with 19 turnovers.

True dat. This team ain't playing well and hasn't shot well all season. Easy to look bad when the shots aren't falling. But I think that there's a reason Scott Skiles was booted from Phoenix. I think he has no idea how to use bigs (hence the rediculous tiny lineups he loves to put in at the oddest times) and that players can end up in the doghouse regardless of performance. I think the team has much more talent than the way they are playing. I'm frustrated with this guy, for reals.

But let's all laugh at the big joke! Bulls win!!!

I hate to agree with your assesment but I do. Its clear our retard (Skiles) can't coach this kid because he is actually an athlete who has potential and we've already thrown those guys away, cough Curry and Chandler, cough.. I starting tonight will no longer be watching Bulls games until either A. Skiles is fired or B. He gets his head out of his ass and plays Tyrus Thomas 20 or more minutes like he should. 6 minutes tonight, are you freaking kidding me? I hate Skiles guts, If John Paxson is that dumb not to fire this guy than maybe he should go to.

With Chandler's development, I understand your objection there. But I will continue to point out that every single objection Skiles had on Curry still stands. He plays no defense, does not rebound, does not play hard, and the statistics out there right now keep saying that the Knicks are better when he's not on the court.

Based on last year, I was willing to give Skiles 2 years, which I think is the end of his contract. But with the way we've started this year...if things don't turn around hard and soon, then this offseason will be time to make a change. This team on paper should be challenging the Celtics right now, not the Bobcats.

I'm sick and tired of hearing about the "He doesn't run the floor hard,","We just need to make our shots,","We need to play our style of defense" crap. There is no "Your style" Scott, its called average defense which is where were at now. I can't fathom as to how Paxson believes we can win based on intangibles which is why he drafted every player, because they have the intangibles; the guys that come from winning programs, the guys that work hard but might not be the superstar caliber player. Well you know, that doesn't work and it has been proven; like say, now for instance..

Not that its a terrible idea because its not, sometime you have to forget the defensive crap Skiles always preaches, HOW BOUT FIND A freaking OFFENSIVE PLAYER!? Another reason I hate Skiles is because if a player we may want doesn't play defense but has a good offensive game (JR. Smith) he won't cut it here. SCREW defense, we have enough of those players, I want some offense. Ben Gordon is nothing more than a streak shooter and this team is full of them, its just that he is the best of the best.

Can John Paxson get enough backbone to say Skiles isn't getting the job done so someone else will? I don't know, I hope so. Its time John, we've been running this same ship for years, its time to jump. Drive in Kick is sooo college basketball its not even funny. There is no sets for it. Its just either a couple of screens and then our inept guards who can't drive and finish anyways, will drive and dish out for a long jumpshot. Joe Smith is the only, thee only player on this team that provides a mid range game. We are all the long 2's and 3 point shot team which isn't going to get you anywhere. I love Barkley's quote on the Bulls, "You don't live by jumpers, you die by jumpers."

Which brings me to the Bulls low post problems. At this point I don't even think it has to come from a big man, just somewhere. Jordan was our best low post scorer during the golden era and he was a tall guard. I wouldn't care if we got someone big that can post up, just SOMEONE. Deng is a lost cause, stop messing with his game; he is going to be a complimentary scorer.

If we could just develop one guy to raise his level of play then it makes Deng, Gordon and Kirk way more expendable. I wouldn't mind at all if we gave up those big three for a superstar and a average player. Just as long as we can get someone to score at will (consistently) I'm fine with developing guys around that player. It would be a mini rebuilding process because once you get rid of those three guys you leave a huge hole on your team that can be fixed, just not easily.

I hope and cross my fingers that Paxson is waiting until December 15th to start making the big trade where Smith and Nocioni's contract are available for trades. Two players you keep your eyes on, Kobe, and Gasol. Those are probably going to be the two main guys the Bulls center their focus around come the trade deadline. The problem is, if the Bulls have such a spiffy record coming into that deadline, Kobe may not want to even come here if he doesn't already.

Every time I hear someone ask for JR Smith back, I'm going to go spit on a stripper in his honor.

Seriously, where are the stats that warrant such wishes? I don't get it at all. I second your stripper spitting notion.

If you want anyone back, it should be Tyson.

noah is going to be better than tyson.

He already has a higher bball IQ and better hands.

JR smith (6'6) starting with BG as 6th man would have been nice though

Smith is another jump-shooter with a low percentage, and despite the added size he's not any better defensively than Gordon, in fact probably worse because of lack of effort. He'd add nothing to this team.

He would add to the number of criminal charges the team faces. And he'd probably be able to hook the rest of the guys up with some good parties and such. Probably wouldn't help bringing in strippers any more though. Might hurt our ability to do that.

Yeah riiite, he would add some offense to this team that we don't have. We rely WAAAAY too much on defense, we need more guys that provide offense. We drafted the same player yet taller and less athletic in Joakim Noah compared to Tyrus Thomas in 2 consecutive drafts, not to mention Thabo who has about zero offensive game. Smith's defense may not be good but to say he would add nothing to this team is quite idiotic.

We already have 2 guys in the backcourt that miss jumpers with regularity. Another 40% jump-shooter in an already crowded backcourt doesn't solve a damn thing. That's WHY we suck offensively, we don't need to make it worse. We're still a jump-shooting team and we still don't have a post presence with him on the roster, AND our defense gets worse. Tyrus and Noah would still be part of the rotation regardless. He's essentially a far less talented Ben Gordon. You just said in your last post that we have too many streak shooters, and yet you want to add another one to the roster. How exactly does that make sense or make us better?

this is probably a dumb question, but who did get back when we traded j.r. smith? i dont remember.

It turned out to be Aaron Gray and JamesOn Curry. We pretty much dumped him for nothing.

an freed up cap room to sign old man Griffin

yeah. no.

Well for one he's taller and more athletic. Um, he will drive to the basket and will throw it down on anyone. If Ben was 6'5 I'd have no problem with him but he only creates shots for himself that are deep jumpers, its never a determined drive to the basket and he is not a good finisher and with the way he shoots free throws he could very easily get up to that 25 ppg mark if he'd just be more like Kevin Martin and get to the line, haha.

noah will never be better than tyson.

You haven't watched Smith play much, have you? He shoots as many 3's as Gordon in considerably less playing time. Almost 50% of his career attempts are from behind the arc, and that rate has gone up the last few years (compared to around a third for Gordon, with that rate coming down). Gordon does considerably more driving than he does, which is a scary thought. He may put up an occasional 25 every once in a while when he gets hot, but he's just as likely to throw up a 3-point clunker like last night because he can't get open looks. He actually shoots a LOWER percentage than Gordon throughout his career because he relies just as much on long jumpers if not more. To steal a Seinfeld term, Smith is a chucker, plain and simple.

maybe not, but everytime he plays the Bulls it seems like he puts up 27 and shoots like 4/7 from three....