By Steve Harnden
QUOTE
With stories all over the Web and sports radio reporting that the Bulls’ hiring of Mike D’Antoni is “imminent”, it seems a good time to decide just how good the Bulls could be under the “seven seconds or less” coach who encouraged his players to get the quickest, good look possible.
I am a firm believer that D’Antoni and Steve Nash were made for each other. Now, if the Bulls can get enough blow-up dolls in New York to get the Gods in their favor, perhaps they will luck into the #2 pick in May 20’s NBA Draft Lottery and be the fortunate franchise that selects former Memphis point guard Derrek Rose. This is a far-fetched wish that more than likely means our 2008/2009 Chicago Bulls will again be led by Kirk Hinrich at point guard.
Hinrich is a decent point guard at best. More a SG/PG hybrid, Hinrich does not excel at any one thing, but the overall package makes him a decent option. He’s more than capable of having a huge game, but has too many quite nights to put him on a level with the type of point guard D’Antoni’s system needs to thrive. Of course, some could say the likes of Tyrus Thomas, Thabo Sefolosha, Luol Deng, and Ben Gordon could thrive in this system, but come playoff time, will it really work?
The Bulls are in a much more winnable conference, but the Phoenix Suns have been heralded as a great regular season team that cannot win the big games come April and May. This was proven again just last week in a 4-1 series loss to the San Antonio Spurs (though the Grant Hill and Shaquille O’Neal additions were self-inflicted wounds that put the writing on the wall far before these games were played.)
The best comparison to a D’Antoni style system in the Eastern Conference is this season’s Philadelphia 76ers. After getting off to a horrible 18-30 start to the 2007/2008 season, the Sixers vastly changed their half-court style of play in favor of a more up-tempo, Phoenix Suns style. They closed out the season in surprising 22-12 fashion, running the Eastern Conference off the court en route to a first round matchup with the Pistons. A franchise that was picked to be in the bottom of the conference (unlike the Bulls who some picked to actually win it, which in retrospect was garishly foolish considering just how great the Celtics wound up being), managed to push the Detroit Pistons to 6 games and will no doubt stick with the up-tempo style come next year.
If the Bulls do hire D’Antoni, it will more than likely wind up being a move that keeps them in the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference: never good enough to win the title, but never bad enough to miss the playoffs. This did not achieve anything for the Suns, and it won’t do anything for the Bulls. As we all know, offense is fun… a lot of fun, but defense wins championships. Just ask the Spurs and Pistons about that.
Certainly, we can expect the usual salary issues to get in the way of this hiring, which is the status quo as far as the Bulls are concerned. They refused to add Gasol last season to avoid paying any extra taxes for being over the salary cap, and money very well could be the deciding factor that blocks what would be a lateral, but no doubt exciting hire for the Bulls.
I am a firm believer that D’Antoni and Steve Nash were made for each other. Now, if the Bulls can get enough blow-up dolls in New York to get the Gods in their favor, perhaps they will luck into the #2 pick in May 20’s NBA Draft Lottery and be the fortunate franchise that selects former Memphis point guard Derrek Rose. This is a far-fetched wish that more than likely means our 2008/2009 Chicago Bulls will again be led by Kirk Hinrich at point guard.
Hinrich is a decent point guard at best. More a SG/PG hybrid, Hinrich does not excel at any one thing, but the overall package makes him a decent option. He’s more than capable of having a huge game, but has too many quite nights to put him on a level with the type of point guard D’Antoni’s system needs to thrive. Of course, some could say the likes of Tyrus Thomas, Thabo Sefolosha, Luol Deng, and Ben Gordon could thrive in this system, but come playoff time, will it really work?
The Bulls are in a much more winnable conference, but the Phoenix Suns have been heralded as a great regular season team that cannot win the big games come April and May. This was proven again just last week in a 4-1 series loss to the San Antonio Spurs (though the Grant Hill and Shaquille O’Neal additions were self-inflicted wounds that put the writing on the wall far before these games were played.)
The best comparison to a D’Antoni style system in the Eastern Conference is this season’s Philadelphia 76ers. After getting off to a horrible 18-30 start to the 2007/2008 season, the Sixers vastly changed their half-court style of play in favor of a more up-tempo, Phoenix Suns style. They closed out the season in surprising 22-12 fashion, running the Eastern Conference off the court en route to a first round matchup with the Pistons. A franchise that was picked to be in the bottom of the conference (unlike the Bulls who some picked to actually win it, which in retrospect was garishly foolish considering just how great the Celtics wound up being), managed to push the Detroit Pistons to 6 games and will no doubt stick with the up-tempo style come next year.
If the Bulls do hire D’Antoni, it will more than likely wind up being a move that keeps them in the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference: never good enough to win the title, but never bad enough to miss the playoffs. This did not achieve anything for the Suns, and it won’t do anything for the Bulls. As we all know, offense is fun… a lot of fun, but defense wins championships. Just ask the Spurs and Pistons about that.
Certainly, we can expect the usual salary issues to get in the way of this hiring, which is the status quo as far as the Bulls are concerned. They refused to add Gasol last season to avoid paying any extra taxes for being over the salary cap, and money very well could be the deciding factor that blocks what would be a lateral, but no doubt exciting hire for the Bulls.