The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or its Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Bulls and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
By Sam Smith | 12.12.2014 | 9:07 a.m. CT
Jamal Crawford is shooting better and scoring more than he ever has. This guy was drafted by the Bulls... in 2000! The Marcus Fizers and Chris Mihms and Kenyon Martins drafted before him are long gone, and Mike Miller is barely able to walk. Jamal, a player that relies on quickness, looks better than ever. Do you have any secrets on his unusual and prolongedly-successful career arc?
Alejandro Yegros
It was nice seeing Ron Adams back on an NBA bench this week. Why can't guys like him ever get a head coaching jobs? For that matter, even guys like Patrick Ewing are still assistant coaching, yet Steve Kerr, Derrick Fisher and Jason Kidd were hired without having any experience. Why is that? It can't just be the theory that PG's are like coaches on the floor. Otherwise, all ex PG's would coach.
Ateeq Ahmed
Thabo has been a great pickup for the Hawks. Looks so much more comfortable than I have ever seen him.
Mike Sutera
I'm interested in your take on the Cavs at the quarter-mark of the season. We now have a decent enough sample size to judge how these players fit together. They are surging of late against some weakened Eastern Conf opponents. But, looking at the numbers of their 'Big Three', it does beg a few questions. LeBron - He's at 48% this season. Did playing with Wade and Bosh make LeBron a much better player? Was it the influence of Pat Riley or Eric Spoelstra. Irving - His efficiency has spiked this season with his overall FG% up 5% and his effective FG% up 6%. Perhaps playing with LeBron has helped. Love - His shooting efficiency is static compared to last season. The big change? He's taking 30% less shots and grabbing about 50% fewer offensive rebounds. Is he sitting out on the 3pt line and being ignored as Chris Bosh predicted?
Dan Michler
What do you think about the frontline situation? Is there any chance that Thibs switches out one of our player in the starting line up? Either Gibson for Noah or Mirotic for Gasol?
Mario Persico
With Doug struggling and Snell having limited minutes would it be better for his long term development to have a stint in the D league once Doug is back from the knee injuries?
Kevin Franzen
I have been wondering a lot about who an all time defensive team would have on it. Since I have been watching from the early 80's there have been quite a few defensive stoppers but usually as a specialist and seldom ones who play most of the games as Battier and the guy from Memphis do. My criteria would be the players who had to play both ends of the court and not rest on offense. Without the advantage of seeing players before the 80's my only pick for before then is Russell at center although it would really be a toss up between him and Chamberlain. Power forward is kind of a tough one as Duncan would be my choice but what position does he actually play? If not him I would go with maybe Garnett over Rodman even though Rodman shied away from offense in his later years. At small forward I would go with Pippen not just because of him being a Bull but because he could guard so many positions and players. He might should have consideration as the best defender of all time as well. Jordan to me was the best guard defender I have seen even with Dumars' genius on that end. Gary Payton would be my choice for point guard. Who would your choices be?
Greg Wright
Will the ZenMaster becoming Knick General Manager turn out to be a fiasco? 4 - 20 is still early in Phil Jackson's Knick tenure. However the 4 - 20 start raises questions that if proven correct could tarnish an amazing run by Phil. Questions are being raised.
- Did Phil over-estimate his ability to influence players to use the triangle offense? Particularly players on a one year contract?
- Is Phil too rigid to see he is attempting to force a square peg in a round hole? If so this may be putting players in a situation they cannot succeed, demoralizing the team.
- Did Phil underestimate the impact of inheriting an organization that has 1 first round pick in 3 years, 2014 - 2016?
- Did he over-value Carmelo Anthony's ability to facilitate changing the culture of this team?
- Did he miss the risk that Anthony is not a change agent but a hurdle to implementing the triangle?
- Did he miscalculate the risk that the team could implode jeopardizing the Knick's ability to recruit top free agents in the summer of 2015?
- Is a red flag that the magic may not be there for Phil as a General Manager?
Bruce Roberts
The talk of minutes played is already exhausting. The complaints I hear from Bulls fans most... "How could we have played D Rose in that Milwaukee game? D Rose should not be playing more than 28 mpg... Thibs is going to run Jimmy and Pau into the ground come playoff time." The Bulls have overachieved every season under Thibs considering the circumstances they were in. I wish there was more appreciation in Chicago for the job he has done. He works hard and he expects his players to work hard. Why are we more concerned with minutes played than wins and losses or how well the team is playing? Is the fan base simply traumatized by the Rose injuries, hence Thibs and Rose himself have become the scapegoats in spite of all that is logical?
Jan Michler
Well it only took 20 games for Byron Scott to bench Boozer for defensive reasons, surprise surprise. Another reason Thibs should get credit as one of the best coaches in the league as we always had a great defense and Boozer started and played consistently. Which brings up my next question, why is Boozer so bad defensively? It is laziness, lack of desire, or something else? I always thought anybody could become a decent defender if they only gave the effort. Yes he's not a big guy and was never a shot-blocker, but I don't think I ever saw him even take a charge. Boozer never seemed to care on that end and that was my only knock on him, but it is a big deal when you see everybody go all out on D except for one player.
Adam Garcia
I think the Pistons and Knicks are underachieving much more than anyone really hoped. I thought the new coaches would really help the teams, but maybe that'll come further down the line. I see both need to fix their rosters quite a bit. I would like to see a trade between the 2 teams. I'd like to see a swap between Drummond and Shumpert or Monroe and JR. It would seem to solve quite a few problems. There are other scenarios that may work better between the two teams. What do you think about the possible trade scenarios?
Adam Gottlieb
Why is Taj getting credit for that block on Deron Williams going baseline when Rose clearly was the one who blocked the shot? Rose got beat initially but blocked the shot from behind. Taj was going up to try to block the shot as well but only ended up grabbing the rebound.
Brandon Revering
I guess I'm not the only one criticizing Rose. I didn't criticize him for not doing too much, it's the kind of things he's doing. Launching threes early in the shot clock when you are not the guy the team wants taking those shots hurts in a lot of ways. First of all, it doesn't allow "touching the ball" by the rest of the team which is important to get the team into the rhythm of the game. I can't imagine how I'd feel if I ran the length of the court just to see my teammate, who is not a good percentage three shooter, throw one up, just to have to run back the other way and set up again for defense. Rose is playing just over half the game. Notice that his threes started going down against Brooklyn when he took them later in the shot clock and in the rhythm of the game. And, the team was better off for it. Rose is going to set the tone for the team when he's in the game. He doesn't have to drive to the hoop every time he's got the ball in his hands. He just has to make sure the ball moves and his teammates are getting the touches they need to keep in rhythm.
William Kochneff
Is flu now euphemism for "no way in hell I´m playing Jimmy twice in 10 days?"
Paulo Ferreira