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By Sam Smith | 2.13.2015 | 9:36 a.m. CT
Stats show that the Bulls have performed well when Rose and Brooks are in the backcourt together, though Thibs hasn't used that option frequently. Guess who is 4th in the NBA in 3pt %? Aaron Brooks! 44%. I realize Brooks and Rose are not exactly Jordan and Pippen defensively, but wouldn't it make sense to use that rotation for 6-12 mpg when Butler is either resting or playing the 3 (or out with a shoulder injury)? Snell is on a hot streak right now having made 11 of his last 19 threes to get to 36.5% on the year. All hot streaks come to an end at some point though. I'd like to see the Bulls continue to space the floor for Rose.
Dan Michler
Sam: So would Rose. I wrote a lot about that after Tuesday’s win over the Kings. The Bulls are caught in an intriguing dichotomy that I don’t believe will work itself out until after the season, and then we’ll see the way to go. They’ve built their team the more traditional way with size and with a coach who is defensive oriented and defense first. The league has gone the other way with the Warriors and Hawks out front in their conferences with a small ball, movement, jump shooting game. The conventional wisdom is that won’t work in the playoffs, sort of the Denver Nuggets of the past. You run up a lot of wins in the regular season, are fun to watch and then get ground down in the first or second round and out. But so many teams now, especially in the Western Conference, have gone to this style of play. It’s the favored view now with a lot of threes and then trying to draw fouls like Harden and Durant do. The Bulls have six and are physical with players who can post up, but generally weak in perimeter shooting. The coach is geared to emphasize defense first. It has been the formula for playoff success, and after all the Spurs have Tim Duncan. But Miami won two titles with a hybrid of this, good aggressive defense, but on the perimeter without much size or postup game. Thibodeau isn’t one to change, but we really won’t know if the Bulls methods can work until we see whether they work or not. Huh? The lineups that probably are best have Rose with Snell and Dunleavy, so we’ll see how often that occurs after the break as that lineup opens the court.
Regarding the Denver Nuggets, we were told they made such a great trade to get rid of ‘Melo, how they had such great pieces, GM and Coach. I know there were injuries, but all teams have those. Even at their highest point they never got out of the first round and they gave JaVale McGee $55 million. And notice to date how well Timothy Mozgov looks? How come George Karl and Brian Shaw could not get that out of him? It always bothers me when a team and others “crow” about their great personnel trades/free agents just because no one cares for the other side who got “fleeced”. Sure Dwight Howard has not exactly improved the Rockets, but the Magic had been a dumpster fire {with potential} since they traded him (or more correctly fired SVG).
Lawrence Bentley
So Thibs' defense has sort of created the necessity of the stretch four. Players who play 'in the post' have to be really, really good (and quick) at it now otherwise defenses can collapse more than they used to be able to with the illegal defense. This leads me to this question: why does Coach T keep trying to fit Niko in at 3? Defense is weaker there than if Snell or Butler were playing the position and he doesn't really provide better shooting than either of those players at the moment. Having more height and strength at that position seems superfluous as rebounding and defending from the 3 positions is more about positioning, quickness and boxing out. Also, it seems to me Niko's greatest asset would be to stretch the floor as a 4, where his lack of quickness wouldn't kill him defensively. Finally, wouldn't having him learn 1 position on defense help him be more successful anyhow?
Robert Lininger
Sam: Well, I wouldn’t credit—or blame—Thibodeau, but you refer to the Kyle Korver comment in my Monday NBA column about Thibs’ defenses and flooding one side. But a lot of teams have copied what Thibs does and you always have responses. As I noted above, we’ll see come playoff time if you still can do that with so many spread offenses. The Mirotic situation is interesting as it seems he’s back at power forward now, which means, especially with Snell playing better and deserving a regular spot, little time anymore for Mirotic, as was expected at the start of the season. Actually, I thought McDermott would play more as the wing position seemed the thinnest. But he appears to have been buried for this season after his surgery. I don’t think it’s too late to give him a shot since you can always use a shot, but as know Thibodeau prefers a shorter rotation. What happened is Thibodeau saw Mirotic could make threes and space the floor and tried to find room for him. Good for Thibs. Initially, Thibodeau said no way Mirotic would play three, which meant no way he’d play with Noah, Gasol and Gibson. So give Thibodeau credit that he tried to find space for Mirotic. I think Mirotic has tried to do too much, which has hurt him and reduced his effectiveness. One thing they ask you when you come into the NBA is if you can do one thing. If you can do one thing you can help a team, like Rodman rebounding or even Steve Novak shooting though he doesn’t play much. Then you have to grow. Mirotic is an excellent shooter, but it seems he tries to do too much in faking, driving, passing, trying to finish. He should spot up and shoot. No shot? Move the ball. So he’s had issues at three, which means back to power forward. But with Taj Gibson having trouble getting enough playing time, there’s little room in the front court rotation the way Thibodeau plays for a fourth big man even if his skills are different. Again, we’ll see if the Bulls interior power game is the right playoff formula.
Would somebody in Bulls Management please call Ray Allen already!
Stephen Fulton
It's nice to see [Tony Snell] getting playing time to work through the mental mistakes. A couple of my friends and I have a running group text about the Bulls. Two of us have believed in him since the beginning and wondered why he hadn't been getting a chance. My other friend calls him "smell" because [my friend] didn't think he was any good. He loves [Snell] now. He is looking more comfortable every game and has all the physical tools to succeed.
Jake Henry
I was listening to Michael Kay and Don LeGrecca earlier and they were talking about how they weren't interested in the season this year due to the absence of super teams and because New York basketball is well, pathetic. I don't get this, I find this season more interesting than ever because anybody could come out on top. Is this just a case of New Yorkers whining or do you agree?
Trevor Hoffler
If Gary Neal gets bought out welcome to Chicago?
Mike Sutera
I can't see Raptors highlights without hearing that James Johnson is one of the major reasons they're winning these days; analysts fawn over him and he's a regular on top 10 segments. I've looked at his numbers; he's shooting a great overall percentage, but none of his other stats seem to move the needle that far from what he did early on his career, at least when looking at the per 36 minute average. Has he genuinely improved, is he in a system that plays to his strengths better than Thibs', or is this just media trying to find a feel-good story?
Terrell Bryant
In watching the Heat's fortunes this year (currently outside the playoff picture), I was thinking about 1994 when the Bulls went through the exact same situation. After a trip to the Finals, the team lost arguably the best player in the league (Jordan vs. Lebron), who was replaced by a solid if unspectacular player (Pete Myers and Luol Deng, respectively), but kept the rest of their core players more or less intact. Yet that Bulls team ended up with only two fewer wins than the year before, whereas the Heat have dropped from a top-two seed in the East to outside the playoffs. Given that Jordan is (rightly) viewed as so essential to the Bulls' success in those title runs, how did that team manage to be so successful (only two fewer wins?) without him, especially seeing how the Heat have slipped? Is it just that the Heat have been injured? Is it coaching? Is Pippen/Grant > Wade/Bosh?
Chris Feldman
With the trade deadline coming up – any red-hot rumors? Inquiring minds [want to] know.
Terry McManus
What's your opinion on Kirk Hinrich? Not many Bulls fans like him anymore, but Thibs clearly does, so the guy starts. I understand Brooks has been equally dreadful, but Kirk really shouldn't be in a rotation on a contending team anymore.
Vic Santiago
What do you think of this statistic?
Rose October/November; 16.1 per game; 8 games missed
December; 18.3 and 2 games missed
January 20.3 and 1 game missed
February 19.0 and 0 games missed
Matt Adler