Exploring the Bulls 0-4 Start
Uncategorized November 7th. 2007, 3:29pm
We’re only a week into the NBA season, so even though Golden State (0-4), Seattle (0-4), Washington (0-3), Miami (0-3), Portland (0-3), Minnesota (0-3) and Memphis (0-2) have yet to win a game, there’s no genuine concern. The Warriors have labored without Stephen Jackson, Seattle’s still finding itself, Miami hasn’t played a game with Wade, and Washington is last in shooting from inside and outside the arc. The others are young teams with no hope for the playoffs.
But Chicago’s 0-4 after a home loss to the Elton Brand-less Clippers last night, and you know what that means: Panic! (Well, for Chicago’s Clown Prince, at least. For a much more reasoned Tribune Sun-Times column, try Couch.) As Blog-a-Bull pointed out, the schedule hasn’t been too challenging, which may or may not exacerbate your concerns.
Just an opinion: the Bulls still don’t have a back-to-the-basket presence, and that’s something that Bill Simmons should have picked up on before he put them in the NBA Finals. Everything Chicago does is perimeter-oriented, and that’s great when your playoff opponent is an aging and injured Miami Heat team. But the Knicks got Zach Randolph and the Celtics got KG, and to a much lesser extent, the Magic got Rashard Lewis. Ty Thomas ain’t gonna pull it off. Stonehands Wallace, either. (Please, please don’t come with, ‘Jordan never had one of those!’ or we’ll have to slap you and remind you he was Michael Jordan.) Deng can do some damage on the block, but he’s much better on the wing. No inside presence is why Chicago is second-worst in the league from the field, and fourth-worst from three.
It seems like Paxson thought he could rebuild the Pistons: a strong defensive team with a collection of solid yet unspectacular role players. The one key difference is that Rasheed Wallace was a four who could play inside and out; Deng is a three who plays much more outside than in. Trade for Kobe? F if we know. But at some point, this team will need to make a major move and add an inside factor.
0-4 against a very easy schedule. And it sucks. (Blog a Bull)
32 Responses to “Exploring the Bulls 0-4 Start”
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November 7th, 2007 at 3:34 PM
1. Bulls started slow last season and caught on.
2. Why is basketball becoming the new football, with people so concerned about the first 5-10 games of an 82-game season?
2. Based on his body language in the above photo, Ben Wallace has nothing to do with it.
November 7th, 2007 at 3:39 PM
A trade for Kobe will do NOTHING for this team, they don’t need another guard, they need a big man who can score, as you stated TBL. I keep praying every day that the Bulls don’t trade for Kobe, and as the above poster pointed out they started slow last year, hell the Suns started 0-11 one year and made the playoffs.
November 7th, 2007 at 3:39 PM
I agree with SVPS I can remember a Bucks team starting out 10-0. I believe they did not have a winning season that year.
November 7th, 2007 at 3:42 PM
Yes, Bulls will be fine. BUT, we’re in a society with little or no patience. Coaches are getting fired after two years. Players who don’t produce instantly are busts.
If Rick Carlisle is reading, he said the DUMBEST thing THIS SEASON on the NBA last night: “I’ve got the Pacers as one of my top four seeds in the East this year.”
No lie
November 7th, 2007 at 3:42 PM
Kobe would fix everything
November 7th, 2007 at 3:44 PM
Hey now TBL, don’t hate on my Pacers just yet. I’m still optimistic….
Ah, shit, they’re going to be F’ing terrible. Fire Bird.
November 7th, 2007 at 3:51 PM
How can you claim anything in the Dumbest at this point in the season? The East is totally wide open. Why couldn’t Indiana be a 4 seed? I don’t see that as that far fetched. I don’t think it will happen necessarily, but I certainly wouldn’t rule it out.
November 7th, 2007 at 4:01 PM
Pacers as a #4? Why not?
TBL, you yourself said the Bulls lack a back to the basket player? What is Jermaine O’Neal? If he is healthy for 82 games, the Pacers could be problematic. Of course, it would be nice if they had someone else who could score consistently.
November 7th, 2007 at 4:08 PM
FYI, Couch is a Sun Times writer, not Tribune (same with douche bag mariotti).
November 7th, 2007 at 4:09 PM
“Of course, it would be nice if they had someone else who could score consistently”
No love for Mike Dunleavy?
November 7th, 2007 at 4:13 PM
TBL has something weird against the Pacers…he bashed them all last season. I’ll say this, they may not be a top 4 seed in the East this year, but they will definitely make the playoffs.
Also, Simmons was on the radio a couple of weeks ago, and mentioned something interesting about the Bulls pick…it seems he picked them to win the East based on his belief that they would make a trade that would improve their team. Interesting, I thought, you don’t usually make preseason predictions based on trade expectations.
November 7th, 2007 at 4:15 PM
“No love for Mike Dunleavy?”
Dunleavy looks very comfortable in JOB’s offense this year. He could average 22-24 pts a game.
November 7th, 2007 at 4:17 PM
Jordan did have a back to the basket presence. His name was Bill Cartwright. It was not until the Bulls traded Charles Oakley for Cartwright (a move blessed by Jordan) that Jordan and the Bulls began to win championships. Whatever you want to say about Cartwright, he was a legitimate post player with his back to the basket and always had to be respected as such.
November 7th, 2007 at 4:21 PM
Nobody’s going to mention the Mavs 0-4 start from last year?
Alright, Dallas started 0-4 last year and that didn’t seem to matter for shit.
November 7th, 2007 at 4:25 PM
After setting thru the last two seasons A.R. (After Reggie) anything would be a breath of fresh air from the Pacers. I like what Ive seen so far. Keep an eye on Danny Granger, and Tinsley actually seems to be enjoying himself on the court. Now, if we can only get JO to get whining after EVERY play.
November 7th, 2007 at 4:25 PM
Good pull Maj, the fact I and I assume most others didn’t even remember it, proves how meaningless the Bulls 0-4 start is
November 7th, 2007 at 4:31 PM
I think TBL fucked with the pacers so much last year because someone had the nerve to say they were a top three team in the east. Sort of like the way TBL trashes Cedric Benson, because of all the Bears fans who said they were making their Super Bowl reservations-it’s just to fuck with ‘em.
Kobe wouldn’t change anything on the Bulls, unless he switches to the 5 and becomes their inside threat. Then again, he could inject a young team such as the Bulls with some enthusiasm, and everyone would step their game up, and they could go all the way to the Finals.
And I don’t see Miami doing jack shit this year.
November 7th, 2007 at 4:41 PM
Cartwright was a force when he first came into the league, hell I think he averaged 20+ PPG for a year or two. However, during the Bulls first threepeat, Cartwright was already a shell of his former self and averaged 7.9 PPG and 5.1 RPG. He was no longer a force with is back to the basket and was hanging in the fringes of ‘legitimate post player.’
November 7th, 2007 at 4:42 PM
JOB does not believe in an inside presence. Send Jermaine to Chicago for Hinrich and Tyrus.
November 7th, 2007 at 4:44 PM
Yeah, all of Cartwright’s good years were in New York. He never cracked 7 rebounds per game in Chicago.
November 7th, 2007 at 4:53 PM
Jordan was the back-to-the basket presence on all of his championship teams. Tex Winter, who has been on Phil’s staff for years has said as much. From an old True Hoop post:
“Observers like to point out that Jordan played on a Chicago Bulls team with no great center, but Winter always countered that Jordan was a great post-up player and in essence was the premier post weapon of his time.”
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-22-143/Tex-Winter-Compares-Kobe-Bryant-and-Michael-Jordan.html
November 7th, 2007 at 4:53 PM
Yea, the bulls should not have traded a younger and better Oakley for him.
November 7th, 2007 at 5:10 PM
The Bulls needed someone who could at least be a low post threat with enough occassional offense to make you pay if you had your big man switch off to apply the Jordan rules which is why they traded for Cartwright. Oakley wasn’t that man, Corzine wasn’t that man or any of the other big men they had. Oakley was expendable because the Bulls had a young Horace Grant who could rebound and actually score.
November 7th, 2007 at 5:13 PM
Pro Basketball sucks.
November 7th, 2007 at 5:33 PM
Has anybody seen any good pics of Dunleavy with the frankenstein lip stiches? I was looking for one. Those first 3 games, he was really ballin’ and looked like a thug with that busted up lip. Good stuff, I’ll be sad when the NBA league pass goes away.
November 7th, 2007 at 5:40 PM
Here’s one, but I was looking for an action shot: http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/web_071105.html
What happened to photographers at NBA games? I can’t find many images, even on the team’s page.
November 7th, 2007 at 6:00 PM
The Bulls had a post presence, they traded him to the Knicks…
November 7th, 2007 at 6:08 PM
the problem with the bulls is that they always play poorly at the beginning of the season. as long as they continue to do this they will be at the center of debates for people who love to pretend they know what is wrong with professional teams.
November 7th, 2007 at 6:13 PM
See Darrell’s post. Of course Cartwright never big points in Chicago. He didn’t have to. All he had to be was someone down in the low post who had to be honored. Like I said, Jordan blessed the Oakley for Cartwright trade. He saw what Medical Bill would bring to the triangle.
November 7th, 2007 at 6:21 PM
In my previous posts I indicated that Jordan blessed the Oakley/Cartwright trade. I did some googling and found that Jordan apparently blasted the trade at the time it was made. I wanted to recognize that here.
November 7th, 2007 at 7:14 PM
Here is my theory on the Bulls, they start slow every year for two reasons, there talent isn’t as good as teams but they play hard every night to keep them competitive. Then they go on the circus road trip which kills them. They come back from that and teams in the NBA stop playing hard every night. However the Bulls always play hard and probably win ten games more then they should on a talent basis. Then they get to the playoffs and get beat by better teams because every team is playing hard for 4 quarters.
All that on top of having no inside presence kills them. They are just an average team that out hustles everyone, to win at a championship level you have to have an all-star or stars. Deng might be one but him, gordon and Kirk are too streaky.
November 7th, 2007 at 9:52 PM
Celtics lead Denver by 39.
At the half.