Please watch this .... no comment, just passing it along. I haven't laughed this long in quite some time.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Breaking Down ... The Bulls?
When I'm wrong I like to say that I'm wrong. It looks like I might have been wrong in imploring the Bears to trade for Jay Cutler, although the jury is still debating that one. I was wrong in my belief that poor drafts, plus underachieving regular seasons, would lead the Bears to force Angelo and Lovie to finish their contracts before an extension; I guess that we just couldn't risk the Toronto Argonauts stealing them away to the CFL. I was wrong, years ago, in bemoaning Leonardo Dicaprio as an overrated actor; in recent years he has been a part of many good movies, many driven by his ability.
Still, I'm hard pressed to think of anything I've been more wrong about than my stated opinion on who the Bulls should take with the first pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. Looking at our backcourt, which at the time featured Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon, I claimed loudly that the Bulls would be fools to take Rose, when Michael Beasley would give them the low post presence they needed. I am so glad that the Bulls were right and I was wrong.
Derrick Rose is incredible, and he, in only his third season in the league, has established himself as a top five talent in the league. If I were to compile a list of the top ten players in the league, right now, the list would look like this:
10. Chris Paul
9. Carmelo Anthony
8. Deron Williams
7. Dwayne Wade
6. Dirk Nowitzki
5. Dwight Howard
4. Kobe Bryant
3. Derrick Rose
2. Kevin Durant
1. LeBron James
You could argue that Howard should be a bit higher, or that Kobe should be, but with Kobe's age and Howard's very real limits on his game (poor shooter beyond 8 feet, poor free throw shooter, focus on self rather than team) I would argue that only James and Durant are more valuable than Rose right now. Incidentally, I would have to expand this list to about 100 to include Michael Beasley on it. That's how wrong I was.
And so, here we are. It's April, and the Bulls matter again. Not in the "maybe they'll shock someone in round one" way that they have been in the handful of playoff appearances since Jerry broke up the band in 1998. No, here we are, April 2nd, and the Bulls:
- Have a 2.5 game lead on Miami, and a 3 game lead on Boston for the number one seed in the Eastern Conference.
- Have swept the season series with the Miami Heat, and have a record of going toe to toe with Boston, dating back to previous seasons.
- Are, miraculously, only one game behind the San Antonio Spurs in the loss column, and are tied with the Lakers in the loss column, for the best record in the NBA (and, by extension, home court advantage in the NBA Finals).
But are these Bulls real? They are certainly the beneficiary of an extremely weak division, against which they are 14 and 1. They blew the chance of a perfect record against the Central Division the other night against their likely first round opponent: the Indianapolis Pacers. The Pacers, at 35-42, are the next best team in the division. The Bucks have continued the trend of tuning out Scott Skiles after a year or two. Detroit has literally walked out on their coach, and Cleveland ... well this happened to the Cavs. So, to be perfectly honest, the Bulls have had an easy run against their own division. But they have also played extremely well against their own conference. If you take their 14-1 record in division away, they are 19-12 against the rest of the conference, which includes the second through seventh best teams in the conference. The Bulls play insanely well at home (32-5 thus far) but are also above .500 (23-15) on the road. In the playoffs, if you can win even one road game you make it very difficult for your opponent to win the series, especially if you have home court advantage, which the Bulls, barring an epic an unexpected collapse, will have.
So, breaking it down according to record, the Bulls are the real deal. They are also the second toughest defense in the league; Boston allows 90.9 points per game, while the Bulls allow 91.2 points per game. They are middle of the pack in offense, scoring 98.5 points per game, but they are tied with Miami for the best point differential in the entire league, at +7.2 according to ESPN.com.
But the best aspect of this team, perhaps, is the way they play as a team. It's something that numbers cannot quantify, but a veteran basketball fan can easily identify by watching. You can tell this team loves playing together, and they do it well. They play excellent team defense, communicating and helping out ... and swarming the loose balls. They make the extra pass for the easy basket, and they support one another from the top down. That pace is set by Derrick Rose, who has bought in to Tom Thibodeau's system 100%. All too often, in the NBA, when you see a coach call a timeout you see the "stars" not buying in to the message, and to the lessons. That doesn't happen with Rose. He listens, then executes. Joakim Noah (who I loved to hate at Florida, and is one of the ultimate "guys you want on your team, but would hate on another team") is the energy, defense first big man that every team needs ... only he can pass and run the court. Carlos Boozer gives the team that low post presence that can help the 2nd unit to expand on leads when he stays in with them and is the focus of the offense. Luol Deng has been reinvented in his true position: the number three man, a swing man who can dominate on both ends of the floor ... and can hit a big shot if need be. The bench is full of role players who far surpass most of the bench players from the Jordan years: Taj Gibson and Omar Asik give inside toughness, as does the ageless Kurt Thomas. CJ Watson, Ronnie Brewer, and Kyle Korver all fill their roles. If their is one flaw in this team it is the lack of a starting 2 guard who can take over as a creator, but Rose makes that almost a moot point with his play.
So, can this team actually do it? It's tough to say, especially if, like me, you believe in "experience" being a big part of winning. But we just saw an inexperienced Green Bay team beat a very experienced Pittsburgh team. The NBA seems to be the last stronghold for experience: LeBron couldn't topple Boston, and the Lakers and Spurs have had a stranglehold on the league since 1999 (9 championships combined during that period). But, so long as the Bulls hold on to the number one seed, they have a huge advantage in playing the Pacers, rather than the 76ers or Knicks, and then they get a tough Orlando team in round two (or Atlanta, if the Hawks shock the Magic), while Boston and Miami presumably are beating each other up. The Bulls w
ould then have home court ... and fresher legs ... to face the survivor of a Heat - Celtics brawl. I can easily see the Bulls making the finals given those circumstances. Could they then beat the Lakers (who, in my opinion, are the heavy favorites not only to win the west, but also to win it all)? Probably not. This Lakers team has turned it on in a way that is reminiscent of the Bulls teams of Jordan's era. They just don't want to lose, and they want to destroy you. But if the Bulls get that far, all bets are off. They wouldn't have anyone to guard Kobe, and they would be undersized against the Lakers huge front line. But the Lakers have nobody who can keep up with Rose either. And even if the Lakers were to win, the Bulls would have the additional experience for next year ... when they will be even better.
Yes, it's safe to say, it's fun to be a Bulls fan again. Even Michael Jordan thinks so.
Still, I'm hard pressed to think of anything I've been more wrong about than my stated opinion on who the Bulls should take with the first pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. Looking at our backcourt, which at the time featured Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon, I claimed loudly that the Bulls would be fools to take Rose, when Michael Beasley would give them the low post presence they needed. I am so glad that the Bulls were right and I was wrong.
Derrick Rose is incredible, and he, in only his third season in the league, has established himself as a top five talent in the league. If I were to compile a list of the top ten players in the league, right now, the list would look like this:
10. Chris Paul
9. Carmelo Anthony
8. Deron Williams
7. Dwayne Wade
6. Dirk Nowitzki
5. Dwight Howard
4. Kobe Bryant
3. Derrick Rose
2. Kevin Durant
1. LeBron James
You could argue that Howard should be a bit higher, or that Kobe should be, but with Kobe's age and Howard's very real limits on his game (poor shooter beyond 8 feet, poor free throw shooter, focus on self rather than team) I would argue that only James and Durant are more valuable than Rose right now. Incidentally, I would have to expand this list to about 100 to include Michael Beasley on it. That's how wrong I was.
And so, here we are. It's April, and the Bulls matter again. Not in the "maybe they'll shock someone in round one" way that they have been in the handful of playoff appearances since Jerry broke up the band in 1998. No, here we are, April 2nd, and the Bulls:
- Have a 2.5 game lead on Miami, and a 3 game lead on Boston for the number one seed in the Eastern Conference.
- Have swept the season series with the Miami Heat, and have a record of going toe to toe with Boston, dating back to previous seasons.
- Are, miraculously, only one game behind the San Antonio Spurs in the loss column, and are tied with the Lakers in the loss column, for the best record in the NBA (and, by extension, home court advantage in the NBA Finals).
But are these Bulls real? They are certainly the beneficiary of an extremely weak division, against which they are 14 and 1. They blew the chance of a perfect record against the Central Division the other night against their likely first round opponent: the Indianapolis Pacers. The Pacers, at 35-42, are the next best team in the division. The Bucks have continued the trend of tuning out Scott Skiles after a year or two. Detroit has literally walked out on their coach, and Cleveland ... well this happened to the Cavs. So, to be perfectly honest, the Bulls have had an easy run against their own division. But they have also played extremely well against their own conference. If you take their 14-1 record in division away, they are 19-12 against the rest of the conference, which includes the second through seventh best teams in the conference. The Bulls play insanely well at home (32-5 thus far) but are also above .500 (23-15) on the road. In the playoffs, if you can win even one road game you make it very difficult for your opponent to win the series, especially if you have home court advantage, which the Bulls, barring an epic an unexpected collapse, will have.
So, breaking it down according to record, the Bulls are the real deal. They are also the second toughest defense in the league; Boston allows 90.9 points per game, while the Bulls allow 91.2 points per game. They are middle of the pack in offense, scoring 98.5 points per game, but they are tied with Miami for the best point differential in the entire league, at +7.2 according to ESPN.com.
But the best aspect of this team, perhaps, is the way they play as a team. It's something that numbers cannot quantify, but a veteran basketball fan can easily identify by watching. You can tell this team loves playing together, and they do it well. They play excellent team defense, communicating and helping out ... and swarming the loose balls. They make the extra pass for the easy basket, and they support one another from the top down. That pace is set by Derrick Rose, who has bought in to Tom Thibodeau's system 100%. All too often, in the NBA, when you see a coach call a timeout you see the "stars" not buying in to the message, and to the lessons. That doesn't happen with Rose. He listens, then executes. Joakim Noah (who I loved to hate at Florida, and is one of the ultimate "guys you want on your team, but would hate on another team") is the energy, defense first big man that every team needs ... only he can pass and run the court. Carlos Boozer gives the team that low post presence that can help the 2nd unit to expand on leads when he stays in with them and is the focus of the offense. Luol Deng has been reinvented in his true position: the number three man, a swing man who can dominate on both ends of the floor ... and can hit a big shot if need be. The bench is full of role players who far surpass most of the bench players from the Jordan years: Taj Gibson and Omar Asik give inside toughness, as does the ageless Kurt Thomas. CJ Watson, Ronnie Brewer, and Kyle Korver all fill their roles. If their is one flaw in this team it is the lack of a starting 2 guard who can take over as a creator, but Rose makes that almost a moot point with his play.
So, can this team actually do it? It's tough to say, especially if, like me, you believe in "experience" being a big part of winning. But we just saw an inexperienced Green Bay team beat a very experienced Pittsburgh team. The NBA seems to be the last stronghold for experience: LeBron couldn't topple Boston, and the Lakers and Spurs have had a stranglehold on the league since 1999 (9 championships combined during that period). But, so long as the Bulls hold on to the number one seed, they have a huge advantage in playing the Pacers, rather than the 76ers or Knicks, and then they get a tough Orlando team in round two (or Atlanta, if the Hawks shock the Magic), while Boston and Miami presumably are beating each other up. The Bulls w
ould then have home court ... and fresher legs ... to face the survivor of a Heat - Celtics brawl. I can easily see the Bulls making the finals given those circumstances. Could they then beat the Lakers (who, in my opinion, are the heavy favorites not only to win the west, but also to win it all)? Probably not. This Lakers team has turned it on in a way that is reminiscent of the Bulls teams of Jordan's era. They just don't want to lose, and they want to destroy you. But if the Bulls get that far, all bets are off. They wouldn't have anyone to guard Kobe, and they would be undersized against the Lakers huge front line. But the Lakers have nobody who can keep up with Rose either. And even if the Lakers were to win, the Bulls would have the additional experience for next year ... when they will be even better.Yes, it's safe to say, it's fun to be a Bulls fan again. Even Michael Jordan thinks so.
Friday, April 1, 2011
April Fool's Day
I could go on for thousands of words trying to sum up the feelings of yet another opening day, but ultimately I'd fall short. People who root for other teams don't understand what it's like to bleed Cubbie Blue, nor the religious experience it is to walk into Wrigley Field and imagine, just for a moment, what it will be like that magical day when the drought is over, the curse is broken, and the Cubs win it all. I haven't been able to find one pundit, one expert who thinks this year will end any differently than the last 102 for my Cubs. But something, right now, tells me the experts are wrong. Their is talent on this team, starting first and foremost with a pitching staff that may not have Holiday, Lee, Oswalt and Hamels ... but does have four pitchers who can win 15+, and a young man with plenty of potential in Andrew Cashner. Hitting in the NL, Carlos Pena can easily hit .250 ... with 40 home runs. We have young talent. And it's been quite awhile since we could say that. Plus, Kerry Wood is back in town, which always warms my heart. For today, I believe. I know it's possible that we could outlast the Cards, beat up as they are, and the Brewers, inconsistent as they are ... and the Reds, because Dusty will ruin that pitching staff too. As they said on Bleacher Nation: today I choose to be an April fool. As always, nothing sums up the experience of being a Cubs fan quite like Eddie Vedder's anthem. The team in the video is outdated by a few years, but the sentiment is eternal.
I believe. Do you?
I believe. Do you?
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