Okay, you probably already knew that, but I wanted to write the story after getting to watch the game which didn't happen until the tape delay. Afterall, the final score and results don't mean nearly as much as seeing how the various players play. First, without question, you have to credit James Johnson for the put back winner and for an excellent game overall. Johnson had a few miscues though a couple of dicey offensive fouls made his box score look a bit worse than it was in the turnover/foul department.
He looked his best in transition where he could show off his ball handling skills, but he also excelled on the defensive end of the court making several big plays. Overall, his energy level much higher than the first preseason game. His off the ball movement and involvement in the offense looked significantly better which was one of my big concerns.
Luol Deng filled up the box score and looked like his mental game was at it's peak. He was drilling contested jumpers over people and was again active moving around the court. His court vision and passing abilities were also on display as he set up teammates with many easy looks. On the downside, he did have two possessions where he had layups that seemed like they should have been dunks if he had his full explosion. Still, it's hard to find anything to argue about his day today, as he played outstandingly in all phases.
Taj Gibson didn't fill up the box score as much, but he was a big positive factor his entire time on the floor. He's still brought a lot of energy and hustle. He blocked a few shots, including a great block on Paul Milsap who was going up for an open dunk. Taj did have stone hands on an inside pass and a breakaway play, both would have led to dunks if he had caught them. Still, Gibson is relentless out on the court.
He may not have an all-star ceiling, but he sure looks like a viable role player. Dejuan Blair may have a better season, but if Gibson continues to play like he has so far then we won't be the team who's the most mad for passing on him, because Gibson looks like an easy player to root for on the court and someone who can help the team.
Kirk Hinrich had a nice veteran preseason game. He didn't try to do too much, hit all his shots, and looked prepared for the season.
Brad Miller was in playoff form on an intensity level, because he was ready to brawl with the Jazz on two separate occasions in the game. I'm pretty certain Koufos had to change his shorts with how quickly he tried to get away one of the times. Otherwise, he had a nice veteran game, hitting half his shots, and showing of the slowest drive to the basket in the league on multiple occasiosn.
Derrick Byars is making die hard fans want to keep him around. He's got size, strength, athleticism, and looks like he can shoot a bit too. I don't know if he has a legit chance to make this team, but he's certainly doing enough out there to win the heart of fans. I've said multiple times I don't expect any of the non-guaranteed guys to make it, but if someone did it would be Byars. His play has been good enough to at least leave a toe in the door.
His stats aren't always impressive, but he's playing with purpose every minute on the floor, always hustling and excelling in areas outside of scoring. It's still hard for me to envision the Bulls losing financial flexibility by keeping him, but I have to admit, he has a chance especially because he'd count as the rookie minimum salary which is under 500k.
Joakim Noah did a nice job filling up the box score while still having a quiet night. Putting up 10 points, 4 assists, and 6 blocks while playing sound defense should be enough to be noticed, but he wasn't a factor on the glass with only three reounds, and the Bulls never seemed to make runs when he was on the floor.
Lindsay Hunter's probably on this team because it was cheaper to sign him as a player than to bring him on as an assistant coach.
Chris Richard would need a miracle to make the team at this point
All in all, a fun preseason game to watch, and another Bulls win. Nice to see the chemistry on the team when they mob each other after a preseason game winner by Johnson. I had asked him how he wanted to shoot the game winner, I guess offensive rebound put back should have been one of his choices.
Filed under: Game Threads
Tags: chicago bulls, Derrick Byars, james johnson, Jannero Pargo, Joakim Noah, kirk hinrich, lindsay hunter, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson
Doug,
I'm LOVING what I'm seeing.
Two things. First, it seems like the Bulls are attacking each pre-season game like they want to win them and get better game after game. They aren't just going through the motions. Secondly, they all seem to be rooting for each other out there. Watching the reaction of the bench during the last seconds of the game was priceless. They were all rooting for Byars to hit that three just as much as they were Johnson to hit that fade. That's really nice to see.
On the down-side, I'm a bit concerned about the high turnovers, the high amount of fouling (mostly by the rookies), and the selfish one-on-one basketball by Pargo yesterday. I don't want to see a lighter version of BG7 out there. This team is going to need to play TEAM BASKETBALL to win games. If they can correct some of those issues, then they may give a lot of teams fits this upcoming season.
I expect team chemistry to be a strength this season rather than a negative as it was the past to season now that all the Mope a Dopes are gone, namely the 2 big ben bums and hughes.
Thanks Doug,
Nice to know the 2 rookies have had 2 good games.
Deng seems healthy and that's promising news.
Where can I find a box score of the game? Thanks.
Doug,
When I say "light version of BG7", I'm referring to both their tendencies to play selfish one-on-one basketball. I don't know if you saw the game yesterday or not, but Pargo went 6 for 17 from the field (missing almost twice as many than he made). He forced up some bad shots in his 34 minutes of action. It would have been nice to see Byars get more time out there, especially given the energy he gave them when he first entered the game.
By the way, that Box Score isn't correct. I don't think it lists Paul Millsap as having played and they jipped Byars out of an assist and a steal. He clearly made that pass to Gibson on that highlight dunk.
First time that I got to see Byars, seems a little rough around the edges, but I rather have him on the roster as a player than Hunter
Gordon's career field goal percentage us under 44%, Jordan's is over 50%(I refuse to count the final 2 seasons in Washington). And that is probably the closest they will ever be in any comparison. Pargo's game is far closer to Gordon's than anything about Gordon is to Jordan.
Kobe Bryant is a lesser Michael Jordan, Gordon is just a lesser.
All things considered, at the end of the day I'd rather pay Pargo $2 million than Gordon $11-12 million.
Why wouldn't they buy-out Jerome James like they bought out Tim Thomas?
Wouldn't that save them money to have Derrick Byars and Chris Richard. Truthfully, I would rather have two young guys, rough around the edges, then someone who can't get on the court at all.
Doug,
By the way, how could you say that BG7 wasn't selfish?
Several times he decided to go one-on-one and forced up a bad shot, instead of making the SMART play and finding the open man. Furthermore, don't even try to compare BG7 and MJ. That's absurd. My point is very simple. Pargo showed some selfish play yesterday by trying to go one-on-one, instead of passing the ball to the open man. I saw that happen quite a few times last season with BG7. That's all I'm saying.
FYI: Ben Gordon had 28 games last season where he shot under 40% from the field. Why do you think that happened? I'll give you a hint, because he forced up bad shots playing selfish one-on-one basketball.
Doug,
No question Gordon can score, but he does have a tendency to be a little bit selfish in his one-on-one play. He had 36 games where he shot 40% or lower last year and he had a high turn-over total as well. A lot of that stems from his selfish shooting and one-on-one play. How can you deny that?
Take Game 7 of the playoffs last year. Sure, he scored a lot of points, but look at his FG%. It was awful. When the Bulls had cut the lead down to 2 or 3 points how many bad shots did BG7 take and miss down the stretch? I remember him pulling up for a 3pt. shot when they had a 3 on 1 fastbreak. That wasn't the only time he did that during the year either.
Bottom-line is I fine with him being gone. Now, I just don't want Jannero Pargo play the same way. I would rather see a smart player, like Byars, get more minutes, then have Pargo play selfish and take bad shots.
Do they give out championship rings for points per possession, is that how they determine All-Star births. Does the team with the most points per possesion win the game.
The easiest way to score more points than your opponent is to make it as difficult as possable for the other team to score, which is why Jordan has 6 rings and Gordon has the same number as Pargo, and will at the end of his career, unless of course the Bulls win one in the next few years and Pargo manages to hang on.
It is also why Jordan is the only multiple scoring champion with multiple championships.
Doug, I am usually a fan of your analysis and reasoning about the game. However, your defense of Gordon primarily using a single statistic is what I don't like about this generation of fans who grew up on fantasy sports.
I can watch a game or 2 and tell more about whether a player is a winning player than from reading the enclyclopedia britannica of sports stats.
I actually was more of a Gordon fan during his rookie season, when I did'nt have the NBA Ticket. Then I got the ticket and started watching him, and watching him closely. The more that I watched the less that I liked him.
You can probably find one stat about every guy in the NBA and make him out to be a hall of famer. But winning doesn't work that way.
I imagine that Scottie Pippens TS% was closer to Pargo's than Gordons, and that Steve Kerrs was probably higher than Gordons.
You can start your team with Gordon, I'll take Pippen. And I bet that Jordan, Pippen and Jackson will take Kerr over Gordon, and maybe even Paxson also.
As I have said a million times Gordon is a circus act that should be featured down at the Rucker, not a winning NBA player. Maybe the Globetrotters would like him, ooops they only dribble the ball of their feet or knees on purpose as part of the act, he actually can't help himself.
I don't know if you have been paying attention but nobody in Detroit is exactly doing cartwheels over the arrival of Gordon, who by the way has a higher career TS% than Allen Iverson. Would you take Iverson over Gordon, and I hate Iverson as much as any player of his generation, and I still take him over Gordon.
Individuall statistics are useless when they have no correlation to winning games. You take all the Gordons, I want all the Battiers.