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Bulls Fan Confidence Poll
Last tallied on 09/01.
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I think a realistic goal for us is a championship
[From the FanShots. Glad that he believes it, even if I don't. Boozer, for his part, has been saying everything right since signing. -ed.]
Meanwhile, on Luol Deng's European Vacation...
by your friendly BullsBlogger on Aug 31, 2010 10:15 PM CDT
23 comments
[Note by your friendly BullsBlogger, 09/01/10 : Video interview with Deng here (ht: Belize's dead fanshot), taken outside of a club called 'coat check'. I like how his accent changes when he's speaking to his British people. -ed.]
As I'm sure readers of this site are aware, while Derrick Rose is making his case for being the number-2 option for Team USA in Turkey, Luol Deng just finished his duty for team Great Britain in their quest to merely qualify for the 2012 Olympics (in London, by the way).
Luol performed well as the alpha-dog, and it was a successful qualifying tournament for team GB. They qualify for next year's EuroBasket tournament, but that does not automatically get them into the following year's Olympics. A decision will be made before EuroBasket whether they'll need a good finish in EuroBasket or not to qualify. I'd hope they do let team GB in regardless, so Deng wouldn't have to spend another summer playing basketball. I don't know much about the politics of international basketball, so I'll just assume it's like the Olympics and therefore run by crooked plutocrats, and therefore won't assume anything: logically though, getting the host nation involved would seem to be a good idea.
DaBullz.com has a solid wrap-up of Luol's performance, citing the increase in 3-point shooting efficiency and (more importantly) volume. Tom Haberstroh of ESPN.com (and hoopdata fame) noted before the tournament the 'myth' of the new-found 3-point stroke in international play. It's a shorter line and a small sample size of games. And that range is likely right in Luol's wheelhouse, seemingly the master at shooting with his heels on the line during the NBA season. Here's hoping it does translate, and Thibodeau's offense embraces Luol as at least a corner-three threat.
As far as the bigger question of Luol risking his (notably uncertain) health for country rather than the Bulls, I'm torn. I'm usually cold-blooded against anything possibly hurting the Bulls season, but this really seems important to Deng and it's incredibly important to Great Britain that he plays. And if it all comes down to my selfish desires, I have to admit I would like to see Deng joined by Ben Gordon on Team Great Britain for the 2012 Olympics.
Noah Speaks, We listen
[From the FanShots: Right up Fred Mitchell's alley, cornering Bulls peeps at a charity golf outing. Videos here with Noah, Thibodeau, and Pippen. Paxson was also interviewed. -ed.]
Post-game: USA barely survives test from Brazil
by your friendly BullsBlogger on Aug 30, 2010 3:35 PM CDT
160 comments
That was a fun watch, though the scoring dried up completely on both sides in the 4th, Team USA managed to hang on for the 70-68 victory over Brazil. Especially crazy final possession, with Brazil down two, a very close and-1 rimming out, followed by a missed FT (I'm like Coach K, I don't know all their names) and then one of the few well-done intentionally missed FTs I've ever seen, but Brazil couldn't convert on the extra chance.
Derrick Rose had some great highlight finishes for himself, but never quite looked comfortable running the offense. And his defense today was pretty terrible. He was beat on the first two possessions and Brazil really was working him over on the pick/roll. Obviously it's a team scheme and not fair to Rose to be singled out, but it was a bad day on that end of the floor for him.
Open Thread: Team U.S.A. vs. Brazil
by your friendly BullsBlogger on Aug 30, 2010 1:23 PM CDT
386 comments
ESPN.
The week so far in what I should've blogged (a.k.a. know your fanposts/fanshots)
by your friendly BullsBlogger on Aug 25, 2010 10:18 PM CDT
51 comments
Not much new going on with the Bulls in these dog days of August. But a few small things are happenin', either on the sidebar or on my red-hot twitter account (when I'm not getting in twit-fights with other bloggers).
- Derrick Rose officially made the Team USA roster for the world championships, and seemingly will be starting. Only saw today's game against Greece sporadically, but hope to see a replay knowing Rose shot 6-7 and receiving this thing.
- The Bulls are going to erect a statue for the newly hall-of-famed Scottie Pippen at some point this season. The other statues currently at the UC are Jordan's and one of Johnny Red Kerr. And as pointed out in the comments of that post, this gave a Bulls employee has a hilariously sycophantic idea.
- Kelly Dwyer at Yahoo! has been doing his positional rankings this week, and Luol Deng checked in as the #8 SF. For more on Deng, check out Bulls By the Horns with an appreciation post. For yet more (!) on Luol, try and take the time to see this BBC piece on him returning to his native Sudan. Yet more on that here.
- The Bulls actually had two PFs in Dwyer's top-30, with Taj Gibson at #26 and Carlos Boozer at #6. And while ChicagoNow is still happy with the signing (as am I of course...could've been better, but really could've been worse) they point out the red flags in a guy whose former team (and their fans) seeming couldn't wait to get rid of.
- I'm guessing this will stay under the radar until it there's actual official movement, but Alex Kennedy (Poopsworld, yes: but he broke the CJ Watson signing) reports that Eric Musselman is up for the Bulls assistant position. He followed up that report with one saying Terry Porter was also in the mix. If I recall, Musselman is known as an offensive-minded coach, so that's a good thing. He and Porter have had similar head coaching careers: a first job with some unexpected success (to where you could argue they were unjustly fired) followed by a disastrous second chance. Musselman one-uped Porter with a DUI arrest.
- Earlier this week I gave my thoughts on Dwyane Wade and his relationship with Chicago to Pro Basketball Talk.
Sheridan: Rondo on the bubble? Rose to start again.
[From the FanShots. Can't argue whether this is a great move or not for the team, I'm just happy Rondo may have some disappointment in his life. -ed.]
Derrick Rose brings late-game heroics to international play
by your friendly BullsBlogger on Aug 23, 2010 8:23 AM CDT
97 comments
Rose culminated a pretty so-so game on Sunday against Spain with this layup as well as the following similar possession where he was fouled and sank two FTs.
Up until then, Rose had his good moments and bad. The speed shown there was frequently on display, but other aspects of his game were lacking. A couple time he got the ball stolen from him by Ricky Rubio, who guards by bodying up smaller players and using his hands. With Rose even given a bit of daylight he was able to blow by Rubio.
The 3 point shot (shorter in international play, mind you) was also on display, and it'll take me a while to get sold. Rose had good form and arc, but it seems he's never truly set when taking it, usually off a dribble and drifting when he lets it fly. It almost looks like the rest of his offensive repertoire with his very difficult floater attempts...yet he can make those, and maybe will do alright from 3 as well. The important thing is at least taking a few a game to keep the defense honest.
But whatever Rose's flaws (and it's a weird setup from the outset playing with other PGs so much), it was very cool to see him take the final possessions in a quarter that was otherwise dominated by Durant and Billups (and Iguodala, though I'd guess that wasn't by design). I don't think Rose was anointed by Coach K as the team's closer as much as he just happened to be bringing the ball up and the team knew to give him space*, but it was great to see Derrick do what he'll be called on to do all upcoming season, make close games into victories by virtue of his talent superseding whatever limits his team may have.
*unfortunately the Bulls may not be able to create such spacing with their shaky outside shooting.
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