Bucks 92, Bulls 83: First look observations on new guys Korver and Watson, and some old guys too

That’d make him a perfect fit for this team and we’d have no real glaring holes in the starting 5

It looked to me like he was excited to play with his new toys, and really wanted to win this game. Everything else looked pretty good though. Most of the important guys played well enough. And you know that even the biggest scrubs on a Skiles team will play his system, so I’m not discouraged by the loss

http://twitter.com/ESPNChiBulls/statuses/26520671524

I think Korver should be the starting 2 and Thomas the starting 4. Giving you Noah,Thomas(Kurt not Kirk, not Tyrus) Deng, Korver, Rose.

Deng looks faster than I’ve ever seen him. Maybe it’s the fresh legs? Really great game. I like this Deng.

Rose is awesome.

Watson is playing Nellyball still.

Asik is HUGE but raw.

JJ was thin and bad.

Scals is a good help defender.

I love the new uni’s.

Neil is a tool.

Thank you and good night.

Opps almost forgot… anyone hear anything about Boozer filing for divorce? I read it on WGN’s ticker. http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/10/report-bulls-boozer-files-for-divorce.html

punching walls lately?

i’m interested in seeing how the 2 guard position plays out to start the season. Korver looked great tonight, and it would really be nice to have that type of shooting next to Rose and the new slimmed down Deng. The Bucks actually had to adjust their defense to stop a Bulls shooter! That opened up so many lanes to the hoop, and if JJ and Watson hadn’t been in, maybe the Bulls would have took advantage of it.

Brewer is going to play the position completely differently than Korver. I wonder how the sets will change when Brewer and Deng are out there as opposed to having a shooter at the 2 guard. Offensively it could be a struggle, but if Brewer/Deng works well together, the Bulls will have one of the top perimeter defensive duos in the league.

I don’t think we saw any C.J. Watson at the 2, but based on his shooting, I don’t know how viable that is. I thought he played pretty good D and active hands though. He was much better in the 2nd half versus the 1st half.

Bogans is a non-entity out there. Like a bald Adrian Griffin. Maybe it was just the 1st game, but he has to be more aggressive shooting open shots. The Bulls offense, especially without Boozer, can’t afford to have a complete non-entity out there.

All in all, I thought it was a good showing. Thibs certainly did better in his debut in Chicago than VDN in his debut in LA.

When he gets the ball, he either: a) has the shot and takes it, or b) passes it back immediately. The only bad thing about starting him, is that it gives us a lot less scoring punch off the bench. Maybe you just start Ronnie, but give Korver a majority of the minutes (also depending on how badly he gets burned defensively).

deng really looks impressive. close to the guy who earned that fat contract.
i really felt vinny robbed deng the most outta his production more than anyone else on this team.

deng is such a system guy that he needs to be cutting and slashing and in constant motion off the ball to be effective. we know he cant create too well and yet vinny tried keeping him in the corner standing still or trying to create his own shots.

its nice seeing him in a system that actually is going to utilize him

I’ve seen worse than him.. BG.

I’m starting to wonder if he can be better than Rose as early as this year. The guy looks incredible. I think he’ll struggle slightly with turnovers, but other than that, he’s gonna be flat out sick right from the jump. And for anyone that says “It’s just preseason”, I think we had a pretty good handle on Rose’s ability after a preseason game or two

But why the Stacy and Neil hate? I think they compliment each other well, and Stacy is actually pretty funny at times.

I wonder if that reputation is justified or not. I mean, he certainly isn’t going to be racking up steals, but I am not sure where he gets this rep from. Some stats…Last year. 08-09. 07-08. The team’s DRtg was always better with him on the floor than off. This is likely skewed by him playing more minutes in garbage time, but still. Also, his DRtg has been consistently right around 109. Utah has averaged about a 107 over the past several years. So his DRtg is about two points worse per 100 possessions than his team’s average. Even his STL% is not abysmal. I think Korver could be better with Noah playing behind him and the right scheme.

Finally, the Bulls were solid defensively last year and should be better this year. The Bulls were atrocious offensively, due to VDN ineptitude and no outside shooting. I think if Korver can be near an average defender, the boost he gives to the offense far outweights any problems defensively.

Would`ve love to see Scal play since he never did with the Celtics

Brian Scalabrine is wearing #24, how do we go from TT24 to BS24? A guy who jumps through the roof to a guy who has a negative vertical….

- This was my first time seeing Derrick Rose in person. sweet zombie jesus that man is quick.

- Korver looked really confident in his shot. He definitely played a lot better than I expected and I second the notion that he should at least be considered for the starting job.

Side note: what was with Korver’s missed layup in the 2nd quarter? My seats were close to the opposite rim, but he was wide open and it looked like the ball didn’t even hit the rim. The only more embarrassing moment was Chris Kramer re-enacting Derrick Rose’s block on Scalabrine.

- Asik didn’t necessarily look lost, but wasn’t very effective either. Outside of Joakim, we looked awful in terms of rebounding. Also, I’m not really sure why he’s so awful at the free throw line. His form wasn’t anything noticeably atrocious, but obviously he has some work to do.

- James Johnson…..oh boy. Definitely dropped some pounds, but I’m wondering if he lost some muscle along with it. Very indecisive, and when he did make decisions, they were the wrong ones.

- C.J. Watson – I don’t mean to be pessimistic, but I thought he was awful. He dribbled the clock out on a good deal of possessions, shot terribly, consistently left Dooling open and could not take advantage of being guarded by Earl Boykins. By the start of the 2nd half, I was hoping to see John Lucas in the game.

on the other side of things, I know its just preseason, but the Bucks looked scary good last night. Even without Salmons, Maggette, or Bogut playing, it felt like they had the game in their hands all night. Multiple times I looked up at the scoreboard and couldn’t believe the game was so close. CDR looked like he could score anytime he wanted to. Drew Gooden actually played in the paint (gasp!). Larry Sanders has a smooth jumpshot and I think he caught everyone off guard when he took Joakim off the dribble. Why couldn’t we have picked up Keyon Dooling? Hopefully they will have cooled off by the time we pay them again.

The Bulls have waived forward Chris Richard. Richard signed with Chicago on Sept. 27. Chicago’s preseason roster now stands at 16.

Link

who thunk

Bulls’ health report: Brewer is out but will travel. Boozer, obviously, is out and won’t travel yet. Taj (back) is in. DRose (rt finger) in.

link

Deng is always going to be the most efficient scorer on the roster and it will mean absolutely nothing, because he doesn’t command the ball. He doesn’t force his will on the court. He’s the ghost that wore a Bulls jersey. We might miss his scoring if he wasn’t on the team, but Korver can make it up in a flash. In fact Korver made more of impression in one game than Deng has his entire career as Bull. Korver let the Bucks know he’s a threat.