Some subjective thoughts on Boozer's fit with the Bulls and what he brings to the team
by Illini15 on Jul 12, 2010 9:13 PM CDT
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PrintIn this fanshot, fundamentallysound posted a link to the Boozer/Thibs press conference (I left out Gar because I'm only including guys who actually were speaking on their own accord). Anyways, I had watched this a while back and it got me really looking forward to the season and what we can look forward to. I don't have the background and stats knowledge that many here do, so I'll leave that to the experts. But I did have some more subjective thoughts as I look forward to the post summer-2010 era and what I think Boozer can bring to the Bulls, after the jump:
1. I like the on-court swagger and toughness Boozer brings us. Him and Noah are going to be a force together. And with Deng, we’ll be killing it on the glass (see my sig). I expect us to have the best frontcourt rebounding team in the entire league.
2. I think his game is a perfect fit with Noah. Boozer might not be a great defender because he’s not uber-athletic and he’s not especially tall, but he’s got a thick body and a strong core and is really good at holding his man in the post one on one. This will be a boon for Noah’s help defense, and I expect him to get more blocks this year (which is something Thibs has also mentioned).
3. While most people might be skeptical (and kind of rolleyes about it), I think they might be serious about Thibs saying Boozer was the #1 PF on his list. Given his style of play, I wonder if Thibs thinks Bosh is a giant wuss who wouldn’t fit well in his system. I realize that sounds a bit meat-headish, but it's just a thought. Boozer seems to have a mindset that Thibs likes, so it will be interesting to see if he can get any better on D at this age. It’s doubtful, but I think him and Noah will work well together.
4. I think Matt mentioned it before, but it’s nice to have a guy on our team with that “All-starry”-type presence. Sure, Boozer’s got his weaknesses, but he commands respect and a double-team on the court. I can’t wait to see him (and Korver, and hopefully Redick) open things up for Derrick.
5. Another thing I’m excited to see is Noah being even more active than ever on the offensive glass, since he won’t be used in as many PnRs with Boozer now in tow. Noah is going to be cleaning up offensive boards all day, whether it’s off a Rose or Boozer miss on the pick and roll (this is not to say that they won’t be scoring on many of them, but it’s a fact of basketball that they’ll miss as many as they make, if not more).
So while I realize that many of us are disappointed in the way things ultimately played out give the scope of what we were hoping for in this free agency (myself included), I think there are still a few things we can look forward to. If Boozer can stay healthy, we should have one of the better front courts in the league, allowing us to do some major damage in the East. Who knows how far they'll get, but I think it's safe to say the Bulls will finally be contending for the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in quite a while. What a process it's been!
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Posted this in the fanshot, but I'll repost, too:
I think Noah will still get plenty of PnRs because he’s pretty freaking good at them now. (He improved mightily on them last year).
Giving him the option of driving for the dunk or dumping it off to Boozer as Boozer’s guy rotates to help should make him even more effective, especially given his exceptional interior passing abilities.
Obviously Boozer is still the superior PnR option, but Noah is pretty good at them and you don’t want to completely go away from that for him because it leads to easy scoring / finishing opportunities for him and given his relatively limited skillset with respect to scoring, you want to put him in a position to succeed. PnRs are one of his better plays.
2010 Offseason Motto: Get Greedy, Bulls. 1 top FA down (Thibs), 1 (or 2) to go.
by fundamentallysound on Jul 12, 2010 9:26 PM CDT reply actions 3 recs
I agree we should definitely still run them
but like you say, Boozer will still be the primary PnR guy. Regardless, it will be pretty awesome to have two bigs who are effective running it, and both guys are very solid passers. I’m really excited to see how they work off each other.
Deng/Boozer/Noah: All your rebound are belong to us.
It will be interesting to see if Noah can truly expand his passing abilities from the high-post.
Having a legitimate shooting option at SG and a legitimate post player willing to go hard to the rim could make him even more exciting there.
In the past 10 years, just four team owners have not paid a luxury tax and are not on pace to pay one this year: Donald Sterling, Jerry Reinsdorf, Chris Cohen (Golden State), Bob Johnson (Charlotte).
Two owners’ teams averaged an operating income of over +$10 million per year while their teams have lost over 60% of their games: Donald Sterling and Jerry Reinsdorf.
I think once we use up the rest of our available cap space
and fill out the roster, we’ll be legitimate ECF contenders. What were our problems last year?
- Coaching (to an extent)
- Lack of a skilled low-post threat
- Lack of 3 pt shooters
We’ve addressed every single one of those so far. Our front office is doing a fantastic job with the hand they’ve been dealt.
It feels like people aren’t as excited as they should be… but I guess it isn’t an easy transition from, you know, being one of the top contenders for LeBron, Wade, and Bosh, to striking out on all three.
10 games into the season we’ll all be hyped :)
eat, sleep, hoop. repeat. become legendary.
One of the things we lost in this FA though is perimeter defense. Hinrich, for all his flaws, was good at that. I don't
see Redick or Korver being his equal in that regard. Unless Rose makes a significant leap under Thibodeau, this is a hole that will need to be addressed, especially given the SuperBestFriends concentrating most of their talent on the perimeter.
2010 Offseason Motto: Get Greedy, Bulls. 1 top FA down (Thibs), 1 (or 2) to go.
by fundamentallysound on Jul 12, 2010 9:31 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
Yes, this is a problem
It makes me wonder how much influence Thibs has had in the free agent signings. I can see these signings being interpreted in two ways. One, Thibs knows he can make guys into much better defenders so he wants guys that can produce offensively. Or two, Gar is just getting shooters with big names because he can and Thibs has had zero input. Or I suppose a signing of a solid wing defender could be forthcoming.
I’d like to think that Thibs believes he can make this group into an elite defensive team with Noah as an anchor. As has been said before, if Derrick can become a much better defender this season, the Bulls will be a very good defensive team.
I think we'll get a wing defender, but
I’m just worried that it’s going to have to be someone like Keith Bogans instead of Brewer if we get caught twisting in the wind with this Redick thing. I wish we’d just sign Brewer this week, but maybe he only wants to come here if the Magic match for Redick.
Deng/Boozer/Noah: All your rebound are belong to us.
He got Ray Allen to be effective on defense.
He’s probably pretty confident in his ability to get decent defensive out of guys with lesser physical ability. He’s also likely willing to trade athleticism for guys that can consistently play scouting report defense.
I also would suspect that Thibs may very well have been a significant of the Redick signing. The Celtics had a playoff series against Orlando each of the last two seasons.
by Scotter on Jul 12, 2010 10:27 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
What do the comparables say...
Between Ray Allen and JJ Redick in terms of their ability to be a solid perimeter defender? I agree with the perception that Allen was an above-average perimeter defender over the past three seasons with the Celts – do the numbers show that he improved under Thibodeau compared with his defensive performance in Seattle? Acknowledging the “Garnett effect” on Allen’s numbers between Seattle and Boston…I think that’d be interesting to see.
I also don’t peg Allen as having elite athleticism, especially at 30+ years old. I would think that JJ at least has comparable athletic capability to take on the same kind of defensive role that Allen had with the Celts for past three years.
In reality, there are only a small handful 2-guards that a player like Allen/JJ will struggle mightily to defend (Kobe, Wade, Roy) – and a 2-guard that can lock those guys down defensively that is still effective on the offensive side are just as rare (and probably include two of those guys on that other list). Basically, as long as my 2-guard is not creamed against 80-90% of opposing players, I’d be confident enough in the rest of our match-ups (1/4/5 and sometimes 3) to not be worried on the defensive end.
by PetejoeUM on Jul 13, 2010 9:31 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
In a word, yes.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/allenra02.html
I’m sure YaoPau could post more meaningful APM numbers, but just looking at defensive rating, he went from allowing 112 points per possession his last year in Seattle to 103 his first year in Boston. That number has been creeping back up in recent years, but he’s also been getting further away from 30. He’s basically been defending at the same level he did in his mid-20s (and better than his late 20s), again, according to defensive rating.
We've still got a fantastic interior defensive team though.
by Stacey_Is_King on Jul 13, 2010 12:26 AM CDT up reply actions
that is more important
and also helps the perimeter defenders, gives them the ability to play tight.
The name of the team is ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS - "I tried to convince them that what they were doing was an aberration, an imbecility, a stupidity without name"
That's what's funny.
People act like this season has been solely about improvements on a 41-win team. There were a couple of steps taken backward before the 3 or 4 or 5 taken forward.
In the past 10 years, just four team owners have not paid a luxury tax and are not on pace to pay one this year: Donald Sterling, Jerry Reinsdorf, Chris Cohen (Golden State), Bob Johnson (Charlotte).
Two owners’ teams averaged an operating income of over +$10 million per year while their teams have lost over 60% of their games: Donald Sterling and Jerry Reinsdorf.
by tyger1147 on Jul 13, 2010 12:11 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
I do think that Hinrich's perimeter D is a bit overrated though. Kirk also wasn't the greatest team defender.
In isolation situations, 1-on-1 he was very good against most SGs and SFs, not so much against fast PGs or SGs.
I think if Thibs is able to properly install his rotating, help defense schemes as well here as he did in Boston that the loss of Kirk’s individual defense will not really matter at all. But until I see that happen, I would still like some assurances that we have at least one capable backcourt defender. Right now we have zero.
2010 Offseason Motto: Get Greedy, Bulls. 1 top FA down (Thibs), 1 (or 2) to go.
by fundamentallysound on Jul 13, 2010 12:35 PM CDT up reply actions
Man, that is on point.
Kirk was actually a horrible team defender, in that he left his man to help where his help would not actually help, as he flails at Lebron who passes to an open Mo Williams.
"Michael Redd's owed 18.3 million next year. He can either opt out like an idiot or opt in like a douche bag." - NittanyCub
Rebounding
Think about how good are rebounding will be. we were the #1 rebounding team last year with just noah and tyrus for half the season. now add boozer who averaged almost 11 boards a game and our frontcourt will be absolutely unstoppable. i cant wait for next year
by KobeLebron on Jul 12, 2010 10:19 PM CDT reply actions 2 recs
Preach!
eat. sleep. hoop. repeat. become legendary.
by Sir Buckets on Jul 12, 2010 10:48 PM CDT up reply actions
Don't forget Taj as well.
He averaged 7 boards in 25 minutes a game on a bad foot as a rookie. Deng is a excellent rebounder for a SF as well.
Rose 2010!!!!!
This is why I think players like Korver and Redick could thrive on the Bulls.
Deng, Taj, Boozer, Noah are all good rebounders. I think they were the top rebounding team in the league last season? If those guys get the green lights and the Bulls rebound it’s going to be a fun team to watch.
except that KK and JJ don't play defense
by JustAnotherFan on Jul 13, 2010 6:54 AM CDT up reply actions
Well, they play comparable defense
to everyone’s favorite Bulls perimeter defender, Kirk Hinrich.
Here are their DTrgs for the past 2 seasons. Who is who?
109,107
109,107
106,108
That's for team's defense rating
A player’s defensive rating is much more subjective. Primarily derived from advanced box score stats.
"Had to leave my own open thread. Felt dumbness and meanness rising inside me."
I love YFBB
Yeah I liked that line as well..
After the saga of last week is complete and listening to Boozer & Bosh interviews. I am glad we have Boozer over Bosh; I liked hearing Boozer comments. He has a confidence, edge, determined to get the job done type of character vice Bosh. Bosh just seems well….there?
Nice post good read.
by bluezman7 on Jul 13, 2010 11:46 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
I like the Boozer move,
like the Korver move, lets see what they do at the 2, I really think this team can compete for a title.
by QUINTEN DALEY on Jul 13, 2010 12:08 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs
Not likely
This team could complete for a championship in a normal year. The only way they compete next year though is for the Heat to implode somehow. This is definitely possible, just not likely. Besides a freak injury, the most likely scenario is a Bosh meltdown in my opinion. Realistically, Bosh is not in Wade-Lebron’s league. Yet, he already seems to be parting it up. I can see him coming into the season under prepared, hoping to ride the Wade-Lebron coattails. But team’s are already planning on attacking this team inside, and Bosh isnt a great defender. Any little bump in the season, and the media could turn on Bosh as the weak link. Unused to real pressure and scrutiny, he could crumble. Meanwhile a young head coach might not have the skills to handle the situation.
Ball 4!
by californiachicagoan on Jul 15, 2010 6:30 PM CDT up reply actions
We gotta remember...
Our expectation was drastically worse than it should’ve been due to the “big 3” free agents choosing to play in Miami.
I mean, most off seasons like this, we should be able to get two of the top three free agents out there. You can’t match Rose at 5.5 mil and Noah at 3 mil. Deng is overpaid but not by the extent to which Noah and Rose are underpaid (in market terms), plus Taj at 1.1 mil is another asset. With 30 mil in cap space and those assets taking up the other 28 mil or so, we really were in the best position in both market condition and present and future team success to land free agents.
But one of those “historically rare” things happened and we couldn’t get one of the best 3 free agents. Luckily, it’s a deep off season and the 4th best FA signed with us (long term Lee and Boozer are probably 4 and 5 in some order, not sure which, accounting for age, performance and market price which discounts JJ and Amare from being inside top 5 FAs).
So, when the best 3 guys do something other than go for what should be the best place possible, it’s going to be so much harder to come out of the offseason with a home run than it previously was.
Overall, I’m intrigued by Boozer in this system. I’m hoping we do something positive other than fill in “resign Miller, done at SG after JJ and Korver, maybe pick up a backup 3 for Deng and we’re out,” but so far I would give this a solid grade B, considering what happened with the top 3 guys (and appeared to have given Chicago, NJ, NY, Cleveland little to no chance at them, despite what everybody was saying).
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