Parade of Players Skiles Passed Over

by 98tilunfinity on Nov 3, 2006 3:54 PM CST

Watching the Nuggets-Clippers game last night, I saw JR Smith single-handedly replace Carmelo after Melo's ejection in the 2nd half: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=261102012
He had some key steals and he was very aggressive.

In addition, Tim Thomas scored a bunch of huge 3s for the Clippers last night (like he did in last year's playoffs), while setting great picks. So we were seeing two of the Bulls's recent castoffs basically have fantastic offensive games.

I coudln't help wonder, especially, with Smith's performance: Isn't that EXACTLY the offensive firepower we could use right now? Someone with balls, someone to drive and find some open 3s? Why in god's name did we just throw away such a talent?

Now I know Tim Thomas shouldn't be with the Bulls. I realize there was an "attitude" problem. But I've often thought that it's Skiles that needs to adjust his attitude. Did Phil Jackson sit and complain that Dennis Rodman wasn't providing enough "character" to be on our team? No, "character" comes from "winning." Does anybody else think Skiles (notice I'm not saying Pax b/c I think Pax has had to adjust the roster around Skiles's attitude problems) is the wrong coach for our guys?

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Smith is also rumored

to be close to being traded to the Clippers for Maggette, from what I hear. Three trades in a year doesn't say a lot for his character.

by Whitebacon on Nov 3, 2006 3:59 PM CST reply actions

would love to see

the link for that, although it's probably from a dubious source. Dunleavy isn't high on Maggette, but I don't see Denver trying to get another slasher (and a streaky shooter) in Maggette without unloading Kenyon Martin on someone.

I watched the end of Clips/Nuggets as well, but it's only one game. J.R. Smith and Tim Thomas are anything but consistent, and both are awful defenders, as previously mentioned. Skiles' "accountability" fetish was never going to fit with Tim Thomas, a well known locker room crybaby. I tried looking for a very old article that had some great Sam Cassell quotes regarding Thomas complaining about not getting enough shots on the Bucks during the Big Dog/Ray Allen/Sam Cassel era (imagine that team with today's no defense rules), but no luck.

by Paxson Jackson @ Blog a Bull on Nov 3, 2006 4:22 PM CST up reply actions

yeah, link you fools

http://tinyurl.com/yytbzk

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Nov 3, 2006 4:28 PM CST up reply actions

Sorry

Heard it on the radio at some point today.

by Whitebacon on Nov 3, 2006 4:40 PM CST up reply actions

no worries

I forgot to add the ;-) to that earlier post.

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Nov 3, 2006 4:44 PM CST up reply actions

No offense taken

I hate it when people don't link to sources.

by Whitebacon on Nov 3, 2006 6:03 PM CST up reply actions

Rodman

First off, I don't think Rodman had any problems as far as competitiveness on the court. Plus Phil had the luxury of competitive-crazy M-Jeff in practice every day probably threating to beat down anybody who didn't match his intensity.

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Nov 3, 2006 4:08 PM CST reply actions

I knew I'd be able to use this quote today.

One man's observation of Smith, at Brother-blog ClipsNation:

J.R. Smith scored 21 points in his Nuggets debut, led the team in scoring, scored 5 huge points done the stretch and looked just AWFUL! It was painfully obvious why Byron Scott hated this guy. His defense was about as bad as I've seen in the NBA.

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Nov 3, 2006 4:11 PM CST reply actions

yowza

There's a lot more in a later post.

(I'll abstain on commenting on the general theme of that post, just wanted to point out the JR Smith-related content)

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Nov 3, 2006 4:15 PM CST up reply actions

I'm going to

have a blood pressure problem before the age of 25 if there's more ClipperSteves out there (there are, I know there are, but why?). Sir Charles and the TNT crew had some great thoughts on the Melo tossing last night.

by Paxson Jackson @ Blog a Bull on Nov 3, 2006 4:27 PM CST up reply actions

don't we have 14 other guys to do just that?

See, that's what I don't get about Skiles. I understand we're trying to build a defense-minded team. But if that's all we have, how do we score points? [I know, this has been brought up by Bulls haters before during the Wallace trade.] Skiles notoriously yanks B-Jizzle out of every game as soon as there's a lapse on defense (which I don't think has happened this year, fwiw). But why can't we have players with offensive specialties instead of players with just defensive ones?

by 98tilunfinity on Nov 3, 2006 5:11 PM CST up reply actions

Timmy, Timmy, Timmy

is an offensive black hole.

If you see him enough, you'll realize once he gets the ball, he rarely passes it, and while he can score a lot of points, he can also just stink the place up if he's not hitting. That kind of offensive play isn't good for a team.

It's interesting he's with the Clippers since he's said nasty things about Sam Cassell after their days in Milwuakee were over.

by KT on Nov 3, 2006 6:45 PM CST reply actions