Future Preview #1

by piccolomair on Sep 7, 2007 4:25 PM CDT Comment 12 comments

With just about 1 month to go before the bulls are back in action, its time for the basketball world to start evaluating and predicting how well the teams will do in the upcoming season.

Heres a link of perhaps the first of many of such reviews:

http://www.tsn.ca/nba/news_story/?ID=217706&hubname=nba

I think i agree with alot of what is written here, Joe Smith is going to be a starter no matter what anyone says, he should play pjs role well in the upcoming season, and if we are lucky, maybe he will do a better job.

This guy does a great job at picking at the many flaws on this bulls team, however i think he might have been a little too harsh with big ben, i still dont see tyson chandler being able to guard shaq the way ben wallace did. Although it would be nice to see big ben giving the opposing team a reason to "fear the 'fro".

We want big ben, afterall, not gentle ben.

go ahead and take a gander and feel free to write your own previews.

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His analysis of Hinrich is pretty off.

Hinrich clearly had the best season of his career last year, despite all the worn down from summer basketball crap. Hinrich also plays in any completely different system than Chris Paul and Deron Williams who both have free reign to dominate the ball. Neither Paul or Williams are forced to play significant minutes at SG. Neither shares the backcourt with a player of Gordon's caliber. Hinrich's low assist numbers have far more to do with playing over a 1/3 of minutes at SG than anything else. Hinrich's assist rate has actually been on par with Paul and Williams when Kirk plays PG. Kirk's ability to play off the ball, play lockdown defense, and consistently make 3s are also skills that neither Paul or Williams currently possess. There is no significant gap between Hinrich, Paul, and Williams. While I see them as roughly equal as players, I can make a strong case for Kirk being the best of the trio. There are other points I can quibble with in the argument. The Hinrich analysis was most glaring.

by Scotter on Sep 8, 2007 2:27 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Im a Big Hinrich Fan...

...but i think i sort of agreed with his statements. Ben Gordon solidified himself as a scorer last year, and luol deng just completly broke out of the average player mold. Although hinrichs percentages were up, not much else was. I dont like the team usa excuse one bit, but i am sure there was a reason for hinrichs little slump.

I do agree that hinrich has a completely differnt role than that of Paul or Williams, however, playing 1/3 of your minutes as sg should also mean more points right? How many times did i cringe when hinrich missed an open 3 last year, and how often did it happen?

In the 05-06 season, against the heat, hinrich was the one player who would keep the bulls in play when gordon would suddenly get cold. However this year against the heat, hinrich had more bad games than average games, and was there a single game against the heat where hinrich had a good game?

Not saying i think hinrich is not in the league of Paul or Williams, i mean game 5 of the pistons series of last season shows hinrich playing more like his old self, (a real cool guy made this video that shows this, you can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhU5-VHUCxw)and hopefully this year hinrich will play like that all season. During the playoffs hopefully he could take it to the next level.

All this however doesnt diminish anything from hinrich, despite not playing BETTER this last year, hinrich did do all the things that have made him a much needed commodity on the bulls roster. His defensive presence and the ability to control the ball on both ends of the court has not changed one bit, i guess i am waiting for it to get to a higher level.

Granted the outbreak of deng, and gordons solid scoring limits, not to mention skiles' method of coaching, limits hinrich from doing some stat stuffing that would gain him more recognition in the sports world, but hinrich is a player who can, and deserves to be in the ranks of the top 5 pg in the league. Hopefully this season he will bust out shooting 48% from the field, 44% from 3, 95% free throw, averaging 18.2 pts per game and 7.4 assists per game.

Where did i get such specific numbers from?? Call me nostradamus, on second thought...dont

im trying hard to become the next kirk hinrich, therefore im doing nothing more than being the next chris duhon.

by piccolomair on Sep 8, 2007 5:51 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't understand how what Deng and Gordon did

last year is any different from Hinrich. Gordon and Deng's improvement was also almost entirely reflected in shooting percenttages. They both regressed in other categories, especially turnovers. Deng and Gordon had a 4% jump in TS%; Hinrich had a 3% jump in TS% with career highs in every shooting category. This jump was especially significant because there was alot of concern that Hinrich's production had already plateaued before last season.

by Scotter on Sep 8, 2007 6:53 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Soka

Ben gordon's growth is probably arguable, luol dengs is not. Luol deng made a completly obvious jump ability wise since the 05-06 season, to the 06-07 season. I mean, it was like every game he got better.

Ben gordon attacked the basket more, got to the line more, and was averaging 21.4 ppg! Not to mention shooting something like 45%. That solidified him as a scorer (bench scorer, or starter, thats still up for debate) and is what made this last season look like a step forward for BG.

Like i said hinrich is one of my favorite players, and he was still very solid this year, but i guess alot of people including me were hoping for a higher ppg and assist to turnover ratio, and assists alone to complement that increase in shooting percentage.

I am hoping that last year had more to do with Team USA, plus his recent engagement and the adjustment of his role, rather than hinrich peaking out so early in his career.

I am looking forward to hinrich becoming a solid top 10 pg for the next decade. I hope this season he shows he can become just that.

im trying hard to become the next kirk hinrich, therefore im doing nothing more than being the next chris duhon.

by piccolomair on Sep 8, 2007 12:20 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hinrich's growth in ability

may have been more subtle, but it was there. The reason his FG% went up was because he greatly improved at making shots in the lane and he improved his consistency. The goal for Hinrich shouldn't be to score more. It should be to score the same more efficently. Hinrich's destiny is hopefully to be the fourth offensive option on the team within the next year or two. If he's averaging 20 points then something likely went very wrong with this team.

The assists will partly come once Duhon is finally sent packing and as the team gets better on offensive, and no longer has to play 3 on 5 at that end of the floor. But don't expect a big jump. Assists are ultimately a pretty meaningless stat. They partly reflect passing ability, but they mostly simply reflect opportunity (How much does a player have the ball and how good are his teammates at making shots). Kirk tends to suffer on both counts compared to other PGs. The role model for Hinrich should be Billups more than any other PG. Amazing efficiency without huge numbers. Stepping up as needed.

You're a much bigger Hinrich fan than I am. But when a player out performs his statistical projections then I don't see any reason to complain about him not improving. He surpassed realistic expectations.

by Scotter on Sep 8, 2007 4:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ehh

I dont know, it just seems to me that hinrich definetly couldve and shouldve played better last season, maybe its higher expectation from me. Also assists i think are pretty important when talkinga bout a pg, but i guess only when you couple it with his turnover ratio. And i suppose your right that hinrich probably wont rack up that many assists, mainly because the bulls have an uber cool style of basketball that involves EVERYONE moving the ball...

im trying hard to become the next kirk hinrich, therefore im doing nothing more than being the next chris duhon.

by piccolomair on Sep 10, 2007 6:02 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for

the video. I needed a basketball fix.

by sue369 on Sep 8, 2007 10:39 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Heh

Its like my third time posting that video :blushes: glad you liked it :)

im trying hard to become the next kirk hinrich, therefore im doing nothing more than being the next chris duhon.

by piccolomair on Sep 8, 2007 12:00 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

game 2 defending against wade?

by milesgmsu on Sep 10, 2007 11:57 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Low Post

I somehow agree with his idea that we are running out of cap space to sign a post player. But I think he pretty much forgot about a few things, one is the fact that TT and Luol can improve into low post players given time (mostly TT I hope) and we drafted 2 legit 7 foot monsters in Gray and Noah. How come the pair weren't even mentioned in this review?

On another note, I'm pissed off at the Chandler/Big Ben comparisons too. Chandler ended up in a team that gave him more freedom to play, no matter how much god-given talent he had, he could never be expected to lead a Bulls team. We needed a REAL vet (sorry Davis) to scare other teams and lead by example. And I think most of you admit, Big Ben's a better hustle player.

That and if anyone needs to pan Hinrich with any provacation again I'll poke you with sharp sticks until you die.

醉生梦死

by blackmage71 on Sep 8, 2007 3:25 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

thomas

plays well near the basket but not with his back to the basket. Unless he somehow figured out all the footwork involved he will probably get points mostly off of double teams, defensive collapses, and pure explosiveness, perhaps a jumpshot if he has developed one.

by Sambossanova on Sep 12, 2007 5:17 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hinrich

Is a nice player but stats don't tell the whole story. Ben Gordon and Luol Deng came into the league a year after and have shown new wrinkles and advancement on their overall game every season. What does Hinrich do well ? He's just as streaky and prone to slumps as Gordon, Not quick enough to penetrate and exploit the defense ala Nash, Ford, Williams, Kidd, Felton. He's an average shooter and above average defender. At this point in his career he is a top ten PG but probably 9th or 10th. He is a good PG what increases his value is his play at the two which was suspect most of the year and especially in the playoffs. Deng and Gordons answered most of the questions about their respective games even if bulls fans don't like the answers. The jurys still out on Captain Kirk.

by Blacknight23 on Sep 11, 2007 8:58 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs