speaking of, I heard on a recent Zach Lowe podcast that the Raptors had the #1 defense in the NBA after March 1st. Did they crow that during their media day? Maybe not because their GM was replaced (not due to performance, but still)
It is interesting though. Even with the best defense, Toronto finished the last 25 games 11-14. I thought Barrett was just a chucker, but somebody needed to be the #1 option and you don't want it to be Barnes.
I was listening to a radio show Monday (Isola/Scalabrine?) where they previewed the Raptors and replayed Media Day highlights. Rajakovic talked about three strength of their defense, and how they expect Ingram to help eben further on that end. Poetl is very good obviously, as are Barnes and Quickley. Scalabrine (?) thought Ingram, even though he's not known as a defender, could help with his length and athleticism. They for sure could use his scoring.
Scalabrine was talking up Mobley at the beginning of the game. He's a big Mobley fan and has been promoting him as a potential MVP. When Mobley started out hot, I think 8 points and 3 rebounds in the first 5-6 minutes, Scal and the other guys were all celebrating his plays and getting excited about the Cavs. Then Mobley went in for a dunk and Buzelis blocked him. Crickets. Nobody knew what to say. Bulls got the rebound and started down the floor. Finally, someone said "Buzelis got a piece of that one". Yes, he did, haha.
Tre Jones outplays Giddey, significantly, and how many times is that going to happen. Tre Jones will be running the "2nd Unit" and that will be something to look forward to when the Bulls are down 13 - 25 in every 1st quarter.
One of my takes over the summer was that I wasn’t sure Giddey was a better overall player than Jones.
When one of the best organizations in the league decides the key to winning a championship is replacing one specific player and they’re immediately proven right, that story doesn’t usually end with “And that’s how that player became a superstar somewhere else!”
But AK decides it would be a great idea to run out Giddey and Vuc together for a second straight year and we’re supposed to act surprised when the team gives up 30+ points in the first quarter.
It would be great for AK to realize that the key problem for the Bulls is not that the team has to embrace being more physical. The problem is that they’re starting three negative defenders every game.
If Giddey, Vuc, and Huerter are playing at the same time, it’s not same big mystery why the team is giving up 37 points in a quarter.
It’s not a matter of Vuc and Huerter becoming more physical players. It’s a matter of replacing Vuc and Huerter with better defenders.
We all know AK’s point about embracing physicality is nonsense. A lot of these vets just aren’t good defenders.
But it would have been nice if one of the reporters followed up when AK tried to make that point by saying “This team has several vets with playoff experience and a head coach with playoff experience. Why didn’t they already know about the importance of increasing the physicality in the play-in game?”
Refs sure gave Hunter the benefit of the doubt last night, but I don't see Huerter as a bad defender. What am I missing? And I would say that the biggest part of Cavs 37 points were our 15 (or whatever) turnovers.
Still. Vuc is a bad defender for a center, and looked slow (because he is) on several help situations. When Coby, who is clearly our worst defensive player, gets back, he will need a lot of help. If we are sticking with the guys we've got (i.e. no trade for Williams or Claxton) we need to see Collins and Smith more.
Okoro and Williams both looked good, although Pat got beat badly on a back door cut by Nance for a dunk that made me cringe. Those two both have the potential to help us out this year.
I haven't done any hardcore research on this, but I think it's pretty safe to say that you can't start more than two bad defenders if you want to be a decent playoff team and you really can't start more than one if you want to be in championship contention.
Right now the Bulls have three starters who are net negative defenders. Coby and Vooch are two of the worst defenders in the league at their positions and Giddey isn't great either. I think Giddey can be a decent regular season defender since he tends to read plays well and has active hands. But once teams start targeting him in the postseason, things quickly fall apart because he lacks athleticism.
If the Bulls truly intend on keeping Coby, they need to replace Vooch with a DPOY level center to make up for having such a bad defensive backcourt. I guess we'll see what they do, but replacing Vooch with Collins or Smith is not going to solve their defensive issues.
Who would you target as a DPOY level center for a trade? Maybe something like Coby and Vooch to Phoenix, Bulls get Maluach and Jalen Green in return?
Suns get a slightly better fit next to Booker in Coby (who is primarily a point guard) and get cap relief with Vooch expiring at the end of the year, helping them retool around Booker??
Bulls obviously replace Coby with Jalen Green (but more of a two-guard next to Giddey), will stick suck at the point of attack defense, but have now a potential future DPOY level center in Maluach??
Honestly, I have no idea. If it were up to me, I wouldn't build a team with Giddey and Coby as my starting backcourt. They compliment each other pretty well on offense, but I wouldn't say either of them are such offensive juggernauts that it makes up for their terrible defense. I really feel like it should be an either/or between those two.
I wanted Chicago to draft Maluach if he fell this year but that obviously didn't happen. And even then, I'm not sure Maluach will become a DPOY level player. He's very young and hasn't been playing basketball that long, so there's the possibility he really grows and does become a defensive monster, but he certainly wasn't at Duke and there's no guarantee he will become one.
All of that to say, I wouldn't be opposed to trading for him, however I don't really want Green. I do think he has a higher ceiling than Coby, so I'm not necessarily opposed to taking a swing on him. But the ultimate problem we're trying to fix is having two terrible defenders in the backcourt and replacing Coby with Green doesn't fix that problem.
Ultimately though, if Phoenix were willing to trade Maluach and Green for Coby and Vooch, the Bulls would be stupid not to do it. They'd get off two expiring contracts (one of which would likely cost them a lot to bring back) and get two young players with a ton of upside. There's a great chance it wouldn't work out, but at least they'd be trying something.
Can do the converse with shooting. You can get away with 1 poor shooter but 2 is dicey and 3 is fatal
Bulls going with the bold strategy of poor shooting at PG. So they need Coby healthy and Vuc to be awesome again. Buzelis being a good shooter is more important for his development than this years team. But ultimate problem is not enough two-way players. Starting Okoro or Huerter trades off. That's why I think they should extend Ayo, he's not very good at shooting either, and his defense never grades well, but it's not an obvious hole.
The pecking order is tough when everybody is "if you squint they could be something". Julian Phillips provided positive plus/minus in 1000+ minutes last year, that's something you'd like to build on, but we have lots of players in this murky area. Bulls need someone to get hurt to make the rotations easier.
It's likely that Billy will continue with his program of giving the end of the rotation guys minutes every other game to keep things equitable and to not overload those end of the rotation guys. I expect Essengue to fall into this pattern as well.
first possession, a real sloppy turnover from Huerter to Buzelis on P&R
but Cavs couldn't secure ball, and Giddey got fouled on his drive (that's great if he can keep that up)
next possession Isaac Okoro is run off the 3 point line and throws a pass that hits the rim
then next possession Giddey is stripped
I've already decided: this team will only score if it's on initial break
and their defense will be bad and not force turnovers
so are they doomed? no, because many of their opponents won't be trying. 34 wins, play-in loss.
Cleveland is a great defense, but man is this offense hard to watch
also they're missing Coby White, probably their single irreplaceable offensive player
but that's not a good sign...there's 'depth' but none of them are scorers ::announcer voice:: you gotta score in this league
Defense seems easy for Cleveland. There's no real offensive threat so everyone kind of just stays home.
I suppose this is the part where it’s kinda fun
Buzelis is looking great. Not forcing shots, and making them at a good clip.
Dalen TTTTEEEEERRRRRRRRYYYYYY
Thank goodness for Thomas Bryant blowing it on tree straight plays.
"it's like Charles Smith in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, many are saying" - AK
Eh, the game didn't count anyway, because Garland didn't play. Bulls still 0-0.
This bit doesn't really track in preseason
speaking of, I heard on a recent Zach Lowe podcast that the Raptors had the #1 defense in the NBA after March 1st. Did they crow that during their media day? Maybe not because their GM was replaced (not due to performance, but still)
Nobody cares about defense.
It is interesting though. Even with the best defense, Toronto finished the last 25 games 11-14. I thought Barrett was just a chucker, but somebody needed to be the #1 option and you don't want it to be Barnes.
I was listening to a radio show Monday (Isola/Scalabrine?) where they previewed the Raptors and replayed Media Day highlights. Rajakovic talked about three strength of their defense, and how they expect Ingram to help eben further on that end. Poetl is very good obviously, as are Barnes and Quickley. Scalabrine (?) thought Ingram, even though he's not known as a defender, could help with his length and athleticism. They for sure could use his scoring.
The Bulls stats don't count primarily due to opponent. The victories even more not count due to flukey 4th quarter comebacks
Also Toronto eventually tanked at the end
Noa hit a three, Buzelis looks good, PWill showed flashes, we're off and rolling.
Buzelis being a high usage player is going to be the best path for his development and accidental tanking
honestly him and Coby should get the most shots
“PWill showed flashes“
Probably not great that we’re talking about flashes for a player entering his sixth year.
I think Buzelis is going to be a very good NBA player.
Essengue seems promising too.
Scalabrine was talking up Mobley at the beginning of the game. He's a big Mobley fan and has been promoting him as a potential MVP. When Mobley started out hot, I think 8 points and 3 rebounds in the first 5-6 minutes, Scal and the other guys were all celebrating his plays and getting excited about the Cavs. Then Mobley went in for a dunk and Buzelis blocked him. Crickets. Nobody knew what to say. Bulls got the rebound and started down the floor. Finally, someone said "Buzelis got a piece of that one". Yes, he did, haha.
Tre Jones outplays Giddey, significantly, and how many times is that going to happen. Tre Jones will be running the "2nd Unit" and that will be something to look forward to when the Bulls are down 13 - 25 in every 1st quarter.
One of my takes over the summer was that I wasn’t sure Giddey was a better overall player than Jones.
When one of the best organizations in the league decides the key to winning a championship is replacing one specific player and they’re immediately proven right, that story doesn’t usually end with “And that’s how that player became a superstar somewhere else!”
But AK decides it would be a great idea to run out Giddey and Vuc together for a second straight year and we’re supposed to act surprised when the team gives up 30+ points in the first quarter.
Matas Buzelis highlights from the preseason opener
https://youtu.be/Qw1Fe0RZQV0
It would be great for AK to realize that the key problem for the Bulls is not that the team has to embrace being more physical. The problem is that they’re starting three negative defenders every game.
If Giddey, Vuc, and Huerter are playing at the same time, it’s not same big mystery why the team is giving up 37 points in a quarter.
It’s not a matter of Vuc and Huerter becoming more physical players. It’s a matter of replacing Vuc and Huerter with better defenders.
Huerter is just in temporarily for Coby, but that doesn't invalidate what you're saying.
Right, because Coby isn’t a good defender either.
We all know AK’s point about embracing physicality is nonsense. A lot of these vets just aren’t good defenders.
But it would have been nice if one of the reporters followed up when AK tried to make that point by saying “This team has several vets with playoff experience and a head coach with playoff experience. Why didn’t they already know about the importance of increasing the physicality in the play-in game?”
Refs sure gave Hunter the benefit of the doubt last night, but I don't see Huerter as a bad defender. What am I missing? And I would say that the biggest part of Cavs 37 points were our 15 (or whatever) turnovers.
Still. Vuc is a bad defender for a center, and looked slow (because he is) on several help situations. When Coby, who is clearly our worst defensive player, gets back, he will need a lot of help. If we are sticking with the guys we've got (i.e. no trade for Williams or Claxton) we need to see Collins and Smith more.
Okoro and Williams both looked good, although Pat got beat badly on a back door cut by Nance for a dunk that made me cringe. Those two both have the potential to help us out this year.
I haven't done any hardcore research on this, but I think it's pretty safe to say that you can't start more than two bad defenders if you want to be a decent playoff team and you really can't start more than one if you want to be in championship contention.
Right now the Bulls have three starters who are net negative defenders. Coby and Vooch are two of the worst defenders in the league at their positions and Giddey isn't great either. I think Giddey can be a decent regular season defender since he tends to read plays well and has active hands. But once teams start targeting him in the postseason, things quickly fall apart because he lacks athleticism.
If the Bulls truly intend on keeping Coby, they need to replace Vooch with a DPOY level center to make up for having such a bad defensive backcourt. I guess we'll see what they do, but replacing Vooch with Collins or Smith is not going to solve their defensive issues.
Who would you target as a DPOY level center for a trade? Maybe something like Coby and Vooch to Phoenix, Bulls get Maluach and Jalen Green in return?
Suns get a slightly better fit next to Booker in Coby (who is primarily a point guard) and get cap relief with Vooch expiring at the end of the year, helping them retool around Booker??
Bulls obviously replace Coby with Jalen Green (but more of a two-guard next to Giddey), will stick suck at the point of attack defense, but have now a potential future DPOY level center in Maluach??
Honestly, I have no idea. If it were up to me, I wouldn't build a team with Giddey and Coby as my starting backcourt. They compliment each other pretty well on offense, but I wouldn't say either of them are such offensive juggernauts that it makes up for their terrible defense. I really feel like it should be an either/or between those two.
I wanted Chicago to draft Maluach if he fell this year but that obviously didn't happen. And even then, I'm not sure Maluach will become a DPOY level player. He's very young and hasn't been playing basketball that long, so there's the possibility he really grows and does become a defensive monster, but he certainly wasn't at Duke and there's no guarantee he will become one.
All of that to say, I wouldn't be opposed to trading for him, however I don't really want Green. I do think he has a higher ceiling than Coby, so I'm not necessarily opposed to taking a swing on him. But the ultimate problem we're trying to fix is having two terrible defenders in the backcourt and replacing Coby with Green doesn't fix that problem.
Ultimately though, if Phoenix were willing to trade Maluach and Green for Coby and Vooch, the Bulls would be stupid not to do it. They'd get off two expiring contracts (one of which would likely cost them a lot to bring back) and get two young players with a ton of upside. There's a great chance it wouldn't work out, but at least they'd be trying something.
Can do the converse with shooting. You can get away with 1 poor shooter but 2 is dicey and 3 is fatal
Bulls going with the bold strategy of poor shooting at PG. So they need Coby healthy and Vuc to be awesome again. Buzelis being a good shooter is more important for his development than this years team. But ultimate problem is not enough two-way players. Starting Okoro or Huerter trades off. That's why I think they should extend Ayo, he's not very good at shooting either, and his defense never grades well, but it's not an obvious hole.
I’m not sure if you guys noticed but the offense was also terrible
It will be terrible without Coby
Probably will be with Coby as well
But they'll have a 'playing style', and isn't that more important?
Just noticed the box score for Julian Phillips last night.
0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists in 12 minutes.
I would say he’s in danger of reaching “What would you say you do here?” status.
I’m calling it right now. One of the complaints for this season is going to be “Why is Phillips getting minutes over Essengue?”
Yep. My immediate thought after the first game was, "Essengue should come off the bench before Phillips does."
from your mouth to Billy Donovan (the third) ears
The pecking order is tough when everybody is "if you squint they could be something". Julian Phillips provided positive plus/minus in 1000+ minutes last year, that's something you'd like to build on, but we have lots of players in this murky area. Bulls need someone to get hurt to make the rotations easier.
It's likely that Billy will continue with his program of giving the end of the rotation guys minutes every other game to keep things equitable and to not overload those end of the rotation guys. I expect Essengue to fall into this pattern as well.
Game Two: all of Coby, Huerter, Phillips, and Vuc are OUT
I see Smith and Terry switched jersey numbers. Anybody know the story there?
Smith wore 25 in college and with the Pacers. Guessing he asked to switch and Dalen obliged.