Bulls vs. Knicks roster snapshot and game preview: a team did a trade
also...national TV?
The Bulls momentum has slowed after their post-LaVine surge, due to a combination of shooting regression and injury. They can still win some games, especially when aided by the schedule, but the offense is now back in it’s LaVine-era malaise and unproductivity.
It’s gotten so bad that The Discourse is ‘forced’ to talk about the likes of Dalen Terry and Adama Sanogo, and worse over-inflate positives to their games. None of that here! I consider all Bulls, especially ones acquired by this front office, to be bad, useless, and hopeless until proven otherwise. And no, a ‘connecting pass’ when down 30 points isn’t enough proof. I really enjoy the CleaningTheGlass algorithm literally throwing out the stats of last night’s loss in Philadelphia for the final 10:22 of the game.
Tonight may be just as rough. On a back-to-back, a situation where DeRozan has not performed well at his current age, plus last night’s minor injuries will limit or outright bench Coby White and Patrick Williams.
And the opponent is good! Thibsian good, where we all are concern trolling whether things will hold up in the playoffs while getting beat by them. And to their credit, they are making moves during the season to better their chance at success, which we know our front office views as ‘chaotic’. Maybe they’ll be correct for this game and the Bulls will take advantage?
Of course, all transactions around the league makes me think “how does this affect the Bulls?”, even though our squad has differing goals than others so it may not actually be a useful thought exercise. You could reason this makes the Knicks less likely to want LaVine, though the silly Klutch-Knicks war was making that unlikely anyway. I suppose taking OG Annonoby off the trade market would mean teams would pivot to LaVine, but they’re such different players that’s hard to see. Maybe the biggest impact will be what Toronto does going forward and how that impacts finishing in the top ten in the bottom one conference. (again, different goals for some franchises)
This game is on national TV. Which is strange, but I learned (won’t say where out of disrespect to that platform) that it’s due to Disney needing more sports programming in the wake of the labor battle pausing scripted programming. The Bulls can be perceived like a historically non-entertaining reality show contestant.
Injury Report: nobody for the Knicks listed besides the OUT players
Bulls have White as Probable and Williams as Questionable.
Schedule factor: as mentioned, Bulls on a back-to-back. Knicks had extra night of rest, as they last played at home on Monday.
Betting line: Bulls as of publishing time are +340 to win, implied final score: NY 114.5, CHI 106
Game Time: 7:30 central, on ESPN ABC. Come back tonight for the OPEN THREAD.
In all seriousness, Thibs is one of the only public figures that I admire and respect. Every time he goes to a new team and they all start thinking like him and talking like him and playing like extensions of him on the court. I just love it.
There is a notion of reverence that the ancient Greeks practiced, where they admired individuals for fully embodying their own essence. Thibs is so much himself that you almost have to create a new adjective to describe that particular collection of attributes that are so distinctly his own: professionalism, accountability, toughness, repetitiveness, etc.. I can blindly listen to post-game interviews and identify the players on the Thibs team because they have this Thibsness.
NBA app says ABC ?