I disagree that Zach has been 'ok.' I hate to sound like the red ass Boomer here but $43 million is more than enough not to handle the ball like you're fucking around down at the rec center. Everyone can see what that continual lackadaisical approach indicates - Zach simply does not care. He doesn't care if they win, doesn't care if he makes horrible mistakes, doesn't care about much of anything as long as he's getting his shots up. He's gonna be feasting on this contract until he's 32. Nobody is trading for this trash.
I suppose it sort of depends on the perspective with which we use to view Zach. From the perspective of a player making $40+ million a year, yes he still sucks. From the perspective of what we've come to expect from Zach, irregardless of his salary, he's been pretty okay this year.
The home court advantage stuff makes sense if this is a contending team, but it’s not…so it comes across as pointless nonsense. It’s like worrying about ants in your kitchen when your house is on fire.
It just emphasizes the real problem and that’s the fact that AK doesn’t have a plan. He’s not determined to contend. He’s not determined to rebuild. He’s determined to just hope that everything works out. So he just clings onto his surface level principles even if the context of the team makes them obsolete.
“Consistently compete” - That can’t be done if your team can’t defend and can’t make threes regularly
“Defend home court” - That can’t be done if your team is so bad that they’re able to lose to anyone on any night.
“Draft high ceiling projects in the first round” - That won’t work if your coach isn’t interested in developing young players.
It’s ridiculous and when you pair this with the CHSN disaster, you officially have the lowest amount of interest in the Bulls since the pre-Jordan days.
I think Billy has done an acceptable job developing young players. Coby and Ayo look like the best versions they were going to become. That said, he's failed to do his part. Pat Will ceiling is an average 3&d wing
Matas looks like he might have a high ceiling but the floor is low too
like Billy, I forgot about Dalen. Another "project" who's floor is so low, you can't even glimse the ceiling. Not sure drafting players who can't shoot qualifies as a project automatically
I can't wait for the end-of-season presser where AK says they tried the fast-paced, shoot lots of threes thing and it didn't work so he's going to see if he can offer the Kings a bunch of first round picks to get DeMar back.
In all seriousness though, and I fully admit this is how messed up I've become as a Bulls fan, I've sort of been enjoying watching them attempt to play a version of offense from within the last 10 years. Sure, they're terrible at it and I knew they would be. Obviously AK didn't think about the fact that he'd need some actual shooters if he wanted a team that shot a lot of threes successfully. But since the Bulls offense has basically been stuck in the 90s since, well, the 90s, it's kind of fun to watch them try to play modern basketball.
Lastly, I think we need to be honest about Vooch. We're only three games in and I expect his numbers to quickly drop off, but he has had quite the hot start this year. He's currently shooting 53/53/90 while having the ball in his hands less, which is obviously a good thing. Yes, his defense is still terrible and as a center, defense is very important. I'm not saying he's been "good" by any means but he also hasn't been as terrible as we've come to expect.
My only hope is that maybe he can continue this long enough for some team with a really good defensive PF (thinking Memphis/LAL) to think about adding him for his offensive abilities. That's obviously a pipe dream, but what else is there to root for with this team?
Matas tried throwing an oop to Zach vs the Thunder, and it was both ill-advised and off-target. He's got that thing where he wants to make highlight plays but I'm not sure yet if it's something he'll reign in over time, he'll hone his craft enough to finish these plays, or if he's a flawed player.
For his sake, I wish he would cut those out of his game for the time being. Billy's gonna trim his minutes based on his decision making.
He had a really nice transition alley-oop to Phillips in preseason, so he can clearly make the pass. You are right though. I think he has it in him to make highlight plays. It's whether or not he can consistently deliver them.
Sounds self-defeating to me, inasmuch as Matas's best skill at this point is probably "strongly believes in himself". And personally I like it that he's willing to try shit. I think for a real franchise with real goals, this would be an indication that it's time to part ways with Billy. Nothing personal, just a divergence of goals. Good thing the Bulls have none.
What happens to a guy whose strongest skill is self assurance if he stops believing in himself?
Seems like a no win situation to me. Play the guy and after he gets crushed enough he’ll lose confidence. Bench him and he loses confidence.
I’ve come to favor the benching approach because psychologically, if you bench a confident guy, he’ll be motivated to work hard and prove you wrong. Maybe he blames you for benching him but so what.
On the other hand, if you send a guy out on the floor to just get curb stomped over and over, I think that’s more likely to damage a guy psychologically. He’s got nobody to blame but himself, and that’s not compatible with irrational confidence.
My favorite nba podcast, You Know Ball, came up with a fun a theory that Giddey is on the team to artificially boost Coby and Ayo's +/- to make their trades more attractive. Sort of amusing to think about, but as all these things go, if the goal is to be bad this year (which fair enough, we need a talent infusion from lottery picks), you want more future picks, not bad players
Lmao. Scrolled all the way down to find that the best +/- combo on the team is Dalen Terry/Chris Duarte at a whopping +2. They currently have 34 different NEGATIVE +/- combos.
This team is built so terribly I'm not sure if I should laugh or call a building inspector?
I rewatched parts of the Thunder game. The defense was abominable. It probably would give a public league coach a coronary to watch that film on a loop.
There are at least several different KINDS of bad defenders on this team:
1. Zach is just a disinterested defender. He jogs back and rarely makes the right play off a screen. He loses his man even when the offense feints a screen. When he switches he again doesn't really seem like he's in much of a hurry to follow the play or hit the gap. Zach is maybe the worst defender on the team (which is saying something) because he's demoralizing, he could be at least adequate but he just doesn't give a shit about it.
2. Giddey was in the wrong position almost every single play. He crouches when someone is driving on him. Otherwise he's upright, often pointing the wrong direction, and doesn't seem to understand help defense at all. Giddey's defense is probably on a high school level, in a not terrible competitive high school league. I think he has no grasp of how it works.
3. Vuc is a defender from another era, he does not have the foot speed to cover the court and as a result has to cheat by anticipating where he thinks the play is developing. This is probably the hardest thing I can imagine doing and it makes him look ridiculous a lot of the time.
4. I don't want to talk about Lonzo, watching him on defense and getting back he seemed to be laboring. I hope he's still recovering and this isn't the limit, kinda like when Kidd and his generation were coming back from microfracture and were "healthy" but looked like they were playing underwater for awhile. The really scary part is the guy with a leg made out of kevlar and super glue is still better than most of his teammates.
when we traded Vuc I expected god awful defense and good offense. I was surprised his defense was way better than expected at first. He's just lost too much speed from age at this point though. That extension was horrendous and I can't imagine who was offering Vuc that much money that the Bulls had to extend him for 3 years after watching him decline for 3 years
Giddey is so unathletic side to side I'm not sure it would matter if he knew what to do but not knowing certainly doesn't help
In some ways I really respect Zach getting a bag from Reinsdorf and then not giving a shit. It's the way this franchise deserves to be treated it just sucks as someone who wants to watch them
You can't imagine who was offering Vuc that much?!
Need I remind you my dear friend, that this is the organization that handed CRISTIANO FELICIO a 4 yr $32 million dollar contract and proceeded to keep him on the roster ALL FOUR YEARS?!
Speaking of which, Felicio is apparently still good enough to make the roster for the Brazilian National Team. Was wild seeing him on the floor during the Olympics.
I thought he was actually very good in the Olympics and I kind've wish the Knicks or some other team that needs some bigs would give him a run at the minimum. But I think the days are gone when catching on with an NBA team is superior to playing overseas.
Giddey is like a middle class Tomas Satoransky right now. Yeah he rebounds better and he’s taller, but he just doesn’t seem athletic enough to do what he wants to do on the court, and I don’t think he takes particularly good care of the ball.
I’ll say a couple good things about him though:
1. Compared to how he played in OKC he seems a lot more willing to draw contact. That’s a really good thing for a guy whose shooting is never going to be a plus.
2. His shooting isn’t going to be a plus, but after that first game he seems like he’s not passing them up too much and his shot is a bit better.
Ironically, if I put together those things and hope for the best, I like him better as a player but not really as a PG. he makes a lot of smart passes but his handle just doesn’t seem good enough.
If I were the Bulls, I think I’d be tempted to tell him to bulk up. His wingspan and defense are godawful but he might be better as a 225lb forward instead of a 210lb guard.
I dunno. A lot of times I try to think about, well, what the right teammates be for a guy like this? What would his role be on a really good team? Toni Kukoc?
Giddey needs to do nothing next summer but work with Coby's handles guy and with Peter Patton on his shot. If he can improve those two things a decent amount, it will unlock nearly all other aspects of his game on offense.
I was going to say Joe Ingles is what you would hope for at his best but I don't see how his outside shooting gets that good. I guess more realistic to his athleticism and skills is you'd like to see him figure out a post up game. Then he can use his size to generate offensive as that and passing are about all he has going for him.
I don't see a spot for him on a "good" team which is why the Thunder benched him in the playoffs
West Coast Former Bulls fan checking in for an update.
I laughed my ass off when I checked the score and saw that the Bulls not only beat Milwaukee, but flat out SMOKED em. That's that "we're gonna fuck this tank up no matter what" energy I was talking about before the season began.
Watching them vs New Orleans and OKC, THAT'S the team they should be aiming to be every night. The team that looks competitive, but ends up down 20 by the time the 4th rolls around and you're rolling out Matas, Duarte, Jalen Smith, Ayo, Dalen Terry lineups.
The starting lineup shouldn't include Vuc and Zach, but I think if you brought them both off the bench they'd be too much for 2nd units on other squads to handle. The more I think about how to try and make this team bad, the harder it gets. And THAT'S how I know AKME is absolutely CLUELESS. I can look at the Nets or Hornets roster and it just feels like they could lose 60-65 games easily. The Bulls roster is still too competitive. But that's what AKME wanted, right? To keep being competitive in a year when they need to NOT compete? Lol there it goes again. Proof AKME is the absolute worse FO combo in the league right now. The Suns are 216754213762 million over the cap and they're gonna pay the luxury tax, but even with fringe finances to work with they cobbled together a roster that looks like it could compete in the West. AKME's responsibility was the exact opposite of this, and they STILL couldn't accomplish it.
Meanwhile the games I've been treated to out here on the west coast have been AMAZING. Lakers/TWolves was a treat. Suns/Lakers was even better since I'm a KD fan. OKC and Memphis look really good, too. I really suggest investing your time in NOT allowing the Bulls to ruin your season with their schlapstick comedy routine that they're trying to pass off as "competitive" basketball. You'll feel better about it when the season ends and you know you enjoyed the basketball you watched.
I think the Bucks are a lot worse than most people expected. Damian Lillard is not what he used to be and I'm not sure what he used to be was even better than Jrue anymore when you look at 2 way play and what you do offball and not just scoring
I have pretty much hated all of their moves since they won. Not sure what they could have done to extend their window as they really sold out to get Jrue, but going all in on a flawed, aging player was probably not the move. It just feels like one of those teams that went all in on their championship window but then come out the other side badly aged and totally lacking depth (2012 Lakers, post-LeBron Heat, etc). Imagaine if, instead of going all in on Dame they had traded Giannis to OKC for something like 10 first rounders. That may have actually been the move as their is no way they are winning again.
Maybe everyone else has already figured this out, but I think I get why Pat played so much better coming off the bench last year. Pat imitates those around him. There was a stint during one of the preseason games and then another stint in last night's game where Pat was the lone starter out there with a bunch of high energy guys off the bench. I think the lineup was something like Ayo, Terry, Matas, Pat and Jalen Smith.
Compare that with the starters he plays with. I think the only one who plays with any sort of passion would be Coby. Zach and Vooch are constantly slacking and blaming others for their missed assignments and Giddey probably isn't that far behind those two. If Pat plays to the level of his teammates, he's going to play pretty lazily with the starters.
Both last night and in that preseason game, he played with so much more energy and even some emotion when playing with the bench guys. Same as last year when he was coming off the bench with AC, Ayo, and Drummond.
It's unfortunate that he can't find it in himself to play to higher standards even when the guys he's on the floor with don't, but if I'm Billy, I'm trying to put him in as many lineups with high energy guys as I can in order to get the best out of him.
Fun stat that means absolutely nothing: our two leading three point shooters based on percentage are our two centers. Both are shooting over 50%. Third is Josh Giddey at 46%. Technically Duarte leads all at 100% but he's only taken one and it was in garbage time, so I figured he shouldn't count.
The Bulls as a team are shooting 38% on nearly 47 attempts a game, which I assume won't be sustainable. I expect Lonzo, Coby, Pat, and Ayo's percentages to go up, however Smith, Vooch, and Giddey's percentages will all drop significantly.
If Zach can keep shooting 45% on nearly 9 attempts a game, maybe some GM will talk themselves into trading for him. It's a pipe dream, I know.
I disagree that Zach has been 'ok.' I hate to sound like the red ass Boomer here but $43 million is more than enough not to handle the ball like you're fucking around down at the rec center. Everyone can see what that continual lackadaisical approach indicates - Zach simply does not care. He doesn't care if they win, doesn't care if he makes horrible mistakes, doesn't care about much of anything as long as he's getting his shots up. He's gonna be feasting on this contract until he's 32. Nobody is trading for this trash.
I suppose it sort of depends on the perspective with which we use to view Zach. From the perspective of a player making $40+ million a year, yes he still sucks. From the perspective of what we've come to expect from Zach, irregardless of his salary, he's been pretty okay this year.
meanwhile, the Lakers are fixed so oops there goes his #1 suitor https://defector.com/these-lakers-already-feel-different
I’m convinced that Zach and Vuc will be here all season. Get used to it.
This is not a tank friendly option 🫠
The home court advantage stuff makes sense if this is a contending team, but it’s not…so it comes across as pointless nonsense. It’s like worrying about ants in your kitchen when your house is on fire.
It just emphasizes the real problem and that’s the fact that AK doesn’t have a plan. He’s not determined to contend. He’s not determined to rebuild. He’s determined to just hope that everything works out. So he just clings onto his surface level principles even if the context of the team makes them obsolete.
“Consistently compete” - That can’t be done if your team can’t defend and can’t make threes regularly
“Defend home court” - That can’t be done if your team is so bad that they’re able to lose to anyone on any night.
“Draft high ceiling projects in the first round” - That won’t work if your coach isn’t interested in developing young players.
It’s ridiculous and when you pair this with the CHSN disaster, you officially have the lowest amount of interest in the Bulls since the pre-Jordan days.
I think Billy has done an acceptable job developing young players. Coby and Ayo look like the best versions they were going to become. That said, he's failed to do his part. Pat Will ceiling is an average 3&d wing
Matas looks like he might have a high ceiling but the floor is low too
like Billy, I forgot about Dalen. Another "project" who's floor is so low, you can't even glimse the ceiling. Not sure drafting players who can't shoot qualifies as a project automatically
AK should be emphasizing a different 'advantage', one where teams don't take the Bulls seriously and rest their players.
Ja Morant questionable tonight
I can't wait for the end-of-season presser where AK says they tried the fast-paced, shoot lots of threes thing and it didn't work so he's going to see if he can offer the Kings a bunch of first round picks to get DeMar back.
In all seriousness though, and I fully admit this is how messed up I've become as a Bulls fan, I've sort of been enjoying watching them attempt to play a version of offense from within the last 10 years. Sure, they're terrible at it and I knew they would be. Obviously AK didn't think about the fact that he'd need some actual shooters if he wanted a team that shot a lot of threes successfully. But since the Bulls offense has basically been stuck in the 90s since, well, the 90s, it's kind of fun to watch them try to play modern basketball.
Lastly, I think we need to be honest about Vooch. We're only three games in and I expect his numbers to quickly drop off, but he has had quite the hot start this year. He's currently shooting 53/53/90 while having the ball in his hands less, which is obviously a good thing. Yes, his defense is still terrible and as a center, defense is very important. I'm not saying he's been "good" by any means but he also hasn't been as terrible as we've come to expect.
My only hope is that maybe he can continue this long enough for some team with a really good defensive PF (thinking Memphis/LAL) to think about adding him for his offensive abilities. That's obviously a pipe dream, but what else is there to root for with this team?
Look if there's a transaction involving DeMar, Popovich needs to skim off a pick for the vig. I don't know why this is, it just is.
I hope every time DeMar hugs Pop before a game against the Spurs, he and Pop laugh about how much of an idiot AK is.
Matas tried throwing an oop to Zach vs the Thunder, and it was both ill-advised and off-target. He's got that thing where he wants to make highlight plays but I'm not sure yet if it's something he'll reign in over time, he'll hone his craft enough to finish these plays, or if he's a flawed player.
For his sake, I wish he would cut those out of his game for the time being. Billy's gonna trim his minutes based on his decision making.
He had a really nice transition alley-oop to Phillips in preseason, so he can clearly make the pass. You are right though. I think he has it in him to make highlight plays. It's whether or not he can consistently deliver them.
Sounds self-defeating to me, inasmuch as Matas's best skill at this point is probably "strongly believes in himself". And personally I like it that he's willing to try shit. I think for a real franchise with real goals, this would be an indication that it's time to part ways with Billy. Nothing personal, just a divergence of goals. Good thing the Bulls have none.
What happens to a guy whose strongest skill is self assurance if he stops believing in himself?
Seems like a no win situation to me. Play the guy and after he gets crushed enough he’ll lose confidence. Bench him and he loses confidence.
I’ve come to favor the benching approach because psychologically, if you bench a confident guy, he’ll be motivated to work hard and prove you wrong. Maybe he blames you for benching him but so what.
On the other hand, if you send a guy out on the floor to just get curb stomped over and over, I think that’s more likely to damage a guy psychologically. He’s got nobody to blame but himself, and that’s not compatible with irrational confidence.
My favorite nba podcast, You Know Ball, came up with a fun a theory that Giddey is on the team to artificially boost Coby and Ayo's +/- to make their trades more attractive. Sort of amusing to think about, but as all these things go, if the goal is to be bad this year (which fair enough, we need a talent infusion from lottery picks), you want more future picks, not bad players
All the worst 2 man lineups +/- are Giddey.
https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/traditional?GroupQuantity=2&TeamID=1610612741&dir=A&slug=traditional&sort=PLUS_MINUS
Lmao. Scrolled all the way down to find that the best +/- combo on the team is Dalen Terry/Chris Duarte at a whopping +2. They currently have 34 different NEGATIVE +/- combos.
This team is built so terribly I'm not sure if I should laugh or call a building inspector?
I rewatched parts of the Thunder game. The defense was abominable. It probably would give a public league coach a coronary to watch that film on a loop.
There are at least several different KINDS of bad defenders on this team:
1. Zach is just a disinterested defender. He jogs back and rarely makes the right play off a screen. He loses his man even when the offense feints a screen. When he switches he again doesn't really seem like he's in much of a hurry to follow the play or hit the gap. Zach is maybe the worst defender on the team (which is saying something) because he's demoralizing, he could be at least adequate but he just doesn't give a shit about it.
2. Giddey was in the wrong position almost every single play. He crouches when someone is driving on him. Otherwise he's upright, often pointing the wrong direction, and doesn't seem to understand help defense at all. Giddey's defense is probably on a high school level, in a not terrible competitive high school league. I think he has no grasp of how it works.
3. Vuc is a defender from another era, he does not have the foot speed to cover the court and as a result has to cheat by anticipating where he thinks the play is developing. This is probably the hardest thing I can imagine doing and it makes him look ridiculous a lot of the time.
4. I don't want to talk about Lonzo, watching him on defense and getting back he seemed to be laboring. I hope he's still recovering and this isn't the limit, kinda like when Kidd and his generation were coming back from microfracture and were "healthy" but looked like they were playing underwater for awhile. The really scary part is the guy with a leg made out of kevlar and super glue is still better than most of his teammates.
when we traded Vuc I expected god awful defense and good offense. I was surprised his defense was way better than expected at first. He's just lost too much speed from age at this point though. That extension was horrendous and I can't imagine who was offering Vuc that much money that the Bulls had to extend him for 3 years after watching him decline for 3 years
Giddey is so unathletic side to side I'm not sure it would matter if he knew what to do but not knowing certainly doesn't help
In some ways I really respect Zach getting a bag from Reinsdorf and then not giving a shit. It's the way this franchise deserves to be treated it just sucks as someone who wants to watch them
You can't imagine who was offering Vuc that much?!
Need I remind you my dear friend, that this is the organization that handed CRISTIANO FELICIO a 4 yr $32 million dollar contract and proceeded to keep him on the roster ALL FOUR YEARS?!
Speaking of which, Felicio is apparently still good enough to make the roster for the Brazilian National Team. Was wild seeing him on the floor during the Olympics.
I thought he was actually very good in the Olympics and I kind've wish the Knicks or some other team that needs some bigs would give him a run at the minimum. But I think the days are gone when catching on with an NBA team is superior to playing overseas.
Giddey is like a middle class Tomas Satoransky right now. Yeah he rebounds better and he’s taller, but he just doesn’t seem athletic enough to do what he wants to do on the court, and I don’t think he takes particularly good care of the ball.
I’ll say a couple good things about him though:
1. Compared to how he played in OKC he seems a lot more willing to draw contact. That’s a really good thing for a guy whose shooting is never going to be a plus.
2. His shooting isn’t going to be a plus, but after that first game he seems like he’s not passing them up too much and his shot is a bit better.
Ironically, if I put together those things and hope for the best, I like him better as a player but not really as a PG. he makes a lot of smart passes but his handle just doesn’t seem good enough.
If I were the Bulls, I think I’d be tempted to tell him to bulk up. His wingspan and defense are godawful but he might be better as a 225lb forward instead of a 210lb guard.
I dunno. A lot of times I try to think about, well, what the right teammates be for a guy like this? What would his role be on a really good team? Toni Kukoc?
Giddey needs to do nothing next summer but work with Coby's handles guy and with Peter Patton on his shot. If he can improve those two things a decent amount, it will unlock nearly all other aspects of his game on offense.
the Bulls purport to be big on offseason development, yet Giddey didn't do that, played in the Olympics then recovered from an ankle injury
I suppose they were consistent in not rewarding him with a contract extension?
I was going to say Joe Ingles is what you would hope for at his best but I don't see how his outside shooting gets that good. I guess more realistic to his athleticism and skills is you'd like to see him figure out a post up game. Then he can use his size to generate offensive as that and passing are about all he has going for him.
I don't see a spot for him on a "good" team which is why the Thunder benched him in the playoffs
West Coast Former Bulls fan checking in for an update.
I laughed my ass off when I checked the score and saw that the Bulls not only beat Milwaukee, but flat out SMOKED em. That's that "we're gonna fuck this tank up no matter what" energy I was talking about before the season began.
Watching them vs New Orleans and OKC, THAT'S the team they should be aiming to be every night. The team that looks competitive, but ends up down 20 by the time the 4th rolls around and you're rolling out Matas, Duarte, Jalen Smith, Ayo, Dalen Terry lineups.
The starting lineup shouldn't include Vuc and Zach, but I think if you brought them both off the bench they'd be too much for 2nd units on other squads to handle. The more I think about how to try and make this team bad, the harder it gets. And THAT'S how I know AKME is absolutely CLUELESS. I can look at the Nets or Hornets roster and it just feels like they could lose 60-65 games easily. The Bulls roster is still too competitive. But that's what AKME wanted, right? To keep being competitive in a year when they need to NOT compete? Lol there it goes again. Proof AKME is the absolute worse FO combo in the league right now. The Suns are 216754213762 million over the cap and they're gonna pay the luxury tax, but even with fringe finances to work with they cobbled together a roster that looks like it could compete in the West. AKME's responsibility was the exact opposite of this, and they STILL couldn't accomplish it.
Meanwhile the games I've been treated to out here on the west coast have been AMAZING. Lakers/TWolves was a treat. Suns/Lakers was even better since I'm a KD fan. OKC and Memphis look really good, too. I really suggest investing your time in NOT allowing the Bulls to ruin your season with their schlapstick comedy routine that they're trying to pass off as "competitive" basketball. You'll feel better about it when the season ends and you know you enjoyed the basketball you watched.
I think the Bucks are a lot worse than most people expected. Damian Lillard is not what he used to be and I'm not sure what he used to be was even better than Jrue anymore when you look at 2 way play and what you do offball and not just scoring
I have pretty much hated all of their moves since they won. Not sure what they could have done to extend their window as they really sold out to get Jrue, but going all in on a flawed, aging player was probably not the move. It just feels like one of those teams that went all in on their championship window but then come out the other side badly aged and totally lacking depth (2012 Lakers, post-LeBron Heat, etc). Imagaine if, instead of going all in on Dame they had traded Giannis to OKC for something like 10 first rounders. That may have actually been the move as their is no way they are winning again.
Yeah. I personally would have stuck with Jrue just because he helped win the ring. I get trying to make another move but they really wiffed
Open thread for Bulls-Grizzlies is UP (Morant still game time decision)
https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/4e6d6fc9-78de-481d-9363-0a9426fdf276
lol minutes later they say Morant is OUT
So not Bulls fault they can not tank
Maybe everyone else has already figured this out, but I think I get why Pat played so much better coming off the bench last year. Pat imitates those around him. There was a stint during one of the preseason games and then another stint in last night's game where Pat was the lone starter out there with a bunch of high energy guys off the bench. I think the lineup was something like Ayo, Terry, Matas, Pat and Jalen Smith.
Compare that with the starters he plays with. I think the only one who plays with any sort of passion would be Coby. Zach and Vooch are constantly slacking and blaming others for their missed assignments and Giddey probably isn't that far behind those two. If Pat plays to the level of his teammates, he's going to play pretty lazily with the starters.
Both last night and in that preseason game, he played with so much more energy and even some emotion when playing with the bench guys. Same as last year when he was coming off the bench with AC, Ayo, and Drummond.
It's unfortunate that he can't find it in himself to play to higher standards even when the guys he's on the floor with don't, but if I'm Billy, I'm trying to put him in as many lineups with high energy guys as I can in order to get the best out of him.
My theory is that Pat isn't a good starter. IDK. I like your theory of the octopus, or memetic ineptitude a little better.
Well, your theory certainly isn't wrong!
Fun stat that means absolutely nothing: our two leading three point shooters based on percentage are our two centers. Both are shooting over 50%. Third is Josh Giddey at 46%. Technically Duarte leads all at 100% but he's only taken one and it was in garbage time, so I figured he shouldn't count.
The Bulls as a team are shooting 38% on nearly 47 attempts a game, which I assume won't be sustainable. I expect Lonzo, Coby, Pat, and Ayo's percentages to go up, however Smith, Vooch, and Giddey's percentages will all drop significantly.
If Zach can keep shooting 45% on nearly 9 attempts a game, maybe some GM will talk themselves into trading for him. It's a pipe dream, I know.
NEW POST https://www.blogabull.com/p/bulls-make-their-own-luck-ok-receive
Bulls fans, it could be worse. You could have Rick friggin’ Carlisle as your coach.