Bulls Season In Review - Part 2

By: David Lister

In case you missed it, here’s part 1 of the Bulls season in review.

Dec. 8 - After a big 98-91 win over the Pistons - the Bulls second defeat of Detroit this season - Chicago has won four of five games. Joakim Noah plays well, scoring 11 points in just 16 minutes, prompting Charlie Danoff to write a column on the Bulls rookie center:

Along with developing his aesthetic tastes, Noah played some ball, and continued upon returning to NYC, as a “5-11 point guard … he played at Poly Prep in Brooklyn for his first three years of high school, growing to 6-2 as a sophomore, 6-5 as a junior, and 6-10 as a senior.”

Yes, you read that correctly - the Bulls’ 7-foot rookie center was a point guard heading into high school.

As the draft express profile points out, this likely means that Noah has not really begun to tap into his potential. Consider that he’s only been playing center for 4 or 5 years; normal big men in the NBA - think Samuel Dalembert, Tyson Chandler, etc. - usually take at least 3-4 years in the NBA to become an effective center, after playing it their whole lives.

But there are a couple of big differences between Noah and those other two players. For one, he is not as athletically gifted as either. Secondly, he played point guard in high school, and neither Dalembert nor Chandler seem to be even remotely capable of dribbling a basketball down the floor in an empty gym.

At this time Noah wasn’t getting much playing time under Scott Skiles. He would, after a certain coaching change and a certain trade we haven’t yet got to, become the Bulls starting center. In nine April games, Noah averaged 31.4 minutes, 10.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.

Dec. 12 - The Bulls lost at home to the Boston 92-81 and beat up a young Seattle team 123-96. This one-win, one-loss pattern would be repeated many times over the remainder of the season. In fact, the Bulls would only win two games in a row five times during the 2007-08 season, and they did not have a winning streak of three games or more the entire season.

Anyway, on to the next story. This time, Charlie does his best Sam Smith impersonation and plays NBA GM for a day. His first trade sends Chris Duhon, Aaron Gray and a second-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for 23-year-old center Zaza Pachulia:

Adding Pachulia to the rotation addresses the biggest flaw of the current roster: inside scoring. Pachulia is not the most well-rounded player, but he does score. He has averaged 12 PPG over the past two years, and made over 52% of his shots in the immediate basket area last season.

As most fans and media members have already said, if the Bulls had inside scoring it would dramatically alter the team’s current offense. An inside threat would open things up for Hinrich, Gordon and Deng on the outside. Futhermore, having defenders forced to guard Zaza, as opposed to freelancing off the current big men, would open up driving lanes for the aforementioned three to get to the hoop.

Trade number two was a bigger deal, with the Kings sending Mike Bibby to the Bulls for Ben Gordon, Joe Smith, Victor Khryapa and a lottery protected first-round pick:

It is a good thing the Bulls are in the East. Sitting at 7-12, they are very much still alive in the playoff hunt, while the Kings, at 8-12 in the West, are basically in rebuilding mode. Given that, this trade works quite well for them going forward.

There have been rumors that Sacramento has wanted to trade Bibby for a while now, with the most likely trading partner being the Miami Heat. Given that the Heat’s best offer revolves around Jason Williams’ expiring contract, it would be easy for the Bulls to offer a more attractive deal.

Oddly enough, Bibby would be sent to the Hawks at the trade deadline for Anthony Johnson, Tyronn Lue, Shelden Williams, Lorenzen Wright and a 2008 second round draft pick. The Bulls, of course, would later make another - and arguably bigger - trade.

Dec. 18 - More of the same. The Bulls lose this night at home against the Los Angeles Lakers 103-91 and fall to 8-14. The good news is Luol Deng has a couple of very impressive games, scoring 29 points a grabbing 10 rebounds in a victory over the Knicks 12/14 and putting up 26 points and 7 rebounds in the Lakers’ loss. Charlie decides to look at the numbers and decide just how good Deng is:

Using Dean Oliver’s “Approximate Value” formula and John Hollinger’s Player Efficiency Rating, we can investigate Deng’s effectiveness at a deeper level. These numbers are not perfect, but they are currently the best versions of a single number to indicate the value of a player.

Over the first three years, Deng’s average AV has been 9.45 - indicating an “average regular or a good sixth man.” His average PER has been 16.29, which usually equates to a “third Banana” on a top-flight team. Obviously, those numbers are relatively disappointing. But they may not be appropriate, given how much better Deng played last season than in his first two years.

At age 21, Deng’s AV was 12.3, putting him in the “All-Star Candidate” category, while his PER of 18.8 made him a “Solid Second Option.” That’s more like it - still not superstar numbers, but Deng has not played like a superstar to this point in his career, so that’s not surprising. These ratings hint that Deng has not yet reached his potential, but at least they suggest that becoming a perennial All-Star is not out of the question.

Dec. 21 - The Bulls are about to go on a three-game losing streak that will drop their record to 9-17. In what will turn out to be excellent timing, Charlie Danoff recaps Scott Skiles basketball career. Consider it an eulogy of sorts:

What you see is what you get with Skiles. He will hold his players accountable, but that is only because he also holds himself to a higher standard, and will work harder than anyone. If you are willing to work, and actually want to improve, Scott Skiles is the coach for you. If you want to be lazy and fall back on talent and potential, it might not work - sorry Eddy.

All of this is well established. But Skiles’ only Championship came in high school, and that was a long time ago. Through hard work as a player and coach he has earned the respect of his peers - for his dedication, and knowledge of the game. The question now is - can he take the next step?

Taking a step back, being less hands-on and giving his players more responsibility is a move in the right direction. Just ask Ben Gordon:

“I think one thing I’ve seen from coach since I’ve been here, the first couple of years he was definitely on guys, because we were young and we kind of needed that. Now, he gives us a lot of freedom and with freedom comes a lot of responsibility. So we have to go out there and do our part. So I don’t think he’s what most people perceive him to be.”

Three days later Skiles was fired as the Bulls head coach after slightly more than four years in that position. He had a 10-12 record in three postseason appearances. About a month later it was revealed Skiles was fired after he told Paxson the team needed “a new voice.”

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David Lister is the web editor for the National Sports Review. You can reach him at chicagosportsreview@gmail.com. Go Cards.

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