Bulls Season In Review - Part 4

By: David Lister

Easy there, before diving into this one don’t forget about Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of CSR’s Bulls Season In Review.

Jan. 15 - A 102-88 loss tonight to Orlando will drop the Bulls to 14-22, but still not out of the playoffs. The team is a very average 5-6 since Jim Boylan took over, so really nothing has changed.

And you know what that means, another plea for a lineup change here at CSR:

As this season painfully drags on, one has to hope against hope Boylan will see the light and play his talented trio of young big men more. They are really the team’s best hope for future success. Playing Smith and Wallace extended minutes may earn the team a trip to the playoffs as a 7 or 8 seed, but is a first round exit really what this team needs? The only explanation that makes sense for playing these old dudes so much is that Paxson is trying to market them for trades. If that is the case it is acceptable. Just get a move on Pax. Start the fire, otherwise all your young plants may die before they even get the chance to bloom.

If only the Bulls could get rid of Wallace and Smith in one trade…

Jan. 21 - An inexplicable loss to the Memphis Grizzlies puts the Bulls at 16-24. Despite all the hoopla about Boylan being the opposite of Scott Skiles, Chicago doesn’t look like that different of a team. They still have a wildly inconsistent rotation to go with their wildly inconsistent play.

Charlie Danoff has another fix for the Bulls, this time a call for the running of the Bulls:

While a switch of philosophies would not necessarily improve their defense, it would vastly improve their poor offense. Even if this current group of players will never be the Phoenix Suns, they are definitely capable of better offensive output than they have shown so far this year.

At the end of the day, in spite of everything that has gone wrong this season, the team still has hope. Currently, the Bulls remain only a game-and-a-half out of playoff position. There really is no reason they can’t work their way into the top six in the East, maybe even up to number five. If the Bulls are going to make a playoff run, however, it has to start with some on-court running.

The Bulls would have a couple of offensive outbursts over the rest of the season, most notably a 135-point outing Feb. 22 against the Nuggets and the ridiculous 151-point outburst April 14 against the Bucks.

Jan. 26 - Lost in a team fully of disappointments was the development - or lack thereof - by second-year guard Thabo Sefolosha. Sefolosha appears to be the perfect fit for the Bulls, a big two-guard that can defend the guys Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon can’t. He can even provide some offense, though it seems apparent he will never be a good offensive player in the NBA.

Up until this point, Thabo wasn’t playing much at all under Skiles and though he had seen a boost in minutes with Boylan as coach, he still hadn’t cracked the started lineup consistently. We hoped that would change:

It is time for Sefolosha to replace Paxson’s favorite mistake, Kirk Hinrich, in the starting lineup. He turns the point guard position, which has been a matchup weakness for the Bulls, into a chance to use matchups in the team’s favor. If nothing else, perhaps moving Kirk to the bench can motivate him the same way it did Gordon.

Don’t be a fool and ignore destiny, John. There are powers at work here you couldn’t even begin to understand.

Thabo played decent when he got the chance. In February, he averaged 31.6 minutes, 12.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. In 22 starts this season, he averaged 11.9 points and 5.7 rebounds a game. Not spectacular numbers, but not bad for a 23-year-old.

Feb. 6 - I’m open about my love for the Phoenix Suns. Part of the beauty of living in Chicago, is that no matter how bad it’s going for Phoenix it’s always looking worse for the Bulls.

After the Suns traded All-Star Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks for Shaquille O’Neal, I was on suicide watch. Of course, at least my team was making moves:

As good as Paxson has been at drafting, he’s shown no ability to take the Bulls to the next level through free agency or trades. His biggest signings have been bringing Scottie Pippen back to town (which failed miserably) and over-paying Ben Wallace. In four-plus years he’s traded away Jamal Crawford, Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry for players that are no longer with the team. His only positive trade was stealing Luol Deng on draft day from my Phoenix Suns because our owner didn’t want to pay the luxury tax.

Now the trade deadline is two weeks away and it appears the Bulls are going to stand pat once again, hoping that if they can turn things around next year with this group of safe, low-ceiling players, they can once again be a middle-of-the-pack Eastern Conference team.

Of course I was dead wrong about the Bulls standing pat, but we’ll get to that in our final installment of the Bulls season in review.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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

Share This Article

No Comments

No comments yet.

Comment On This Article