But it was Derrick Rose who bailed the Bulls in a 102-98 victory over the Toronto Raptors Wednesday in what figured to be one of his best fourth quarter performances this season, ending up with 25 points.
It comes as no coincidence that Rose started to excel when the Bulls allowed the 20-year-old to hold the ball. He knifed through the Raptors defense with ease, sometimes bobbing under the basket for easy layups after the Bulls cycled the ball around the perimeter.
- It really can be this easy...really. The Bulls seem to move the ball better when Kirk Hinrich is on the floor; he's generally an unselfish player, who likes to dribble and kick. It works because the defense has to worry about Rose slashing toward the lane, or Ben Gordon standing at the three-point line.
Neverthless, I can still make a case that the Bulls are among the league's worst defensive teams, and this one can be pointed at Vinny DelNegro. He has the courage to give Larry Hughes a DNP after complaining about playing time, but failed to put in Thabo Sefolosha over Luol Deng in the starting lineup.
Not only would Sefolosha do a better job against Andrea Bargnani, who scored a game-high with 31 points (don't be surprised at unsual box scores against the Bulls), but he make the offense run smoother.
Deng spent the majority of the game holding the ball, trying to beat his defender off the dribble--his greatest weakness. That would be like Noah lofting three-pointers, which would result in an immediate benching. Deng was rewarded with more playing time, after turning the ball over three times on the dribble.
Synopsis: Deng is bad.
It's one of the most-talked-about issues of the season. The Bulls made Deng their highest paid player in franchise history, and some sports writers like Sam Smith and K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune argue that a player shouldn't be evaluated according to their salary. That might be true if this were baseball--where a salary cap doesn't exist--but when a team makes a huge investment in a player, they need to see a return.
I can make a case he's not even the fifth best player on the team.
Ranking: Rose; Gordon; Hinrich; Gooden.
If I wanted to be really cynical, I would say that Sefolosha, Andres Nocioni and Tyrus Thomas are better players than Deng at this point. An good metric is how nervous that player makes you when the ball is in their hand: Certainly Thomas tops the charts, but Deng is a close second.
Another metric: What is that player's greatest strength--what do they do for your team?
Deng was once a good mid-range shooter, but he's costing Rose about four to five assists a game with wide-open misses. He's not a good defender, passer or post-up player. He has sort of regressed into a backup.
- I'm still not sure what DelNegro's defensive philosophy is, but it appears that he prefers offense over defense--interesting, considering he came from the school of Gregg Poppovich. Aaron Gray was in the game to long, against a player known for his finesse and speed in Bosh, and a player known for his range in Bargnani. Even Bulls announcer Stacey King mentioned that near the end of the game.
And this again brings us to Rose. Why is he struggling so much on defense? It's apparent that other teams have scouted his weakness on pick-and-roll and man-to-man, but something doesn't add up.
No one would ever accuse the Chicago native of a lack of effort, nor a lack of intelligence, certainly not a lack of quickness, but he is playing the worst defense of his young career thus far. Granted he is young, and he does give you so much else, but it's costing the Bulls' games.
And at this point, we have to wonder what they are playing for--a lottery pick, a playoff spot?
The Bulls avoided another three-game losing streak but need to show some semblance of rhythm on defense in these next coming games. Surely Rose will be trapped and force to chase on screens, so Gordon, who had another poor shooting night, and Hinrich will have to step up.
Another bright spot: Thomas. While Thomas did not put up impressive numbers, he does continue to show some progression in his awareness, often crashing the weak side on defense and defering more on the perimeter. He seemed to do a good job against LaMarcus Aldridge earlier in the week, and was physical against Bosh early on.
It's as if, he's listening to coaching. But that could be an anamoly, and probably is.
These days, in this winter, we look for any kind of bright spots.
2 comments:
you're right. Deng sucks. i can't pax signed this guy to this kind of money and all he does is look for his own shot. I don't think he'll ever return to the guy we saw two years ago.
The bulls are such a hard team to watch i cant remember a team that tries harder to lose a game. An unforced turnover with 12 seconds left ridiculous! and Noah saves our ass. Wow! Funny thing is there actually is a team now that i think of it that tries that hard to lose, wrong sport same city The Bears. Go Chicago!
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