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My favorite teams
In 2007, the Bulls draft Joakim Noah, an older player as far as rookie standards go. He struggled to mesh with the system, although he had shown great basketball IQ, the bottom line was Noah was overpowered until one magical moment.
The Bulls trade Noc for Brad Miller. At this point, Miller is not fast enough or healthy enough to be a full time starter. For better, or for worse, the marriage of Brad Miller and the Bulls became one of the greatest assets the young Noah could be a part of. Practicing against Brad and his bag of tricks, being a teammate, and mentor, rubbed off on Jo like we would never have expected. Noah started to get forced into more minutes because of our lack of depth, and he started to show us what the hype was about at Florida. Now I don't want to credit Brad Miller with the success of Joakim Noah, I only want to point out the turning point in Noah's career, and that Brad's arrival was more than a coincidence.
One thing people fail to accept this early on, is that we have another Joakim Noah success story waiting to happen. Taj Gibson. Even Noah himself stated that Taj was the only player that worked harder on the team. A big change from Tyrus Thomas who worked hard, but never NBA starter hard for the Bulls.
As a rookie, he earned the starting role, only to get backtracked with the same injury that sidelined Joakim for part of the season. Gibson worked through it, as it may not have been as severe as Jo's, nonetheless you can't factor out the dedication.
Somewhere between the 5-starter injury fiasco, the Vinny-Paxon tie-throw down, and just after the all-star break, Taj strung together some impressive games. He was able to provide near effortless scoring, making shots for himself, posting up, and hitting mid-ranges for over .500%. He even had the best rebound-per-minute stat in the league for the month of March. The plantar-itis that hit the Bulls finally hit Taj full on and he was accepted, but forgotten as one of the key elements to the little success this Bulls team had.
Why is it, that so many people are willing to write off Taj Gibson so soon?
Let me remind you of why I am very optimistic about our off-season situation, regardless if we fail to replace him with a Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, David Lee, Amar'e Stat.
Noah's example is not so much a credit to Noah making a turnaround, but more the truth about how few players come out of school NBA ready.
Noah had time to learn, and add size. Taj will not be the same player next year for the Bulls and likely follow that natural progression into his second season. I am almost certain that he would be more effective come playoff time, than a worn down Boozer, Stoudemire, Lee, and so many other available options that are on the trading block at premium prices.
At this point, Taj is going under the radar from the media as far as his own development. That may be part of this fanbase getting ready to cut ties with him for a shot at a big name. But I am here to say, a big name will not guarantee any team, any more success. Taj is the first PF that this team has ever drafted(or by draft day rights) that has shown this much team-first mentality his rookie year. Brand, Tyrus, Chandler, Grant, and even Kukoc were either on their own agenda or they were never fully sold on any system that the Bulls had in place.
As a Bulls fan. I would love to improve however we can. But when I look at the long run, and the wealth of high risk moves that this team has made, and pretended that for one moment we hold the winning power-ball lottery ticket in our hands. I can't help but come back to reality and remind myself that this is not your favorite NBA video game, and that everything is at the mercy of a joystick.
The way that I see it, the Bulls can afford 1 max player. They can't afford to give up on Taj after an impressive rookie season. They can't afford to ignore the bench, and magically hope they can bring in exceptional players for MLE after the spending is done. Right now, Taj and James Johnson hold the keys to this team's future and consistency as far as being more than a list of big names in starting roles. Taj Gibson will be the success story in the works for 2011, and it's up to the front office to ruin a good thing.
The Bulls trade Noc for Brad Miller. At this point, Miller is not fast enough or healthy enough to be a full time starter. For better, or for worse, the marriage of Brad Miller and the Bulls became one of the greatest assets the young Noah could be a part of. Practicing against Brad and his bag of tricks, being a teammate, and mentor, rubbed off on Jo like we would never have expected. Noah started to get forced into more minutes because of our lack of depth, and he started to show us what the hype was about at Florida. Now I don't want to credit Brad Miller with the success of Joakim Noah, I only want to point out the turning point in Noah's career, and that Brad's arrival was more than a coincidence.
One thing people fail to accept this early on, is that we have another Joakim Noah success story waiting to happen. Taj Gibson. Even Noah himself stated that Taj was the only player that worked harder on the team. A big change from Tyrus Thomas who worked hard, but never NBA starter hard for the Bulls.
As a rookie, he earned the starting role, only to get backtracked with the same injury that sidelined Joakim for part of the season. Gibson worked through it, as it may not have been as severe as Jo's, nonetheless you can't factor out the dedication.
Somewhere between the 5-starter injury fiasco, the Vinny-Paxon tie-throw down, and just after the all-star break, Taj strung together some impressive games. He was able to provide near effortless scoring, making shots for himself, posting up, and hitting mid-ranges for over .500%. He even had the best rebound-per-minute stat in the league for the month of March. The plantar-itis that hit the Bulls finally hit Taj full on and he was accepted, but forgotten as one of the key elements to the little success this Bulls team had.
Why is it, that so many people are willing to write off Taj Gibson so soon?
Let me remind you of why I am very optimistic about our off-season situation, regardless if we fail to replace him with a Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, David Lee, Amar'e Stat.
Noah's example is not so much a credit to Noah making a turnaround, but more the truth about how few players come out of school NBA ready.
Noah had time to learn, and add size. Taj will not be the same player next year for the Bulls and likely follow that natural progression into his second season. I am almost certain that he would be more effective come playoff time, than a worn down Boozer, Stoudemire, Lee, and so many other available options that are on the trading block at premium prices.
At this point, Taj is going under the radar from the media as far as his own development. That may be part of this fanbase getting ready to cut ties with him for a shot at a big name. But I am here to say, a big name will not guarantee any team, any more success. Taj is the first PF that this team has ever drafted(or by draft day rights) that has shown this much team-first mentality his rookie year. Brand, Tyrus, Chandler, Grant, and even Kukoc were either on their own agenda or they were never fully sold on any system that the Bulls had in place.
As a Bulls fan. I would love to improve however we can. But when I look at the long run, and the wealth of high risk moves that this team has made, and pretended that for one moment we hold the winning power-ball lottery ticket in our hands. I can't help but come back to reality and remind myself that this is not your favorite NBA video game, and that everything is at the mercy of a joystick.
The way that I see it, the Bulls can afford 1 max player. They can't afford to give up on Taj after an impressive rookie season. They can't afford to ignore the bench, and magically hope they can bring in exceptional players for MLE after the spending is done. Right now, Taj and James Johnson hold the keys to this team's future and consistency as far as being more than a list of big names in starting roles. Taj Gibson will be the success story in the works for 2011, and it's up to the front office to ruin a good thing.
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) Taj seems to show great work ethic and tho i dont think he will ever be a star or any of the sort i do think he will be a very very good big man and a great asset off the bench for the bulls or as a starter....
