Anyone think Bulls will be 4th Best in Da East???

[Newskoolbulls]

Diddy1122 wrote:

I'm amazed at all the love for the Raptors. Are you guys really that impressed with Hedu that all of the sudden the Raps are the 4th seed? That's quite a leap of faith. I don't understand why so many people think that guy is amazing. He's amazingly overrated imo. And his defense is non-existent. But anyway, here's my playoff ranks:

1) Cleveland
2) Boston
3) Orlando
4) Atlanta
5) Chicago
6) Miami
7) Detroit
8) Philadelphia/Bucks/Raptors duke it out

Has everyone forgotten that the Hawks picked up Jamal Crawford for nothing? The team was the 4th seed last year, won 47 games, & has essentially the same roster coming back this year + Crawford. I think the space between the 4-6th seeds is only going to be a few games, may even come down to season series records or conference records. I think the Bucks may surprise some people & steal that 8th spot. Detroit will make the playoffs but there's no way they are going to be above the Bulls. And the Raptors, if they can overcome the fact that they will be one of the worst defensive teams in the league, they may just have enough fire power to make it to the post-season but I'm not sold on them like everyone else on here.

I seriously forgot about Atlanta. As for the Raptors not only is it Hedo but they added a nice backup to Calderon who will stay fresher this year. They also added some nice youth with DeRozan, Bellinelli, and Johnson. As for Philly they will be a hot mess with Louis Williams and Holiday, Andre Miller was so underappreciated and Sixers will see that this year.

 

[mlewinth]

Newskoolbulls wrote:

Diddy1122 wrote:

I'm amazed at all the love for the Raptors. Are you guys really that impressed with Hedu that all of the sudden the Raps are the 4th seed? That's quite a leap of faith. I don't understand why so many people think that guy is amazing. He's amazingly overrated imo. And his defense is non-existent. But anyway, here's my playoff ranks:

1) Cleveland
2) Boston
3) Orlando
4) Atlanta
5) Chicago
6) Miami
7) Detroit
8) Philadelphia/Bucks/Raptors duke it out

Has everyone forgotten that the Hawks picked up Jamal Crawford for nothing? The team was the 4th seed last year, won 47 games, & has essentially the same roster coming back this year + Crawford. I think the space between the 4-6th seeds is only going to be a few games, may even come down to season series records or conference records. I think the Bucks may surprise some people & steal that 8th spot. Detroit will make the playoffs but there's no way they are going to be above the Bulls. And the Raptors, if they can overcome the fact that they will be one of the worst defensive teams in the league, they may just have enough fire power to make it to the post-season but I'm not sold on them like everyone else on here.

I seriously forgot about Atlanta. As for the Raptors not only is it Hedo but they added a nice backup to Calderon who will stay fresher this year. They also added some nice youth with DeRozan, Bellinelli, and Johnson. As for Philly they will be a hot mess with Louis Williams and Holiday, Andre Miller was so underappreciated and Sixers will see that this year.

What about Washington. They have Arenas.

 

[mlewinth]

Diddy1122 wrote:

I'm amazed at all the love for the Raptors. Are you guys really that impressed with Hedu that all of the sudden the Raps are the 4th seed? That's quite a leap of faith. I don't understand why so many people think that guy is amazing. He's amazingly overrated imo. And his defense is non-existent. But anyway, here's my playoff ranks:

1) Cleveland
2) Boston
3) Orlando
4) Atlanta
5) Chicago
6) Miami
7) Detroit
8) Philadelphia/Bucks/Raptors duke it out

Has everyone forgotten that the Hawks picked up Jamal Crawford for nothing? The team was the 4th seed last year, won 47 games, & has essentially the same roster coming back this year + Crawford. I think the space between the 4-6th seeds is only going to be a few games, may even come down to season series records or conference records. I think the Bucks may surprise some people & steal that 8th spot. Detroit will make the playoffs but there's no way they are going to be above the Bulls. And the Raptors, if they can overcome the fact that they will be one of the worst defensive teams in the league, they may just have enough fire power to make it to the post-season but I'm not sold on them like everyone else on here.

Has everyone forgotten Washington?!?!?!?!?!?

 

[Newskoolbulls]

mlewinth wrote:

Newskoolbulls wrote:

Diddy1122 wrote:

I'm amazed at all the love for the Raptors. Are you guys really that impressed with Hedu that all of the sudden the Raps are the 4th seed? That's quite a leap of faith. I don't understand why so many people think that guy is amazing. He's amazingly overrated imo. And his defense is non-existent. But anyway, here's my playoff ranks:

1) Cleveland
2) Boston
3) Orlando
4) Atlanta
5) Chicago
6) Miami
7) Detroit
8) Philadelphia/Bucks/Raptors duke it out

Has everyone forgotten that the Hawks picked up Jamal Crawford for nothing? The team was the 4th seed last year, won 47 games, & has essentially the same roster coming back this year + Crawford. I think the space between the 4-6th seeds is only going to be a few games, may even come down to season series records or conference records. I think the Bucks may surprise some people & steal that 8th spot. Detroit will make the playoffs but there's no way they are going to be above the Bulls. And the Raptors, if they can overcome the fact that they will be one of the worst defensive teams in the league, they may just have enough fire power to make it to the post-season but I'm not sold on them like everyone else on here.

I seriously forgot about Atlanta. As for the Raptors not only is it Hedo but they added a nice backup to Calderon who will stay fresher this year. They also added some nice youth with DeRozan, Bellinelli, and Johnson. As for Philly they will be a hot mess with Louis Williams and Holiday, Andre Miller was so underappreciated and Sixers will see that this year.

What about Washington. They have Arenas.

I dont know about them, they are getting older and how much can Butler and Jamison continue at this pace. They have no depth on their bench.

 

[Diddy1122]

I didn't put Washington on there because they have no bench & Arenas is still a big question mark. Can he stay healthy all year? Plus they are playing in the Southeast against Orlando, Atlanta, & Miami who I feel will all be better. I don't see 4 teams from that division making the playoffs.

 

[TheStig]

mlewinth wrote:

Great thread. Ok, first, I really think Detroit will suck. I see them no higher than an 8 seed. No front court, worse D than last year and less depth (they lost Amir Johnson). Ben Wallace is garbage, I don't see him doing anything personally. Oh...and a rookie coach.

Ok, so I don't want to put my money on these Bulls. This team can win 50, or it can win 30. Take a walk with me down memory lane. 3 years ago we won 49 games, granted the east wasnt as good, but it was still pretty decent. That team had a starting lineup of Wallace, PJ Brown, Deng, Gordon and Hinrich. Our front court now is probobly better, though its a tough call. Wallace and Brown were good defensivly, especially in round 1 against Miami. If Noah comes out strong defensivly and Tyrus isint a complete jackass (at least play as good as last year) I think i'd take this front court. Now from 1-3 we should be CLEARLY better. Deng is older (granted more fragile), lets call this a wash for now (though a still question mark, no doubt). Pretty much besides that u swapped out Rose for Gordon and added Salmons. I like that much more. A Rose and Salmons backcourt should be 10X better then a Gordon Hinrich backcourt. Thats the key. Also with Pargo and James Johnson, I feel we have some more depth than that team did, or at least the same amount of depth.

See, when you put this team in cotext of the team 3, 4 and 5 years ago, it seems like it should be a no brainer that we should be damn good. People thought we would win the east 2 years go! This team is better than that one. Your really loosing Gordon, but adding Rose. We SHOULD win 50+ games! Why am I so scared then we won't?

Wow that is such a homer post. 50 wins? In your dreams. BG, Kirk, Deng and Noc all had career years. Both Ben Wallace and Kirk earned all defense second team spots. We don't have that, Kirk and Deng aren't going to be playing out of their minds we just lost our leading scorer. This team will never have the defense that team had. Its just never going to happen.

How are you loosing BG and adding Rose? Rose got plenty of shots and had the ball plenty. His usage was 3% lower than CP3 career average. BG wasn't holding Rose back, if anything he opened up the lane for him. Rose's job became so much easier when he had BG and Salmons spreading the court for him to drive without getting doubled at half court like he was at the beginning of the year.

 

[Kush77]

Re:Anyone think Bulls will be 4th Best in Da East?

I don't think the Bulls will be 4th in the East. And the more I think about it, I think the Bulls will be 6th at best. Around a .500 team.

Boston, Cleveland, Orlando, Atlanta, Miami are my top 5, just like last year. And all the other teams will be clustered together, Bulls, Raptors, Detroit, maybe the Wiz, but I'm done predicting the Wiz will be healthy.

So basically Salmons replace Gordon and we have Miller off the bench. The team will be pretty much the same prior to the trade deadline last year, which was a .500 team. I don't think they'll be much better. Rose could be better, but we still lack the legit inside threat and our outside shooting has taken a hit with the loss of Gordon.

But on the bright side we do have Salmons' 4 inches baby. 4 inches, 4th seed.....hmmmmm.

 

[houheffna]

I like Newskools picks, that is pretty good.

Rose should be better this year. That is why it is said that you are gaining Rose, simply because he should improve quite a bit this year because he knows what to expect, he knows how his game translated to the NBA level, and he knows his weaknesses and is working on them.

The Bulls should not be expected to win 50 games. Comparing this team to the team a few years ago is unfair unless you compare the two conferences. Back then, it was Detroit...then everybody else. Now its a 3 headed monster in the east and Toronto is better also. 50 wins should be harder to come by.

 

[TheStig]

Re:Anyone think Bulls will be 4th Best in Da East?

Kush77 wrote:

I don't think the Bulls will be 4th in the East. And the more I think about it, I think the Bulls will be 6th at best. Around a .500 team.

Boston, Cleveland, Orlando, Atlanta, Miami are my top 5, just like last year. And all the other teams will be clustered together, Bulls, Raptors, Detroit, maybe the Wiz, but I'm done predicting the Wiz will be healthy.

So basically Salmons replace Gordon and we have Miller off the bench. The team will be pretty much the same prior to the trade deadline last year, which was a .500 team. I don't think they'll be much better. Rose could be better, but we still lack the legit inside threat and our outside shooting has taken a hit with the loss of Gordon.

But on the bright side we do have Salmons' 4 inches baby. 4 inches, 4th seed.....hmmmmm.

Lol pax must drive a 4x4 then. But we were about 5 games under .500 if I remember correctly before the trade. I really think this team struggles to make the playoffs. I really think they are 50/50. There are just so many more talented teams that will be competing for those last spots, this isn't the overacheiving hustle and defense team that we had in the past. I say the

 

[JimmyBulls]

Re:Anyone think Bulls will be 4th Best in Da East?

I don't think it's likely, but I wouldn't say it's out of the question either. If Wade gets injured, and the combination of Johnson, Smith, and Crawford clashes...the Bulls could have a shot at the fourth seed in a top heavy East. The Wizards will need to have Gil healthy (which is unlikely), and the Raptors will have to get solid production out of either DeRozan or Belinelli to compete for that fourth slot. I'm not sure if either guy is ready to be solid rotation guys at this point.

The Bulls getting the fourth seed is possible, but I wouldn't bet money on it. That being said, I would gladly bet someone else's money on it.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Re:Anyone think Bulls will be 4th Best in Da East?

JimmyBulls wrote:

I don't think it's likely, but I wouldn't say it's out of the question either. If Wade gets injured, and the combination of Johnson, Smith, and Crawford clashes...the Bulls could have a shot at the fourth seed in a top heavy East. The Wizards will need to have Gil healthy (which is unlikely), and the Raptors will have to get solid production out of either DeRozan or Belinelli to compete for that fourth slot. I'm not sure if either guy is ready to be solid rotation guys at this point.

The Bulls getting the fourth seed is possible, but I wouldn't bet money on it. That being said, I would gladly bet someone else's money on it.

Who wouldn't bet someone else's money?

 

[vhans5219]

Re:Anyone think Bulls will be 4th Best in Da East?

1) Orlando
2) Cleveland
3) Boston
4) Atlanta
5) Miami
6) BULLS
7) Detroit
8) Philadelphia/Wizards/Raptors

 

[clonetrooper264]

Re:Anyone think Bulls will be 4th Best in Da East?

My guesses are:
1) Cleveland
2) Orlando
3) Boston
4) Atlanta
5) Miami OR a healthy Wizards
6) Chicago
7) Raps
8) Detroit/not healthy Wizards/Philly/Bucks/Bobcats

Essentially the 8th seed is a total wildcard. I can also see the Bulls moving up or down very easily. I think that after the 5th seed, it's going to go way into the tiebreakers.

 

[cool007]

Re:Anyone think Bulls will be 4th Best in Da East?

So so far no one is with me on Bulls being the 4th seed at the end???

Yeah, Miami/Toronto/Atlanta/Washington are sexy picks for the 4th spot but they all have their own question marks just like Bulls have but I still like the Bulls' chances better.

1 - Toronto's moves are okay but they are not that impressive. Hedo is good but he was perfect for that Orlando team and then there is chemistry issues when you add lot of new players.

2 - Heat: Wade is good but they still don't know if Beasley is a 3 or 4 and will spend more than half the season to figure that out and even that it might not happen. Their role players are reallly not all that good and bench is pretty weak.

3 - Washington: they were so pathetic even with Butler and Jamison being healthy for the most part and the defense doesn't even exist. They added couple of chuckers (1 in miller, who is pretty much done and 2, Foye - who is like crawford. They are shot happy, who are not efficient and play no defense). Then Arenas, who has missed last 2 years and had MAJOR surgery on the knee. He relies so much on the speed game that it will really hurt his game and defense will just blow by him.

4 - Hawks: Josh Smith and their coach don't like each other and I just see them having a down year this year. I can't pin point but I do see it. I don't mean that they will miss the playoffs but I dont see them grabbing better than 6th seed.

 

[Dpauley23]

Re:Anyone think Bulls will be 4th Best in Da East?

Im with you Cool. This may be the dumb post of the year, but Im going to say this will be the Bulls post ever post Jordon season. I think alot of have forgotten how good Salmons was last year especially in the clutch before he torn his hamstring. I've been hearing alot about how he can't close out games like Gordon, but off the top of my head I can think of quite few were he had some heroics vs the Pacers, Celtics twice.

 

[cool007]

Re:Anyone think Bulls will be 4th Best in Da East?

Dpauley23 wrote:

Im with you Cool. This may be the dumb post of the year, but Im going to say this will be the Bulls post ever post Jordon season. I think alot of have forgotten how good Salmons was last year especially in the clutch before he torn his hamstring. I've been hearing alot about how he can't close out games like Gordon, but off the top of my head I can think of quite few were he had some heroics vs the Pacers, Celtics twice.

Agreed but a lot depends on Rose though.

If Rose can become the 1st option on this team and be a leader and have a take over mentality to lead this team to victory (some of it he did last year but just couldn't hit the game winning shot) then we will be 4th seed IMO.

Salmons is a very very good 2nd option.
Deng is probably the best 3rd option in the NBA.
Hinrich is probably the best 4th option in the NBA.

Not to mention Miller/Noah/Tyrus with some Pargo and JJ sprinkled in.

I see this team as a very good balanced team with a nice inside/outside - offense/defense team.

Like you said, this might be the dumbest thread of the season but this is how I feel and I think Bulls will surprise not only other teams fans/media but our own fans and media as well.

 

[Bullsman24]

Re:Anyone think Bulls will be 4th Best in Da East?

i think that the bulls will be a 5 seed. i got

1. cleveland-great regular season team as always, and has now added shaq and my non bulls boy, jamario moon!!!
2. orlando-even more confidence this year.
3. boston-getting older...
4. atl-now have jamal to carry a scoring load
5. chicago-i think we have enough depth
6. toronto-refueled
7, miami-d-wade will miss some games...
8-i'm gonna surprise you...the charlotte bobcats-they may have traded away their first draft pick, but look at the nice rotation:

PG-augustin, felton
SG-henderson, bell
SF-gerald wallace, vlad-rad
PF-diaw, vlad-rad, juwan howard's a nice veteran to teach the ropes
C-chandler, diop

i think that most of these players are good larry brown players. i would not be surprised to see them make the playoffs as an underdog throughout the regular season. ok, yes i'm just going out on a limb here, but it could make me look smart later.

 

[pinkizdead]

Re:Anyone think Bulls will be 4th Best in Da East?

i dont see detriot being amazing this year. i'd say 7/8/lottery. They dont have an actual point guard in stuckey. They lost their bigmen in wallace and mcdyes. They gained a pf and center who wouldnt be the starting bigmen in most of the teams in the nba. Charlie V is a chucker. he has a terrble 3 pt shooting percentage. He isnt a post player. he doesnt play defense. Ben wallace was playing behind Varejo, Big Z, and Joe Smith in Cleveland. He was traded for his contract after which he was promptly bought out. This is there starting Center? An aging Ben that barely has the will to play basketball. \

In addition many of Hamilton's points came off screens. Without their skilled bigmen who's going to be setting the screens for hamilton and gordon? Charlie V? Ben Wallace?


Although i think they have the greatest back up shooting guard in the history of the nba in ben gordon, i dont know how many minutes he'll get with rip and stucky starting. Unless rip becomes the primary ball handler, and ben is the starting pg, i dont understand why they went for gordon. Rip Hamilton is arguably the best player on the pistons other than gordon. He's also on an untraceable contract.Stucky is a terrible pg. Gordon is an amazing shooting guard. They might start gordon, but we;ve witnessed all of gordons weaknesses. Both being a creator for others as well as dribbling are some of them. Also i dont see anyway that ben gordon wouldnt absorb all their minutes in back up pg, so they would inevitably see gordon at the point.

Furthermore the detriot bench has deteriorated as well. They have an almost redundant forward draft pick of daye. It's interesting to see how they'll manage the Daye and Prince rotation. They lost Amir Johnson. Although they still have a good player in Maxiel, their back up center is Kwame Brown. Even though he has talent, I dont see bynum getting many minutes as back up pg. I have heard positive and negative things about wilcox. Admittedly, i dont know much about him.

Laslty whats their end of game linup going to look like? Gordon is a clutch player. he shines in the 4th. He has to be in the lineup.

With that in mind, i see three options.
Either you live with gordon at the point, or you ask hamilton or prince to go to the bench while playing gordon.
The third option would be to play their best players in the 4th.
In fact if detroit where to play it's best players in the 4th quarter, what would the lineup look like? Stucky would be in at the point. I'm okay with that. he can guard the larger 2 guards that gordon wouldnt be able to guard. However stucky isnt as an amazing as a point as the pistons had previously believed. He neither has amazing court vision nor does He have the defensive abilities of hinrich that would help hide gordon's inadequacieces. Hamilton has the height to play the 3, but he doesnt have the strength to gaurd many of the bigger 3s. Prince is absolutely horrendous at the 4. He didnt play very well at the 4 position at all. At the very best i could see him as a point forward. Lastly it seems Charlie V would have to play the Center position. his lack up abilities with his back to the basket as well as defensive inadequatecies make that move questionable at best.

 

[pinkizdead]

Re:Anyone think Bulls will be 4th Best in Da East?

sorry about the long post. it's raining, and im bored.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Re:Anyone think Bulls will be 4th Best in Da East?

I pretty much see the Pistons as a slightly worse version of last year's Bulls.