Chicago Bulls Defense - An All Time Great

[bulldog1205]

"When Tom Thibodeau arrived in Chicago it was known that he would bring his defensive philosophy with him. So it’s been no surprise the Bulls have improved on the defensive side of the ball. But what might be surprising is exactly how much they have improved in such a short period of time. Last year the Bulls ranked a respectable 11th with a DRtg of 105.3. This year they are without a doubt the best in the league with a DRtg of 99.4. And if that doesn’t surprise you maybe this will: through a little more than half a season, this Bulls defense comes in as one of the top 10 since 1974..."

"...But forget the previous Bulls teams, back to the Bulls of the present. The fact that they have had to adjust to a new head coach, a relatively large roster turnover, and a major injury to arguably their best defensive presence and still find themselves as one of the top defenses in history is simply unbelievable. And the scary part for the rest of the league is that this team isn’t going anywhere. They are only going to continue to improve as we advance through this decade. In 10 years will we be able to revisit this list and see 3 or 4 more Bulls teams popping up on it? As long as Coach Thibodeau stays I don’t see any reason to think we won’t."

See full article at:

Chicago Bulls Defense – An All Time Great | Bulls Chronicles


Since this is the first article I'm posting I'd also like to say thanks to Rush and Chi City Sports for allowing me to post this and future articles (I hope the way I did this is ok). Those of you who have interests in advanced statistics may enjoy some of these. I view criticism as a way to improve so don't hesitate to give your feedback either. Thanks!

 

[houheffna]

"When Tom Thibodeau arrived in Chicago it was known that he would bring his defensively philosophy with him. So it’s been no surprise the Bulls have improved on the defensive side of the ball. But what might be surprising is exactly how much they have improved in such a short period of time. Last year the Bulls ranked a respectable 11th with a DRtg of 105.3. This year they are without a doubt the best in the league with a DRtg of 99.4. And if that doesn’t surprise you maybe this will: through a little more than half a season, this Bulls defense comes in as one of the top 10 since 1974..."

"...But forget the previous Bulls teams, back to the Bulls of the present. The fact that they have had to adjust to a new head coach, a relatively large roster turnover, and a major injury to arguably their best defensive presence and still find themselves as one of the top defenses in history is simply unbelievable. And the scary part for the rest of the league is that this team isn’t going anywhere. They are only going to continue to improve as we advance through this decade. In 10 years will we be able to revisit this list and see 3 or 4 more Bulls teams popping up on it? As long as Coach Thibodeau stays I don’t see any reason to think we won’t."

See full article at:

Chicago Bulls Defense – An All Time Great | Bulls Chronicles


Since this is the first article I'm posting I'd also like to say thanks to Rush and Chi City Sports for allowing me to post this and future articles (I hope the way I did this is ok). Those of you who have interests in advanced statistics may enjoy some of these. I view criticism as a way to improve so don't hesitate to give your feedback either. Thanks!

Very well done and informative. I wish I had my podcast thing going, I would definitely talk about this article. Well structured and to the point. I didn't agree with your headline when reading it initially, but you made a very valid and well thought out argument...

 

[bulldog1205]

Very well done and informative. I wish I had my podcast thing going, I would definitely talk about this article. Well structured and to the point. I didn't agree with your headline when reading it initially, but you made a very valid and well thought out argument...

Thanks, I appreciate it. I honestly was a little surprised myself. I was expecting them to be closer to the 20-25 range when I started the research. Call me a nerd, but I'm actually excited to see if a future Bulls team will be able to challenge the 1993 Knicks for the best defensive season ever. Noah will have to stay healthy of course.

 

[Venom]

Great read, keep it up.

 

[Chi-Town Brahma]

Nice article! I enjoyed that read.

 

[TopekaRoy]

Very nice article. I didn't think it would be when I read "his defensively philosophy" in the first line, but after that you hit your stride.

Well written and interesting. Good job.

 

[bulldog1205]

Very nice article. I didn't think it would be when I read "his defensively philosophy" in the first line, but after that you hit your stride.

Well written and interesting. Good job.

Whoops, thanks for the catch. Definitely had to go change that. I do tend to make typing errors like that quite a bit as you will probably notice when I'm posting around the boards. I do proofread all of my articles twice and usually catch most of them, but it can be very difficult to proofread your own work sometimes. Too often I read what I know it is supposed to say and not what it actually says.

Edit: fixing my errors...great timing in that post, lol.

 

[TopekaRoy]

Whoops, thanks for the catch. Definitely had to go change that. I do tend to make typing errors like that quite a bit as you will probably notice when I'm posting around the boards. I do proofread all of my articles twice and usually catch most of them, but it can be very difficult to proofread your own work sometimes. Too often I read what I know it is supposed to say and not what it actually says.

Edit: fixing my errors...great timing in that post, lol.

No problem. It happens to everybody. If you use a spell checker it doesn't always pick the right form of the word for you, and I know how easy it is to read what you meant instead of what you wrote. That's why newspaper columnists have proofreaders go over what they wrote, instead of proofreading their own copy.

And I still find several spelling and punctuation errors in the papers!

 

[fade]

Imagine the Bulls D if Booz could play D...it'd be epic.

Rose is one of the best PG man-to-man defenders in the NBA.
Bogans is a solid defender, Brewer is great at D
Deng is very solid
Boozer is...umm...
Noah is beast, Omer is a shotblocker, Big Sexy is a good post defender

 

[bulldog1205]

Everyone likes to hate on Boozer for his defense. I think he faces way too much criticism for it. I know he has defensive lapses at times and I think maybe that is what sticks out in everyones mind (mine included), but the stats tell a different story. I know DRtg isn't near as good for individuals as it is for an entire team, but Boozer's is 97. This is the same as Gibson and Thomas and only 1 higher than Noah and Asik.

Also, if you look at team DRtg when Boozer is in compared to when he is out it is only 0.5 points per 100 possessions higher. Keep in mind Gibson, Thomas, and Noah (those who would be replacing him) are all considered good defenders. In other words, as bad as Boozer might look out there at times, he isn't really hindering the team defense very much. And as a side note, the team ORtg is 4.5 points higher when he is on the floor, so he more than makes up for a slight drop off in defense.

 

[zack54attack]

Good read. I enjoyed it!