houheffna wrote:
He is a ball hog and Nocioni hinted as much after he left.
How is he a ball hog? 16 shots a game for a 20 point scorer is a ball hog? Do you not want a 20 point scorer on the team? As I said, there is not a single player in the NBA. Not one. 0 players. Who outscored Gordon last year and took fewer shots.
So you're basically saying that there is some player who's less of a ball hog, but shoots more often than Gordon to get his points, or you're saying you don't want a scorer as good as Gordon on the Bulls, and that no one should score more than him now or in the future on the team.
How do you fix the team? Do a better job of drafting, be more consistent, those aren't cliches, they are fact.
The Bulls have done a good job drafting. Outside of Tyrus Thomas, they've gotten among the best players available with each of their selections under John Paxson's reign as GM.
Don't pass up Aldridge and guys who have what the Bulls needed to get players that make sportscenter plays. Bring in a coach that emphasizes defense. Offense is nice, its glamorous, but defense is what wins in the playoffs.
There were a lot of reasons to like Aldridge, but Tyrus had as good a scoring rate in college as Aldridge and was considered a much better defender. He had far better athleticism, rebounding rates, block rates, steal rates, and in most statistical indicators absolutely destroyed Aldridge as a prospect.
The Bulls had a stellar defense despite BG not because of him. He got his butt handed to him by the Pistons because he could not guard either Billups or Hamilton.
So you are agreeing that having Gordon as your starting 2 guard doesn't preclude you from playing great defense, given that the Bulls did it for three years.
Hamilton is a championship all-star 2 guard who could play defense. Period. Stats are stats.
If you replaced Rip Hamilton with Ben Gordon in his prime do you think the Pistons wouldn't have won that title? I think that's a ridiculous statement. Where would the Pistons be if Rip Hamilton had to be their best player? They'd be where they are right now with 39 wins.
Like Vin Scully said "Statistics are used much like a drunk uses a lamp post: for support, not illumination."
So much for BG and his 16 shots. If he goes 7 for 16 instead of 7 for 23, the Bulls may have won game 7 against Boston.
So? If any one of a number of players played better at any point the Bulls would have won the series.
I have no concrete ideas as to how to improve the team, that is a question for Sam Smith or KC Johnson. I just know this team plays bad basketball and I know what mistakes were made in the past, and they should not be repeated.
No offense, but if you have no concrete ideas on what would be good then why enter a discussion about how the Bulls should do XYZ with Gordon/Hinrich/whomever. Your moves just throw good players off the team, if you have no follow up move to replace them with better players then how do you expect the team to get to championship level?
This is why Lawrence Holmes went Celtic green on Bulls fans. Bulls fans cannot settle, if you think Gordon is a legitimate starting 2 guard on a team that is contending...then we will have to agree to disagree.
As I pointed out, Ben Gordon is VASTLY better than the majority of "2nd best" guards on NBA title teams or legitimate contenders. If you believe Rose is good enough to be the best guard on a title team then Ben Gordon is absolutely good enough to be the second best guard.
I guess it's just me Boers and Bernstein on this one. I actually agree with them.
I don't listen to B&B a lot, but the times I have they've struck me as your typical sports radio guys who like to complain about everything using hindsight and have no solutions to present, only problems.
Presenting problems using the benefit of hindsight isn't a real talent, nor is indicative of an ability to solve those problems or avoid problems in the future. They're among the radio guys I pretty much can't listen to, because they have nothing useful to say. They just like to tear things down.
Much like your plan of throwing away good players without any plan on how to build up. I'm not against Gordon/Hinrich/anyone leaving this Bulls team. However, unless you have a plan as to how the player leaving ultimately improves the team then you there's no reason to believe that your plan of throwing a guy off the team is good.
