NBA Power Rankings

[Papa Wheelie]

Gasol is not coming off the bench. I don't care if the Bulls FO told Taj to prepare like he's the starter. Pau is filling the Boozer role in Thibs scheme and will fill it better than Boozer ever did. 12ppg for Pau is ridiculous. He will easily be up in the 15-18 range on this team while providing better defense and more versatility in the front court.

None of the teams in the East, outside of the Cavs, have made a significant improvement. Washington has shown some improvement but how much does Pierce really have left? Toronto is exactly the same as last year, which is good but only Leastern Conference good. Miami is significantly worse yet people are still rating them highly. Charlotte is a wild card but I still think they will struggle badly to score as they lack any real outside threats on the team.

The Bulls finished 4th last season with No Rose and No Deng. They nearly won 50 games. Even getting back a Rose that averages 15-20ppg is a major improvement over last season, especially when coupled with the additions of Gasol, Mirotic, and a more balanced bench. The Cavs and the Bulls are the only 2 teams in the East that got markedly better so that's why I easily call them 1 & 2 in the Leastern Conference.

Actually, the Bulls told Pau he'd be the starter. Taj has already been quoted as saying he's cool with that and whatever is best for the team. Besides, Taj has been great coming off the bench. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[RamiTheBullsFan]

Cavs are number 1 in the east until Rose proves that he can play at an MVP level again. As far as 6 teams in the West being better than Cleveland....that's hilarious.

Clippers coached by Doc. Spurs coached by Pop. Thunder with Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka and all of those years together. I'd say they are easily better than Cleveland. Cavs have a coach that has never coached in the NBA (as either an assistant or head coach), and have two superstars that have never played 1 minute in the playoffs.

I believe 5 Western teams are better than the Cavs and the Bulls:

-the 3 teams I mentioned
-Blazers
-Warriors

Blazers have already won a playoff series and have a great starting lineup.

PF: Aldridge is on the same level as Love, and is a more prototypical star player in terms of his post game and defensive play than Love.

PG: Lillard in my opinion is a slightly better player than Irving right now.

SF: LeBron James is LeBron James. He's the best player in the world, hands down. Batum is not a bad guy to match up with him. No one is going to win that head-to-head battle with James.

C: The Blazers also have quality centers (Lopez, Kaman). The Cavs have inury-prone Varejao (not a good shot blocker).

SG: Wesley Matthews is a solid all-around player. Dion Waiters just isn't ready yet.

As for the Warriors...

Curry/Blake > Irving
Thompson > Waiters/Miller
Iguodala/Barnes < James/Marion
Lee < Love/Thompson
Bogut vs. Varejao

To me, GSW/CHI/CLE are all a toss-up for who deserves to be ranked the 5th best team in the NBA. But I give the edge to GS right now seeing as they've played together before.

 

[Axl Rose]

And I didn't say the Bulls were the Spurs, but they are are definitely following the Spurs model. And depending on what McD and Mirotic do, it might not be that far off. By the way, the Cavs are not the Heat either.

this cavs team should be better than the heat were last year

 

[RamiTheBullsFan]

this cavs team should be better than the heat were last year

I don't think so mainly because of team defense. Say what you want about Bosh, but at least he can defend better than Love. Who does Cleveland have as an imposing shot-blocker? Heat had Birdman. Varejao won't cut it. Wade was not a bad player either. I understand that Irving is younger, but D-Wade only half as good as he used to be can still go toe-to-toe with him. I think the Cavs will be a much better rebounding team and ultimately a much better half-court offensive team than Miami. But that will take time.

 

[Papa Wheelie]

this cavs team should be better than the heat were last year

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. They should be better? Why, cuz you say so? How can you say that? They don't play defense nearly as well which was one of the Heats biggest strengths. They also have a coach that has never coached in the NBA. Love is no less injury prone than Pau.

It sounds to me that you have blind faith in the Cavs cuz they signed Lebron. Why shouldn't the Bulls be much better? How can you quickly discount that the Bulls are 'no Spurs', but yet the Cavs are automatically better than the Heat? Oh, that's right, cuz you think they should. I get it.........

 

[Papa Wheelie]

I don't think so mainly because of team defense. Say what you want about Bosh, but at least he can defend better than Love. Who does Cleveland have as an imposing shot-blocker? Heat had Birdman. Varejao won't cut it. Wade was not a bad player either. I understand that Irving is younger, but D-Wade only half as good as he used to be can still go toe-to-toe with him. I think the Cavs will be a much better rebounding team and ultimately a much better half-court offensive team than Miami. But that will take time.

The Bulls will now be the best defending team in the NBA. This is the Bulls main asset. We have the defenders to slow the Cavs big 3. Rose will matchup well on Irving on defense, Butler can check Lebron as good as anyone, and we can throw Pau, Taj, and even Mirotic on Love.

The Bulls will be giving up the least amount of points but now their offensive numbers will go way up. I look for the Bulls to have the best offense/defense % in the NBA this season. That's usually a stat that championship team boast. Whereas the Cavs might score a lot, but they will also give up a lot of points too.

 

[clonetrooper264]

If the Bulls want to beat Cleveland, they'll have to prove they can score points with them. We know defense is a strength that's vastly in the Bulls' favor, but if they can't score, who cares? They're greatly improved offensively imo, so if all of that clicks and Rose returns to even 75-80% of MVP form this season by playoff time, it's not too out of the question to say that we'll at the very least give the Cavs a tight series of at least 5 games.

 

[ChiSoxCity]

I don't think so mainly because of team defense. Say what you want about Bosh, but at least he can defend better than Love. Who does Cleveland have as an imposing shot-blocker? Heat had Birdman. Varejao won't cut it. Wade was not a bad player either. I understand that Irving is younger, but D-Wade only half as good as he used to be can still go toe-to-toe with him. I think the Cavs will be a much better rebounding team and ultimately a much better half-court offensive team than Miami. But that will take time.

Team defense is so overrated with you guys. Recent rule changes favor offense in the NBA. You'll go farther in the playoffs with prolific scorers and average defense than you will with elite defense and below average offense. Enough with the defense stuff, this isn't the NBA in the 80s/90s.

 

[Axl Rose]

I don't think so mainly because of team defense. Say what you want about Bosh, but at least he can defend better than Love. Who does Cleveland have as an imposing shot-blocker? Heat had Birdman. Varejao won't cut it. Wade was not a bad player either. I understand that Irving is younger, but D-Wade only half as good as he used to be can still go toe-to-toe with him. I think the Cavs will be a much better rebounding team and ultimately a much better half-court offensive team than Miami. But that will take time.

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. They should be better? Why, cuz you say so? How can you say that? They don't play defense nearly as well which was one of the Heats biggest strengths. They also have a coach that has never coached in the NBA. Love is no less injury prone than Pau.

It sounds to me that you have blind faith in the Cavs cuz they signed Lebron. Why shouldn't the Bulls be much better? How can you quickly discount that the Bulls are 'no Spurs', but yet the Cavs are automatically better than the Heat? Oh, that's right, cuz you think they should. I get it.........

Heats defense was sloppy last year...they definitely took a step back from the previous years together

i said should because they haven't played together and things could get 2012 Lakers disastrous but IF things go right i see them being better than Miami was last year

as far as Bulls vs Cavs...on paper Cavs have more talent but i think we have a much better shot at this Cavs team than we did against the Miami teams we played back in 11 and 13

however we have questions that need to be answered just like Cleveland...biggest one being will Derrick regain form and stay healthy? we're also gonna need McDermott to be a player and Jimmy is gonna have to shoot better

 

[clonetrooper264]

Team defense is so overrated with you guys. Recent rule changes favor offense in the NBA. You'll go farther in the playoffs with prolific scorers and average defense than you will with elite defense and below average offense. Enough with the defense stuff, this isn't the NBA in the 80s/90s.

Well...yes and no. Someone broke down the recent championships statistically and found that defense contributes more to your expected win totals than offense. If you like you can see it here http://nyloncalculus.com/2014/08/22/freelance-friday-tendencies-playoff-success-failure/ (also a summary in Bulls context here: http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-b...l-different-and-how-does-it-impact-the-bulls/)

That said, obviously having BELOW average offense and elite defense won't get you places because you can't score. However, this Bulls team should not be below average offensively...it should be at least average. Reasons being that 1) we've added a lot of outside shooting this year in McDermott, Mirotic, and Brooks plus a big man with a reliable midrange jumper in Pau, 2) we've added a low post scorer who actually can and will play in the low post in Pau, plus a guy who can potentially do a little bit of that in McDermott, and 3) we're getting Rose back, hopefully with even more rust shaken off than last time. All this to say, yes scoring is still important, and we'll able to do much more of that this year than in recent years so now it's elite scoring and average to possibly below average defense against elite defense and average scoring. What wins then?

 

[RamiTheBullsFan]

Team defense is so overrated with you guys. Recent rule changes favor offense in the NBA. You'll go farther in the playoffs with prolific scorers and average defense than you will with elite defense and below average offense. Enough with the defense stuff, this isn't the NBA in the 80s/90s.

Just because it is harder to play defense than a couple of decades ago doesn't mean defense isn't important.

The Bulls were ranked 27th in the league in offense and 2nd in the league in defense and they won 47 games, which is well above .500.

Also, good defense creates offense in the form of turnovers.

It is more important to have great individual offensive players than great individual defenders. You can hide bad defenders if your team has good discipline as a unit defensively.

Yes, you only get points in basketball for scoring. But stopping the other team from getting their points is just as valuable.

 

[ChiSoxCity]

Just because it is harder to play defense than a couple of decades ago doesn't mean defense isn't important.

The Bulls were ranked 27th in the league in offense and 2nd in the league in defense and they won 47 games, which is well above .500.

Also, good defense creates offense in the form of turnovers.

It is more important to have great individual offensive players than great individual defenders. You can hide bad defenders if your team has good discipline as a unit defensively.

Yes, you only get points in basketball for scoring. But stopping the other team from getting their points is just as valuable.

Winning a ton of games during the regular season isn't important. We need to win in the playoffs if we want championships, and to do that we need to score 90+ consistently.

 

[ChiSoxCity]

Actually, the Bulls told Pau he'd be the starter. Taj has already been quoted as saying he's cool with that and whatever is best for the team. Besides, Taj has been great coming off the bench. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/09/18/report-taj-gibson-not-thrilled-to-come-off-bench-for-bulls/

Aggrey Sam of CSN Chicago:

Privately, Gibson isn’t too thrilled with the prospect of continuing to be a reserve, according to multiple people familiar with the situation, but the upbeat, team-first player values winning and chemistry too much to make it an issue or distraction.

 

[RamiTheBullsFan]

Winning a ton of games during the regular season isn't important. We need to win in the playoffs if we want championships, and to do that we need to score 90+ consistently.

The Phoenix Suns from 2004-2006 had seasons of well below average defense. So did the Sacramento Kings from 1999-2001. They were considered to be what you would call "regular season teams". Both had great offense but little to offer on defense.

Here are some stats that completely dismiss your theory about offense being more valuable than defense (note: these are all seasons since the defense rule changes):

Team that won title & YR: offensive rank; defensive rank (top 5 emboldened):

DET 2004: 18th/29; 2nd/29
SAS 2005: 8th/29; 1st/29
MIA 2006: 7th/30; 9th/30
SAS 2007: 5th/30; 2nd/30
BOS 2008: 10th/30; 1st/30
LAL 2009: 3rd/30; 6th/30
LAL 2010: 11th/30; 4th/30
DAL 2011: 8th/30; 8th/30
MIA 2012: 8th/30; 4th/30
MIA 2013: 2nd/30; 9th/30
SAS 2014: 7th/30; 3rd/30

 

[Axl Rose]

you gotta have a balance of both

most winners were atleast top 10 in both categories

just having one or the other doesn't cut it

 

[clonetrooper264]

you gotta have a balance of both

most winners were atleast top 10 in both categories

just having one or the other doesn't cut it

Sums it up nicely. Who cares if you're #1 in one category, but 27th in the other? You ain't winning being deficient on one side of the ball. The last several years the Bulls have been extremely deficient offensively which is why I think ChiSoxCity wants to put so much emphasis on offense the Heat teams we went up against were top 10 in both categories, but obviously the offense is what stands out because that's where we couldn't match them. We know we're at least a top 10 team defensively...Thibs can manage that with most likely any kind of personnel, it's just getting up to a top 10ish offense that we need to worry about. I think the 2010-2011 team (whatever year was Rose's MVP year) was around 17th offensively...I think this team can beat that and around 13th or higher.

 

[RamiTheBullsFan]

Sums it up nicely. Who cares if you're #1 in one category, but 27th in the other? You ain't winning being deficient on one side of the ball. The last several years the Bulls have been extremely deficient offensively which is why I think ChiSoxCity wants to put so much emphasis on offense the Heat teams we went up against were top 10 in both categories, but obviously the offense is what stands out because that's where we couldn't match them. We know we're at least a top 10 team defensively...Thibs can manage that with most likely any kind of personnel, it's just getting up to a top 10ish offense that we need to worry about. I think the 2010-2011 team (whatever year was Rose's MVP year) was around 17th offensively...I think this team can beat that and around 13th or higher.

During the 2011-12 season (lock-out shortened following Rose's MVP year where he and Rip Hamilton played roughly half of the games), the Bulls were the 5th best offensive team in the NBA and were 1st in defense. That team had:

Rose (missed half the games). Watson.
Hamilton (missed half the games). Brewer.
Deng. Korver.
Boozer. Gibson.
Noah. Asik.

I don't think it is crazy to think the Bulls can again be close to the top 5 again offensively:

PG: If Rose is close to all-star level and plays even 2-thirds of the games, the Bulls will be in much better shape. I also like Aaron Brooks over C.J. Watson, offensively.

SG/SF: The 2 and 3 positions are used interchangeably in Thib's offense. Deng is a better offensively player than Butler overall- no question. But Butler is more aggressive at attacking the basket and getting free throw attempts. As for McD/Dunleavy/Snell vs. Korver, I like what the Bulls have overall in 2015 more than 2012.

PF/C: Boozer+Noah never meshed as well as a lot of people, including me, thought they would offensively. Thibs often went to the more defensive-savy duo of Taj-Asik to finish games, but neither men were scorers.

2012 (Noah, Boozer, Taj, Asik) < 2014 (Noah, Pau, Taj, Mirotic) on offense.

I believe the Bulls and Cavs will round out the last of the title contenders. And Bulls do have the potential for very good offense. I just hope they can get either Ray Allen or Kevin Martin. Then, they will be absolutely serious title contenders and would be true favorites in the East.

 

[Papa Wheelie]

Team defense is so overrated with you guys. Recent rule changes favor offense in the NBA. You'll go farther in the playoffs with prolific scorers and average defense than you will with elite defense and below average offense. Enough with the defense stuff, this isn't the NBA in the 80s/90s.

I keep hearing the same crap about the NFL and all the rules that favor the offense. Then I saw Seattle's defense absolutely destroy the best offense in the NFL for a championship. Yes you need balance, but in my mind, defense always wins championships.

The Bulls will have balance this year. Will the Cavs?

 

[Papa Wheelie]

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/09/18/report-taj-gibson-not-thrilled-to-come-off-bench-for-bulls/

 

[ChiSoxCity]

I keep hearing the same crap about the NFL and all the rules that favor the offense. Then I saw Seattle's defense absolutely destroy the best offense in the NFL for a championship. Yes you need balance, but in my mind, defense always wins championships.

The Bulls will have balance this year. Will the Cavs?

The Bulls always play solid defense. The problem is they struggle to score points, which had them losing to Miami or some other offensively superior team in the playoffs every year. You don't win a best of 5 or best of 7 playoff series by shutting down your opponents best scorers every night. You win by outscoring them. That's why the Bulls do great in the regular season, then look like ass in the playoffs.