Noah to have surgery and miss ten weeks

[Bullsman24]

don't worry, we'll be fine. every team is one injured starter away from being in trouble and another rotation injury away from being in real trouble. i can't even think of a team whose defense is so centered around two players like taj and joakim, and we still nearly won despite crazy shooting from the clips

 

[Bullsman24]

Being a contender has nothing to do with whether or not you win 50 games. The Rockets won 47 in 1997 and won the title despite their earlier season injuries.

i'm assuming you don't mean 1997 cuz we def won then lol

 

[RamiTheBullsFan]

i'm assuming you don't mean 1997 cuz we def won then lol

1995* lol

 

[Anytime23]

Im being a realist and the 50 wins doesnt go hand and hand with being a contender. I want to see this team win 50+ games and i want them to be healthy and fresh going into the playoffs. They wont be.

Like i said the lack of quality depth is going to have our guys on the floor far too much. Boozer and Deng arent iron men. Rose is taking a pounding as is.

 

[RamiTheBullsFan]

Im being a realist and the 50 wins doesnt go hand and hand with being a contender. I want to see this team win 50+ games and i want them to be healthy and fresh going into the playoffs. They wont be.

Like i said the lack of quality depth is going to have our guys on the floor far too much. Boozer and Deng arent iron men. Rose is taking a pounding as is.

They don't need to make a trade or anything like that. Gibson is a decent option to defend the paint, and Deng will help the offense as a 4 man. The interior D and rebounding on both sides of the glass will suffer (somewhat). But the offense will be perfectly fine.

The injury to Noah hardly matters in the big picture unless you are right about Boozer and/or Deng getting hurt down-the-stretch because of a heavydose of minutes.

Other than that, Noah's injury could only help this team have a chance at the title this year (which should have been realized from the start, by you and everybody else who is a Bulls' fan, that is very unlikely).

 

[Anytime23]

"Other than that, Noah's injury could only help this team have a chance at the title this year (which should have been realized from the start, by you and everybody else who is a Bulls' fan, that is very unlikely). "

Am i reading this correctly?

I do think the heavy minutes will play a role down the line. And when i said quality depth, i wasnt just talking about the front court but the 2 guard position, to take off some of the burden from Rose.

 

[RamiTheBullsFan]

"Other than that, Noah's injury could only help this team have a chance at the title this year (which should have been realized from the start, by you and everybody else who is a Bulls' fan, that is very unlikely). "

Am i reading this correctly?

I do think the heavy minutes will play a role down the line. And when i said quality depth, i wasnt just talking about the front court but the 2 guard position, to take off some of the burden from Rose.

Yes, you are reading that correctly. The Bulls will learn how to play without Joakim for a while. It might actually be something they need to learn how to do in order to be successful. Taj Gibson was fortunate enough to get some starters minutes to learn the offense under Tom Thibodeau. But, now, he will be a chance to start even more and learn how to be effective with Carlos Boozer.

I actually think that Boozer+Taj > Boozer+Noah in terms of offense.

Trust me, I love Noah and defended him being here to the likes of Lefty and Firsttimer. But the Bulls will be a high seed regardless and he will come back healthy.

I would much rather Noah wasn't hurt, obviously. I too like the idea of milking out as many regular season wins as possible and protecting Boozer and Deng from wearing down and/or getting hurt.

But, you must consider, that this might be a blessing in disguise for the Bulls.

Watson, Brewer, and Korver will all get more minutes as a result of Deng playing plenty of PT at the 4.

Watson NEEDS the minutes to get intro rhythym on any given night.

Korver being out there longer helps the offense.

And Brewer being out there helps spark the Bulls' transition game. These guys can turn the game into a barn-burner with Deng at the 4. Plus, Brewer is a guy who takes high-percentage shots in the half-court set.

Have faith. Things will be fine barring further injuries.

 

[Anytime23]

I know youre a big Noah fan and remember you defending him to death. I hope youre right, i just dont see it that way. Taj has more offense potential than Noah. We saw that earlier in the season. They would go to him early and he would really set the tone. But i dont think this team needs more front court scoring. The 2 guard needs to start scoring more than anyone. I think the defense is what we really need to focus on and thats why i think Noahs injury crushes this team.

I would like to be optimistic like you are about the whole situation but i still see our guys struggling down the road and just burning themselves out. IDK, time will tell... Hope it all works out.

 

[RamiTheBullsFan]

I know youre a big Noah fan and remember you defending him to death. I hope youre right, i just dont see it that way. Taj has more offense potential than Noah. We saw that earlier in the season. They would go to him early and he would really set the tone. But i dont think this team needs more front court scoring. The 2 guard needs to start scoring more than anyone. I think the defense is what we really need to focus on and thats why i think Noahs injury crushes this team.

I would like to be optimistic like you are about the whole situation but i still see our guys struggling down the road and just burning themselves out. IDK, time will tell... Hope it all works out.

Though I do understand your concerns, try to see the positive.

Half-court offense:

A line-up of Rose-Brewer-Deng(/Korver)-Taj-Boozer

...will mean that we will have Deng(/Korver) and Rose on the wings with Brewer running baseline. This is our PERFECT opportunity, with Noah out, to FINALLY establish and perfect the pick-and-roll game. ESPECIALLY with Taj Gibson out there to stretch the floor for Rose+Boozer.

Transition offense:

A line-up of Rose(/Watson)-Brewer(/Watson)-Korver(/Brewer)-Deng-Boozer

This means it will be a barn-burner... no question about it. We have 2 of the best ball thieves (Watson and Brewer) and great guys who move without the ball (Deng, Brewer, Korver, Watson). Deng can take other PFs off-the-dribble this way... and is as good of a rebounder as most of them.

 

[Shakes]

Kurt Thomas just played more minutes than he has the rest of the season. I don't care how much of a vet you are you're not ready to play after sitting on the inactive list half the year. First game without Noah was always going to be tough to adjust to, and Gibson going down so Thibs had to immediately go heavily to the deep bench didn't help.

 

[houheffna]

Dead serious.

If you think right now that Noah is a better player than Boozer than you CAN'T know basketball...its impossible. I agree that you are being WAAAAAAAAAY too sensitive about a team that is not going to win anything this year. You must not have been watching when Noah was chewed up and spit out by Howard (how many rebounds did Noah get again? That's right....none.)

The Bulls have a ways to go, I have seen what makes championship teams over the years and believe me, with or without Noah, they aint ready.

 

[Anytime23]

I watched that game but feel free to assume some more wrong things. Speaking of cant know basketball, you must really not know basketball if you assume this team cant win anything based off of one fluke game. Noah was shut out by the best C in the NBA, wonderful news.

Noah is our 2nd best player because he's more important to our squad. Youre free to explain why you think Boozer is our second best player instead of claiming that i cant know basketball. Im sure many people will say Boozer is our second best player simply because he can take over a game...offensively. Noahs not our second best player because he cant score 30-40 points? I know its cliche but his impact on this team goes way beyond the stats sheet. Some may say im overvaluing him, i say look at our defense(or lack of) last night.

 

[Anytime23]

Though I do understand your concerns, try to see the positive.

Half-court offense:

A line-up of Rose-Brewer-Deng(/Korver)-Taj-Boozer

...will mean that we will have Deng(/Korver) and Rose on the wings with Brewer running baseline. This is our PERFECT opportunity, with Noah out, to FINALLY establish and perfect the pick-and-roll game. ESPECIALLY with Taj Gibson out there to stretch the floor for Rose+Boozer.

Transition offense:

A line-up of Rose(/Watson)-Brewer(/Watson)-Korver(/Brewer)-Deng-Boozer

This means it will be a barn-burner... no question about it. We have 2 of the best ball thieves (Watson and Brewer) and great guys who move without the ball (Deng, Brewer, Korver, Watson). Deng can take other PFs off-the-dribble this way... and is as good of a rebounder as most of them.

Id like to see them try different looks offensively but i guess im more of a defense guy. I look at that lineup and i see no one over 6'9'' and a very vulnerable interior.

After a nights sleep im willing to step back from the ledge and give it a shot but my patience is thin right now. im just tired of watching our guys get injured and miss a lot of time.

 

[houheffna]

I watched that game but feel free to assume some more wrong things. Speaking of cant know basketball, you must really not know basketball if you assume this team cant win anything based off of one fluke game. Noah was shut out by the best C in the NBA, wonderful news.

Noah is our 2nd best player because he's more important to our squad. Youre free to explain why you think Boozer is our second best player instead of claiming that i cant know basketball. Im sure many people will say Boozer is our second best player simply because he can take over a game...offensively. Noahs not our second best player because he cant score 30-40 points? I know its cliche but his impact on this team goes way beyond the stats sheet. Some may say im overvaluing him, i say look at our defense(or lack of) last night.

I knew the team wasn't ready to win BEFORE last night...and if I have to explain to you why Boozer is a better player than Noah....maybe you don't know anything about basketball. Boozer being better than Noah is pretty much a fact, there is no opinion in that...really. Boozer is a better basketball player than Noah.

By the way..."more important" and "better" is not always synonymous...

 

[Anytime23]

Again, feel free to explain why Boozer is better. Offensively he's leaps and bounds ahead of him and he can take over a game in ways Noah cant. Then on the other end, Noah is leaps and bounds better than Boozer defensively and can keep players from taking over games. I know this opinion is in the minority and i will not hesitate to stick by it. Insult my basketball intelligence if you want to, i really dont care. Noahs importance to this teams defense is why i think he's the better player. The Bulls are better with Noah and w/o Boozer than the other way around. Thats all that really matters.

And who you and I think is the 2nd/3rd best player on this team is really all irrelevant and it takes away from the topic at hand. This team is a mess without Noah. They wont be fine. Thats my opinion but i guess ill calm it down and wait a few more games.

 

[Capt. Serious]

At23 isn't a homer. Some of you should follow.

 

[RamiTheBullsFan]

At23 isn't a homer. Some of you should follow.

and add assinine comments like you. wooo.

 

[houheffna]

Again, feel free to explain why Boozer is better. Offensively he's leaps and bounds ahead of him and he can take over a game in ways Noah cant. Then on the other end, Noah is leaps and bounds better than Boozer defensively and can keep players from taking over games. I know this opinion is in the minority and i will not hesitate to stick by it. Insult my basketball intelligence if you want to, i really dont care. Noahs importance to this teams defense is why i think he's the better player. The Bulls are better with Noah and w/o Boozer than the other way around. Thats all that really matters.

And who you and I think is the 2nd/3rd best player on this team is really all irrelevant and it takes away from the topic at hand. This team is a mess without Noah. They wont be fine. Thats my opinion but i guess ill calm it down and wait a few more games.

Once again, importance and who is better are two different things. The importance of one's role does not making him a better skilled athlete at that particular sport than another player. It means he is better at that particular role. Noah is still learning defensively and improving. And he has only been a good player for about a season and a half. Boozer is a legit allstar caliber power forward, whose role is JUST AS IMPORTANT on this team, though in another capacity.

And let's not assume that Noah would have shut down Blake Griffin either, or wouldn't have gotten into file trouble trying to help Rose cover Baron Davis.

 

[pinkizdead]

noah shot down pao gasol, and i'm pretty sure he's the best damn pf in the game right now. Also he's a pretty good help defender. Having noah out there would have helped by keeping kurt thomas out of there. Even if we had taj gibson out there, it wouldn't have been terrible.

 

[houheffna]

noah shot down pao gasol, and i'm pretty sure he's the best damn pf in the game right now. Also he's a pretty good help defender. Having noah out there would have helped by keeping kurt thomas out of there. Even if we had taj gibson out there, it wouldn't have been terrible.

I know you don't watch much NBA but uhhhhh....Griffen plays a tad bit different from Gasol.

I didn't say Noah wouldn't help. I did say that the team will do fine in this stretch without him. They lose to the Clippers so now people start panicking? As if the Bulls were legit contenders...some people believe they are, I think they are a player away...

With or without Noah, they are locked into that 4th seed. They are better than everybody in their division right now.