The Development of Bobby Portis

[RamiTheBullsFan]

Make no mistake, Portis has been pretty darn good this preseason, but he shouldn't be getting minutes ahead of our top 4 bigs. He'll get his chances when one or more of them inevitably sits. Might change my tune if he shows he can hit the 3 consistently though.

I know I just declared my hatred for Mirotic at the 3. But... (and this is a big 'but')... if Portis can be relied upon as a floor stretching big, why not have the front-court of:

C- Gasol
hybrid SF/PF- Portis
hybrid SF/PF- Mirotic

My solution (defensively) would be to have Portis defend the quicker/more athletic of the two opposing forwards, and have Mirotic defend the lane and play closer to the rim to collect rebounds and put a body on the bigger/stronger of the two forwards. It's flawed, but it's not a bad idea to give the Bulls a maximum advantage while trying to 'go big' and maximizing the utilization of all of that front-line depth.

Offensively: You now have three bigs on the floor who can all shoot from mid-to-three point range. The floor stays stretched, and Mirotic gives you a pretty good cutter for an unathletic 6'10'' white guy.

 

[Enasic]

Portis is already a better player than Taj and I think at this point, Noah as well. I just think Jo is done. With Bobby's ability to rebound and hit the outside shot, I just think he'll have a bigger impact than both those guys if even equal minutes. I would love to see Bobby get a bulk of the minutes as the 3rd big off the bench, even playing the 5 at times...but I think Jo needs to be traded sooner than later. I don't think he's going to be much improved than last year and don't think we can sign him to a long term deal next year. I just don't trust his health going forward. Get a draft pick or perimeter player and open up mins for Bobby who to me, is your future starting 5 which is scary matching up with Niko. Taj is still a bargain on his contract and cap going up especially when you consider Niko is only making 5 mil a year. The two of them are combined to be making around 13 mil. That's pretty fucking good so I wouldn't be in a hurry to trade Taj. Pau, Niko, Bobby, and Taj is one hell of a front court rotation. Noah just doesn't make an impact on the boards and defensively like he once did, and gives us pretty much nothing offensively.

 

[Raskolnikov]

You guys are out of your minds on this Portis thing. Thibs hated rookies for a reason. The guy has fire at this point and a lot to learn about spacing, defense, and shot selection. Snell is much further along, why play Portis at 4 to slide Miro to 3, it's just a number really and who know how they would choose to match that, likely they choose small ball and slash us. It's far better to play Snell at 3 with mirotic and you have Butler/snell properly guarding the wings and cutters, plus you are kidding yourself if you really believe Portis 3 ball is as developed as Snell right now.

Or McDermott, or mirotic. Our team is awesome and it doesn't need Portis, he is emergency depth until the trade or injury of BOTH Noah and Gibson. Even with one down or gone there will be little time for him because we boast a plethora of SFs, butler, snell, McDermott, dumleavy. There isn't much desire to go three bigs and if you do it's not to fit Portis in at this moment. I will revisit this discussion after we open time for him, but I feel you guys are hyped up on draft and preseason hype over a player we won't see much of for a year or two.

 

[houheffna]

Portis is already a better player than Taj and I think at this point, Noah as well. I just think Jo is done.

Lol! You are stating that Portis is a better player than an established NBA sixth man of the year and an all star big when healthy...right now? Based on what? Preseason? Lol...

 

[RoseMVP1]

I thought when Noah got out there he was still good defensively and on the boards. Yeah he was beyond putrid on offense but we don't need him for scoring. Plus I believe he'll be a bull for life.

Chances of Portis pre season play carrying over through out the regular season is slim to none. He looks like he may be able to contribute but I wouldn't give up Noah and/or Taj just yet.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Lol! You are stating that Portis is a better player than an established NBA sixth man of the year and an all star big when healthy...right now? Based on what? Preseason? Lol...

It's beginning.

 

[Scoot26]

It's beginning.

:crazydance:

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

You can't trade Luol Deng, he's on the cusp of being a perennial all-star.

 

[Enasic]

Lol! You are stating that Portis is a better player than an established NBA sixth man of the year and an all star big when healthy...right now? Based on what? Preseason? Lol...

Have you seen Noah? He can barely bend his knees. He moves like a block of wood. This isn't 3 years ago.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Have you seen Noah? He can barely bend his knees. He moves like a block of wood. This isn't 3 years ago.

Bobby Portis has not played an 82 game NBA schedule. I'm not what you would call a current Noah fan, but that is a ridiculous statement to make.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Portis is not better than Noah. He's not better than Taj currently. He's definitely shown potential to be good, but he's not there yet.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

I haven't watched much of the preseason, aside from that first game, is the Hoiberg offense even being run? Or is he letting them do their own thing for long stretches?

 

[danchi23]

I haven't watched much of the preseason, aside from that first game, is the Hoiberg offense even being run? Or is he letting them do their own thing for long stretches?

Looks more like a vanilla looking offense. Nothing is really being ran.

 

[clonetrooper264]

I haven't watched much of the preseason, aside from that first game, is the Hoiberg offense even being run? Or is he letting them do their own thing for long stretches?

Take this with a grain of salt as I only watched part of the last game. Hoiberg offense is definitely being run by the main rotation guys. Based on what I saw yesterday, Moore was kind of doing his own thing and the 4th quarter was a lot of pick and roll and iso. Stacey mentioned that they hadn't really been running the offense so...take that for what you will.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Looks more like a vanilla looking offense. Nothing is really being ran.

Take this with a grain of salt as I only watched part of the last game. Hoiberg offense is definitely being run by the main rotation guys. Based on what I saw yesterday, Moore was kind of doing his own thing and the 4th quarter was a lot of pick and roll and iso. Stacey mentioned that they hadn't really been running the offense so...take that for what you will.

That's what I figured. Meaning, in my mind, there is no real way to evaluate how any of Portis, Taj, Noah are doing until we see what is going to be asked of them in the main offense.

 

[clonetrooper264]

I will say this about the offense so far...when they're actually moving the ball around, we get some great shots. It seems pretty much anyone who can shoot the 3 has the green light to let it fly. That could be good or bad, but I do like the spacing. I worry about what Derrick will do though since he already liked to jack up 3s with no consciousness.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Let those ******* fly.

 

[Enasic]

So because portis hasn't played 82 games he must be worse than a guy with glass knees who is a liability on defense? Why? Because Noah was good 2 years ago before his surgery? I realize it's easy to get sentimental about players you like, especially since they used to be very good but anyone who watched jo in the playoffs should know he's just about done. 25 mpg tops for him with average defense and rebounding.

 

[houheffna]

So because portis hasn't played 82 games he must be worse than a guy with glass knees who is a liability on defense? Why? Because Noah was good 2 years ago before his surgery? I realize it's easy to get sentimental about players you like, especially since they used to be very good but anyone who watched jo in the playoffs should know he's just about done. 25 mpg tops for him with average defense and rebounding.

Its easy to get sentimental about players...it shouldn't be so easy to make a sound judgement of a player's effectiveness on the court based on preseason games.

 

[Enasic]

Its easy to get sentimental about players...it shouldn't be so easy to make a sound judgement of a player's effectiveness on the court based on preseason games.

It has more to do with my belief that Noah is simply average at best this year with even less of an offensive game than ever. Portis moves well, can rebound, and shoot all the way to the 3 PT line. He'll have his ups and downs but I think he'll have a big impact for us if he gets mins. Believe it or not guys, rookies have produced in this league before. I know it's crazy.