Tom Thibodeau is the man for the job ...

[clonetrooper264]

Agree 100%. I'm not for the firing of Thibs, but at some point management is going to just simply say "this guy can't get it done" despite the hand that's been handed him the last 3 years with the injuries. The results are still a very poor playoff performance.

Well any time you go into the playoffs with teams like that and lose in the first round, your record is going to be poor. It's not very likely you get a winning record in the playoffs when you're losing in the 1st round a bunch. Unless you wanna say Thibs should've dragged all those teams to at least the second round. And even then the best you get is a little over .500 (7-4 I think would be the best possible record for losing in 2nd round).

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Agree 100%. I'm not for the firing of Thibs, but at some point management is going to just simply say "this guy can't get it done" despite the hand that's been handed him the last 3 years with the injuries. The results are still a very poor playoff performance.

And therein lies the rub. Maybe he's actually turned the corner this year. Maybe he's not necessarily being out-coached as he is holding some things back for April-June.

Wishful thinking maybe...

 

[clonetrooper264]

And therein lies the rub. Maybe he's actually turned the corner this year. Maybe he's not necessarily being out-coached as he is holding some things back for April-June.

Wishful thinking maybe...

It's possible. We have seen him not ride Gasol as hard the second half of the season. Before his injury, Jimmy was averaging under his season average as well I think (might have to double check that). I thought he was making decent use of depth by giving Snell ~20 minutes per game as well as throwing Mirotic at the 3 every now and then. We've seen him dial Kirk's minutes back a bunch to give Moore more time. All improvements from previous seasons. We see him resting Noah as well, though how much is him actually being injured is anyone's guess. Point is, perhaps he has started to learn a little.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

It isn't a very steep curve he's learning on.

 

[Scoot26]

Well any time you go into the playoffs with teams like that and lose in the first round, your record is going to be poor. It's not very likely you get a winning record in the playoffs when you're losing in the 1st round a bunch. Unless you wanna say Thibs should've dragged all those teams to at least the second round. And even then the best you get is a little over .500 (7-4 I think would be the best possible record for losing in 2nd round).

I would have liked to see the team alot more competitive against the Wizards last year.. even if they loss, that shouldn't have been a 5 game series. That was my gripe last year.

In 2012-13, I have no problem with losing to Miami 4-1... But Brooklyn should have been taken care of sooner.

That 2011-12 team losing 4-2 to the Sixers, embarassing as well. I don't care that you just lost your Superstar. Fight the hopeless cause and go as far as you can. I don't necessarily blame Thibs entirely for that, but it is his job to get the players up and ready to play on. How many of us said "Oh we'll still make the ECF." that year? A ton of us. They only won one more game.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

I blame CJ Watson more for the series loss to the Sixers than Thibs.

 

[clonetrooper264]

I would have liked to see the team alot more competitive against the Wizards last year.. even if they loss, that shouldn't have been a 5 game series. That was my gripe last year.

In 2012-13, I have no problem with losing to Miami 4-1... But Brooklyn should have been taken care of sooner.

That 2011-12 team losing 4-2 to the Sixers, embarassing as well. I don't care that you just lost your Superstar. Fight the hopeless cause and go as far as you can. I don't necessarily blame Thibs entirely for that, but it is his job to get the players up and ready to play on. How many of us said "Oh we'll still make the ECF." that year? A ton of us. They only won one more game.

True. The Washington series was an embarrassment. Our guys did not look like they could play at all. I suppose once they threw Ariza on Augustin we didn't really have any offense anyway though.

The Sixers loss was also brutal, but we also lost Noah in that series which probably destroyed whatever moral was left at that point. I agree that you try to fight on anyway, but sometimes, it just doesn't happen. Our offense was also so predicated on Rose that perhaps that did us in as well. Thibs has done better about not relying on Rose since, for obvious reasons. Given better offensive weapons this year, I think we've seen a good balance in general.

 

[Scoot26]

It's possible. We have seen him not ride Gasol as hard the second half of the season. Before his injury, Jimmy was averaging under his season average as well I think (might have to double check that). I thought he was making decent use of depth by giving Snell ~20 minutes per game as well as throwing Mirotic at the 3 every now and then. We've seen him dial Kirk's minutes back a bunch to give Moore more time. All improvements from previous seasons. We see him resting Noah as well, though how much is him actually being injured is anyone's guess. Point is, perhaps he has started to learn a little.

Except Thibs has slowly gone back to bad habits. He's racking up his 8 man rotation lately.... Hinrich is getting 20-30 mpg now again.

Despite the fact that the Bulls were on a back-to-back and away, he used an 8 man rotation against Detroit. Last night was the same exact thing. 8 man rotation. 30 minutes for Kirk!

It should also be noted, we joked about Jimmy playing 42 minutes.. He played 40.. not far off.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Except Thibs has slowly gone back to bad habits. He's racking up his 8 man rotation lately.... Hinrich is getting 20-30 mpg now again.

Despite the fact that the Bulls were on a back-to-back and away, he used an 8 man rotation against Detroit. Last night was the same exact thing. 8 man rotation. 30 minutes for Kirk!

It should also be noted, we joked about Jimmy playing 42 minutes.. He played 40.. not far off.

I'm guessing he's trying to figure out his playoff rotation. We may not agree necessarily, but he's always talking about having a 7-8 man rotation in the playoffs. Jimmy is gonna be up near 40 minutes no matter what. I wish Hinrich wasn't getting 30 minutes, but we've known for awhile there's something about Kirk that coaches love so they keep him out there. My hope remains that when Rose comes back Hinrich falls all but out of the rotation with Brooks and Snell taking all the backup minutes at PG and SG respectively.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

I'm guessing he's trying to figure out his playoff rotation. We may not agree necessarily, but he's always talking about having a 7-8 man rotation in the playoffs. Jimmy is gonna be up near 40 minutes no matter what. I wish Hinrich wasn't getting 30 minutes, but we've known for awhile there's something about Kirk that coaches love so they keep him out there. My hope remains that when Rose comes back Hinrich falls all but out of the rotation with Brooks and Snell taking all the backup minutes at PG and SG respectively.

If/when Rose comes back it'll be, 'Who is this Tony Snail guy?'

 

[clonetrooper264]

If/when Rose comes back it'll be, 'Who is this Tony Snail guy?'

You're probably right, but I can still hope dangit!

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

To be fair, Tony has played like shit the past couple of games.

 

[clonetrooper264]

To be fair, Tony has played like shit the past couple of games.

Nor was he filling it up as a starter. Still, I think his ability to hit the 3 may be of greater value than Kirk's playmaking.

 

[Scoot26]

I'm guessing he's trying to figure out his playoff rotation. We may not agree necessarily, but he's always talking about having a 7-8 man rotation in the playoffs. Jimmy is gonna be up near 40 minutes no matter what. I wish Hinrich wasn't getting 30 minutes, but we've known for awhile there's something about Kirk that coaches love so they keep him out there. My hope remains that when Rose comes back Hinrich falls all but out of the rotation with Brooks and Snell taking all the backup minutes at PG and SG respectively.

Hinrich will still get PG minutes.. Thibs will play Brooks at SG.

I don't really believe in this 7-8 man rotation for the playoffs if you have the players on the bench to perform. The Bulls, despite what some people here say, have a very solid bench. Its probably not as bench mob worthy because we don't have a starter as useless as Keith Bogans.

I fear most Snell falling out of the lineup once Rose is back.

Its obvious Niko isn't going anywhere. Taj will get his minutes.. at that point Thibs probably divides time between offense and what he perceives as his best defensive PG in Kirk. But that there creates a 9 man rotation. UH OH THIBS!

Last year's championship featured two teams that had 10 guys each average over 10 mpg in the playoffs.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Nor was he filling it up as a starter. Still, I think his ability to hit the 3 may be of greater value than Kirk's playmaking.

I don't disagree.

 

[Scoot26]

DATE	OPP	SCORE	MIN	FGM-FGA	FG%	3PM-3PA	3P%	FTM-FTA	FT%	REB	AST	BLK	STL	PF	TO	PTS
March	33.8	3.0-8.4	.358	1.7-4.5	.379	1.4-1.7	.818	4.1	1.5	0.1	0.5	1.5	1.2	9.1
February	29.7	5.1-8.8	.582	2.7-5.1	.522	0.7-0.7	1.000	2.8	0.8	0.2	0.7	1.9	1.0	13.6

After his hot February, which was mostly before anyone was injured, he has put up a lot worse numbers with more playing time. Kinda shows he's not ready for prime time yet. He can still be a solid bench contributor and I'd like to see how he performs in a rotation with the guys healthy. But that would require Thibs to give him minutes.. He seems to produce well in that 20-30 mpg role.

 

[RoseMVP1]

Yep. They had a well rounded team with some talented players, but they lacked any HOF or Superstar (unless Wallace is HOF material, I don't view him as such).

That 1979 Sonics team that wasn't that good still had a HOF'er in Dennis Johnson.


Hell most NBA Finals teams contain at least one eventual Hall-of-Famer.

Billups will make it one day.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Fun Fact: Dougie McBuckets is actually averaging more minutes per game than Jimmy Buckets did his rookie year.

 

[FirstTimer]

billups will make it one day.

lol

 

[clonetrooper264]

Billups will make it one day.

Good player, but I doubt it