Bulls Shit: Making Sense of the Mess and Where To Go
With the NBA Finals beginning in the next few days, reports of rifts between star players, and a new Bulls coach in the mix, it's a good time to try and make sense of everything that's happened and some creative thinking on how to solve the Bulls woes.
The Bulls fell the to Cavs in six games and most analysts were left scratching their heads on how a team so much more talented - especially defensively - could fall to a Cleveland squad that ran a higher percentage of isolation plays than any other team in playoff history. Let's look at what went wrong.
Joakim Noah - it's obvious Noah was hurt. To say that Noah was a non-factor in the series is to do injustice to the negative effect he had on the court. While Noah was able to play big minutes and still do some of the things he's counted on for (like rebounding), the defense was simply not good. Injury to Pau Gasol, coupled with the inconsistency of Taj Gibson and the exposure of the young Mirotic on defense forced Noah's minutes higher than they should have been, and the Bulls suffered greatly. While one can understand Noah's minutes, it's really difficult to agree with them.
Derrick Rose's shooting/ball hogging - When Rose is on, he can still be great. But most games, he's hobbled and pulling up for contested long jumpers that he can't hit. Unfortunately, no matter which game Rose is having, he's shooting every chance he gets and holding the ball so long that the best opportunity on a dish is a bailout shot. Rose is probably not a starting point guard in the league anymore, and the team cannot consistently win against elite talent with the style of basketball he plays. Many would argue that Rose's play got them this far, but the Bulls were a better team this year with Rose off the court (and in this series as well if you put stock in +/-). Rose didn't cede ownership of the basketball until late in the season ending game six - on a night that he wasn't actually playing that poorly. There's lots of talk of a rift with Jimmy Butler leading to this. While it may not have changed the outcome, it was also not the time for Rose to decide to let up for once. Jimmy Butler is certainly the best player on the team, but Rose turning over the offense to him completely was not the right move at that time.
Pau Gasol's untimely injury and disappearance - The Bulls had a lot riding on Gasol's arrival. When news came that Kevin Love would be out for the year, Gasol became the focal point for every analysts pick in the series. After game one, the mismatch was obvious. Game two came, and Gasol, while productive, barely touched the ball before getting injured. He didn't play much of a role when he came back from injury. While Rose's ballhogging played a large part in his lack of touches in a very close game two (Rose shot an abysmal 6-20 with no free throws that game while the rest of the team shot 44% and hit 20 of 25 free throws), his lack of production late in the series could have been due to the injury).
In essence, a mix of injury and culture aided in the Bulls falling short. With the Cavs suffering through a loss of Kevin Love and a seriously ailing Kyrie Irving all series, calling the Bulls collapse a failure would be an understandment. For this reason alone, the firing of Thibs seems warranted. This was the Bulls season, and their best (and probably last) shot at a title with this core. To not only fall short, but to do so in the fashion that they did, speaks of larger issues than just the talent on the roster. A culture change was needed, and whatever one thinks of the way Thibs was dismissed, it was the right call.
That said, the Bulls didn't do themselves any favors with the way they dismissed their coach. They lost face to most of the league. Players and potential coaches will take note. They shouldn't need to worry about the fans though. The building sells out whether the Bulls win or lose. No one is staying home because Fred Hoiberg is coaching the Bulls. Hoiberg himself was a good choice, even if he'll have to deal with both the stigma of replacing Thibs and being the second management favorite out of Iowa State to replace a former coach of the year. This Bulls squad is nothing like the mess Tim Floyd inherited, and can either be pretty good now or see an overhaul with pieces to move around that should net a decent return.
So where to go now? Can this team contend as is? Sure, but they've probably missed their window. Gasol and Noah aren't getting any younger, and Cleveland is only going to improve as they continue to build their roster to fit around Lebron. The Bulls will probably give it one more shot, but they shouldn't. The best chance to rebuild is right now, because of the nature of existing contracts around the league as well as the fallout from the draft. This is all assuming a resigning of Jimmy Butler, whether in a max deal, a qualifying offer, or a matched restricted contract.
Here are some of the options out there for the Bulls as I see it:
1. Deal with the Devil - It has become increasingly obvious that Cleveland doesn't have room for Kevin Love. Lebron didn't even mention Love when he recently gloated on meshing with Cleveland players. He publicly lobbied for Tristian Thompson to be a Cav for life - the same Thompson that's starting in Love's absence. And Lebron should. Thompson's skillset meshes with Lebron's game more. He does all of the things that Love doesn't, and Cleveland is playing it's best basketball with him on the court. Cleveland doesn't need another prime time scorer like Love. What Cleveland is missing is a player that can do some of what Love can, while not sacrificing the other end of the court, and do it from the center position.
The deal - Bulls trade Pau Gasol and Taj Gibson to the Cavs for Kevin Love (who opts in)
2. Capitalize on the Knicks' Woes - The Knicks were - rightfully so - devasted to land the fourth pick in the draft. They so desperately need a big and this draft has two of the most lauded bigs to come out in a while. If the Knicks take this pick, it's probably Emmanual Mudiay (despite the lauded bigs, I think the Lakers take Russell at 2; he'll go 3 if they don't). Mudiay does nothing to help them win in Carmelo's window. It's doubtful the Knicks current roster can attract the kind of defensive big they need to win now (sorry Knicks fans but Marc Gasol isn't leaving Memphis for New York with their current arrangement of talent). They'd also need a skilled big that can do other things to make the triangle work - like pass. Joakim Noah would fit the bill. The Bulls would need to sweeten the pot to land such a high pick. Doug McDermott's shooting ability would fit the triangle well, and picking up a bad contract like Calderon would make this a hard deal for Phil Jackson to pass up, as it would still leave him plenty of cap room for the next summer, as there's a better class and he'd have a better roster to sell potential free agents on.
The deal - Bulls trade the 22nd pick, Joakim Noah, and Doug McDermott to the Knicks for the 4th pick in the 2015 draft, Jose Calderon, and Tim Hardaway, Jr.
3. New Orleans Gambit - New Orleans is a team on the rise. They've got the best young superstar in the game who's just waiting for the right supporting cast to vaunt them onto the next level. Largely untradeable, New Orleans contract situations make a move for Derrick Rose - a superstar (har har) to pair with Anthony Davis - a valid option. New Orleans would like nothing more than a star to pair with Davis in Alvin Gentry's first season, unless that something more was getting out from under Eric Gordon's contract. This deal gives them both. The Bulls could use Gordon to start now and move to the sixth man role he's more suited for when/if Snell is ready. The Bulls would also benefit from swithing points with New Orleans if for no other reason than to give Jimmy Butler a better back court partner to mesh with until Mudiay is ready. Butler is the future of the Bulls, and every effort must be made to keep him happy.
The deal - Bulls trade Derrick Rose and the right's to Kirk Hinrich's skeleton for Jrue Holiday and Eric Gordon.
While I do believe it's a long shot the Bulls make such drastic moves in the offseason, it's probably to their benefit long term. Their window is closed.
I do realize I've left the Bulls without a true center, but they will have the mid-level available to them (or possibly cap room depending on where the cap lands). Centers in the Bull's range could include Tyson Chandler, Roy Hibbert, Robin Lopez, and former fan favorite Omer Asik.
A look at what my Bulls roster would look like next year:
PG Jrue Holiday
SG Eric Gordon
SF Jimmy Butler
PF Kevin Love
C Tyson Chandler/or best available depending on money
Bench:
Nikola Mirotic
Tony Snell
Jose Calderon
Emmanual Mudiay
Tim Hardaway, Jr
Cameron Bairstow
E'Twuan Moore
Backup center that is probably Nazr Muhammed for infinite
What do you say Bulls fans? Is it time to restructure?
