HORRI-BULL

By Don, With Malice...

Chicago Bulls fans… what are you seeing that the rest of us aren’t?
I often go to a popular Chicago Bulls blog - very active membership, comments the number of which any blog would be envious of. And it’s well-run, and the articles are inevitably well-written… and there are a large number of fans there that have their heads screwed on right.

But just as prevalent there’s an element there that seems to believe that no matter how badly the Bulls play, it can all be written off with platitudes like “don’t worry, Ben’ll come around”… “it’s a young team, we’ll be better soon”… and my personal favourite: “we always start slowly”…

At what point do you acknowledge that without some more pieces, this team won’t win 50 games let alone a much improved Eastern Conference?

Ben Wallace isn’t playing through injuries, or in a slump. He’s getting old. Ben’s a player that relies on athleticism and strength to compete against players who are much bigger than him. Ben is 33, and all that made him a force to be reckoned with defensively just isn’t there any more. Normally, that’s fine. But when a team is paying in excess of $15.5 million for you to be a defensive juggernaut, well… we have a problem. By the end of the season, if not next game, Big Ben’s going to be starting on the bench. And that’s a lot of cash to be polishing pine. And Joakim Noah's not the answer.

I can excuse a team’s poor play with the foolishness of youth only so long. And is this a young team anyway? Well… of the starters - Deng’s 22, Gordon’s 24, Hinrich’s 26, Nocioni is nearly 28, and the afore-mentioned Ben Wallace is 33. Yes, Deng’s young. But by now all of these players should be established enough that we can see what they’re going to be. There’s potential in this group, that’s obvious. But thus far this season it’s yet to be realized… and will it be this season at all? Sorry guys, but the excusing nickname “The Baby Bulls” is no longer applicable.

Starting slowly? That’s simply an excuse for poor coaching and a lack of preparation/readiness. Skiles has made some pretty bizarre coaching decisions thus far – leaving Wallace on the court for one, and allowing some pretty horrendous shooting to occur. Gordon looks like he’s panicking at the moment, and what’s Noah doing shooting from outside? There’s also a real feeling amongst some Bulls fans that they’re being poorly done by the refereeing at this point in time.

NEWSFLASH!!!

Surely this is one of the most over-used truisms of basketball? You’re not going to get fouls unless you attack the basket. Over-used, but yet again there’s a certain truth here.

At the moment this team runs the risk of becoming a pretty ordinary jump-shooting team. And that would be a pity, as they certainly have the players to attack the rim, and further open up those jump-shots they desperately want to hit.

To anyone who’s paid any attention to the first 4 games the Bulls have played, it’s painfully obvious that they lack someone who’ll take over a game at crunch time. There are too many guys looking at other faces rather than putting their hand up. No-one on this team has (at this moment) the cold-blooded heart of an assassin, there’s no killer on this team… and that’s not something you just decide to be. You either are, or you’re not.

‘Starting slowly’, was ok to do that in the past few years, when there was a dearth of talent in the East… but now we have other teams either re-tooling their rosters to the point of ridiculousness (gogo Boston!), or the growth other teams are actually experiencing (can you say Orlando? Or maybe Milwaukee?)… Then add these to the already established powers of Detroit and Miami, then opportunities to establish a team as an actual threat come playoffs is more difficult this season than in the past few years. And that’s ignoring what’s going on out West entirely.

And from what I understand – the Bulls had set their sights on not merely winning the East, but the whole kit ‘n’ caboodle.

This all leads me to one question, and one question only.
How’s Kobe Bryant look now?