Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Two (Kinda Related) Thoughts

1. Since it's on True Hoop, everyone's going to see it and talk about it, but it's worth quoting anyway:

My prediction is that the Bulls are going to stink this year. Ben Gordon and Brad Miller were there best players. They let Ben Gordon go to the team they need to beat for the playoffs? Why'd they do that?

He wanted a lot of money.
Well, he's worth it.

Letting him go is just beyond stupid. It's ridiculous. And who'd they pick up to replace him? Jannero Pargo?


Exactly.

2. The big talk thus far in training camp is that this year the Bulls are going to focus on defense. How are they going to replace Gordon? Defense. How are they going to improve on last season? Defense. Defense, defense, defense.

Now, I'm not opposed to improving defense. It's half the game, and the Bulls were terrible at it last year. But, since I haven't seen it elsewhere, I think it's worth pointing out that they were, um, just as awful on the offensive end last year. And that they lost arguably their most potent offensive player from that team. And that during their best stretch of ball last season (the 12-6 run at the end of the year), they were a team that won by outscoring their opponents, not out-defending them.

Now, again, this isn't to say that the Bulls can't win through defense or that they don't need to improve it. But I'm a bit concerned. It's kinda the opposite of the old saw about how when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like nail. My fear is the Bulls don't have a full hammer (i.e., an offense and defense), so they're telling themselves they can drive in a nail with just a handle, and no peen. It could still work, but it will not be easy.