2011 Chicago Bulls Playoff Thread (5/26 7:30pm CST - TNT)

[SouthSideRyan]

Are you being intentionally obtuse or do you really not see the difference between a guy (in Scottie's case, something of a project coming from a tiny school that had never, ever produced NBA talent) being drafted to your team where you are unquestionably the alpha dog and going to play with two other guys who were the clear cut #1 options on their own teams?

 

And I'm the one being obtuse??

 

I'm not following.

 

Whether the player came across awesome teammates from leaving by free agency, or his GM actually being good doesn't make a difference. The whining about Lebron comes from the fact that he can't do it himself, and needs help, well so did everyone, even St. Michael.

 

You honestly think Jordan would have sat around wasting his career with Jamario Moon and Wally Szczerbiak if that's what Krause surrounded him with?

 

Wasting your career with Jamario Moon and Wally World is one thing and going to team up with your natural rival is something else. Would Jordan have stuck around in Chicago if he continued to play with the Brad Sellers' of the world? Maybe not. But he wasn't going to call up Isiah and Magic to team up either.

 

And that's not something that is specific to Jordan either. There's just a level of fraternization between all the stars these days that didn't exist even 10 years ago. They play AAU ball together, text/tweet all offseason, etc. It's all buddy buddy now.

 

So the issue isn't that Lebron left Cleveland, it's that he went to too good a team. Is there a cap for how many wins the team he went to could have? The Heat won 47 last year, is 45 few enough? I'm certain 41 would have been acceptable. Is it a level of superstar he's not allowed to play with? Would San Antonio have been allowed? Is it only the MVP that can't play with another good player or were Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady rat bastards too when they signed with the Magic? Why won't somebody formalize these rules??

[SouthSideRyan]

BBB, you severely underrate Skotty Pippin.

Edited May 18, 2011 by SouthSideRyan

[DivineBovine]

Also heard a rumor that MJ might be at the game tonight, since he was in town for Oprah's thing last night at the UC.

 

This will surely lead the Bulls to victory.

 

 

I love it when MJ openly roots for the Bulls. Since he's an owner of another team, it might not happen tonight. But it would still be sweet to see.

 

I'd think a true killer would lead the team he owns to victory rather than joining up with the owner of another team.

 

 

Well, clearly LeBron would try and buy a piece of the Bulls from Reinsdorf. But this is MJ, so that didn't happen. :wink:

[SouthSideRyan]

Also heard a rumor that MJ might be at the game tonight, since he was in town for Oprah's thing last night at the UC.

 

This will surely lead the Bulls to victory.

 

 

I love it when MJ openly roots for the Bulls. Since he's an owner of another team, it might not happen tonight. But it would still be sweet to see.

 

I'd think a true killer would lead the team he owns to victory rather than joining up with the owner of another team.

 

 

Well, clearly LeBron would try and buy a piece of the Bulls from Reinsdorf. But this is MJ, so that didn't happen. :wink:

 

Shouldn't have put it all on black Michael.

[UMFan83]

BBB, you severely underrate Scottie Pippen.

 

Charles Barkley was on ESPN1000 yesterday and they were asking him dumb questions like "would you say that Derrick Rose is already the 2nd best Bull of all time?" and "Do you think we can mention Rose in the same convo as MJ yet?"

 

To his credit, Charles was able to keep his poise and not slap Waddle and Silvy.

[Guest]

BBB, you severely underrate Skotty Pippin.

 

Rather hilarious that you actually wasted time to quote Raisin to spell the name wrong to get a dig in on my spelling of Scottie, but you had to go in and edit it, too?

 

Can't think of a better way to spend your day than making fun of one of my rare spelling mistakes. Good for you. =D>

[Guest]

BBB, you severely underrate Scottie Pippen.

 

I probably have, but the point I was really trying to make was that I'm not convinced that Michael needed Pippen on the roster in order to have won a championship during his prime years.

 

Maybe I'm wrong about that too, but there is no way to know since Pippen was on all of those teams.

[SouthSideRyan]

I was correcting my typo. I thought it was Sqahtee Pip'n

[wolf stansson]

"would you say that Derrick Rose is already the 2nd best Bull of all time?"

With the reasonable assumption that this season is an expected standard of play going forward for at least the next 7 or so years, yes he is.

[WrigleyField 22]

ANY other small forward? No.

 

While yes, I could see the Bulls winning some or even all of the first 3-peat without Pippen, but there's no [expletive] way they get the second 3-peat with just any other small forward instead of Pippen.

I was too young to watch the first 3 peat. And perhaps I'm underrating defensive impact, but I think you could argue it being the other way considering the latter Bulls had Toni Kukoc as their #3 option on offense and the #2 option for a huge portion of the final championship season. They wouldn't have been as dominant, for sure, but thats still a championship worthy team.

 

You're greatly underestimating the defensive presence he provided. Jordan was a great defender, but Pippen could guard most anyone on the floor effectively other than centers (and a few really beefy PFs). He shut down Magic in the 1991 Finals for the most part just about singlehandedly.

 

And there's no way any other SF leads that 1994 team to a near Finals appearance if not for that awful phantom foul call.

No I'm not underestimating his defense, just the need for it.

 

First I'm gonna make the assumption you replace him with replacement level SF.

 

When would a team be more likely to weather the loss of Pippen's d.

 

Verse the likes of Magic, James Worthy, Byron Scott, Drexler, Terry Porter, Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle

 

or

 

Gary Payton, Hersey Hawkins, John Stockton, Jeff Hornacek, and Byron Russell

 

Also the team playing the crappier wingmen have Toni Kukoc whereas the other team has Craig Hodges(?). Oh and at the PG spot the latter team has the more defensively versatile Ron Harper compared to the less versatile BJ Armstrong and John Paxson.

 

Really more a reflection of the team dynamic and who we faced in the finals. Not knocking Pippen, just arguing Jordan was more likely to win without him in 96-98 than 91-93.

[rawaction]

Pippen vs. Magic in the 1991 finals was the best defensive series any individual has ever played.

[bcl412]

Already pulling down the offensive boards. It be nice if they didn't need to pull them down though. Also, it sounds like a good crowd by UC standards.

[Careless]

How did Bosh airball a shot by 5 feet or so without his shooting arm being touched?

[Careless]

4 minutes in and Bogans has our only field goal

 

And Rose has like four rebounds

[bcl412]

We can't make a damn shot and they can't grab a rebound.

[Careless]

I probably laughed too much at that WNBA ad

[Careless]

Bogans with an astonishingly bad sequence there

 

lol, James

[bcl412]

Noah's a damn good passer.

[Careless]

Wattson/noah/boozer!

[Flames24Rulz]

Noah and Boozer need to earn their money in this sequence without Rose.

[Careless]

DENG hahaha

[DivineBovine]

How demoralizing this has to be for the Heat. Bulls can't make a shot and they are getting killed.

 

EXCEPT THAT ONE!!

[Flames24Rulz]

Holy [expletive].

[DivineBovine]

Keep this defense up and they will be so demoralized, they'll fold like a lawn chair.

[Careless]

can't believe we came out of that with a 7 point lead.