bukie

Bulls-Pacers X-Factors: Luol Deng/Mike Dunleavy Jr. AKA "If you want him to be effective, don't make him create his own shot."

It'll be Saturday, since the Blackhawks are at home on Sunday. Game 2 Monday.

Summary of offense analysis: Bulls offensive strengths: Ball handlers coming off screens (Rose), Isolations (Rose) Bulls offensive weakness: Spot-up shooting (Taj/Boozer/Noah,Brewer), Post-Ups (Taj) Pacers offensive strength: Off ball screens (Dunleavy) Pacers offensive weaknesses: Transition (Collison), Ball handlers coming off screens (Collison) Bulls-Pacers: Defensive Breakdown Summary: Bulls defensive strengths: Pick and Roll Defense, Closing out on shooters Bulls defensive "weakness" (something they are only average at): Transition 3 defense Pacers defensive strengths: Defending off ball screens, Post defense Pacers defensive weakness: Isolation defense (30th of 30 NBA teams)

Also, from Rose's facebook: Rose gives a tour of the Berto Center (practice facility)

Really, the only issues I have with Quade thus far have been minor quibbles: - Left Dempster in one inning too long twice (and here, the biggest problem was that nobody was ready to go, so that Demp ended up facing McCutchen/Bourn right after giving up a rocket) - Bats Byrd 3rd, when Byrd clearly isn't the Cubs best hitter (although, 1-7 the difference is actually pretty minimal overall) - Used Wood and Marmol 3 days straight prior to Cashner's first start, making both unavailable for a start likely to need bullpen help early (although, the manner in which Cashner left the game was impossible to anticipate) I have no issue with him using Marmol for 4 outs, especially when that first out was with a runner on 3rd in a one-run game.

The beginning of one crazy playoff preview: Everything you ever wanted to know about the Bulls' and Pacers' offenses

According to the name of the award, its not Best player, its most valuable. I'm fairly certain the Bulls would be worse without Rose than the Heat would be without LeBron. Dwight Howard has a legitimate argument, but I find it hard to give an MVP award to a guy who does absolutely nothing during crunch time. And I never said that it was, I'm saying that Hollinger et all thinks it should be, and in that situation Rose just isn't the best player. Some folks just see anything that suggests Rose may not be #1, and they drink the red kool-aid and stop listening to their brains.

If anyone honestly believes that Rose has been a better player this year than James or Howard, they are beyond delusional. It's not even up for debate, it's just wrong. Very wrong.

I think this is the crux of Hollinger's (and every other advanced stats user's) argument for MVP: - LeBron, Howard and Wade are pretty clearly the best 3 players in the NBA this year, by almost any measure. Rose is in a mix of players 4-11 a clear step below the top 3. So, if the MVP is the best player, it's pretty clearly not Rose. - If the MVP is the player that means the most to his team's success, such that his team would be awful without him there, that's also pretty clearly Howard. - If the MVP is the best player on the best team, that's the Lakers and Kobe (or Gasol). - So yes, Rose may be in the top 5 in everything, but he's never really first in anything, so it's difficult to make an objective argument for Rose to be singled out as the #1 candidate. When any Rose counter-argument is completely subjective and biased (and sadly, every pro-Rose argument online is done by the least objective analysts in the business), it gets pretty annoying (understandably). Nobody has anything against Rose, nobody hates the way Rose plays, they just disagree with the subjectivity of the best story getting the MVP rather than any objective measure. And I can totally see that. I can see valid, objective arguments that James or Howard should be MVP, and the only valid argument for Rose is that he's the best story, which is clearly subjective due to public perception.

I think I'm rooting hard for McIlroy next major. He wanted to get a picture with the green jacket on a flight to Malaysia this morning: http://twitpic.com/4jqjuf

Basically, he said since Rose was so good last week and Kobe/CP3 were so bad, he passed them on his list. Dirk too, apparently.

Hollinger's awards: Rookie of the year: 1. Blake Griffin (duh); 2. Greg Monroe; 3. John Wall Coach of the year: 1. Tom Thibodeau; 2. George Karl; 3. Gregg Popovich Sixth man: 1. Lamar Odom; 2. Thaddeus Young; 3. James Harden Most Improved player: 1. Darrell Arthur; 2. Derrick Rose; 3. Kevin Love Defensive player of the year: 1. Dwight Howard; 2. Kevin Garnett; 3. Tony Allen MVP: 1. Dwight Howard; 2. LeBron James; 3. Dwyane Wade; 4. Derrick Rose; 5. Dirk Nowitzki Executive(s) of the year: 1. Gar Forman/John Paxson; 2. Masai Ujiri (Denver); 3. Pat Riley All-NBA First team: Rose, Wade, James, Durant, Howard All-NBA Second team: Paul, Bryant, Aldridge, Nowitzki, Gasol All-NBA Third team: Westbrook, Ginobili, Pierce, Stoudemire, Love EDIT: Hollinger's last word on the Derrick Rose story:

Two games to go, but here are the top 10 players in Defensive Win Shares: 1. Dwight Howard 7.4 2. Kevin Garnett 5.6 3. Andrew Bogut 5.1 4. Paul Pierce 5.1 5. Luol Deng 5.1 6. LeBron James 5.1 7. Rajon Rondo 4.8 8. Derrick Rose 4.7 9. Dwyane Wade 4.6 10. Pau Gasol 4.5 Top 10 in Offensive Win Shares: 1. LeBron James 10.2 2. Pau Gasol 9.7 3. Chris Paul 9.6 4. Kevin Love 8.9 5. Kevin Durant 8.6 6. Derrick Rose 8.2 7. Kevin Martin 8.0 8. Dwyane Wade 7.9 9. Dirk Nowitzki 7.7 10. Lamarcus Aldridge 7.4 Overall Win Shares: 1. LeBron James 15.3 2. Pau Gasol 14.3 3. Dwight Howard 14.1 4. Chris Paul 14.0 5. Derrick Rose 12.9 6. Dwyane Wade 12.5 7. Kevin Durant 11.9 8. Paul Pierce 11.6 9. Kevin Love 11.5 10. Lamarcus Aldridge 10.9

Fun stat: Only 8 rookies have a positive +/-. Omer Asik is +232. Next best is Gary Neal at +109.

Secretly hoping for one of the hilarious scenarios that would result in the Hawks having home ice in the SCF.

After OKC, what team scares LA the most in the West? Portland would definitely be the worst first round matchup for the Lakers. Denver has been playing really well and just beat the Lakers in LA. I think the Lakers would have too much for San Antonio but they've obviously had a very good year, they have home court and could beat LA. Not too worried about Dallas, NO and Memphis. I have a feeling San Antonio is going to be using the D-League lineup Tuesday both to rest players and to assure them they can't face LA in the second round.

The only advice I could give is don't quit too early. Two years ago I got blown out in 2 of the first 3 weeks and tied the other week. Felt clearly outmatched. Still came back and won the league at the end.

Wouldn't have guessed at the beginning of the year (or even 20 games in) that the Bulls would finish 10 games better than Orlando.

Rory McIlroy seems to be dealing with his day well.

Somebody needs to send Minnesota a fruit basket.

Simplified tomorrow scenario: 2 points: 5th and vs. Anaheim 1 point: 7th and vs. San Jose 0 points + Dallas loss: 8th and vs. Vancouver

Random draw.

If H2H were the first tiebreaker, the Hawks would still be in the exact same position. Lose tiebreaker to DAL/ANA, win tiebreaker against PHX/NSH/LA.

Is the 7th seed the highest we can attain? Why would it be? Obviously the Anaheim/LA winner will have more points. But the Hawks catch (and would win the tiebreaker) either PHX or Nashville with a regulation loss by either of them and a ROW for Chicago. Hawks can get as high as 5th, with the following: Chicago ROW PHX regulation loss Nashville regulation loss LA/ANA does not go to OT If the Hawks win, regardless of the LA/ANA result, the Hawks will finish ahead of the loser. The Hawks win any tiebreaker with LA, PHX or NSH, even if the Hawks win in a shootout on Sunday (they win the H2H tiebreaker between both 2 and 3 teams with them). The only team they for sure lose a tiebreaker to is Anaheim, which is why they can't finish 4th. So basically, these are the scenarios, just for the Hawks: 1) Hawks get 2 points Sunday: 7th if PHX + NSH get points today, 6th if one of them gets points, 5th if neither get points. 2) Hawks get 1 point Sunday: 8th if ANA loses in OT/SO, 7th if the ANA/LA game ends in regulation. 3) Hawks get 0 points Sunday: 8th if DAL loses, out if DAL wins.

If the Hawks win Sunday, they can't be the 8 seed.