Jim Boylan is now 3-1 with the Bulls as the interim coach. The Bulls have played competitively for all 4 games and only lost the one game in overtime. While they still aren't an elite team, they are finally playing like a team. 

During the 3rd quarter in Wednesdays game against the Charlotte Bobcats, the Bulls were down by 12 points. But they found a way to come back and win 109-97. At the beginning of the 4th quarter, they went on an 11-0 run. And they played tough and with good energy in the late part of the game. That is something that hasn't been a part of their game for most of the season.

Joakim Noah came out and played well. He had 17 points and 6 rebounds. But he also had some key defensive plays with steals and getting to the ball when necessary. He also had a presence in the low post with strong finishes and boards. Noah showed another side of his game by giving some key assists. This was definitely a welcome change from the way he had been playing for most of the year. Compared to the timid, poor handed player from earlier in the season, he looked like a promising rookie.

Continue reading "Bulls improve to 3-1 under Boylan"

For the fifth time in five games the Bulls have put together a solid 100+ point performance under interim coach Jim Boylan. And there was also another double digit point performance from new bench performer Ben Gordon. It is starting to become an expected performance from the newly reinvigorated Gordon. 

After all of the speculation as to what has been wrong with the Bulls, the coaching change has brought about a new energy that has been missing. Regardless of Jim Boylans previous head coaching experience, he has managed to turn a team around and get very good efforts that seemed to be non-existent before he took over. Veteran Joe Smith had 31 points in a very solid game.

While they are not the elite of the elite, they are starting to become a team again. I know I have said it before, but it is an exciting possibility. One bad note on the evening is the possible Achilles tendon injury to Luol Deng. There is a chance he will have an MRI today.

Continue reading "Another solid Bulls performance."

This off-season has been one of expectations and disappointment. The expected signings and trades have been numerous, but most of them have not panned out. It is a divided nation as to what the direction is this winter. But through all of that, some important things have happened. 

Three unexpected trades happened. Out went a bunch of minor leaguers and some experienced talent and in came some variously experienced individuals.  Losing Jon Garland was something the White Sox nation has expected for some time now. He has always had enormous potential while putting up some decent statistics and records. But we fans always knew he would be leaving us at some point. He brought Orlando Cabrera in return. An upgrade at shortstop has been demanded by fandom for sometime now due to Juan Uribes' lack of consistency in anything but strike outs and donut eating. But this came after an extension for Uribe. So it didn't make a lot of sense, but it was an upgrade at one position while leaving another with question marks. 

Continue reading ""

This off-season has been one of expectations and disappointment. The expected signings and trades have been numerous, but most of them have not panned out. It is a divided nation as to what the direction is this winter. But through all of that, some important things have happened. 

Three unexpected trades happened. Out went a bunch of minor leaguers and some experienced talent and in came some variously experienced individuals.  Losing Jon Garland was something the White Sox nation has expected for some time now. He has always had enormous potential while putting up some decent statistics and records. But we fans always knew he would be leaving us at some point. He brought Orlando Cabrera in return. An upgrade at shortstop has been demanded by fandom for sometime now due to Juan Uribes' lack of consistency in anything but strike outs and donut eating. But this came after an extension for Uribe. So it didn't make a lot of sense, but it was an upgrade at one position while leaving another with question marks. 

Continue reading "The interesting trades of the White Sox offseason"

With Luol Deng on the sideline, the Chicago Bulls managed to led a lead over a bad team slip into a loss. Deng his still dealing with the strained Achilles tendon and his return is uncertain for now. But the Bulls still have to play games in his absence. 

Andres Nocioni got the start in place of the injured Deng, which might have been a good idea against a team that plays a little rougher in the Knicks. The game was competitive throughout though. There was never a major point when either team was far ahead of the other. The Bulls held a couple of 9 point leads at various points, but that was the biggest margin.

Aaron Gray and Joakim Noah are starting to see some more playing time under Jim Boylan. Gray seems to spell Ben Wallace now and Noah is out there at random points with both. The nice thing is that both are starting to contribute. Gray had some tough baskets underneath and is looking to score when the opportunity presents itself. That is a much needed change of pace in the center position given Wallaces penchant for standing there looking stupid when a shot is right in front of his face.

Continue reading "Deng watches the Knicks capitalize on the Bulls mistakes"

After facing a 17 point deficit in the first quarter, the Bulls went on to win against the 76ers in Philadelphia. After looking absolutely pitiful in the first quarter, they came back and played hard in the second. While I have to admit I didn't get to watch the entire game, I did see the horrible first and the promising second. 

Andres Nocioni had 7 rebounds and 26 points after starting again for the injured Luol Deng. While this wasn't the best team in the league, the Bulls have struggled against every team in the league so any type of decent scoring and rebounding by anyone is appreciated. Joe Smith also put up 19 points and 6 boards.

It is good to see the emergence of Nocioni and Smith during this period without Deng, but there are still major problems. The inability to finish a game is pretty disheartening. The fact that no matter the Bulls lead in the fourth, there still always stands a good chance that they might lose. Luckily in this one they held on with a big layup by Smith towards the end of the fourth after it looked like the 76ers were coming back.

Continue reading "The Bulls actually held on to win."

After two horrible games, the Bulls look officially and 100% lost as a team. They have lost two games by large margins and its starting to become embarrassing. It has been written in many different places what the Bulls have to do to right the ship or even become a better team, so I won't get into it. There is some obvious stuff, but regardless, there is a lot of things that have to change. Its hard to watch them play and it makes it really hard to go to the games. 

Almost every quarter had points where the Bulls did not score. Surprisingly Tom Dore and Johnny "Redd" Kerr felt it was the 3rd quarter 16-0 run from the Magic that did the Bulls in. Not the other quarters that points of 15-4 runs or other similar scoring runs by the Magic. But the fact that Orlando could just keep scoring and rebounding and creating second chance shots and on and on had nothing to do with it. Sorry for the sarcasm but it almost didn't seem like they were watching the same game. The Bulls were terrible tonight. There were a couple of good plays and some players who showed some signs of progress in their game. But once you start looking for progress in games, I would say your team is in trouble. 

Continue reading "Bulls lose in an embarrassing game."

I have been a little busy these days and haven't been able to post. But I have been watching and it was nice to see a win where lots of younger players got playing time and they shot well. It also seemed like the team as a whole got along and were playing as a team. I have always been an advocate of a team playing as a team versus one big superstar leading the team the whole way. So it was nice to see. 

Tonight should be an interesting game. The Warriors are team that has a huge upside and can give some really good teams a run for their money. But they aren't always the most consistent team, so we'll see what happens tonight.

Another major issue coming up is the trade deadline. As usual, there are lots of rumors swirling around. There are plenty of possible trades out there, but what can actually help the Bulls? Just getting a big name at the expense of some their possible young, key future components to win right now probably won't help them. You also don't want to just sell what you can to get the big name. The Bulls need a low post presence that can rebound consistently, hustles and can score high percentage shots regularly. That alone might change the whole team. But if they are able to get a bigger name without selling the potentials we have now, go for it. 

Continue reading "New day, soon to be new Bulls?"

Good teams find ways to win games and bad teams find ways to lose them. In typical fashion for this year the Bulls managed to lose in the 2nd half of the game. They managed to compete with the Golden State Warriors and make it look like an actual game... for the first half. But they once again fell apart towards the end. Yes Ben Gordon scored 29 and Andres Nocioni scored 28. Those are nice statistics, but when the game is one the line, the Bulls still do not have a clue how to finish. 

No matter how good individual statistics and games are, what matters is how you play as a team. The Bulls aren't in possession of a player that can take them on their back and force them to victory. So they must play very well as a team to complete a game where they held a lead throughout most of it. The 4th quarter is pretty much death for them. There have only been a few instances where they held on and looked tough in the final moments. Where the defense held up and they made tough shots.

Continue reading "Bulls lose late in the 4th quarter... again."

If the Detroit Pistons played the Bulls a lot more, the Bulls would be a nice contender right now. For some odd reason, the Bulls actually show up to play against the Pistons. Or, they don't. Last night the Bulls played well.

Luol Deng was out with that sore achilles tendon problem and Andres Nocioni started in his place putting up 21 points. Thabo Sefalosha started and put up nice numbers. He had 12 points and 13 boards all while having the 2nd most minutes in the game with 35:39. By sticking with Thabo, Jim Boylan kept in a young guy who has been playing well in his new role. 

The Pistons just did seem to be able to find a groove. They had more turnovers, shot poorly from the free throw line and shot poorly from 3-point range. But the nice thing was the Bulls actually capitalized on that. They scored off of turnovers. They controlled the pace of the game as well. And they rebounded. It was like everything that everyone has stated they needed to do, they did and did pretty well.

Continue reading "The Pistons need to come to town more often"

The Sox signed Octavio Dotel to a two year deal worth $11 million today. This helps to address the bullpen issues the Sox had all of last year. But it brings a guy with good stuff who has had injury problems in the past. He has also missed some significant playing time in recent years. 

What is good about this is that they have given themselves some options. They have acquired some veteran bullpen arms which could help them establish a decent bullpen throughout this season. And it gives them more options with plenty of arms with some bullpen use last year in the farm system in case one of them falters.

This leaves us with Bobby Jenks closing as we know. But it gives us three choices for set up men in Matt Thornton, Scott Linebrink and Octavio Dotel. Out of the three, at least two of them should have decent years, which will give the Sox a decent back end of the bullpen.  Plus it also takes the pressure off of Linebrink to completely perform up to his contract because there is another veteran arm to split some of the time. 

Continue reading "White Sox sign Octavio Dotel"

Once again, the Bulls lost. And they looked bad at points. Really bad. Fortunately for me, I didn't watch the whole game due to a family dinner. But the first half looked bad. They were getting out rebounded, taking poor shots and on and on. Its the same list of stuff that has plagued them this whole season. Chris Duhon was out due to the knee injury sustained the other night. Other than that, it seems to be the same old stuff. It has been nice seeing extended playing time for Thabo Sefalosha. It would be nice to see the Bulls allow some of their younger players to get more time to develop a little. I am not sure what to even say anymore. I am usually the optimist amongst whatever groups I am in, but now I am truly leaning the opposite way. They will give us hope by playing some good g

Continue reading "Bulls lose to the Grizzlies"

With three players who have been starters this season sitting on the bench in Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, and Chris Duhon, the Bulls won. And won big. Not only did they hold leads, but they held on to the game in the fourth quarter, which has been one of their biggest downfalls all year. Kirk Hinrich scored a career high 38 points. When he wanted to score, he pretty much did against an Indiana Pacers team that beat the Bulls pretty bad last time they faced each other. 

Hinrich was a leader out on the floor last night. He drove the lane and scored. He got rebounds. And he created chances for other players. If he can continue this style of play, the Bulls have some other pieces that can help him win. Joakim Noah, Thabo Sefalosha and Tyrus Thomas all looked good last night as well. Noah put up 15 boards and had some good low post scoring as well. Andres Nocioni put up 24 in the win. So the combo of Nocioni, Hinrich and Noah combined for 78 points.

Continue reading "An interesting victory for the Bulls"

Once again, the Bulls just can't seem to pul out two victories in a row. While they were missing some of their normal starters, they won a game that way the other night. But still, they are just the most inconsistent team I have ever seen. They show signs of being decent and then just flop the very next game. 

One great thing about this injury stretch is that Thabo Sefalosha has actually gotten a chance to play. And he is playing well. It will be really hard to convince me that Chris Duhon should take away Thabo's minutes when he is healthy. Thabo has actually played well and gives us a better chance at winning than Duhon ever did. If Jim Boylan doesn't see that, then there is something wrong. He put up a double double last night. And that isn't his first since being put into a starting role.

Continue reading "Two in a row still out of reach"