Derrick Kelly's Chicago Bears fan blog

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"

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. 

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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."

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"

Under new interim coach Jim Boylan, the Chicago Bulls are 2-0. Thats a pretty impressive start for any new coach, especially with a team that has been as bad as the Bulls have been. After the Scott Skiles firing, many people weren't sure as to what direction the Bulls ere actually headed. There has been a lot of speculation as to why this happened when it did, what did they expect to gain out of it and on and on. Hopefully the record continues in a similar fashion. 

One of the major things that has been implemented for the Bulls under their new coach is Ben Gordon coming off of the bench again. Many thought changes had to be made for the Bulls to turn around their season, and this is a big one. But the great thing about it is that Gordon has shined since becoming the sixth man. His field goal percentage has gone up and he becomes an igniter when he comes in.

Continue reading "Jim Boylan gets back to back wins from the Bulls"

Snow, cold and wind were no hindrance to the Bears utter destruction of the Packers this weekend. Even though they were playing a cold weather friendly team, they managed an unbelievable blowout victory. It was very unexpected due to the Packers actually becoming better since the last time the two teams met this year.

The offense wasn't great, but it didn't need to be. This was the Bears team of old. A punishing, take away happy defense with a clock managing, little errors offense. It brought some nostalgia back to Soldier Field even with the east side of the stands basically being empty due to the brutal winds. 

While the Bears defense were missing some key starters, they managed to put a good amount of pressure on Brett Favre and, missing the couple long runs, held Ryan Grant mostly in check. Plus, Brian Urlacher had a great game tying his career high in takeaways for a season with six. And it also didn't hurt that he scored a touchdown as well.

Continue reading "Bears maul the Pack"

The Bulls got a look at what is possible out of a big man against the Washington Wizards. Aaron Gray showed a great presence in the paint. He scored. He rebounded and he accomplished something that has truly been lacking in the Bulls game. Gray got the ball in the middle and passed the ball to the outside for the shots the Chicago Bulls are used to taking.

By having a man down low to be able to penetrate to the hoop and score or rebound has added a new dimension to a disappointing Bulls team so far this season. Plus, it takes some of the pressure of the rest of the guys to have to shoot well on the perimeter. When Gray was in, the perimeter wasn't flush with guys in the Bulls jump shot shooters faces. In turn, they shot better than they have in recent months.

Maybe they have found the person they needed all along and he was right on their bench, sitting down while Joakim Noah got plenty of minutes and did very little with them. Now I know its a little early to start declaring Aaron Gray as one of their saviors, but it was a welcome change seeing someone score, rebound and create chances for others just by playing his position.

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The Chicago Bulls lack of a true low post threat in terms of scoring and rebounding is something I believe will haunt them all year long. Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum had 26 rebounds between the two of them. The majority of their rebounds were defensive rebounds as well. Meaning the Bulls did the same thing they have done all year long...taking one shot and dropping back on defense. No second chance points. No extended offensive strikes. The entire Bulls team had 41 boards and all but 7 were defensive boards. Ben Wallace, our supposed defense and rebounding guy had 5 boards. Yes thats right, 5. 

On a night hyped by the Kobe fiasco at the beginning of the season, the Bulls at least looked better than the last time they played the Lakers. But even with that it was pretty apparent that they are missing something. While they were close for some good stretches of the game, they still have not reached consistency yet. It is good to see Andres Nocioni playing as well as he has been playing. And the field goal percentage has started to creep its way back up. So there is some true potential. 

Continue reading "Bulls still missing something in loss to Lakers"

After last nights loss, the Bears are 100% officially out of it. Not that we didn't know that prior to this, but at least mathematically it has been officially ruled out. I am glad that the Bears did decide to use Kyle Orton over any of the others that could've gone. We saw a similar performance from what he did two years ago. Manage the game and try to limit any mistakes if possible. He wasn't spectacular then and he definitely wasn't last night. 

What this does is gives the Bears a more clear cut look at some major improvements they need to make. And most of them are offensively. The quarterback position is a much needed change. But the offensive line is also in disrepair. Fred Miller needs to go away. For good. He was never that good and now he's getting slower and drawing more penalties than any other linemen for the Bears. The focus for the offseason should start with a QB improvement and move on to the offensive line. An improvement of those two places would be welcome and change the options for the Bears. If the line becomes better, pass protection becomes better and even bad QB's can be decent with a good line. But the running game can also improve with better blocking and protection, which is pretty obvious.

Continue reading "Thoughts after the last Bears loss"

Watching the Chicago Bulls beat the New York Knicks was actually fun for me. This year hasn't gone how the Bulls expected from the beginning. Sure they usually get off to a slow start, but not like this. Key players missing way too many shots, no inside presence and the defense was nowhere near what it should've been. These were major concerns watching from the beginning of the year. 

But against the Knicks on December 14th, the Bulls really showed signs of what they can be capable of. They had decent perimeter shooting. Good hard nosed play from some key guys. Andres Nocioni has been improving his game each time he steps on the court. And Kirk Hinrich has been getting more towards what has been expected out of him. All around it was not like watching the drubbing they got from the Raptors at the United Center earlier in the year.

Continue reading "Bulls v Knicks, the beginning of something?"