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**narek** · 05-14-2008, 05:47 AM

Quote:

Forget about getting the right coach.

What we have to question now is whether the Bulls have the right group of players' moms.

If you saw the way LeBron James' mother jumped to defend her son Monday night, you know what I'm talking about. If you didn't see it, think of a terrier attempting to attach itself to the leg of a mailman.

In the first half of Game 4 of the Boston-Cleveland playoff series, the Celtics' Paul Pierce stopped James from scoring by dragging him into the seats under the basket, near where James' mother was sitting. Gloria James got up, tried to get into the fray and was held back by Boston's Kevin Garnett. James yelled at her to sit down.

I would like to yell at the Bulls to sign her up. She looked like she had more heart than their entire roster. All right, that's not fair. Maybe half the roster.

And that's the Bulls' biggest problem. Not moms, but sons. And it's not a lack of talent, because there is a decent amount on this Bulls team. It's that the players are—how to put this delicately?—delicate.

No one can say Ben Gordon and Luol Deng are short on ability. But it's not overstating things to say the two are easily affected by distractions, if the definition of "easily affected" is "crawls into a hole at the first hint of difficulty."

The great ones put aside their worries and frustrations when they step on the floor. Gordon and Deng, along with Kirk Hinrich, seemed to be almost paralyzed by the Kobe Bryant trade rumors early in the season. And Gordon and Deng seemed discombobulated by their contract situations.

So it's reasonable to ask if we now can expect the two of them to be in a funk because the team didn't hire Mike D'Antoni to coach the team. The former Suns coach and new Knicks coach is a dream for any player who likes to run. Gordon and Deng like to run.

And now he's gone, even though he was never here. Will the two of them cling to a ghost?

We should have known the Bulls were in trouble when Joakim Noah stood up and pointed out the team's lack of fire—trouble because they had played only four games at that point and trouble because he was a rookie.

"Every game we play is like, 'Oh, wait till we play the next one. We'll be all good. We're going to kill them the next game,' " he said after making his pro debut. "That's not how it works."

Some of us might not think Noah is much of a player, but there's no question the kid cares. The Bulls could use a few more of him. Even former coach Scott Skiles, as perturbed as he might have been by Noah's public thoughts, agreed with them.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/c...,2483833.story

**Da Grinch** · 05-14-2008, 09:11 AM

So which is it ?

Did Pax get the right guys and mess them up with his own meddling(contract and kobe trade rumors)....or were the wrong guys all along?

liekomgj4ck · 05-14-2008, 11:15 AM

I think they used to care, but I don't know what happened- maybe the lifestyle of all that money?

**Da Grinch** · 05-14-2008, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by liekomgj4ck

I think they used to care, but I don't know what happened- maybe the lifestyle of all that money?

nobody's lifestyle changed drastically over the summer except Noah, Gray and jameson Curry , they were all millionaires mostly for years at that point.

I think they cared and played with passion for the organization , until they learned and felt like the organzation felt they were all disposable and could be cashed in at any time...its hard to be passionate when you feel those you working with and for dont care like you do. I liken it to when Krause made Jordan feel like property , and he put in that love of the game clause in his contracts .

the players are told to run through walls for the game the team and the organization , but when push comes to shove like for instance the D'Antoni situation , you just get the feeling its not reciprocated. They may need either to sent elsewhere or a at least a gesture to see maybe thats not the case.

darlets · 05-14-2008, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Da Grinch

nobody's lifestyle changed drastically over the summer except Noah, Gray and jameson Curry , they were all millionaires mostly for years at that point.

I think they cared and played with passion for the organization , until they learned and felt like the organzation felt they were all disposable and could be cashed in at any time...its hard to be passionate when you feel those you working with and for dont care like you do. I liken it to when Krause made Jordan feel like property , and he put in that love of the game clause in his contracts .

the players are told to run through walls for the game the team and the organization , but when push comes to shove like for instance the D'Antoni situation , you just get the feeling its not reciprocated. They may need either to sent elsewhere or a at least a gesture to see maybe thats not the case.

Top post. I think it's easy to forget that players are human

I remember how keen I was the first time I worked for a "Big Company", but after a while you realize you're just an asset to them. At some point you have to realize you're getting paid, so you have to put forth the effort.

I know guys who can put out 100% effort all the time and seem to not let the environment effect them.

There's a point though, when you replace playing/working for the company with playing/working for/with each other (teammates/workmates) At that point it comes down to how well you get along really.

liekomgj4ck · 05-14-2008, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darlets

Top post. I think it's easy to forget that players are human

I remember how keen I was the first time I worked for a "Big Company", but after a while you realize you're just an asset to them. At some point you have to realize you're getting paid, so you have to put forth the effort.

I know guys who can put out 100% effort all the time and seem to not let the environment effect them.

There's a point though, when you replace playing/working for the company with playing/working for/with each other (teammates/workmates) At that point it comes down to how well you get along really.

So it's just a realization that they are just a small piece of the nba and the Bulls organization combined with chemistry issues on the team?

Philomath · 05-14-2008, 05:20 PM

I think that's probably pretty accurate. It's odd that the very things the Bulls pinned their success on in previous seasons - heart and being team-oriented - are seen as their prime weaknesses now. It was quite a year, huh? I don't think it wouldn't have been seen as such a glaring weakness this year if it wasn't what they depended on so strongly in past years.

Before, everyone seemed to acknowledge that buy-in to the team program - call it "right way" if you want to - was crucial to the team success. If the team wins, you win, and you can't flourish unless the team wins. Follow the leader. We're one organism that functions as a whole, sacrifice, team D, all that good stuff. And it seemed to work, the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. Then all of a sudden it came time where team interests and individual interests diverge (particularly in contract negotiations), and maybe the spell is broken a bit. For the first time, people had to talk about me instead of we on a daily basis, and maybe subconsciously people realized that not everybody flourishes equally after all, and it's not all win-win. Buy-in is a sort of magical thing, and it's not really a switch you can turn on and off. It's real easy to say "why aren't you trying harder", but sometimes when that atmosphere is gone, it's gone. I'm guessing nobody wants that atmosphere more than the players do, and I'm also guessing that sort of irreplaceable feeling is why D'Antoni went with Donnie Walsh. Creating an inspiring atmosphere is more important for a leader than almost anything else, I think, and there's no recipe to follow for creating it, or getting it back.

**Da Grinch** · 05-14-2008, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by liekomgj4ck

So it's just a realization that they are just a small piece of the nba and the Bulls organization combined with chemistry issues on the team?

i think its more personal than that .

wallace got his ,kirk got his ...but then the well went dry for deng and gordon ....coupled with the fact that any # of them were offered in trade scenerios for Pau and Kobe(not saying Pax was actually wrong for trying to get either, but when you past the point of no return you gotta make the deal) and the hardline stance the org. was taking on negotiations.

you have this ...a team gets its personality from its best players ...but its best players were in flux in either contract negotiations that went fruitless or in trade talks ...or both.

it wasn't like 1 or 2 guys it was like the team's top 6 players,

a team that wins on passion and outworking opponents loses its passion and no longer outworks its opponents and now has to rely on talent, which in all honesty is at a mediocre level.

result: a mediocre season.

**Da Grinch** · 05-14-2008, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darlets

Top post. I think it's easy to forget that players are human

I remember how keen I was the first time I worked for a "Big Company", but after a while you realize you're just an asset to them. At some point you have to realize you're getting paid, so you have to put forth the effort.

I know guys who can put out 100% effort all the time and seem to not let the environment effect them.

There's a point though, when you replace playing/working for the company with playing/working for/with each other (teammates/workmates) At that point it comes down to how well you get along really.

according to reports the team really isn't all that close off the court, so some disharmony proved fatal ,it was like watching bad teams that build through the draft when its time to pay ...the management hedges and trades off its talent to consolidate and save money(what historically could be called the clipper way) ...in the bulls case it tried to but wasn't successful and brought those players back to lackluster results.

**johnston797** · 05-14-2008, 06:10 PM

Johnston797: Trib needs writers that know about Pro Basketball.

darlets · 05-14-2008, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by liekomgj4ck

So it's just a realization that they are just a small piece of the nba and the Bulls organization combined with chemistry issues on the team?

I wouldn't say the reason for our poor performance was any one thing. (Though not having an all star go to guy doesn't help)

They didn't seem mentally to have the same hunger or togetherness as the year before.

Different players realize at different points in their careers, that it's "just a business".
How they react to that can be the making or the breaking of some players. There's always going to be players that are just so mentally tough that they will play well in any situation.

These guys might be breaking, who knows. This season is evidence to suggest that they don't handle adversity well, but you take the season before they got off to a bad start and fought back.

The N.B.A adjusted to their style, they were prepare for the bulls, and once it stopped working for them, they really stopped trying. Skiles spoke a few times about in the N.B.A there's going to be lots of times when things don't go your way and you have to fight through adversity.

I wonder how much influence P.J Brown had on them in the locker room and how much they were playing for him. (it was likely to be his last season). Sometimes you just need something/someone to play for. To unite behind. (That's a complete guess obviously)

Hopefully the team will be better for it, but I'm not overly convinced. I don't think we are a well constructed team. When you have Gordon and Kirk on your team I think not drafting Roy to balancing them out is a very very big mistake.

I'm very interested in what the bulls do with Gordon. But that's another story and quite a big post in itself.

**King Joseus** · 05-14-2008, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnston797

Johnston797: Trib needs writers that know about Pro Basketball.

**truebluefan** · 05-14-2008, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Da Grinch

nobody's lifestyle changed drastically over the summer except Noah, Gray and jameson Curry , they were all millionaires mostly for years at that point.

I think the

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