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The world will not end because the Bulls could are not beating teams in the summer league. We have a young team, and they are going to look very good some nights and very, very bad on other nights. Get used to it. I would highly recommend drinking a beer or smoking some weed while watching Bulls games this year. Otherwise, some of us are likely to go bald from pulling our hair out.
So seriously, why are we struggling? The team we are putting out there includes 3 or 4 starters and most of our key reserve players. We should be dominating these other teams, many who are just as young as we are. So why are we struggling?
1. We are trying to run the Triangle offense, and what that means for a team with a lot of young guys is that we have five guys evenly spaced around the floor playing one-on-one ball. So we end up with very few easy shots, very few assists, and quite a few turnovers as different players take their turn going one-on-one.
The bad news is that our offense is not going to get a lot better until we have a couple of players who can consistently demand double teams. When that happens our spacing will put the other players in places to get good shots. Also, as players get more comfortable with the Triangle, we can add more wrinkles to it that create better scoring opportunities.
That said, I was impressed with how Curry, Chandler, Baxter, JWill, Hassell, and Crawford were able to create shots for themselves. We sometimes shot too quickly (especially JWill), but rarely had trouble getting a good shot.
2. In these Summer League games, the motion offense that other teams use that are heavy on pick-and-rolls and off-the-ball screens gives other teams a huge advantage over us. These are much, much easier offenses to put in with young players and are very difficult for young players to defend.
Our perimeter players have a lot of trouble fighting through screens, and our big guys (with the exception of Baxter) have not learned the art of stepping out on the pick-and-roll. The Grizzlies were always able to get easy shots off the pick-and-roll.
With the exception of JWill and Curry from time to time, I thought our on-the-ball defense was very good (not counting fighting through screens). Chandler was impressive in shutting down Gooden. Our guys will learn how to fight through screens and how to defend the pick-and-roll.
3. Guys who have been around the block like Eddie Gill, Fred House, and Rico Hill made our guys look young. That is going to happen quite often this season. In particular, Rico Hill gave us a lot of trouble. He is a 6'5" guard playing PF, and we had no answer for him defensively. I felt sorry for Eddy when he got matched up with him at the top of the key near the end of the game. Unfortunately, Crawford and JWill are not good enough passers to take advantage of this mismatch on the offensive end. The good news is that we won't see many Rico Hill-type PFs during the regular season, and if we do, Rose is a good enough passer that he will make the other team pay for it when we are on offense.
This is a long post, but on to individual assessments.
JWill - The good news is that he is as quick as advertised and will be able to create good shots for himself. I am not that worried about his low shooting percentage and think that he will develop into a reasonably high percentage shooter. The bad news is that he has a lot of unforced turnovers and really doesn't seem to be much of a passer. I don't think we need a pass-first point guard like Andre Miller, but it would be nice to have a good passer. His defense also is nothing to write home about. Like everyone else, I was hoping that he would be more effective in these Summer League games, but all-in-all I am not too worried about him right now.
JC - He does not make nearly as many mistakes as JWill, but that is largely because he is not as aggressive. I forgot he was out there from time to time. He also can create good shots for himself (especially with his crossover) and is a little bit better passer than JWill. Like many of the Bulls' perimeter players, he struggles fighting through screens. He still looks very thin and very young out there.
Mason - He looks like a solid pick who will not hurt the team when he is out there. But I think he will have to be able to hit the 3 consistently to stick with the Bulls for the long-term.
Hassell - He looks much bigger. His defense was not great against the Grizzlies, but right now, I think he is much better than Crawford, especially as a SG.
Richardson - He makes too many mistakes for my taste. I don't think he has a long-term future with the Bulls.
Baxter - What can you say about this guy? He looks really good in these Summer League games. He understands how to use his body and plays smart. He will get his shot blocked during the regular season, but he is exactly the kind of scrappy player that we need at the back-up PF position, exactly the kind of player that Fizer is not.
Chandler - He also looks a lot bigger. His offensive game is still limited, but what did we expect? With his additional size, I think he could be a very good defensive player as early as the end of this year, but he needs to do a much better job stepping out on pick-and-rolls. After seeing the game against the Grizzlies, I am not worried about Chandler at all. Like ScottMay said, he is no longer the lost puppy that he was last year at this time.
Curry - He has a nice offensive game, but I, like others, would like to see be much more aggressive. I think that dunking with two hands would be a good start. I worry about all of the foul calls he is getting turning him into a guy who won't use his weight to pound guys under the basket or punish them when they come to the hole. I fear that he will turn into a guy that plays much smaller than he is. But I do think he has a reasonable shot at being our second leading scorer this year.
Bagaric - I know that almost everyone has given up on this guy, but remember, every team hates their back-up centers with a passion. Most teams think their first-string centers are worthless. Long-term, he is going to be a third string center behind Curry and Chandler, and he is well suited to that role. He is big and takes up a lot of space. Even last night in his 4 minutes, he was a big presence on the defensive end. Wouldn't you love to have him around to give Shaq a couple of hard fouls when we play the Lakers? I could see Bags clobber Shaq across the face if he tried to bull him over. He would probably miss and Shaq would miss on the return, but it would be fun watching.
So seriously, why are we struggling? The team we are putting out there includes 3 or 4 starters and most of our key reserve players. We should be dominating these other teams, many who are just as young as we are. So why are we struggling?
1. We are trying to run the Triangle offense, and what that means for a team with a lot of young guys is that we have five guys evenly spaced around the floor playing one-on-one ball. So we end up with very few easy shots, very few assists, and quite a few turnovers as different players take their turn going one-on-one.
The bad news is that our offense is not going to get a lot better until we have a couple of players who can consistently demand double teams. When that happens our spacing will put the other players in places to get good shots. Also, as players get more comfortable with the Triangle, we can add more wrinkles to it that create better scoring opportunities.
That said, I was impressed with how Curry, Chandler, Baxter, JWill, Hassell, and Crawford were able to create shots for themselves. We sometimes shot too quickly (especially JWill), but rarely had trouble getting a good shot.
2. In these Summer League games, the motion offense that other teams use that are heavy on pick-and-rolls and off-the-ball screens gives other teams a huge advantage over us. These are much, much easier offenses to put in with young players and are very difficult for young players to defend.
Our perimeter players have a lot of trouble fighting through screens, and our big guys (with the exception of Baxter) have not learned the art of stepping out on the pick-and-roll. The Grizzlies were always able to get easy shots off the pick-and-roll.
With the exception of JWill and Curry from time to time, I thought our on-the-ball defense was very good (not counting fighting through screens). Chandler was impressive in shutting down Gooden. Our guys will learn how to fight through screens and how to defend the pick-and-roll.
3. Guys who have been around the block like Eddie Gill, Fred House, and Rico Hill made our guys look young. That is going to happen quite often this season. In particular, Rico Hill gave us a lot of trouble. He is a 6'5" guard playing PF, and we had no answer for him defensively. I felt sorry for Eddy when he got matched up with him at the top of the key near the end of the game. Unfortunately, Crawford and JWill are not good enough passers to take advantage of this mismatch on the offensive end. The good news is that we won't see many Rico Hill-type PFs during the regular season, and if we do, Rose is a good enough passer that he will make the other team pay for it when we are on offense.
This is a long post, but on to individual assessments.
JWill - The good news is that he is as quick as advertised and will be able to create good shots for himself. I am not that worried about his low shooting percentage and think that he will develop into a reasonably high percentage shooter. The bad news is that he has a lot of unforced turnovers and really doesn't seem to be much of a passer. I don't think we need a pass-first point guard like Andre Miller, but it would be nice to have a good passer. His defense also is nothing to write home about. Like everyone else, I was hoping that he would be more effective in these Summer League games, but all-in-all I am not too worried about him right now.
JC - He does not make nearly as many mistakes as JWill, but that is largely because he is not as aggressive. I forgot he was out there from time to time. He also can create good shots for himself (especially with his crossover) and is a little bit better passer than JWill. Like many of the Bulls' perimeter players, he struggles fighting through screens. He still looks very thin and very young out there.
Mason - He looks like a solid pick who will not hurt the team when he is out there. But I think he will have to be able to hit the 3 consistently to stick with the Bulls for the long-term.
Hassell - He looks much bigger. His defense was not great against the Grizzlies, but right now, I think he is much better than Crawford, especially as a SG.
Richardson - He makes too many mistakes for my taste. I don't think he has a long-term future with the Bulls.
Baxter - What can you say about this guy? He looks really good in these Summer League games. He understands how to use his body and plays smart. He will get his shot blocked during the regular season, but he is exactly the kind of scrappy player that we need at the back-up PF position, exactly the kind of player that Fizer is not.
Chandler - He also looks a lot bigger. His offensive game is still limited, but what did we expect? With his additional size, I think he could be a very good defensive player as early as the end of this year, but he needs to do a much better job stepping out on pick-and-rolls. After seeing the game against the Grizzlies, I am not worried about Chandler at all. Like ScottMay said, he is no longer the lost puppy that he was last year at this time.
Curry - He has a nice offensive game, but I, like others, would like to see be much more aggressive. I think that dunking with two hands would be a good start. I worry about all of the foul calls he is getting turning him into a guy who won't use his weight to pound guys under the basket or punish them when they come to the hole. I fear that he will turn into a guy that plays much smaller than he is. But I do think he has a reasonable shot at being our second leading scorer this year.
Bagaric - I know that almost everyone has given up on this guy, but remember, every team hates their back-up centers with a passion. Most teams think their first-string centers are worthless. Long-term, he is going to be a third string center behind Curry and Chandler, and he is well suited to that role. He is big and takes up a lot of space. Even last night in his 4 minutes, he was a big presence on the defensive end. Wouldn't you love to have him around to give Shaq a couple of hard fouls when we play the Lakers? I could see Bags clobber Shaq across the face if he tried to bull him over. He would probably miss and Shaq would miss on the return, but it would be fun watching.
