testing if there is a title in the prologue theme
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shaz rasul
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shaz rasul
where does the title go in the prologue style theme?
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shaz rasul
Let’s all exhale now! The Bulls won a game. No more fear of a winless season. Now, Toronto with an ailing Chris Bosh sets up as a winnable game.
A few things from the game:
- Tyrus Thomas will give up a few points on defense, but you need to have him on the floor. The ability to attack the rim and get some easy scores is something that makes Hinrich and Gordon better players.
- Gordon is over-penetrating every time he charges towards the basket.
- Hinrich had a good game. Finally.
- Skiles needs to keep from falling in love with Joe Smith. He’s not an end-of-the game go-to guy. He’s never been.
- Another DNP for Sefolosha! Against a team with big guards no less. He’s got the best seat in the doghouse.
- Skiles gets some points for taking Ben Wallace out in a close game, and for doing some offense defense substitutions with Duhon and Gordon.
- Noah had some good energy and played some good minutes.
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shaz rasul
Tonight’s game against the Clippers is a must-win game. A loss has the Bulls looking at an 0-6 start with tough games against the Pistons and Raptors upcoming. Then the circus road trip.
A win tonight and you can imagine a slow, but not disastrous, 2-4 start… a loss and you start expecting an 0-6 start and the weight of expectations to crush this team.
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shaz rasul
0-3. 0-3. 0-3.
What happened on Saturday night in Milwaukee?
- Deng still can’t get on track! Whether it’s the rumors, or a busy summer, or a new role in the offense, or whatever… the result is that he can’t get on track! The mid-range game has left him and the early game strategy of trying to get him the ball on the block has disrupted the flow of the early offense.
- Tyrus Thomas is a young kid! In the NBA youth usually is a synonym for “inconsistent“.
- On the one hand Hinrich has to guard the Michael Redd’s of the world (and doesn’t get his share of the calls), but on the other hand Hinrich’s making some silly mistakes in the first 3 games which have him on the bench and in no offensive rhythm.
- Ben Wallace looked bad again tonight. Slow start with little lift. If the Bulls were able to have an offensive efficiency, they could have let Wallace play through it, but with the rest of the offense (Deng, Hinrich) being bad they couldn’t keep him on the court.
- Sefolosha looked good in his time on the court.
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shaz rasul
Here’s what I saw versus Philadelphia on 11/2
- Deng can be played very physically.
- Hinrich won’t get calls.
- Gordon can score, but is still limited otherwise.
- Tyrus Thomas teases us with the limitless potential of what he can do.
- Ben Wallace seems a step slow. We knew he’d slow down during the contract, but you hope it doesn’t happen in the 2nd year of the contract. Hopefully this is just the lingering effects of the sprained ankle in pre-season.
- Skiles holds grudges… witness the benching of Sefolosha in game 2 after a bad few possessions in the 1st game.
Can the Bulls win 50+ games after losing the first 2? Yes.
Will this start keep the Kobe fires burning? Yes, unfortunately.
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shaz rasul
The Bulls introductions were just out of hand on opening night. Wow. If that doesn’t irritate the 76ers into playing a good game, nothing will.
Tom Dore’s “what a show” was somewhat misplaced.
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shaz rasul
A few quick notes on the Bulls OT loss to New Jersey on Halloween night.
- No Calls! – The league might think highly of the young bulls, but the refs clearly don’t. The Bulls skills players didn’t get anywhere near the number of calls that the Nets more accomplished trio of Kidd, Carter, and Jefferson got. The Bulls will not beat good teams with this kind of free-throw disparity.
- The Nets arena is currently named “Izod”. They really need to hurry up and move to Brooklyn.
- Ben Gordon is a scorer. Deng will be the best player on the Bulls down the road (upside), but Gordon’s the more dynamic scorer now.
- Slow start. Very slow start.
- The Bulls’ “3 small guard lineup” always seems to work for a few minutes before it falls apart, hopefully Skiles will get better at limiting it’s duration. Ideally Sefolosha or Thomas will emerge so that the Bulls won’t find themselves employing the “3 small guard lineup” so much this season.
- I’d like Skiles to do more “offense — defense” type substitutions in endgame situation with wallace and smith/thomas
Up next: The home opener versus Philadelphia.
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shaz rasul
Halloween is opening night for the Bulls in scenic New Jersey.
With all the trade speculation in the news, it’s likely that the Bulls team that finishes the season won’t look much like the team we’ll be seeing tonight in the swamp. Clearly, this makes the prediction game something of a waste unless you put some caveats into play.
SO, if there are no major (KOBE) trades this season, this Bulls team will win 50+ games and make it to the eastern conference finals. I think it’s an incremental step they’ll take this year. Barring injury, it’s Deng and Thomas who are going to make the biggest leap from last year. They’re the two players with the most upside on the team, and how quickly the team improves will be tied very directly to how quickly they realize their potential. The solid players and solid system guarantee a playoff appearance in the East, but Thomas and Deng’s development is what could make the Bulls one of the NBA’s final four.
I don’t think the Bulls are a Finals team as constructed, nor do I think that the East is so bad that Bulls (as constructed) will steam-roll their opponents. 52-54 Wins… if no major changes.
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shaz rasul
…at least for Tyrus Thomas. The Bulls had the choice between LaMarcus Aldridge and Tyrus Thomas in the 2006 draft and went with Thomas (actually drafting Aldridge and trading him to Portland for Thomas and our man Victor Khrypa).
After watching parts of the opening night Spurs-Blazers game, it’s clear that Aldridge has some skills… pouring in 26pts against the defending champs.
Thomas won’t have the same kinds of numbers that Aldridge will this year, simply by virtue of playing on a better team… but if we get to the end of the year and it feels like Aldridge has figured out the pro game while Thomas hasn’t then you’ll have to wonder if the Bulls made the right call.
The conventional wisdom is that Tyrus Thomas has more upside, perhaps the most upside of any player in that draft, but upside only gives you a free pass for your first season. In year 2, you have to show that you’re productive on the court and be a regular rotation player (if not an end-of-game type player).
