Richard Hamilton and C.J. Watson are day-to-day with their respective injuries. John Lucas III is expected to play in Watson's rotation spot Tuesday when the Bulls host the Hawks, due to the sprained elbow C.J. sustained against the Grizzlies on Sunday.
Hamilton was marked inactive -- as news to everyone at gametime on Sunday. He told the press he tweaked his groin on Friday in L.A. against the Clippers and that it was a "little better" on Monday. Ronnie Brewer will likely start for Rip if he can't go Tuesday.
[Hawks vs Bulls coverage]
- It's impossible to watch the the Bulls this season without noticing how well they are running the floor. Against the Grizzlies, they scored 33 fastbreak points in the home opener just three nights after scoring 33 in Sacramento. The second time this season of at least 30 fastbreak points only five games into the 2011-12 season comes only one game away from the three times they were able to do so across the 2010-11 62-win 82-game season.
"The better our defense and rebounding is, we can get into the open floor," Tom Thibodeau said Monday. "We have to have the discipline to run for 48 minutes. You can't stop after one half. It's important to run late also."
The Bulls are third in this very young NBA season, averaging 21.0 fastbreak PPG, behind the Nuggets (24.0) and Heat (22.8), according to TeamRankings.com. Last season, their 13.4 per game was 19th in the league. They currently lead the league in fastbreak efficiency at 2.838. The pace is up to 95 possessions per game from last season's 92.8 per game, while the NBA average has only gone up to 94.7 from 94.5, according to Hoopdata.
- When Rip Hamilton was signed by the Bulls, I was optimistic to the point where I was feeling gullible that he needed a winning atmosphere to not be a jackass; and that this season with the Bulls would rejuvenate him. I seldom make such claims, but his winning pedigree just sparked the feeling and this blind squirrel may have found a nut.
He recently said: "I love it because this is what it’s supposed to be. When I was in Detroit, my first seven or eight years, we won every night. It was all about winning. To get the opportunity to get back in that groove, that’s home for me."
- As for eating crow, I was of the very wrong to expect a serious lockout hangover. Ratings and attendance are up across the league.
better to sit hamilton until the bulls go back on the road again (grrr)
obnoxious american - January 3, 2012
o..oooo
SpagettiOs
Belize - January 3, 2012 via mobile
John Lucas averages 28.8 points per 36 minutes
championship
JustAnotherFan - January 3, 2012
It could be worse.
It could be Pargo.
cubbybear - January 3, 2012
speaking of which...
we face Pargos in two games in a row… signs of the impending apocalypse?
BULLieving in Miami - January 3, 2012
more like sign of 2 straight wins
obnoxious american - January 3, 2012
lol
dakoose - January 3, 2012
Only if we face a third
Thankfully, she doesn’t play in the NBA, she’s just Jannero’s wife:
cubbybear - January 3, 2012
'for the love of money..."
vet minimum money, that is.
BULLieving in Miami - January 3, 2012
goddamn you
the only way to get that song out of your head is to remove your head
paddyfairview - January 3, 2012
in my worse nightmare we lose a game with a Pargo 3 pointer
JustAnotherFan - January 3, 2012
or Lucas FTs
bites nails
jsptvo - January 3, 2012
i definitely attribute some of the early fast break success to Rip, even though he didn't play Sunday
having him out there running the break instead of Bilbo is such a difference. plus, this is a young team with young legs. Rose is one of the quickest players in the league, Noah on the the best running centers, Lu is long… no reason why they shouldn’t be trying to get more transition buckets. most teams don’t have the defensive discipline to defend it. people want to talk about offenses rounding into shape after the lockout, but really, like in football, the defense is always chasing so if anything it takes them more time to get up to speed. so exploit that while you can.
BULLieving in Miami - January 3, 2012
Rec'd for Bilbo
cubbybear - January 3, 2012
A big difference as well
is Rose’s improved transition passing – he’s got his eyes up the floor every time now, and he almost never did that before. His vision/passing in general have improved.
kozzer - January 3, 2012
It's a clear advantage for any team with players in shape
There are a lot of walkers in transition early in this season.
NBA Observer - January 3, 2012
I'd say this is good news
KC
Option27 - January 3, 2012
So RIP practiced yesterday. That's good news per KC tweet.
adocarbog - January 3, 2012
It was just a walkthrough
He didn’t test it running at full speed.
runningman - January 3, 2012
Ronnie has been playing so well, I'd prefer them to let Rip sit until he's 100%
Brigade17 - January 3, 2012
im not worried abour Ronnie starting
but minus Rip and Cj that’s a whole lot of korver at SG.
paddyfairview - January 3, 2012
Ew....you're right
Brigade17 - January 3, 2012
If we want more big man depth, which we do
Why don’t we just freaking sign Leon Powe and use whatever $1.5-2M I think we have left to do so for a 1-2 yr deal.
I can’t believe Powe still sits. I know he’s not the Powe of old, but I think we have money left….(Sham if you’re still there come back :)).
Powe last year posted a 15.0 PER over 30 games (fairing a little better in Memphis).
majoyenrac - January 3, 2012
Whatever happened to Sham's page?
It has not been updated in a while.
THEKILLERWHALE - January 3, 2012
I know, I miss getting regular updates on the careers of Cucumber Amootay and Lasagna Diop
paddyfairview - January 3, 2012
yes...
i have been on that bandwagon since the lockout ended…
Dionysus2.0 - January 3, 2012
Thibs praising McGrady
Tribune
JustAnotherFan - January 3, 2012
always liked that other tarheel guy
Belize - January 3, 2012 via mobile
thibs wanted him organization...
y’all just failed….VET MINIMUM!!!!!
piccolomair - January 3, 2012
or he's trying to make up for telling the org to take a pass
paddyfairview - January 3, 2012
Zach Lowe on the fast-breakin' Bulls
http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012/01/03/trend-to-watch-running-of-the-bulls/
(thanks to Option ‘destroyed fanshot’ 27)
your friendly BullsBlogger - January 3, 2012
holy shit: 35% !
JustAnotherFan - January 3, 2012
This sounds stupid,
but lets see what John Lucas can do out there. CJ brings decent defense to the table, but offensively he’s a train wreck. 37 percent from the field last season, 31 percent this season.
CJ could be a decent off guard with the second unit, but I don’t like him as a point guard. In that role, he’s neither a good scorer or good distributor.
His numbers were much, much better when he was in Golden State, and though I don’t have the data in front of me I remember him being more of an off-guard than facilitator with GS. I think he’s miscast as a PG. It’s no coincidence that CJ looks good when he’s playing off of DRose.
dakoose - January 3, 2012
CJ's game is tougher in Chicago because he plays with the Bench mob
and the bench mob has offensive issues which leads to forced shots. Yes he has a lot of problems but he is ok as a 2 PG, probably more than ok
JustAnotherFan - January 3, 2012
CJ had to learn really how to play normal NBA bball
He was a product of Nellie Ball in Golden state, mostly playing with 2-3 “PG’s” at a time, in a messy, high octane no defense “system”. Nelson’s system wasn’t necessarily a bad system for the league, I mean he does have 1300+ wins and I think is the winningnest coach in the league, but it definitely breeds players who have a tough time translating their skills beyond his style, aside from the transcendant talents like a Nash or Nowitzki, etc.
So the first 2 months maybe 3 mos of the year, Watson struggled horribly, trying to learn how to play a real PG position and be a two way player. Then maybe by late Jan or Feb, I thought he came on quite nicely (his stats would improve with more PT in a pure stat sense).
What’s more this year, sure his shot isn’t falling (smaller sample size) and sure his assists are way up (Also small sample size), but I think he’s bringing it. He’s right now at a 16.4-9 per 36 minute playre and a career 13.5-4…..his PER is also at 17.3 despite that god awful small sample size, FG%, which shows how good he’s been this year to date….
Those #‘s would likely come down a bit (scoring and shooting %’s possibly up to at that level, but assists down with more burn), but I think he’s not only a solid backup PG, but one of the better in the game right now (Especially with his defense). He’s the bench mob’s admiral, and I think he’s a solid piece to our team.
As a Bull he’s almost doubled his assist per minute level while holding his scoring in check….
majoyenrac - January 3, 2012
im on the CJ bandwagon as well
OznCoop - January 3, 2012
I agree.
Sometimes he can be seen as a chucker but where else is the bench mob going to get points?
TRIPPLE OT - January 3, 2012 via Android app
I am hard on him
and perhaps he’s better than I think, but I’m not terribly happy with his play. He does occasionally have a fantastic stint off of the bench, and overall the bench does a good job, so I probably shouldn’t complain, but I’d like someone better in the position.
dakoose - January 3, 2012
We don't need anyone better playing 15 MPG at most.
C.J. if anything ideally would play more in a normal team.
Bulls should rather invest in another backup big. Boozer and Noah aren’t pillars of health, and while Asik’s good in spots off the bench, he’s not really equipped to handle every team and I think we’d be much worse off with him manning our 5 spot should Noah go down for 35 MPG. As good as Taj’s D is, he and Boozer are rather short….
I know there aren’t many tall bigs out there, but I’d rather see say my suggestion of a rotation of
Boozer (35 MPG)
Taj (35 MPG – 13 at PF, 23 at C)
Asik (23 MPG at C) and Powe as spot filler to see what he’s got at the 4 spot with Taj then more at the 5….
or conversely (and better for us given size limitations Boozer goes down)
Taj 35 MPG, Powe 13 MPG
Noah 35 MPG, Asik 13 MPG.
I’d much rather have this than worry about another backup PG. Asik’s too slow to play against many of hte quick run and gun teams, which are our biggest competitors right now (Miami, OKC, and heck even the Hawks—who play small ball with Horford at the 5 and Smith at the 4, two classic 4s, Asik would be killed in major minutes).
If Rose goes down, we’re a .500 team, good as our other pieces are, Derrick carries us into contention.
majoyenrac - January 3, 2012
Wow I can't add today :) LOL. But the gist is there.
majoyenrac - January 3, 2012
Gar said on the pregame the
other night that they will be getting another big sometime this season.
sue369 - January 3, 2012
Howard?
mick11 - January 3, 2012
Didn't mention names.
sue369 - January 3, 2012
Asik can't run?
stopped reading there. Name a center that runs better at his size than Noah?
BigforkBullsFan - January 3, 2012
Wait, he's bigger than Noah
BigforkBullsFan - January 3, 2012
I did read everything and that was the only real error.
Asik is definitely not slow. He can run with any center in the league.
runningman - January 3, 2012
Brewer has been playing so good.
I think they should keep him as a starter. Rip could provide scoring for the bench mob.
bobslob - January 3, 2012
hey look, some asshole didn't do a game preview today
If you can’t trust someone named ‘420Man’, who can you trust?
This probably can suffice for the next 2 hours.
your friendly BullsBlogger - January 3, 2012
i was gonna write a blogabull preview
then i got high.
;)
Jaina - January 3, 2012
Awesome
I had the page already open so I didn’t know anybody else had recced this. After I did, I saw that 8 other people had beat me to it.
runningman - January 3, 2012
That's my cuz
Well done. Also…
Feed? It was much easier to watch the Bulls on League Pass Broadband when they sucked.
JacksonM - January 3, 2012
i was happy i was reading the thread when he posted that comment
i didn’t want anyone else to beat me to it, lol. and was hoping it would be rec’ed by the time i came back… i was not disappointed!
Jaina - January 3, 2012
Grizzled vets?
FAQ - January 3, 2012 via mobile
I hope NBATV has Neil and Stacey
ChiTownBallz - January 3, 2012
No Rip tonight guys. He's out
D-Cas - January 3, 2012
source?
windycitywarrior - January 3, 2012
Pregame just said Rip was suiting up but not starting.
Wake - January 3, 2012
My source was Gar Forman on his radio show
Hopefully I am wrong
D-Cas - January 3, 2012
Wait...
Gar Forman has a radio show?
runningman - January 3, 2012
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