- Nikdougola Mcdermotic

Yeah but if Thibs was so great why didn't the Orlando Magic grab him?

A few thoughts with punctuation:

A few thoughts with punctuation:

- Tom Thibodeau clearly got more defensively out of his teams than the talent he had. The thing that's shocking is that he may very well have gotten more offensively out of the talent he had (which he's not known for and was deeply criticized for by many). Fred "Run 'n Gun" Hoiberg is at the helm of a team who is 25th in the league in offensive efficiency, and he has - for the most part - the same level of offensive talent that Thibs had. For God sake, there were times during Thibs' tenure that Joakim Noah was running point-center. The brass may not have liked Thibs personally, but it's clear he was a pretty damn good coach. The Bulls look like they have no talent some nights, but even last year, there were people saying they were far and away the most talented and deepest team in the Eastern Conference (that was a mirage). Maybe this gets better under Hoiberg, but right now, they look poorly coached.

- From afar, Jimmy Butler seems like a turd. He's one of the best all-around 2's in the league, and his improvement is to be commended, but he seems better suited riding shotgun. I think many see him wearing the "white hat" because he's the foil to DRose, who most have grown to dislike. However, he is always making comments about the team lacking leadership in the past (and basically implying that he's now the savior), he becomes a black hole in crunch time, and after losses, he's usually going over to give a big hug to his buddies on the other team. He doesn't seem to take winning as personally as your top dog should. I think he also needs a coach with a big personality to knock his **** in the dirt now and then. Maybe that sounds meatballish, but it's just how I feel.

- Gasol plays no defense and seems disinterested at times despite all the big talk.

- Rose is a bottom third offensive point guard and is also a turd.

- Nikdougola Mcdermotic is a pair that are bad together defensively but also don't provide any real playmaking ability on the wings. And Mirotic is a streak shooter, not a pure shooter.

The talent they have doesn't appear to be championship caliber, and it seems like Thibs was probably getting more out of most of them than most coaches would. The sum of the parts was better in past years than it is now, and that's not good because they don't have as much talent as we thought.

Not an auspicious start to say the least, and Foreman may be feeling the heat if this keeps up.

Feeling what heat? The last guy who had the job was given a promotion after failing.

- Gasol plays no defense and seems disinterested at times despite all the big talk.

Massive sample size. I think you shut leash up for good.

He's in the top ten in blocks.....sample this you jag

- Gasol plays no defense and seems disinterested at times despite all the big talk.

Yeah I don't know why Thibs didn't get more credit at times for offense. It's clear that Thibs can get a team at this point in the season to something like 16-5 or whatever in his sleep. 11-8 is disappointing for Hoiberg but we'll see. It doesn't look good though when you already have guys complaining about lacking fire or passion or whatever they said earlier this year. That's the intangible thing Thibs obviously brought but has yet to be seen from Hoiberg. Not an auspicious start to say the least, and Foreman may be feeling the heat if this keeps up.

You're good, Jimmy, but you're not as good as you think. I really don't like Butler.

i like pau, but the only problem with him is that he's getting older and i think his statistical attrition can be attributed to that. my gut would say to bring him back, but only at some sort of a low price.... if he's going to command significant money/years then i think it's best to let him go, esp if he wants to play those years for a proper contender.

taj can go... noah's done, snell never started (and he'll always be remembered for those anachronistic/antiquated cornrows and bernstein's calls for someone to pull him aside and "tell him to get a damn haircut!") and obviously despite the overall regression in his game i'd still roll the dice on mirotic because there comes a point where you're going to need bodies, and if the softie-european guy realizes that his future isn't being a niche 3pt chucking big-man then things will only get better.

derrick? yeah you can put him in the "done" category too unless he pulls a MJ and basically moves into a gym and spends 8hrs/day working on his jump shot. the only way that he can be any kind of a star even in the same zipcode as he was when he won the MVP would be to kill those mid-range pull up jumpers, and at least as of right now derrick hasn't figured out that making jumpshots = the path to more $$$, so if that doesnt change in another year / year and a half then by all means let him see the door.

and i agree with the sentiments here that jimmy fancies himself to be a better player / bigger star than he is, but you can still do a lot worse than him. that said seeing as he's the one core guy you're going to build around (bobby portis era notwithstanding) you have to go out and find a #1 star for this team, cuz it's not jimmy and it sure as hell ant post-op derrick.

of course, all that said the bulls are shoulder deep in what bernstein used to call NBA hell, and i think the hoibulls as constructed are likely going to be right there smack dab in the middle of NBA hell (low playoff seeds / mid-late first picks in the draft) so if you can't get really clever and nab some sort of established super/star or burgeoning super/star in FA in the next year then you're going to have to hit the lottery and let the NBA rig you another nice pick or two. fortunately for the bulls they always draw well through thick and thin and the NBA values their international brand from the MJ days, so if the league has any say in it (which they do via the lottery) they wont let the bulls languish for too long before they can start creeping on the come up.

last time the bulls hit the lottery was during the jim boylan era, and even then it took everything jim boylan had and thensome (i.e. ben wallace suspending joakim noah for a couple'a games) to barely miss the 8th seed by like 2 games, and then with a 1.7% chance to get the #1 pick and a hometown kid going #1 the league saw $$$$ in using this rare opportunity to hook the bulls up with a potential franchise player and they did just that. if/when they get back into the lottery you know that the NBA is gonna want the bulls to be on the path to making them $$$ ASAP so they'll get hooked up.... we just have to deal with some "lean years" to set that up, and while nobody wants to be the sixers and all.... man that's better than half-assing it like you're the 2003 pistons or something because the derrick rose championship window officially closed last year (even tho it realistically was left on the court in philadelphia, and that's if it even truly existed at all)

TLDR = barring some free agency wizardry where you can scoop a super/star (i.e. someone better than jimmy butler) it's pretty much nigh time to wind this "d-rose era" thing down and get into the lottery so the NBA can hook you up with a super/star or two. and they will do that because the NBA has a vested $$$interest$$$ in seeing the bulls succeed, and they will continue to be rewarded for packing the house during the post-MJ "lean years" and continuing to do so during the eras of the "tryhard bulls" (skiles-rose) and the "super tryhard bulls" (rose-present). you need super/stars to win in this league, not a GM who can do clever homages to the 2003 pistons. go get them.

it sucks that derrick rose didn't end up being "the guy" but you can't fault all parties (NBA included) for trying.

also lol @ anyone talking about gar like he's the GM. i know bernstein was handed a revised script telling him to start referring to gar as being in charge ("THIS IS A GAR FORMAN DECISION" and etc) but we all know that paxson is the GM it's just a formality that he got bumped upstairs to make his assistant (gar) the GM so that way he never had to deal with the media again if he didnt want to. everything the bulls have done under "gar forman" has john paxson DNA all over it (and i'll let you guess what fluid/s provided the DNA =)

How can you refer to the "NBA will award Bulls for MJ" theory while simultaneously referencing an entire decade+ (1999-2015) that proves the theory is bullshit?