Seems pretty simple to me. The team needs Gasol.

If he comes back, they win this series.

Year after year the offense just disappears come playoff time. Is that a coincidence?

I'm not a coach killer type of guy, but every year except for his first one, the Bulls under Thibs are out of gas come the post-season. Yes there have been injuries, and no I didn't expect them to win the title these past few years, but having nothing left is a direct result of Thibs running these guys into the ground during the regular season. I don't know if he has the same attitude and directives in practice as he does during the games, but if he does, then he should be fired yesterday.

Now that's not to say guys shouldn't give max effort when out on the court, but if you're going to ask your guys to go all in on the defensive end then you damn well better have a 10 man rotation during the season. You can't play your core heavy minutes and then think attrition won't set in. Adding to that, I'm not sure the Bulls have the best athletic training staff in the league either. One or two guys being injury prone or dealing with nagging issues I can see, but it's five to six players year after year. Something has to change.

I know Pax doesn't get a lot of love around here but I think the guy has done a tremendous job. He pulled the team out of the depths of obscurity and consistently brings in players of talent. I'm a big believer that a talent evaluator is the single most important part of any sports organization and Paxson, IMO, is one of the best in the league at it.

Is it Paxson's fault that Gibson, Hinrich, Noah, Butler (Deng before him) etc.. have been overworked?

Take Korver for example. When Kyle was here he struggled with his shot and didn't play up to his or our offensive expectations. He moves on to Atlanta and is back to being lethal from behind the arc. Why is that? Are guys being asked to do too much under Thibs? I think so.

There is no excuse as to why Snell and Butler prior to that can't get off the bench early in their careers. Same goes for McDermott. What's the point of drafting these guys and investing in them if they only get chances because someone else is injured. Think of Mirotic this year. Only because injuries did he see his playing time increase. Why?

Back to Snell. I bring him up a lot because I think the guy is talented. He's fearless out there and would provide some much needed athleticism on the perimeter. Unfortunately for Tony, he plays sparingly and never really gets the chance to get into a groove out on the court. It's strikingly similar to Butler's first two seasons. Jimmy couldn't sniff more than a few minutes here or there and languished on the pine because Deng needs to lead the league in minutes for some reason unknown to us, the keen observers of the passing scene. It's maddening to witness stubbornness.

"Let the record show," I was never anti Thibs prior to this season, but now, I just don't believe in his coaching ability anymore. This post season has really opened my eyes. The Bucks series should have been a sweep. And I'm with "long time guy" on this one, he was outcoached by Kidd in more than one game during that matchup. Teams have been double teaming our pg's at the top of the key year after year and we haven't adjusted. Our offense looks great when we're hitting our threes (Yes, I know all offenses do) but if we go cold from the outside, forget about it. It be nice to pick up the pace, get out and run when your shot is struggling. Sadly, one cannot do that if one has no legs.

The basketball universe lined up perfectly for the Bull this second round and yet here we are, in the same frustrating place we always find ourselves in. Cleveland has tried multiple times to give the games away to no avail. Matching basketball wits with Blatt should be an easy win for Thibs, but it hasn't materialized. It's always something. If you "have more than enough" you should be able to "do your job" coach.

With an aging Lebron, no Kevin Love and a gimpy Kyrie Irving the series should be over.

After tonight, it is.

This is going to reach a head pretty soon.

gasol isnt the only problem though

noah not being himself is a bigger problem

to have any chance at a title we need both those guys to be at the top of their game, with derrick and butler too. thats the 4 ALL STARS we need to win. we might not have a superstar, but its been proven you can still do it with 4 all stars

but we only have one all star in butler, and an on/off whatever you want to call rose, and two big guys that cant play. thats why we lost this series.

Laurence Holmes is a fucking weirdo, a nerd in denial, and a wannabe. Not a very good radio host either.

how many more years do we have gasol though? he will be another step slower next year, and i think that is our final window.

problem is the cavs will be stronger next year... lebron still has 3 or so years at full strength...

it all just sucks. we really needed to do it this year. i hate to beat a dead horse, but i think if rose came back last years playoffs, and not just sit on the bench in a suit, he would have burned his rust off then.

Matches I agree with everything in this particular post. People have been blasting Paxson ad nauseum but the people that follow the NBA really believe in the Bull's talent. People here are talking about him being the second best coach in the league. Bullshit. Where are the adjustments? Anyone that wants to see coaching should have watched Doc vs Popovich. That was coaching. Even Kerr made a helluva adjustment last night. He put Bogut on Tony Allen and basically left Allen all alone so Bogut could double team the post positions. This notion that Bulls will be in trouble if they let Thibs go is a fallacy. He yells screams and definitely had the fire and the passion but he gets out coached far too often for my liking. There is no way that Butler should have continued to guard James after he picked up two early fouls. Either you switch someone else onto him or you send a double. You could have put someone else on him and still send a double. No way Butler should have continued to guard him if he could not be as aggressive as he needed to be on defense.

I think we'e on the same wavelength when it comes to NBA buckets.

I don't know if Holberg is the answer, but I do firmly believe that short of a Finals appearance, it's time for a change on the Bull's sideline. Prior to the Thibs hiring, (which I was fine with at the time) I was advocating for Hornacek to get a shot solely based on being in the point guard driven system of Utah for so long. Does Rod Strickland deserve a shot this time around?

I don't want Lawrence Frank, Mike Woodson or some other guy on his third try at coaching in the league. Give me a fresh perspective this time around.

This is going to reach a head pretty soon.

Is a guy like Sam Cassell ready to be a head coach. If you're going to college ranks would it be Kevin Ollie. I think Thibs is not a championship level coach. I have come to that conclusion. He is good enough to get you to the playoffs but he is not good enough to win you a series that you are not supposed to win. The truly great coaches have done that at various times of their career.

Not gonna cheer for injuries on an opposing team, but it'll be a cold day in hell when I feel the slightest bit of remorse for them either. Kinda wish the crowd wasn't overpopulated by asswipes chanting 'Cleveland Sucks' at James' back getting (allegedly) hurt ... about on par with "CRAW-FERRRRRD" chants.

it seems like everyone on cleaveland can hit 3's at will. i hate this

If they lose this I'll be fine if Thibs goes. They do not look well-coached. Not in this series and really not against a bad Bucks team. Bad substitutions. Horrendous in-bounds plays. Extended offensive droughts. Continually bad defense on 3 point shots. It's certainly not all on the coach but enough of it is.

i have to agree. year after year we just suck in the playoffs. but some of it is on pax for not getting any god damn shooters on this team.

Now we'll have to hear about the Bulls losing to a team without 2 of their 3 best players. King James reigns.

This is some real ass NBA shooting.