Nas,
Looks like the numbers are converging an their respective career averages as the season wears on.
I expect to see Wallace at the all star game while Tyson is back home in Cali.

I'm also setting the O/U on Kobe's points @39 for tomorrow.

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“Mmmm. Move over, eggs. Bacon just got a new best friend - fudge.”

I will take the over on Kobe. None of the Bulls' perimeter players are interested in guarding on a consistent basis.

I will also set the over/under on Wallace rebounds at 18 and blocks at 3.

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Yea, Nas isn't rooting against him he was just making a point about spending and age.

As I said earlier, give Wallace some time. He's going to play well down the stretch and we got this guy for playoff leadership.

I know WR.
I'm not fu@king with a man who could be housin (see the Tank Johnson posts)

Actually this is the 180 (or 360 if you're J. Kidd) of the Soriano thread.
Nas thinks that Ben's contract is too costly and too long - I say who cares if they win. See the Soriano thread for the mirror image.

Watch out for the Bulls after the all star game.
The young legs & deep rotation really pay off in March & April.
It's been their MO the last 2 seasons.

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“Mmmm. Move over, eggs. Bacon just got a new best friend - fudge.”

Obviously, I'm more optimistic than I was during the circus trip, but before we all start drinking the Kool-Aid again (which is bound to happen when the team wins 11 out of 12), consider who they have beaten over the past 3 weeks. These Eastern Conference teams are terrible. They've been terrible on the road and against the West. Let's not annoint them yet.
Wallace has been great, but he's played 48 and 49 minutes the last two games. He can't keep that up for very long.

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"Tubby? Oh yes, Tubby."

Well, last season they won a lot of games in the last two weeks because they were playing a bunch of teams that had given up on their seasons. That's how they "surged" to .500 and the playoffs.

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Well, 5 of their last 10 games were against teams that were clearly out of it--Orlando, Boston, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Toronto. Then there were games against New Jersey, which I'm pretty sure already had its playoff position locked up, and two against Philadelphia, which was contending but didn't seem to be playing very hard. I don't remember for sure if Miami already had its spot nailed down, too, but I think they might've.

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Boston finished the season with 33 wins and was not "fighting" for anything. They blew last year and rarely played hard.

Orlando finished with 36 wins and surged towards the end of the season, but was mathematically eliminated from playoff contention by the time the Bulls beat them near the end of the schedule.

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Not sure what point you're trying to make with the article link, as it confirms that the Magic were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention before playing the Bulls. They had the Bulls down by double-digits, but the Bulls fought back ferociously because they still had something to play for...

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Sure, but they pulled many of those games out because they had more to play for than their opponents.

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Nas, I'm sorry. You just crack me up sometime with these battles you get in. Bringing in various references. Love it.

Nas,
I'm totally with you on this one.

For whatever reasons, more to play for, opponents rolling over, or as I believe younger team & a deeper rotation, the Bulls really bring it come March & April.
They were 17-10 & 18-11 over those months the last 2 seasons.

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“Mmmm. Move over, eggs. Bacon just got a new best friend - fudge.”

And it's a good thing too becuase they always suck ass in October/November.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Hubie Brown always used to say that a lot of teams stop playing hard in the last month when their playoff hopes dim. The Bulls were clearly a beneficiary of this dynamic last season. Nas' blowout statistic is irrelevant. The Bulls weren't good enough last season to blow out too many teams unless they were really dogging it.

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The way I remember it, Philly was muscling for position and the Boo dispatched them in crushing fashion. From what I recall, Philly very much wanted it; they were simply unable to go through the Bull to get it.

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You can't see me because of internet.

The landowner effectively owns part shares in millions of part-time slaves called, "taxpayers." -Roy L
A Personal Relationship with Jesus?

Maybe you're right. I do know, though, that the Bulls radio and TV announcers have talked for the past years about Philly's inconsistent effort level. They are a team that is often unwilling to match the intensity of a high-effort opponent.

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That's good. He's putting up better numbers than Ben. One thing I'll say about Ben, though, is at least you can throw the ball into the post to him without fear it's going to bounce off his head. Tyson has the worst hands ever. Ben is pretty good at finding a cutter once he has the ball or finding the open man on the perimiter. All Tyson can do with the ball in his hands is get an offensive foul.

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"Tubby? Oh yes, Tubby."

His rebounding numbers are impressive. But his scoring is below his career high levels (6.3 vs 8.0) and his FT% is way down (42.5% makes Ben Wallace numbers look alright). The question with Chandler is will he actually improve and be a double double guy or be a skinny version of Ben Wallace?

He's a skinny Ben Wallace.

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You can't see me because of internet.

The landowner effectively owns part shares in millions of part-time slaves called, "taxpayers." -Roy L
A Personal Relationship with Jesus?

This thread is TL;DR.

Bottom line is that its irrelevant, Chandler could never get good numbers in Chicago due to the system and his own mental problem.

I always assumed Chandler was the problem, not Skiles. But now it looks like Skiles may not be the coach many thought he was. I certainly don't like what he's doing with Thomas and Sefolosha.

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Look deeper and you'll find the most significant number.
Tyson's fouls are down from 3.8 per game last year to 3.5 per game this year. This allows his minutes to increase by 26% from 27mpg to 34mpg.

Of course you're production will increase when you're on the floor for 7 more minutes.
Skiles was always riding Tyson for his "lazy" fouls, and it looks like Tyson finally figured out a way to avoid them.

If you look at comparable stats per 48 minutes the trend is :

2006/7 - pts 10.7 reb 16.4 min 33.7
2005/6 - pts 9.4 reb 16.2 min 26.8
2004/5 - pts 14.0 reb 17.0 min 27.4
2003/4 - pts 13.1 reb 16.6 min 22.4
2002/3 - pts 18.2 reb 13.5 min 24.4

It looks to me that to his credit, Tyson finally figured out a way to stay out of foul trouble.
Maybe Skiles did have him wound up too tight & playing too aggressive.

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“Mmmm. Move over, eggs. Bacon just got a new best friend - fudge.”

As we reach the All-Star Break, Tyson Chandler is outplaying Ben Wallace.

Shocking... but true.

PPG, RPG...

Is his competition LESS than what the Bulls face? I can't think it's THAT much easier. After all, he doesn't get to face the lowly New Orleans Hornets a few times a year.

I think that's only part of it; I suspect he's also just flat-out getting more minutes as well. Your number-crunching confirms my suspicions, though: he hasn't improved appreciably since entering the league in lackluster fashion.

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You can't see me because of internet.

The landowner effectively owns part shares in millions of part-time slaves called, "taxpayers." -Roy L
A Personal Relationship with Jesus?

You were right the first time. Skiles is in a tough position of trying to bring along these two new guys, when his current core itself is young. As it is, the starters are already prone to turnovers and long periods where they have difficulty scoring; how do you suggest Skiles works in two guys who turn the ball over and and have difficulties scoring? Don't get me wrong, I like these two guys, but you have to look at the situation and realize it's not as easy as just giving them more minutes, particularly given the fact that they've been struggling against mediocre competition. Faced with the choice of getting "W's" or developing the new talent, Skiles is forced to favor the former (whoa, accidental alliteration addled my argument).

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You can't see me because of internet.

The landowner effectively owns part shares in millions of part-time slaves called, "taxpayers." -Roy L
A Personal Relationship with Jesus?

To get Thomas more playing time, I would take away time from Sweetney and/or Brown. Sweetney obviously has a post-up game that Thomas doesn't, but he is too fat and short to use it that effectively on a consistent basis. He also can't play defense at all, commits dumb fouls (like Thomas), and doesn't run the floor well. Brown is stiff, slow, old and bad. His play might actually be helped by reducing his minutes. So while I don't think Thomas should be playing starter's minutes, the opportunity is there to play him more. He is improving and has the kind of defensive aggressiveness, rebounding skill and all-around athleticism that no one else on the team shows. There are clearly drawbacks to playing him, but the positives outweigh the negatives, imo.

Sefolosha is the best defender of the Bulls guards, who frequently get abused on defense. He needs to see the floor more, too. He tends to commit his turnovers when Skiles plays him at the point, which is a mistake. Sefolosha should always play the 2 or 3, and I think he'll be fine.

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There may be a night that Tyson puts up the same numbers as Ben did tonight (14 pts, 19 reb, 5 asst, 7 blk), but not in a big game against a rival on the road. Big Ben was by far the best player on the Bulls tonight. Maybe Pappy will get off his case now.

I didn't see it your way when the trade was made, but I'm seeing it this way now. Tyson's improvement is one alarm about Skiles. The other is how much better Eddy Curry is doing with (gulp) Isiah coaching him. That's truly a major alarm about Skiles that Isiah is getting more out of Curry than Skiles did.

Lets see how Big Ben does against Detroit, I am optimistic after watching the 2nd half tonight. He had the piston flavor of Big ben tonight, awesome, I think his fro block 2 of those 6 shots

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"Stay out of courtrooms-but if you must go in be Well Armed and Don't compromise. You are innocent, remember that. They are guilty" -- Dr. Gonzo

He's 2 years older and more experienced now.

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You can't see me because of internet.

The landowner effectively owns part shares in millions of part-time slaves called, "taxpayers." -Roy L
A Personal Relationship with Jesus?