Da Bulls pt. 2/The Raptors/The Warriors

Let me talk about a few different teams here…


Chicago Bulls

Just to finish up with what I was saying before. It certainly is confusing why this team has fallen fast and hard…or is it? I was watching NBA TV on Sunday night and they were discussing the Bulls/Raps game, and when they started to get specific about the Bulls problems, the one guy (Frank Iasota although that is not how you spell his last name) pretty much laid it all out on what the problem is…no low post scoring. Well, was that not what we have been hearing for over a year now about this Bulls team? But of course, as some of us ponder and examine the issues with this Chicago team, I think that Frank is right in saying that the old problem is still today’s problem. Right now the Bulls have 3 scorers (Deng/Hinrich/Gordon) who are all shooters and who can get streaky. Add on the fact that defenses can relax in major ways off of Ben Wallace and help out with Deng and Gordon cutting off screens, and now you are looking at a team that just can’t score. Chicago and Toronto are actually quite similar except that Toronto has a Chris Bosh working inside. Both teams have the shooters to go along with it, but as we Raptor fans have seen, the shooters are only as good as the inside presence is at attracting defenses off the perimeter. The confusing part of this was the fact, and the reason why everyone (myself included) pick Chicago to do big things this year, that this team was successful without the inside man. They swept the Heat, who was not at 100% at the time of the playoffs, but a sweep is still a sweep. Chicago also got a few games against Detroit. This team was having success without the inside guy, and while that player would be nice, it was looking like it was not necessary. Well here we are one month into the season, and I guess maybe that player is necessary. Wallace is not getting younger and he is getting more and more useless by the game. Scott Skiles I think has done major damage to Tyrus Thomas’s contributions this season. Joe Smith can knock down a shot, but he is not even close to what they need. No doubt about it now, this team is going to need to make a trade. AND NO, not that Kobe trade.

This team can still pull it together and have some success with this current line-up. But with the aging Wallace in the middle, this team is just getting more and more exposed and I think we can see after these first few weeks that whatever success they had previously can not be duplicated with out making changes.

Trade Tyrus since Skiles ruined him, keep Noah, and trade Ben Gordon.



Toronto Raptors

Let’s talk about a few things. Garbo is having surgery and I think it’s now pretty clear what has been going on, and the Raps have been saying it from day one. The guy is still hurt. Now, from our standpoint, if we see a player playing and looking perfectly fine, then we do assume he is fine and give him some PT baby!! But, clearly he was not fine. Spain is attacking the Raptors management making accusations about this being punishment for Garbo playing for his national team, but that is stupid. Besides the fact that this line of thinking would assume that Colangelo is evil (revenge over an issue of national pride) it is also silly to think that this team, who is clearly driven to show success on the court, would rather punish a player instead of using him when he has been proven to be productive on the court. Even Garbo has come out recently to defend the Raptors management. So bottom line is that Garbo will be going under the knife once again, and perhaps be back for the end of the season. Hopefully this guy can still contribute down the road, because it would be a shame if we, as Raptor fans, only get ¾ of a season out of Garbo’s entire career.

Jamario Moon is the talk of the town, and besides the fact that his 15 points, 7 board, 6 block, 4 steal Sunday game pretty much won my week in fantasy basketball, he is a stud for just simply playing his role and playing to his abilities. He is staying in that starting line-up and will be in the 33-38 minutes a game range. The great thing about Moon is the fact that he has confidence, and the more comfortable he gets, the better he plays.


Golden State Warriors

I jumped on the bandwagon last spring, but last night’s game against the Suns proves why I did that. This team is fantastic. The Warriors still can’t beat teams like Utah or Boston or Houston because of the types of teams they are, but Golden State can outrun the Suns. The difference is that the Suns are built to take on the Utah’s/Boston’s/Houston’s as well. Regardless, if the Warriors keep this up and can get close to the 50 win mark, I am calling for Don Nelson as coach of the year.