[Grades] Grades v. Bulls 3/21/11

Reke returns Friday for the last 12 gms. Predict how many we'll win:

  • 0-1

    Votes: 7 12.5%
  • 2-3

    Votes: 28 50.0%
  • 4-5

    Votes: 13 23.2%
  • 6-7

    Votes: 4 7.1%
  • 8-9

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 10-11

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 12...or even more!

    Votes: 4 7.1%

  • Total voters
    56

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Alright Reke, we need you back. This ain't fun anymore.

This kind of thing has always meant girls. Of course I've gone through so many girls in the last few years that you're probably going to see your mom pop up one of these times. So a challenge of sorts was suggested in the comments -- do a Pretty Girls thread entirely composed of girls who are not primarily pretty -- female athletes, who's primary job is being athletic, not beautiful (indeed, athletically its generally an advantage to have a more masculine build (fewer curves, more muscles)). And to further make things difficult (and probably to avoid the flood of tennis hotties) to make it composed entirely of women in sports that nobody watch....er..."sports without a ball". Challenging? Sure. But we'll give it a go.

Here is the upcoming schedule for the games after Reke returns if it effects your poll choice:
3/25 @IND
3/27 @PHL
3/29 PHX
3/30 @DEN
4/01 DEN
4/03 UTH
4/05 @HOU
4/06 @SAS
4/08 @MEM
4/10 @GSW
4/11 OKC
4/13 LAL

Hide the women and children -- we're fresh out of patsies.

Official Boxscore

Garcia ( C+ ) -- kind of epitomized our game with back to back great open court hustle steals late in the first quarter...followed by back to back dumb pass attempts leading to a turnover and a near turnover so that we didn't get points out of it. Hit a three early in the third, but it was just a lone play as the blowout kicked into full gear. Came close on several blocks that ended up being called fouls. Added several jumpers late in the third, but it wasn't competitive by then. No boardwork, again.
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Bia and Branca Feres -- this was the discovery in my quick research that made me decide that this topic was doable. Admirable even. Once again a pretty girls thread saved by Brazil, which seems to crank out more hotties than Columbia does coffee beans. Sure, they are synchronized swimmers, a sport which no straight male has ever actually witnessed. But they are hot, and get this, they are twins. So hot twin Brazilian girls in swimsuits -- you couldn't write a better script. That's the way to kick off a pretty girls theme.

Cousins ( D+ ) -- came out early loking to score, but from the start he was again chased off the post and turned inton a jumnpshooter by a strong post defender. And again was trying to force passes that were not there. Got his assists again, and is working particularly well with Daly at this point -- if we do change coaches in the offseason, one concern I would have is is he going to have the cahones to keep Daly and Cousins together out there?. Clearly flustered by Noah on defense when he tried to go inside, but made enough jumpers to keep things respectable. But what wasn't were the 8 TOs, and I think seems to be showing some of the same mental sloppiness he showed in Vegas when he tired for the final few games. Think you could calssify it as getting tired and so trying to take shortcuts. Rather than move and work, shoot a jumper, or try to instantly create a hoop wiht a spectacular pass that has no chance. Tried to throw one of those fullcourt football passes, but got it picked off by Kutcher playing free safety. That was TO 7. Went down the other way, looked unsure of how he wanted to attack, and so shuffled his feet -- that was turnover 8. Etc. Added two airballs as he didn't know how to attack and so just settled.
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Leryn Franco -- let's go for back to back South American winners here with this part time Paraguayan model (with here own calendars) who finished 2nd in the Miss Paraguay paegent, and who oh, btw, is also a two time Olympian as a javelin thrower.

Dalembert ( C ) -- not able to get on track early, and late on his challenges of Boozer. Began to receive good passes from Thornton and Cousins as the game went along, and doing a nice job in the pick and rolll. One on one stuff had no chance against this defense, but was working off the ball and able to take passes. Started the third with a little push, but not nearly enough to cause any serious problems for the Bulls.
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Kristi Leskinen -- top freestyle skier who can do a respectable turn as a ski bunny

Thornton ( A- ) -- hey, somebody came to play. And really in this one you could just see a vast gulf between Marcus's energy/effort and that of the rest of the team. Again flashing passing skills even he did not know he had, and attacking at full speed in the open court. Because he was feeling the team's lack of energy or cohesion I suspect, a few too many times tryied to do it all himself on offense, but at least SOMEBODY wasn't back on their heels. Very active on defense racing around the passing lanes, again as kind of a one man gang, I do btw think its important this not continue, because one guy busting his butt in a game and nobody else joinging him is a route for that one player to lose respect for his teammates and sour on things. Really agrgessive and you could see him trying his damndest to keep us in it. Sagged everytime the bulls scored off of a mistake, then went back on the attack. Slwoed a bit after half, and of course wasn't there for the long LOGN stretch fo garbagetime. But did everythign he could while he was out there.
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Gina Carano -- a top women's MMA fighter and former muay thai boxer, making this woman mad could be detrimental to your health.
 
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Udrih ( C ) -- aggressive in the first half trying to counter Rose I suppose, but not especially efficient. And a lot of it was just that the Bulls were taking away our plays, so Beno was often in chicken with its head cut off mode dribbling around looking for some opening to get up a shot. Got swarmed up top and just got the ball flat taken away from him several times. Saved his best play, and the numbers to get this out of bad grade range, for the semi0-garbaetime of the early 4th when we were already down 25.
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Amanda Beard -- former Olympic swimmer who got noticed for more than just her breaststroke, and eventually went on to appear in Playboy

Bench

Thompson ( D- ) -- ineffective all game long as obviously a swarming defensive team swiping at every ball is a nightmare for JT. Continued his month of awful touchitis -- he's shooting .430 this month, and only .545 from the line, after being around 49% for most of the season. Along with Omri and Donte seems a little confused about how you are supposed to make an argument for being on next year's squad.
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Katarina Witt -- and while we're on the topic of former Olympians in Playboy...this woman put vavavoom into ice skating throughout the late 80s and early90s (I forget when she retired) and was so famous for it that when she did Playboy (a much more..interesting...um...article than Ms. Beard's...or so I've heard...) the magazine sold out every copy for the first time since Marilyn in the 50s.

Jeter ( D ) -- a bog ole ball of nothing. Nothing in a short first half stint as he tried to take a charge, and failed. Tried to get too fancy and on a 3-2 and failed to get us points we should have had. Settled for a quieter form of nothing in the garbaetime as the Bulls continued piling on the points, and just did nothing at all. Apparently used up all his mojo the night before.
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Niki Gudex -- no, that's not a model on a mountain bike. Its a real professional mountain biker. I don't know anything about the sport but can only assume it has male/female divisions. Because otherwise all she'd have to do to win is wear that outfit, and drop that look on guys as she was passing them, and she would cause a 10 bike pileup.

Casspi ( F ) -- you know, I have been holding off on giving most of these guys Fs, but no, here is one right here. Omri -- snap out of it. People like you, like your story, and generaly think with their hearts rather than their heads about your future. But I am a realist, and I am telling you right now if you don't close this season strong you are in severe, and I do mean severe, danger of losing your job. Maybe even your roster spot. Omri was ineffective in the first half as our bench crew shot a disastrous 4-22 and gave us absolutely nothing behind an already overmatched starting group. Then in the garbagetime watched Korver repeatedly drain threes in his face as the latest opponent to benefit from the Omri effect. Got a mopup o-reb and finish on the break, otherwise missed shots, turned it over. And we've got a likely Top 5 pick and $20 million in capspace to address the position. Now or never Omri.
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Danica Patrick -- some no name racecar driver nobody has heard of. Thought this pic captured the spirit of the whole thign pretty well.
 
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Jackson ( C- ) -- in late and hit a long jumper. Added some FTs i what is becomig a monotonous strong of score points do nothing else performances. In fact in his last 5 games he has scored 21 points...and grabbed ZERO rebounds. Even in garbagetime that amoutst to a big "come on now" for a thickly built 6'9" guy.
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Lokelani McMichael -- hey, so we get a hot Hawaian triathlete/surfer this late in the theme? For the win!

Greene ( D ) -- just refuses to give himself any sort of break here. Coming off a great performance comes out and just...nothing Bet you didn't know that nothing was spelled with a D, but that's my theory. Not awful because he was barely even there. Missed a corner three. and a wild spinning thing in the final minute. Otherwise quiet as a church mouse. His position differs from Omri's only in that I think at this point his goose is already cooked, if its going to be cooked. Sincerely doubt he's going to get the minutes to make an impresion this late in the season even if there is an impression to be made.
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Alicia Sacramone -- to show you just how quickly this young lady's 15 minutes was up, I actually had to run a quick google search to remember her name only a couple of years after she got famous in Bejing. But she is still pixie cute, and she's no dummy either, with a degree from Brown. So I'm sure she'll get over it.

Taylor ( C+ ) -- maybe our only bencher who showed any lfie, even if it was out of control life, and just unfortunately squashed to the benche because he guy ahead of him was the starter showing by far the most life (Thornton). So was reduced to running throught the garbaetime. Big offensive rebound in the early 4th, and hit a three a few minutes later. Made an athletic steal up top late in the garbagetime, but heavily challened and unable to finish the attempt on the other end. Nothing spectacular, but compared to the rest of the bench was Jordan out there.
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Tanith Belbin --who I think is an ice dancer? I had several options here, but just thought she looked very pretty in this shot, so why not for the 11th and final spot. Ta da! Did it! 11 sports without balls hotties, as per request. 12 if you double count the twins. :)
 
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Alright Reke, we need you back. This ain't fun anymore.


So that we only lose these games by 30 instead of 40?


I keed, I keed.

Seriously though. F- all around, with the exception of Thorton, who is such a baller he probably wont re-sign with us. Westphail gets an F---. Our roster is not this crappy. The Bulls are great, and I expected a double digit loss tonight, but 40 pts?!?!
 
All I know, is coming off a 30+ pt victory last night, and playing the #1 team in the east, you should be fired up. As a player, you always get up for the best teams. So....WTH happened?

^^^^^^
I'd like to meet Gina
 
How about "hot female athletes that doesn't play with balls". :D
Taekwondo, bobsleds, rowing, etc.

We could try that. Alas, I have no prepping on that, and no independent knowledge really aside from Danika and Ms. Carano. Maybe a gymnast or two. And in a blowout where everybody played...well, we'll see. Got an ice skater in mind too.
 
I can help by introducing Carmen Schaefer of the Swiss Curling Team...
I bet many on this forum don't even know what Curling is. I bet they won't even care. :p

This is her doing sports:

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This is her doing something else:

Carmen-Schäfer2.jpg
 
Here is the upcoming schedule for the games after Reke returns if it effects your poll choice:
3/25 @IND
3/27 @PHL
3/29 PHX
3/30 @DEN
4/01 DEN
4/03 UTH
4/05 @HOU
4/06 @SAS
4/08 @MEM
4/10 @GSW
4/11 OKC
4/13 LAL

Well, Denver is in there, and traditionally (meaning the past two seasons) we somehow manage to beat them from time to time, so we do have a shot at a victory at some point. On the other hand, they seem to have gotten a lot better now that they got rid of Melo, so who knows..
 
I stopped watching this game after a 1st quarter. I left my house thinking we played fairly well in the first quarter offensively so I expected the game to be a little closer. I come home and see we lose by 40? Wtf? I know the Bulls are the number one team in the East and all but come on now, what happened to the Kings that play hard every night and barely get blown out? I expected a Bulls win but not by that much, no one did. I mean 22-10 turnovers, Chicago scored 30 or more points in every single quarter and I looked at the boxscore and nearly every bull that scored barely missed. It also did not help they shot 60% for the game. Marcus Thornton was the only guy who showed up it seems, not surprising there. He needs to be resigned, absolutely! Last but not least, Cousins...sigh, 8 turnovers? What the hell man...I saw two or three of them in the first, I can't say what the others were but I'm assuming it was him trying to dribble between his legs with traffic and maybe a charge or two in there. On the little I saw in this game, he was pretty much the whole 1st quarter at the top of the key, for whatever reason...I don't know?? -_-. Jesus help us all if we can't utilize our 270 pound CENTER properly, we are doomed til that happens.

PS; what's this I hear Tyreke coming back Friday? Is it confirmed?
 
We could try that. Alas, I have no prepping on that, and no independent knowledge really aside from Danika and Ms. Carano. Maybe a gymnast or two. And in a blowout where everybody played...well, we'll see. Got an ice skater in mind too.

Perhaps I can refer you to some surfer girls
 
I stopped watching this game after a 1st quarter. I left my house thinking we played fairly well in the first quarter offensively so I expected the game to be a little closer. I come home and see we lose by 40? Wtf? I know the Bulls are the number one team in the East and all but come on now, what happened to the Kings that play hard every night and barely get blown out? I expected a Bulls win but not by that much, no one did. I mean 22-10 turnovers, Chicago scored 30 or more points in every single quarter and I looked at the boxscore and nearly every bull that scored barely missed. It also did not help they shot 60% for the game. Marcus Thornton was the only guy who showed up it seems, not surprising there. He needs to be resigned, absolutely! Last but not least, Cousins...sigh, 8 turnovers? What the hell man...I saw two or three of them in the first, I can't say what the others were but I'm assuming it was him trying to dribble between his legs with traffic and maybe a charge or two in there. On the little I saw in this game, he was pretty much the whole 1st quarter at the top of the key, for whatever reason...I don't know?? -_-. Jesus help us all if we can't utilize our 270 pound CENTER properly, we are doomed til that happens.

PS; what's this I hear Tyreke coming back Friday? Is it confirmed?

i think he has lost a lot of his confidence in his mid range game and then hes also afraid of getting a charge when he goes inside so he hasnt really been doing anything with the ball lately except trying to make good passes which fail probably 70 percent of the time.

And lol R2D2
 
I think having Cuz at the top of the key trying to make Rondo style passes has jumped the shark.

Post him up and let him do what he does best.
 
and i was GOING to vote 3 or 4 wins... so in a rare bout of optimism i split to the upper of that... although i really think 5 wins is a near impossiblity, UNLESS it proves necessary to screw the team out of 5 draft positions somehow...
 
Is anyone else ready to dump/trade JT? He's totally regressed to a point that he's pretty much useless other than for acting as another big body. He doesn't set good screens, his passing is horrendous, he can't make a shot to save his life, he doesn't rebound. And this is a guy who stayed in college and is in his 3rd NBA year. Honestly, I think we're better off without him.
 
Is anyone else ready to dump/trade JT? He's totally regressed to a point that he's pretty much useless other than for acting as another big body. He doesn't set good screens, his passing is horrendous, he can't make a shot to save his life, he doesn't rebound. And this is a guy who stayed in college and is in his 3rd NBA year. Honestly, I think we're better off without him.

I'm not. He'll be a good roleplayer and bench support. He's had some very decent games this year.
 
I'm not. He'll be a good roleplayer and bench support. He's had some very decent games this year.

And how long are we going to wait for him to become a good roleplayer? He isn't rebounding the ball, isn't finishing plays, bricks his FTs, and he's 25 years old. Oh, and he's pretty much the same player that he was in his first year, or possibly worse. I'm sick and tired of watching him grab offensive rebounds and immediately go up with a shot that he almost always never makes. He doesn't even have the brains to kick the ball back out and let the team reset.

If you can watch JT play his usual game and not for a moment wonder to yourself how useless he is, then you really have lots and lots of patience.

I agree though, he's had some very decent games this year and even carried us in 1 or 2 of them. But that isn't enough to make me want to re-sign him, given his overall play for the rest of the games he's played. He can possibly be a decent roleplayer off the bench for us, but at the moment our bench is too weak to win games with JT playing the way he does. If we can build a better bench then he has the potential to fit in.
 
If we assume the starters next year are Cousins and Dalembert, finding that player to replace JT who still is not disappointed to come off the bench is going to be difficult. On the great teams, that person might be an aging vet but no aging vet is going to come here to finish out his career. They go to teams to get rings.
 
Is anyone else ready to dump/trade JT? He's totally regressed to a point that he's pretty much useless other than for acting as another big body. He doesn't set good screens, his passing is horrendous, he can't make a shot to save his life, he doesn't rebound. And this is a guy who stayed in college and is in his 3rd NBA year. Honestly, I think we're better off without him.

People have to have a realistic view of what third bigs look like, even on good teams. JT is not badly outclassed, if at all, amongst that group of players. And the key thing is price. Sure, you would love to have a third big as good as the Lakers have, but there are only so many dollars to go around, and you just can't afford to pay a third guy starter's money to keep him from jumping ship.
 
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Is anyone else ready to dump/trade JT? He's totally regressed to a point that he's pretty much useless other than for acting as another big body. He doesn't set good screens, his passing is horrendous, he can't make a shot to save his life, he doesn't rebound. And this is a guy who stayed in college and is in his 3rd NBA year. Honestly, I think we're better off without him.

You'll get no argument from me.
 
Poeple have to have a realistic view fo what thrid bigs look like, even on good teams. JT is not badly outclassed, if at all, amongst that group of players. And the key thing is price. Sure, you woul love to have a thrid big as good as the Lakers have, but there are only so many dollars to go around, and you just can't afford to pay a thrid guy starters money to keep him from jumping ship.

That, too. I think JT is just fine in the position he has on the team and the price he commands now and in the future. This may sound hokey and maybe demeaning but you have to look at the team needs, money available as well as individual talent or lack thereof. I have said before that for this team, the bigs of Dalembert, Cousins, and JT and even what's his name on the bench (sorry) is just right and pretty scary to most if not all other teams.

Let me add, the three bigs we have now can be with the team for the next 5 years and we don't have to worry about the position. We have Hassan Whiteside in the wings to take over the Dally role. If he can't do it, find someone else but the next 5 years are taken care of. That's a luxury few teams have.
 
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Poeple have to have a realistic view fo what thrid bigs look like, even on good teams. JT is not badly outclassed, if at all, amongst that group of players. And the key thing is price. Sure, you woul love to have a thrid big as good as the Lakers have, but there are only so many dollars to go around, and you just can't afford to pay a thrid guy starters money to keep him from jumping ship.

Spot on!

Here is the thing, people have had over inflated expectations from JT. I mean some where comparing him to Webber and expecting 18/10/2 type stat line from him...never going to happen. What you have in JT is just about as good a 3rd big as you can hope for. He has length, is a good rebounder and brings energy off the bench. Although inconsistent with his offence, he can also give you some points. He is a PF that can play some C and has developed into a reasonable defender. Thats as much as you can hope for from a 3rd big, or a 1st big off the bench. In that role, there aren't many player better than him.

JT even said himself, that he is not against being a bencher as long as there is some consistency about it as opposed to what he has put up with over the last couple of years...start at PF, back to bench, start at C, back to bench, start at SF, back to bench as a SF....that would do anybody's head in.

With Dalembert and Cousins as starters, then JT is as good as you need off the bench and if Whiteside develops at a reasonable rate where he could play some spot minutes next year and be productive, then that front court rotation is set. You could always splash out some starter like $$$ and bring in someone like Nene and have a 4 headed monster in Dalembert-Cousins-Nene-JT front court but thats might be a bit of an overkill as there is not too much money to go around

Alternatively, we could keep our frontcourt as is and add a guy like Kirilenko who is needed can play some PF against guys who might be too quick for the Dalembert-DMC-JT froncourt. Players like Odom, West, Landry, Marion etc could be matched up with Kirlienko if needed.

I think our frontcourt is good enough as is and I would look to add a versatile 3 that can play some PF on certain match ups (eg Kirilenko or if Greene every fulfills his potential). Point is there is only so much money to go around and as great as it sounds to have starter like quality coming off the bench at every position, that is just not possible. The team that is stacked in frontcourt, generally lacks perimeter depth and vice verca
 
I'm starting to come around to Kirilenko. The more versatility we have, the better.
 
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