Joakim Noah, Tyrus Thomas Aren't Cutting It for the Bulls

If you look at half the box score of the Bulls' 113-108 loss to the suddenly high-flying Atlanta Hawks you’d think the Bulls would have handed the young Atlanta team its first loss of the year.

Derrick Rose led the way with 26 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists.  Ben Gordon and Lou Deng both put in 19 points and Andres Nocioni chipped in 20 off the bench. 

Even demoted starter Thabo Sefolosha managed to break through the lid that has generally been on the basket when he shoots and scored 13 points on 5-9 shooting.

That is just the type of all around effort that this Bulls team needs to win.  Sure they may not yet have a dominating scorer, but that type of production should produce a win.

Unfortunately there are some other players whose names—and not much more—show up in the box score.  Starting big men Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah combined for five points on 2-11 shooting.  Both of them were out-rebounded by their rookie point guard and Thomas threw in three turnovers for good measure.

These are pathetic numbers for any NBA players, but what makes it worse for the Bulls is that Thomas and Noah are both top 10 picks.  They aren’t rookies anymore, either.  Their paltry offensive display doesn’t even tell the whole story.

The Atlanta Hawks' second-year pro Al Horford, a real NBA big man, dominated Thomas and Noah to the tune of 27 points and 17 rebounds.  The Atlanta big man made it look easy.  A lot of his baskets came when he simply beat the lazy Bulls big men down the court.

Thomas can leap out of the gym, but he is no basketball player.  As for Noah I don’t really see what he can do for you on a basketball court.  He can’t score, he can’t pass, he is too skinny to defend bigger players, and all he really seems good at is whining to the refs.  Noah is like Ben Wallace without any of the talent.

It’s unfortunate because the back court of Rose and Gordon looks pretty smooth.  Deng and Nocioni both play hard out of the three spot.  The Bulls' big men are killing them and something needs to change quickly or it’s going to be a long road trip next week. Drew Gooden's return should help a little, but only a little.

Sure the Bulls haven't had a true big man, well, for a very long time.  But at least the likes of Antonio Davis, Tyson Chandler, Othello Harrington, and PJ Brown did the little things on the court.  They could all defend, they could all rebound, and they didn't turn the ball over.  I would take any of those guys on the court over the pathetic Thomas and Noah.