Chicago Bulls Breakdown: Inconsistent Bulls Miring In Mediocrity

The Bulls showed a little bit of heart, a little bit of talent, and a little bit of energy in a 113-104 win over the Nets. Unfortunately, the Bulls lose their way too easily, the prime reason they’re stuck stack dab in the middle of mediocrity.

Here’s what the Bulls did well and didn’t do well.

The Good

Derrick Rose is the real deal with a cherry on top—8-18 FG, 2-3 3FG, 4-4 FT, 6 REB, 6 AST, 1 TO, 22 PTS. He possesses a strong NBA body, an explosive first step, a lethal right to left crossover, an unselfish mindset, a willingness to attack bigger defenders, toughness to finish at the rim, and an accurate jumper from near and far.

In the endgame, Rose twice tied the game with a powerful lefty layup and then a clutch three-ball. Later, he put the game away with a difficult floater moving to his right while shooting back to his left, and for good measure, sank a couple of free throws.

Defensively, Rose’s hands were active, and he recorded a steal and a few deflections, while keeping up with Devin Harris better than most NBA point guards would. And offensively, he only forced one drive and one shot attempt.

Mental development, willpower, and supporting cast members will play a huge part of his progression, but it says here that Rose has the talent and the moxie to be the game’s next great point guard—even on the same level as Chris Paul and Deron Williams, he’s that good.

Ben Gordon—12-21 FG, 4-8 3FG, 1-1 FT, 5 REB, 6 AST, 3 TO, 2 BLK, 29 PTS—had his mojo working. He was lethal when catching and firing behind single or double screens, when he was stationed in either corner and drives and dishes located him, or in early offense against any defender. Sometimes he was even willing to drive and dish, and even kept up with Harris on the other end.

Luol Deng—5-9 FG, 3 OFF REB, 2 BLK, 11 PTS—attacked the offensive boards, and made timely cuts to the hoop.

Joakim Noah was the difference in the game—3-3FG, 8 REB, 2 AST, 3 BLK, 7 PTS—by waking up his listless teammates. For the duration, Noah never stopped running, flashing, hustling, attacking the glass, reversing the ball, filling lanes on the break, and was easily the most active player on both sides. His ability to cover ground in Chicago’s zone and when defending screens altered a number of shots, and allowed the Bulls to get up and running.

Tyrus Thomas—6-11 FG, 5 REB, 3 STL, 2 BLK, 16 PTS—showed off his pogo stick legs by swatting shots, running the floor, and finishing a number of absurd alley-oops. Like Noah, the youngster never stopped hustling.

Larry Hughes—3-10 FG, 0-3 3FG, 6 REB, 3 AST, 10 PTS—always looked for teammates under the basket in transition, flashed quick hands, and was the only Bulls player who played acceptable defense on Vince Carter.

Andres Nocioni—1-4 FG, 3 REB, 2 AST, 1 BLK, 4 PTS—joined his other frontcourt bench mates in playing with non-stop hustle.

The Bulls second unit of Noah, Thomas, Rose, Gordon, and either Hughes or Nocioni simply played with more spunk than the Nets second unit. That unit turned the tide by forcing a number of difficult shots, rebounding, and then jet-setting in transition. The second unit always pushed the ball quickly and overwhelmed the Nets with their sheer speed in a broken court.

When the Bulls were patient, there were always cutters whenever the Nets readied to show against Chicago’s wing screens. Likewise, the Bulls also sent a weak-side cutter through the line on penetration with great success.

Chicago recorded 13 blocks, impressively, many of them jump shots.

The few possessions Chicago showed zone, it was active and covered a lot of ground.

Joakim Noah made outstanding defensive rotations.

The Bulls excelled in early offense sequences, finding mismatches and attacking.

The Bulls capitalized on New Jersey’s charity, knocking down all but one of their 22 free throw attempts.

Thomas and especially Noah played with passion. Considering how each was criticized and called out by Vinny Del Negro early in the season, the effort shows a level of respect between the duo and their coach,and  that the players could handle criticism and still play hard.

Considering how poisonous last year’s locker room was, that sign might be the most hopeful one of all.

The Bad

Drew Gooden—5-14 FG, 5 REB, 1 AST, 1 TO, 1 BLK, 14 PTS—was frequently slow with his rotations, killed ball movement, and made it a habit of going up softly and getting his shots blocked at the rim. In total, Gooden missed five layup attempts.

Aaron Gray—0-2 FG, 7 REB, 2 BLK, 0 PTS—was big, slow, clumsy, and slowed the Bulls down.

If Gordon had some success stopping Harris, he was abused by every other Nets player who attacked him. The majority of Vince Carter’s 39 points came at Gordon’s expense, and when the Bulls tried to hide Gordon on Bobby Simmons, Simmons simply shot over Gordon, or punished him in the post.

The Nets started off by running Vince Carter around Devin Harris picks. Despite Harris’ lithe frame, Gordon routinely got wiped out by the screen.

Gordon also overhandled all the time, and forced a number of shots in early offense. Some went in, but on cold shooting nights, he won’t be so fortunate.

Assuming Gordon makes 50 percent of his jump shots—a fair number, considering he shoots 45 percent and misses so many layups (four against the Nets), it’s a coin flip as to whether or not Gordon’s streaky shooting will actually help the Bulls or doom them. No wonder they’re hovering right at the .500 mark.

Rose had trouble defending Carter straight up, and had lots of problems navigating screens on defense.

Deng took a few turns being left in Carter’s dust, was late on several rotations, turned his head, and didn’t appear to be fully utilized by Chicago’s offense.

Thomas‘ mind isn‘t all there. He constantly picked up brainless charges, missed rotations, failed to step in on penetration, and bricked an 18 footer than had no chance of going in.

As a team, the Bulls miss too many layups, and don’t have a reliable post threat. In fact, their entire offense is predicated on early offense, jumpers, scissor-cutters, and individual attempts to break defenses down off the bounce.

The Bulls started off with no energy whatsoever, and were fortunate that without Jarvis Hayes and Eduardo Najera, New Jersey’s bench came out flat.

Given his difficulty scoring at the rim, his penchant for taking bad shots, his incredibly streaky nature, his ability to sizzle in a broken field, his defenselessness, and his overall selfishness, it’s apparent that Ben Gordon is best suited to being a sixth man off the bench. However, in his eyes, he’s a superstar, and unfortunately for the Bulls, his opinion of himself holds the team hostage. He excelled with the Bulls second unit, but against the Nets starters, he gave back more points than he took.

While Nocioni was always aggressive, he turned his head and was beaten back door because of it.

The Bulls starters had stretches where the ball stopped, the movement stopped, and the defense stopped. That’s why the Bulls were down 15 points in the first quarter before blinking an eye.

The Bulls went under almost every screen. Fortunately the tactic worked as the Nets shot 6-23 from behind the arc.

Overall, the Bulls rebounders didn’t show a lot of power, focusing more on athleticism and effort to gather their boards than boxing out.

So what do the Bulls need to be more consistent and possibly earn a playoff berth?

• A power forward who can post up, defend the post, and box out.
• Tranquilizer darts for Tyrus Thomas
• Ben Gordon coming off the bench.
• An upgrade over Aaron Gray.
• Opponents to shoot under 30 percent from three-point range.
• The same level of energy from the starters as the bench players.
• More Luol Deng along the baseline
• Better finishers at every position but point guard.
• Consistency, consistency, consistency.

If the last quality isn’t shown, then the Bulls will be no better off than they are now: A mediocre team as capable of pulling off comeback wins at home against New Jersey, as road stinkers against the hapless Grizzlies.