Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Not that is should be too surprising at this point...

...but Vinny Del Negro seemingly only knows one inbounds play from half court. He runs the play every single time the Bulls are in a late game situation after a timeout. I'm using some hyperbole here, because to call what the Bulls ran from two consecutive inbounds plays (after timeouts no less) a "play" is generous to say the least. Here is the ideal outcome from VDN's late game inbounds play. Free up Rose at the top the key and.......that's it. That's where the play ends. After that it's up to Rose (when he is lucky enough to get the ball) to make something happen. Oddly, as a Bulls fan this is OK to me...would I rather put the game in Rose's hands or in the hands of a scripted VDN play? That's an easy call. But this also begs the question, if that's the optimal result of the inbounds, why even call the timeout...Rose generally has the ball when you call the timeout and then you run a play to try and get it back into his hands? Does that seem dumb to anyone else? You already have the desired result of your "play" (Rose with the ball) but you're going to take your chances on getting it back to him with the same play twice in 10 seconds? It doesn't make any sense to me.



My main issue is that he runs the same set literally every time the Bulls have an inbounds play at half court with a game on the line (again, liberal use of "play"). As a point of reference, my 7th grade basketball team had eight variations of inbounds plays....eight. On VDN's master stroke, Rose sets up on just inside the 3 point line, gets a screen (usually from Noah or Miller) and runs toward mid court. From here there are no more moving parts to the play, no semblance of a set play they have been practicing since the preseason. It becomes "OK let's see what Rose can do here"...which, like I said above, with this team/coach, isn't the worst option. This "method" worked with 19 seconds left last night when Rose was able to take Courtney Lee off the dribble and hit a runner for a 100-99 lead...but with 14 seconds left, it not only didn't work but there wasn't any effort to get the ball back into Rose's hands when it didn't work even though there was ample time to do so. Instead, Salmons did his best Ben Gordon impression (it's easy to do....dribble (x 5) without moving anywhere, chuck up a 3 with a defender in your face) and practically handed the Nets the game.

You can give some of the blame to Rose who should have ran to Salmons and torn the ball from his hands...he apparently still isn't completely stepping into that "take charge" role the Bulls need him to as an elite PG (would CP3 or Nash allow someone else to run the show in that moment? Nope....I almost said Billups too, but he has Melo and it's ok to defer to Melo). Whoever deserves the most blame, the Bulls just lost to the 2-19 Nets at home. And that's indefensible.




Nick Friedell's Blog - ESPNChicago.com


The Bulls head coach didn't speak for a few moments. What was he going to say? How was he going to explain that his team had just lost to the worst team in the NBA? How could he explain that the team's best player didn't get the ball when the game was on the line? What about his job security?



The problem with a loss like the one the Bulls suffered on Tuesday night is that it's the kind of loss that brings all these bad questions to the forefront. It's the type of loss that sticks with a team for a while. And, most importantly, it's the type of loss that can get a coach fired.


Rockets' Chuck Hayes agrees that LeBaby's in-game dance moves are inappropriate


“To showboat another professional, it's disrespectful. If you feel disrespected, do something about it within the game, nothing dirty. Eventually, all the dancing and acting will stop. They only do it when they're up big.”

3 comments:

2j said...

7th grade team? I know my 4th grade team had more options on inbound plays ... you know what I'm talking about ... LINE and BOX!

mgasser said...

Don't forget to mention that VDN does not know how to use his timeouts! First of all, I have no faith in him drawing up plays. And, when he calls a timeout after every posession in a close game and uses his last timeout when there is still game left to be played so that when we really need one (like when the opponent is shooting free throws and we need to go the length of the court) we don't have any Timeouts left to get the ball at half court. He does this all the time and it pisses me off.

There has been a HUGE difference in the coaching since Del Harris left. I think VDN has a huge negative impact on the team. I say we can win more close games if VDN get's ejected before the second half.

On a good note, it was good to see Rose be more agressive earlier in the game and continue it at the end of the game. Seems like he was a lot more comfortable being agressive and when he plays more free and agressive he makes his teammates better. He had 10 assists last night which might be a season high and we had 3 players score over 20 points probably for the first time all season.

One more thing about VDN and Rose. VDN subbed out Rose with 1:21 in the first half when we're down by 6. I think that was a critical moment for the Bulls to have a strong finish and cut that lead going into halftime. Rose needs to be out there to make things happen (especially because he was taking the ball to the basket at will during the span before that). Instead he put in Hunter and gave the Point to Pargo. What happened? Pargo turned it over then committed a foul on the other end. Other posessions just looked sloppy.

We just lost to the worst team in the NBA (all though VDN would say they're good now) at home! Maybe we're waiting until 2010 but let's not play for the #1 draft pick this year.

DC said...

Oh you know we rocked line and box since 4th grade...but my 7th grade team (who took 3rd in the Marist thanksgiving tourney...no big deal) had a pretty wide range of inbounds plays.

Partly because we were good and could run them and partly because we had a coach who literally though he was Bobby Knight (once threw his clipboard all the way across the floor at a ref).

Post a Comment

Post a Comment