Thibadeau pulls worst rookie mistake a coach can make – costs a game

Thibadeau pulls worst rookie mistake a coach can make. Costs a game

God love the Chicago media. As the referenced story above proves, serious reporting is in short supply.  After the foolish loss to Carmelo Anthony and the Nuggets, the press let Tom Thibadeau escape his fatal rookie mistake with “we have to get a loose ball” .  Well that’s not good enough.  Vinnie del Negro was excoriated for much less and the press never let up.  I love K.C. Johnson, but he almost ignores the blunder of the year.  We now have the Lovie love fest spilling over into Bulls coverage.

One of the cardinal rules of coaching in the NBA is to have your “closers” on the floor at the buzzer. Who did we have in the absence of Derrick Rose? Somebody named John Lucas, who was asked to win the game by hitting two free throws. Why in the world was the ball not in the hands of Kyle Korver or at worst Luol Deng in a situation where they did not have to shoot? A rookie off the street should never get near the ball in this situation, even if he is a 1.000 free throw shooter. You might as well have picked someone from the third balcony and put him on the line.

We’ll forget that the defensive strategy on the final shot was non-existent. This supposedly wonderful defensive strategist does not know what a double team of the star player on the opponent looks like, allowing a Carmelo Anthony jumper at the buzzer. But the coach blames it on the fact the Bulls did not get the loose ball on the previous play. Well this may be true, but the truth is, there was no Bull near enough that ball to get it. They just made a great play on the previous shot and couldn’t be in two places at once. That does not excuse allowing a free shot at the buzzer 4 seconds later.

But none of this matters if Korver or Deng or maybe the star of the game CJ Watson were on the line to win the game. John Lucas? Not today, coach. It just doesn’t wash. Man up and admit you blew the game and  I’ll believe it was just a rookie mistake. Keep it up and join Vinnie on someone else’s bench.

 

 

Been away for a while

I have been away for a while watching all these Chicago teams excepth the Blackhawks self destruct. Since I last posted, the Bulls bowed out in the playoffs, which was at least a growth experience for the young players left on the team today. The White Sox pulled another Ozzie Guillen driven schizophrenic el foldo at he end of the season. The Cubs never played right and now need to back up the truck. The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup and then proceeded to dismantle a lot of their team and will be rebuilding again for a couple years. And the Bears….  You may just read my past posts and you will have the same old, same old Bears. Lovie loved a vanilla preseason, the team started out of shape (but so was half the NFL, because they followed Lovie’s lead and refused to get prepared in the preseason) but despite no offensive line to speak of, is still in the race, mostly due to the other teams like Dallas, Minnesota, Arizona, Carolina, etc. also not getting in shape for the season.  My team by team capsule is as follows:

Chicago White Sox

Bye, bye Paul Konerko and maybe AJ. Starting pitching looking good, but they can’t make up their minds on a closer and are going to let some good relievers go with no real replacements from the minors. We need a third baseman, first baseman and a bench upgrade because we are sure to let go one or two outfielders. I will wait until Kenny makes his signings and trades, but know that it won’t be real upgrades, just churning of journeymen. Until there is some upgrades, second place may even be a stretch.

Chicago Cubs

They new manager looks like an upgrade from dimentia-challenged Lou Pinella. Carlos Zambrano is Carlos Zambrano, a question mark. They have a couple of good youngsters, but will be losing some veterans, have no first baseman, should lose Aramis but can’t see the forest for the trees. They need some pitching help and upgrades at most positions. Second and short look secure as well as catcher, everywhere else is a question mark. Let’s see what they do over the winter. Not encouraging right now. A new manager can only win a handful of games and the players need to play.

Blackhawks

Our only champion. Kudos to the former gm now elsewhere for assembling the team that won. The new geniuses will have to try to match him. Let’s wait and see before we make a rash assumption.

Bulls

They look pretty good so far, but obviously at least one player short of contention for a title. Boozer will help, but he will be replacing Taj Gibson who is playing as well as Boozer can. We need and off guard. We need Luol Deng to step even further up. The choice of guards in the free agent pool was iffy at best. Brewer is hopeless. Bogans was a flop in Orlando and will be a flop here. I wish we still had Heinrich or Gordon and forgot about Lebron the megamind. Playoffs will be a struggle. Maybe second round.

Bears

Watching the Bears is like going to the psychiatrist. You gotta talk it out to convince yourself to do it again. ‘Nuff said.