Lesson of the Bulls

[tmac13]

I have been a proponent of trading Al along with many of you..However, I was recently thinking about how Chicago, who only 1 year ago was a rising young team, has slid back to the lottery this year mainly based on the fact they have absolutely no interior offense. Eddie Curry is a no rebounding, no defense playing interior scorer..Remind you of anyone? His game and Al Harringtons game are very similar..If anything Al is a better long range shooter..Both guys demand alot of attention inside when they are on that free up the outside shooters and slashers..Chicago has had some nagging injuries, but they have been lamenting the fact all year they have no inside pressence offensively with Curry gone..

I agree with most of you that Marvin is already a better defensive player than Al..Marvin should turn into an excellent shooter since he has perfect form..What neither Marvin or Smoove has has yet to show any sign of is an interior postup type game..How many less open shots will JJ receive if Al isn't around?..

Should we rethink the general consensus? My fear is if we replace Al with Marvin, whatever draft choice. or free agent bigman we sign, that we lose that postup offense and thus take a step back..Thoughts?

[exodus]

Keep in mind that the Bulls best scorer in an undersized 2 guard. They have a lot of small perimeter players.

The Hawks don't have that problem.

[lifelong]

another problem with the bulls is that they have no one who commands a double team or much help, no matter where it is on the floor. the older version of the bulls didn't have a great post up big man, but they had a pretty good shooting guard who could post up. maybe JJ could assume a poor man's version of that role if we get a point guard here.

[tmac13]

JJ is our only other scoring threat outside of Al..Chicago has much better point guard play and far better interior defense..What they miss this year is Curry's offense..The question is not how you replace the points, its how do you replace the POST PRESSENCE..We have to realize that part of JJ's offense comes from the attention that has to given to AL down low.

[exodus]

When Al fouled out against indiana JJ didn't have much problem scoring. In fact he scored 14 in the last 7 minutes of that game.

The fact is that JJ frequently goes off when Al sits down. When Al is in the game they run a lot of isolation plays for him that kills the ball movement.

[chillzatl]

It's easy to think that way and in all honesty, it's a smart thing to do. But I think that if you look at the way our team has grown this season, we could withstand Al's loss. As JJ has become more of a leader and focal point of the offense, Al has, seemingly, become less and less involved. While I don't think Marvin or Smoove will match Al's production next year. I think that one or both of them will come pretty close. Close enough to allow us continue running the same system we've been running. Plus you have to consider any new signings we make and the impact they might have.

I think we can lose Al and not take a big step backwards.

[bonethugz]

i don't think you can compare harrington with curry. harrington shot lots, or more mid range jumper than curry. and curry is a legitimate 7 footer, unlike harrington. anyway, we really don't need harrington at all. like somebody said before, johnson always try to get harrington the ball. that didn't help our offense. one more thing you have to remember, let say we can't get any help this off season, in another words, minus harrington for next season. joe johnson 's going to commit more double team but he's a great passer. that leaves an extra man open. we're going to get better without harrington.