Minnesota Sports Forum

Duke13 wrote:It had nothing to do with his voice. My source says practices have been much lighter the past week. Surprised you weren't all over this LST, you seem to have the inside track on this!

I'm slipping, Duke...I'm slipping

I watched this game today and finished reading through the thread. Here are some thoughts.

Cam mentioned Lavine might be the fastest guy in the league without the ball. It made me think about him talking on the podcast with Mannox last week where he said when he was in HS he used to run with the track team and ran like a 4.5 hand timed 40 and he said he said something like "Whoa that's pretty fast". Lol Remeber he wasn't that tall till he had a growth spurt later in HS. He might be faster now idk. He did handle the ball a chunk of the time I think it's clear that Thibs wants guys to play more postionless basketball and Lavine and Dunn sure could be an interesting pairing playing off each other. I don't think Lavine as a PG is a good idea. I still think having a decision maker with high level ball handling will be good for this team. Lavine is a SG with ball handling skills and is capable of passing the ball. You want you SG to have those skills. Heck you want as many players on the court to have those skills as possible.

One thing i have seen with Rubio lately is he has had a few middle of the floor drives where he looks like he is actually picking a time to go to the rim or get his shot. He makes some sort of fake or move and goes. I heard a couple times in this game Thibs yelling at him to "take em" or whatever. Rubio won't everyone a scorer because his skills aren't that great in that regard but part of his problem in that dept is he is just to unselfish. I think sometimes he actually has to be convinced to look for his shot. I've seen a few glimpses of him taking opportunities to make plays to score. I'll be interested to see if that continues. Overall Rubio gave a solid performance tonight. There were times his defense was absolutely terrific. He held his own a couple times against Butler. It helps he isn't that much shorter than Butler though.

Dieng was letting the ball fly tonight. Good for him I hope he keeps doing it if he gets open looks.

I think everything else has been covered. It was a good win. I watched the game this time knowing the outcome and the final score. I kept thinking...when is it that the Wolves start locking the Bulls down?!? Lol there were a few spots where I thought the Wolves could have easily folded but they didn't. They played d and got some offensive rebounds to keep things from getting out of hand. They played hard a lot even though they did have some lapses.

I enjoyed listening to Doris Burke as an analyst. Was she awesome? No I wouldn't say she was but I always feel like she has an actual connection to the game because of the hard work she does. She and her partner had clearly done her homework for this game. If Reggie Miller ever did half as much research as either of them he may actually know what he is talking about. Lol

Some good thoughts, Monster. It was good win, although as I have posted before PG is the most important position on the court...and having a vet like Rubio going up against 2 untested kids gave us an advantage that was quite clear after the first quarter.

Cam's comment about Zach being the fastest in the league down the court without the ball is a good one, and he's no slouch with the ball either. He's a really fun guy to watch.

I've been as down on Ricky as (almost) anyone this season, but Wednesday reminded us of the positive influence he can be when he is on. Duke doesn't buy this, but ownership does think Ricky has been hampered since he came back from the elbow injury, and just now may be getting back to form. Let's hope so...we've seen for several years who the straw is that stirs this drink.

I'm a fan of Doris Burke too. She's always prepared and professional, and I seldom disagree with her takes.

LST, I think that missing starting point guard has much less effect for team like Chicago compared to some other teams. In offense they are anyway more effective with Butler or Wade handling the ball compared to Rondo. Earlier this season they had no problems in beating Utah and Portland on road without Rondo.

Mikkeman wrote:LST, I think that missing starting point guard has much less effect for team like Chicago compared to some other teams. In offense they are anyway more effective with Butler or Wade handling the ball compared to Rondo. Earlier this season they had no problems in beating Utah and Portland on road without Rondo.

Oh, I agree with you when the Bulls have the ball. But I think Ricky has had problems in the past with Rondo (and even MCW) guarding him, and I think he took advantage of less effective defenders to have his best game in a while. I'm curious to see how Ricky does Saturday against a pest like Beverly...I think he will find it's a lot different than going up against Grant and Canaan.

Despite missing their PGs, I still think it was a significant win. This was a road win against a hardened, tough set of veterans and winners - Butler, Wade, Gibson - just the kind of guys we'd love on our team right now to mix in with the youth.

As for Doris Burke, I'm debating if she comes across so positively because of the authority her voice carries or her actual takes. She's got an awesome voice for her line of work!