The next 9 games

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

I just went through the rest of our schedule and projected wins and losses in each game. Even assuming we win these next 5 very winnable home games, my individual game analysis has us finishing with between 43-46 wins. And that's assuming we stay healthy. The schedule gets tougher in after mid January. After watching the way Bazz was playing and in light of Belly's foot problem, we have no margins for injuries. And we really need to win big over this next 10 game stretch playing lesser teams and teams like Denver that lack some of their key players.

I agree that we really need to take advantage of the next 9 as the road gets bumpier after that. But I'm more optimistic than your 43-46, and the reason is Jimmy Butler. I think he has shown signs of assuming the mantle of team leader the past 10 days, and as painful as that may be for KAT who likes to see himself as that, it's all for the good of this team. This doesn't mean I don't agree with Cam that KAT needs to be more involved offensively at the end of games, but he also needs to understand that Butler is the man, and the guy who is going to offset Thibs and take us to the next level.

One of the main reasons for my optimism is Butler's recent comments about Thibs' rotations...his positive relationship with Thibs seems to make him more comfortable than others to express his views even when they are somewhat critical of Thibs. For instance, he has been verbal about Tyus playing well and needing more minutes (although Thibs has not heeded that message yet). More importantly, Butler has begun talking about Thibs' minutes distribution in the past week. After the Clippers game, he told Marney Gellner that "we need to talk to Thibs...these minutes are adding up". Butler is well aware of how Thibs' grinding shortened the careers of three Bulls' players (Deng, Noah and Rose all aged faster than the average NBA player), and he seems to understand that our exhaustion at the end of games is costing us wins. Thibs is too bullheaded to listen to anyone else, but I sense he and Thibs have a mutual respect and that continuing comments by Butler are our best hope for changing Thibs. I'm much more optimistic about this team after listening to Butler this week.

I'd like to see our starters minutes throughout the season as they compare to other teams. LST, can you give us bi monthly updates?

[Lipoli390]

I just went through the rest of our schedule and projected wins and losses in each game. Even assuming we win these next 5 very winnable home games, my individual game analysis has us finishing with between 43-46 wins. And that's assuming we stay healthy. The schedule gets tougher in after mid January. After watching the way Bazz was playing and in light of Belly's foot problem, we have no margins for injuries. And we really need to win big over this next 10 game stretch playing lesser teams and teams like Denver that lack some of their key players.

I agree that we really need to take advantage of the next 9 as the road gets bumpier after that. But I'm more optimistic than your 43-46, and the reason is Jimmy Butler. I think he has shown signs of assuming the mantle of team leader the past 10 days, and as painful as that may be for KAT who likes to see himself as that, it's all for the good of this team. This doesn't mean I don't agree with Cam that KAT needs to be more involved offensively at the end of games, but he also needs to understand that Butler is the man, and the guy who is going to offset Thibs and take us to the next level.

One of the main reasons for my optimism is Butler's recent comments about Thibs' rotations...his positive relationship with Thibs seems to make him more comfortable than others to express his views even when they are somewhat critical of Thibs. For instance, he has been verbal about Tyus playing well and needing more minutes (although Thibs has not heeded that message yet). More importantly, Butler has begun talking about Thibs' minutes distribution in the past week. After the Clippers game, he told Marney Gellner that "we need to talk to Thibs...these minutes are adding up". Butler is well aware of how Thibs' grinding shortened the careers of three Bulls' players (Deng, Noah and Rose all aged faster than the average NBA player), and he seems to understand that our exhaustion at the end of games is costing us wins. Thibs is too bullheaded to listen to anyone else, but I sense he and Thibs have a mutual respect and that continuing comments by Butler are our best hope for changing Thibs. I'm much more optimistic about this team after listening to Butler this week.

I'm with you in liking the way Butler has been stepping up lately. And I also like the way he's willing to tell Thibs what he thinks. But as you noted, Thibs has yet to do any of the Thibs Butler has said he'd like to see. It gets back to Thibs being to bullheaded to make adjustments that his coveted star and most good basketball minds know he needs to make. His stubborness actually seems to blind him to reality as it did when he praised the team's 4th quarter ball movement after our home win against the Clippers. No one who knows anything about basketball would say that after watching the 4th quarter. Another cautionary note is the fact that we've been extraordinarily healthy compared to a lot of our main rivals like the Spurs, Nuggets and Jazz. I'd like to believe that luck will continue, but you know how things go in the NBA. Bottom line is that I think it's extremely important that this team actually does go 8-2 over the next 10 games.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

We are now 5 games into this stretch of games where I predicted we would be favored in all but one game, and we are a sad 3-2 so far mostly in home games against teams not as good as we are. As we expected, we are an underdog tonight for the first time in this stretch, but only by 2 points to a beat-up Denver team. We have underachieved so far as most of us here feared, but wouldn't it be nice if we could overachieve and steal a game in Denver.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

The Denver upset brings us to a respectable 4-2 during this soft part of our schedule. We should be favored in the next three games, so 7-2 is not out of the question. My guess is the 6-3 predominant prediction here will prevail.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

We took care of the pesky Suns and are now 5-2 in this stretch with a road game against the Lakers and a home game against Denver to come. We'll be favored in both, but likely not by much in LA. 6-3 still seems to be the likeliest outcome, but 7-2 is still there for the taking. Will the one person who picked 7-2 please step up and take some credit if he is right?

[Lipoli390]

We took care of the pesky Suns and are now 5-2 in this stretch with a road game against the Lakers and a home game against Denver to come. We'll be favored in both, but likely not by much in LA. 6-3 still seems to be the likeliest outcome, but 7-2 is still there for the taking. Will the one person who picked 7-2 please step up and take some credit if he is right?

I want to know who voted 9-0. :)

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I think we'll win the next four against Dallas, Philadelphia, Sacramento, and Phoenix. We'll drop a close game against Portland at home, which will probably sting a bit, but then win the following four games after that against Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles Lakers, and Denver again.

Then we'll pick up a loss at Milwaukee on the second half of a back-to-back (scheduled loss, IMO).

That's 8-2 to close December and 10-4 for the month as a whole. Maybe we drop the game against Philadelphia for some reason, but even that wouldn't be a killer.

A large part of my optimism comes from Minnesota having a wide gap in terms of talent level against most of these upcoming opponents. Five of those games are against bottom feeders that are 100% rebuilding. We should be in for a good stretch of basketball.

Well, I said that when this poll dropped, and I think I came close. We dropped the game against Phoenix, but we made up for it against Portland. Philadelphia was a coin toss and we lost, but 9-5 for the month is great (.643 win pct). I can't complain much about how this team performed in December. 4th Quarter Net Rtg is the singular stat that pops out at me. We were elite in the money quarter.

2.0 games up on the Thunder for the 4th-seed and 3.0 behind the Spurs for the 3-seed. If you would have told me that back in October, I would have said that's amazing and I'd take it.

[Monster]

I think we'll win the next four against Dallas, Philadelphia, Sacramento, and Phoenix. We'll drop a close game against Portland at home, which will probably sting a bit, but then win the following four games after that against Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles Lakers, and Denver again.

Then we'll pick up a loss at Milwaukee on the second half of a back-to-back (scheduled loss, IMO).

That's 8-2 to close December and 10-4 for the month as a whole. Maybe we drop the game against Philadelphia for some reason, but even that wouldn't be a killer.

A large part of my optimism comes from Minnesota having a wide gap in terms of talent level against most of these upcoming opponents. Five of those games are against bottom feeders that are 100% rebuilding. We should be in for a good stretch of basketball.

Well, I said that when this poll dropped, and I think I came close. We dropped the game against Phoenix, but we made up for it against Portland. Philadelphia was a coin toss and we lost, but 9-5 for the month is great (.643 win pct). I can't complain much about how this team performed in December. 4th Quarter Net Rtg is the singular stat that pops out at me. We were elite in the money quarter.

2.0 games up on the Thunder for the 4th-seed and 3.0 behind the Spurs for the 3-seed. If you would have told me that back in October, I would have said that's amazing and I'd take it.

Yeah I'll take where we are at too. The Bucks helped us out and beat the Thunder tonight. Heck we are only 4 games back of the Rockets and that sounds good to me considering how hot they have been most of the season.