Bulls reel the Pacers in

Tyrus Thomas has "no regrets" about tirade/Bulls-Pacers preview

From the Trib:

INDIANAPOLIS -- In his first comments since serving a one-game suspension for berating Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro over a lack of playing time, forward Tyrus Thomas told the Tribune he has "no regrets" over the incident.

Those two words might have represented the longest of Thomas' answers. Here's the transcript of the interview, conducted before Tuesday's game against the Pacers:

Tribune: Do you have any regrets over the incident?

Thomas: "No regrets."

Tribune: How do you move forward from it?

Thomas: "Ain't nothing to harp on. It's over with."

Tribune: Are you frustrated?

Thomas: "Nah. I'm just going to play. There's nothing to be frustrated about."

Tribune: Vinny has said he has a clean slate with you. Do you believe him?

Thomas: "If that's what he said, then that's what it is. It's over with. There's nothing to talk about. It's all good."

Tyrus Thomas is so immature and as I said before, the Bulls need to move him before his trade value hits an all-time low.

Meanwhile, Tyrus will be back in the Bulls rotation tonight according to KC Johnson as the Bulls take on the Indiana Pacers tonight at 6:00 PM on WCIU at Conseco Fieldhouse. The Pacers are a struggling team this season and Danny Granger is only shooting around 42% after an All-Star season last year with the Pacers. I think the Bulls take this one but who knows with this team. In the Bulls last 25 games, they are 9-2 against winning teams but only 6-8 against losing teams. This is a classic example of playing up to your competition and playing down to your competition.

Prediction:
Bulls 97
Pacers 91

Tyrus and JJ for Brendan Haywood?

From a poster at RealGM:

Latest info I got is that Brendan Haywood has been informed that he could be going to Chicago for Tyrus Thomas and James Johnson.This comes from a player my guy represents here in Europe and is close to Brendan.

Not sure how reliable this poster is but it would be a pretty solid trade if the Bulls could get it done. Haywood is an expiring contract that is almost average a double double in almost 33 MPG. If the Bulls do get this deal done, it would probably set off another trade involving Brad Miller maybe for T-Mac.

Bulls bring the heat

The Bulls beat the Heat tonight 95-91 at the United Center without Tyrus Thomas who was suspended before the game. Luol Deng has a nice game chipping in 25 points and 7 rebounds on 8-19 shooting. Derrick Rose didn't pick up many assists today but did score 24 points on 9-19 shooting. Derrick's jumper has been rather flat since the San Antonio game which leads me to believe that he is beginning to tire down kind of like he did before the All Star Break last year. Despite a flat jumper, Rose is still filling out the box score. Chris Richard who the Bulls signed to a 10 day contract to replace the injured Joakim Noah earlier in the week did a nice job tonight grabbing 7 rebounds and blocking 2 shots in 20 minutes of action. Kirk Hinrich did a nice job on Dwyane Wade holding him to 20 points on 33% shooting. Michael Beasley, who the Bulls were considering drafting with the #1 pick back in 2008 over Derrick Rose, had an abysmal game going 2-11 from the field and committing 4 turnovers. It's safe to say that the Bulls made the right choice choosing Rose over Beasley in that draft.

More news is coming out about the Tyrus suspension. According to reports, Tyrus screamed at Vinny Del Negro and used profanities towards him during a meeting about playing time. Note to Tyrus, if you want playing time get your head out of your ass and stop being a dumbass on the court. Tyrus is clearly not a team player and we need to ship his ass out ASAP.

The Bulls next game is Tuesday in Indiana against an average Pacers team that is very beatable. Danny Granger is not the same player that he was last year as he has battled with injuries and has shot around 41% from the field.

Here's Brad Miller leading a fastbreak and Rose finishing the fastbreak with a dunk tonight:

Heat @ Bulls 2/6/10 7:00 PM CSN/NBATV

I'll start off this thread by mentioning that Tyrus Thomas has been suspended by the Bulls for tonight for "conduct detrimental to the team" according to ESPN's Marc Stein.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Tyrus Thomas is an average NBA player with the NBA IQ the size of a peanut. This guy will be playing in Europe next season for sure. This guy is a childish diva that can't finish in front of the rim this season, he can't hit a jumpshot to save his life, and he has no basketball IQ!

Back to the game, with the news that Tyrus has been suspended, we lack serious depth in the frontcourt so I'm fully predicting a 4th straight loss.

Prediction:
Bulls 87
Heat 102

And a final FUCK YOU to Tyrus.

Bulls fail in the 4th quarter yet again, fall to Hawks

The Bulls lost yet again thanks to another poor 4th quarter. The Bulls were outscored 27-11 in the 4th. Josh Smith recorded his second career triple double with 18 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists on 7-14 shooting. Jamal Crawford outscored the Bulls bench by himself 17-8.

This Bulls team clearly has to make a trade. They went 0-10 from three tonight and good a poor shooting effort out of Kirk Hinrich. There is no way GarPax should stay pat this trade deadline. Vinny is also probably on his way out as expected during the offseason. Once again an opposing coach made adjustments and Vinny made no adjustments and the Bulls lost because of it.

The Bulls are back home tomorrow night against the Miami Heat. The Heat have historically played us tough these past few seasons so it's going to be another tough game.

I'll leave you with this. Derrick Rose has 2 great plays tonight against the Hawks:

Chicago Bulls @ Atlanta Hawks 7:00 PM ESPN, CSN

The Bulls take on Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Jamal Crawford, Al Horford and the Atlanta Hawks tonight at Phillips Arena.

Projected starting lineups:
BULLS
PG Derrick Rose
SG Kirk Hinrich
SF Luol Deng
PF Taj Gibson
C Brad Miller

6th man: John Salmons

HAWKS
PG Mike Bibby
SG Joe Johnson
SF Marvin Williams
PF Josh Smith
C Al Horford

6th man: Jamal Crawford

Player to watch:
Derrick Rose
Derrick has had his best games of his NBA career against the Atlanta Hawks. Rose averages 23.4 PPG on 53% FG, 6.0 APG,and 4.6 RPG in 5 career games against the Hawks. The last time the Bulls played the Hawks, Derrick put this move on Al Horford:


Prediction:
Bulls 92
Hawks 107

Bulls to shut down Noah until after All Star Break

This just passed through the wire about 10 minutes ago from the Tribune:

The Bulls have decided to rest Joakim Noah at least through the All-Star break because of the plantar fasciitis in his left foot, and Noah will return to Chicago for treatment.

I think this is the right decision. Give Noah 2 weeks of rest (about 4 games) and bring him back healthier in the 2nd half. Sucks to lose him though for an extended period of time. Brad Miller needs to step up.

Meanwhile the Bulls are in Atlanta as they play the Hawks tomorrow night at 7:00 PM on ESPN and Comcast SportsNet. Game preview will be up before the game.

Luol Deng comes up big in the clutch...

The 72 million dollar man sure played like a 20 million dollar man tonight. Luol Deng for the 2nd straight game started off the game hot before killing the Bulls in the 2nd half. This guy is just awful and will be a burden on this team until he's gone. This is the guy that the Bulls refused to trade for Pau Gasol. The Bulls need to get rid of this guy and his awful contract but I doubt anyone will take him. The casual fan will look at his boxscore tonight and think he did well when in fact he's this team's poison. I've said it time in and time again, the signing of Luol Deng over Ben Gordon will ruin this team's future and the more and more Luol chokes in 2nd halves of games, the more I look right. On the topic of terrible 2nd half play, our other clutch player Kirk Hinrich went 0-5 in the 2nd half. As I said earlier today, find a way to get rid of him at all costs!

Derrick Rose was fantastic tonight scoring 30 points on 10-22 shooting while dishing out 8 assists. Rose scored about 22 points in the 2nd half which is about half of the total team points. Joakim Noah is clearly hurt out there and I'd consider putting him on the bench for the two months to get his foot healed because he clearly isn't the same player out there and it's showing by his performance on the court these last few games.

That's about all I can say. We'll lose to the Hawks on Friday and to Miami on a back to back on Saturday at home. Gar better be working the phones up until the trade deadline to find trades because this team is not constructed well at all.

Derrick Rose with a spectacular move:

Clipped!

It looked like it was time to finally get excited about the Chicago Bulls again after their record breaking road trip which included 5 straight road wins against winning teams (the first team in the NBA to accomplish that). But it all came crashing down last night as this was one of the worst displays of basketball that I've ever seen out of the Chicago Bulls. You can't pick out one player that had a good game. Luol Deng had an excellent first quarter but looked like a completely different player after. Derrick Rose started off the game shooting 2-12 before finishing the 3rd quarter strong. Kirk Hinrich is known for overdribbling but last night was the most I've ever seen him overdribble. Joakim Noah looked hurt out there only grabbing 6 rebounds and scoring 8 points. Brad Miller came off the bench to shoot 1-7 and only scored 3 points in 23 minutes. The Bulls combined for 19 turnovers which is completely unacceptable at home. This game almost felt like that disaster on December 8th against the New Jersey Nets where it felt like the Bulls were just getting dominated the whole game although they only lost that one by 2.

It's just one game but the Bulls still have plenty of glaring holes that they need to fix to ensure a playoff birth. As Derrick Rose goes, the Bulls go and last night proved this. Derrick had one of the worst games of his season last night and the Bulls suffered because of it. There are rumors that Ray Allen might be available in Boston. The Bulls need to get on the phone and offer up John Salmons and Kirk Hinrich in a deal for Allen. Not only does Allen fit with Derrick Rose like a glove and he has a big expiring contract but it will shed the Bulls of Hinrich's long-term contract and will get rid of the threat of John Salmons opting-in this off-season. If they can't grab Allen, I think the Bulls still need to find someone to take Hinrich off our hands. I know the Bulls have a nice record with Hinrich in the starting line-up and I know Hinrich is a nice player but he is not essential to our future and we need to find a way to get max cap space for a 2010 free agent. For as much praise as Kirk gets about his defense, he sure did get absolutely torched by Eric Gordon last night. It felt like Eric Gordon was not even guarded last night as he hit about 4 wide open three-pointers.

The Bulls have a quick turnaround tonight as they take on the Philadelphia 76ers in Philadelphia. The Bulls did get some good news today as Allen Iverson will not play tonight because he is caring for his sick child. The thought of a back-to-back is not good for this Bulls team that has 3 banged-up big men in Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, and Brad Miller so I don't see the Bulls winning this one although they've proven to be a tough team to predict so far this season so who knows. This is why last night's game was so important because now it looks like the Bulls may go on a a losing streak with Philly tonight, at Atlanta on Friday, and home against the Heat on Saturday. The finish up the first half with a game in Indianapolis and a game at home against Orlando.

Prediction for tonight's game:

Bulls 93

76ers 101

I'll leave you with this. Taj Gibson crosses over Chris Kaman and then posterizises him. A little bit of a travel but still a nice play by the rookie: