Welcome! Come one, come all, to the main event! It's season preview time, and Upside and Motor is ready to rock your world. The previews will be both concrete and lyrical in this magical world, both by numbers and by prose. To take a look at all the previews, click here.
Straight Up
Straight Up features all the stuff you actually want to see in your team previews: who are the new kids on the block, who skipped town, and where the team stands for the upcoming season. Along with my projection and standing for the upcoming season, it'll also feature three individual awards: Team MVP (let's not get into the debate over exactly what that means), the Most Important Reserve, and the Most Unheralded Asset.
Projected Record: 36-46 (4th in the Central Division, 10th in the Eastern Conference)
Off-season Acquisitions: Derrick Rose, Omer Askin, Elton Brown
Notable Losses: JamesOn Curry...if in your world you somehow consider him to be notable
2008-2009 Team MVP: Luol Deng - Deng will need to re-establish himself as a star. In the 2007 playoffs he was a hot ticket, lighting up everyone in sight. But he was derailed last season due to a variety of factors. A healthy Deng will make Derrick Rose's life easier, and should translate into a Bulls team that doesn't freefall into oblivion.
Most Important Reserve: Ben Gordon - Gordon's auditioning for damn near every GM in the league right now, trying to prove that he's worth what he says/insists/pleads/hopes he is. A motivated Gordon will likely mean consistent effort on both ends of the court, which will also serve to give Jerry Reinsdorf and John Paxson a good slap in the face.
Most Unheralded Asset: Kirk Hinrich - Last year was a big step back for Kirk, and he finds his value at an all-time low. But his ability to make plays from the shooting guard position is going to help ease Rose into the groove, and his ability to defend bigger guards as well as (hopefully) shoot over them will make him one of the most important Bulls this season.
Poetry in Motion
Photo from Getty Images.
Poetry in Motion will feature my feeble attempts at mimicking the sonnets of one William Shakespeare, complete with a weak, liberal interpretation of iambic pentameter and an identical rhyme scheme. As they say, the NBA imitates art...I mean poetry...err, life imitates the NBA...or I imitate poetry while writing about the NBA. Something like that. Either way, each preview will contain two sonnets: one focusing on a wider, team outlook and another focusing on the roles and futures of individual players. Revel! Criticize! Enjoy!
After last year, it can’t get any worse,
It’s funny how the first pick changes things,
The Bulls are hoping for fortunes reversed,
Don’t mean a thing if they ain’t got that swing.
The Bulls need to be confident again,
If they are to rise from the East’s cellar,
Addition of Rose; improvement within
Will decide if they are poor or stellar.
Del Negro needs some time to make things right,
And bandage up
Not this season, but the future is bright,
Great expectations for young Derrick Rose.
Expect the “new” Bulls to be much improved,
But no dancing in Chi to the playoff groove.
Luol Deng found his rising star smothered
The culprit? Injuries, timing, rhythm,
But this season you should see another
For Mister Deng it’s time to sink or swim.
Ben Gordon is living out of his car,
Tyrus Thomas still always looks confused,
One Joakim Noah is truly bizarre,
I mention how much I hate Larry Hughes?
Hinrich will need to adapt to the two,
Otherwise he’ll be trade rumor fodder,
Surprise, Drew Gooden’s career seems askew,
Rose is
The wiz kid has great years ahead of him,
The Bulls desp’rately need their roster trimmed.
Player Preview Spotlight: Drew Gooden
Photo from SI.
The Player Spotlight feature highlights just one of the many cogs that make up the team. They may not be the best player on the team and they may not be the most recognizable (or who knows, they may be both), but I can guarantee that they're interesting. Their game, their on-court persona, their role within the greater scope of the team. Something about the player in the spotlight deserves your attention, and as usual, I'm more than willing to point it out to you.
I don't really like Drew Gooden all that much. His game is too simple (and not effective enough to be some sort of anomaly), and frankly he isn't all that interesting. The only reason Gooden makes headlines anymore is to talk about facial hair or neck patches. Still, I think the guy gets a bit of a bad rap because his production statistically seemingly outweighs his on-court impact. Does Gooden seem like a double-double waiting to happen? I'll admit that even I'd be pessimistic if I didn't know about his unusual ability to pile up the boards. But when we talk about Shawn Marion, that ability is due to his athleticism, court savvy, and instincts. It, along with his defense and ability to create offensively, is what makes Marion a great player and a standout. But Gooden, despite averaging more than 8.5 rebounds per game over the last four years, is still seen as a bit of a fluke. They guy plays less than thirty minutes a game, and still manages to pile up impressive numbers in most relevant categories. On top of that, he has a surprisingly low turnover rate that is on par with the elites of his position such as Garnett and Duncan. You may have heard of them.
If you turn to the tape, his game is fairly limited. A lot of his scoring opportunities come off of offensive rebounds, which is a skillin and of itself -- one which is highly valued in all non-Drew Gooden contexts. He's not a reliable low post back-to-the-basket scorer, and a lot of teams don't need him to be. Well, the Bulls do, but you can't always get what you want. Besides, I'd consider him infinitely more likely to back down his defender and throw a hook shot over them than Tyrus Thomas is. So there. Defensively, Gooden is a capable defender. There are times where quicker players can get around him and there are times where he doesn't close out well on the fadeaway in the post, but I would not call him below average on that end. Add on his more than passable defensive rebounding and you would seem to have the makings of a great player.
Numbers can be deceptive but they can also be incredibly useful, and I fear that an irrational general dislike for Gooden's play may have skewed how the general public feels about him. He doesn't have Carl Landry's plucky heroism or Shawn Marion's freakish hops, but if you look beyond the soup-catcher and the stigma you might find yourself a pretty useful basketball player.
Season Previews, F'real
For those poor, conservative souls trapped in normativity, I'll make sure to send you to a few places where you can read through more conventional, in-depth season previews. Most of these links will be from team bloggers whose trade is knowing what there is to know about their respective teams, so tell your ears to perk up; it's time to listen.
Hardwood Paroxysm
Give Me the Rock
Blog-a-Bull
2 comments:
"A motivated Gordon will likely mean consistent effort on both ends of the court, which will also serve to give Jerry Reinsdorf and John Paxson a good slap in the face."
Not sure what that means. They offered him a truck full of cash and he refused it. He's an undersized 2 guard that can score some. Hooray.
I'm the farthest thing from a Ben Gordon fan. But the guy's going to play his heart out so he can try to make a gagillion dollars elsewhere and prove the Bulls' brass wrong.
He's not worth it, period. But he's still going to try for that slap.
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