A Meme That Has So Got To Die

I like Matt McHale and Bulls By The Horns, but when I see the following cited on True Hoop:

[Taj Gibson is] probably worth about 70 percent of “Good Tyrus” and around 127 percent of “Bad Tyrus” already

I have to flash my pen from its scabbard. This is, frankly, fucking nuts, whackadoodle nonsense on stilts.

Taj Gibson is a (slightly) better jump-shooter than Tyrus (though I don't think he has Ty's range out to 20 feet) and a (slightly) better offensive rebounder. This is mainly because Tyrus is a pretty terrible jump-shooter and a pretty terrible offensive rebounder. Being slightly less terrible at two things is no great shakes.

In every other facet of the game, Tyrus suprasses Taj, and often obliterates him. He is a much better defensive rebounder than Taj, an immensely better shot-blocker, a more skilled passer. He turns the ball over less, he fouls (significantly) less, he gets to the FT line twice as much, and, once there, shoots 20 percentage points higher. (Oh, and Tyrus is still a year younger than Taj.) For the love of Christ, there is no comparison.

Taj Gibson is playing pretty well for a late first-round draft pick. Not incredibly well (see how he eerily compares with a rookie Big Baby), but okay; he's no Wayne Simien.

But that's it, folks. He is not a legitimate starting NBA power forward, much less a particularly promising young player. (He's neither especially promising, nor especially young.) He never provides 127 percent of anything that Tyrus Thomas brings to the table. Please. Stop. Spouting. Such. Madness.

Oh, Brother...

Season already in limbo, the Bulls are contemplating a move to further entrench themselves in the lower rungs of mediocrity.

Look, I get it. "The plan" is to reel in one of the free agent biggies next summer. This move will help with that (and also save Reinsdorf another $1 million this year, which I have no doubt the organization considers another "big plus" going for it). And, of course, if the Bulls land Bosh or Wade or LBJ, then sure, retroactively, this will be a brilliant deal. (Although, again, I don't know why any big-name FA would have any interest in joining a franchise this screwy.)

But Goddamnit, reading shit like "the Bulls believe Harrington’s ability to score ... make this a worthy exchange" (so much for the "emphasizing defense and team chemistry this year" horseshit) and that "Chicago believes it has a worthy power forward successor on the cheap in rookie Taj Gibson" insults everybody's intelligence. Do we really have to keep up the pretense that this current season matters in any way whatsoever? Haven't all the season tickets been sold already?

A Match Made for Morons (Or, Maybe, Sado-Masochists)

To all the mouth-breathers who booed Ben Gordon last night: You idiots deserve to root for this offense. Or maybe you actually prefer this over one that's nine points per 100 poss. more efficient? Seeing as you actually financially rewarded Jerry Reinsdorf for providing you the "opportunity" to watch a backcourt of Jannero Pargo and Lindsey Hunter for sustained minutes, it seems likely your perversity knows no bounds.

Some Random Thoughts About A Nice Win

* After watching the Bulls break 100, I was a bit concerned I'd wake up this morning and the sun would be rising in the west, the sky would be black as night, and the U.S. Senate would be a functional institution. But no, everything still seems normal. Maybe the Bulls can keep trying this.

* It helps that the Kings are terrible defenders, particularly when decimated by injuries (although it's not like Martin and Nocioni would really help much on that end, either).

* Since I bemoaned our lack of Morris Peterson, Salmons has had two nice games. And even though Kirk shot like crap last night, he defended well, which, so long as Salmons and Deng are both hitting shots, is really all we need from him.

* I'm struggling to come up with the right nickname/metaphor for Pargo. He's not quite Halley's Comet, because his offense does show up a little more regularly than once every 76 years. Maybe Old Semi-Faithful? You can basically count on him to have an absurdly hot 3-minute offensive stretch about once every five games. Outside of that, he's totally useless; but those three-minute stretches really do help! Anyway, if you can come up with a proper metaphor for him, let me know.

* I think James Johnson has one of the weirdest games I've ever seen. He's definitely talented and skilled, but those talents and skills are almost completely at odds with the normal skillset of someone with his size (and at odds with what the Bulls really need from someone with his size). He's kinda like the inverse of a great rebounding point guard who has a nice post-up game. His handle looks pretty incredible, which, y'know, is great, but a power forward with a great handle isn't really all that necessary when you've got Derrick Rose. But I'm still intrigued by him. If utilized correctly, he could be a tremendous asset, but I think at the moment, utilizing him correctly would require making him too much the focus of the offense, which, at this point, probably isn't worth the tradeoff (on both the defensive end and in taking the ball out of Rose's hands).

* Speaking of Rose, he is obviously still injured, and all the people freaking out about any regression on his part need to recognize that. What made him so amazing last year was his explosiveness (particularly around the rim) and he is showing almost no signs of it right now. He looks...ordinary. To judge from last night, I would say he's at 80 percent, tops. Which leads to the question: Should the Bulls just sit him down until he completely heals? Not being a doctor or sports trainer, I have no idea. If there's even the slightest chance that he could permanently damage his ankle, then I would say, yes, absolutely, but that would mean flushing this season directly down the shitter, leaving an already-thin team absolutely threadbare. Though I often have my doubts, I'm going to kindly assume that the Bulls' organization isn't totally idiotic and that if Rose was in any jeopardy of causing any permanent damage by playing, they would make him sit. (They actually did this with Jordan when he got injured in his second year, and though he loathed and resented them for it, it was obviously the right call.) Which to me means that rather than gnashing our teeth about the lack of Rose's development, we should instead appreciate that he is on the floor every night, gutting it out, doing what he can. He's been a grinder, very much like this team, which is playing very good defense and is now at 6-4 (considerably better than what I thought they'd be at this point). Outside the Boston game and the 4th quarter of the Raps' game, they've been fun to watch, and I'm starting to focus less on what this team doesn't do (which is still considerable) and to appreciate more of what they do very well.

(P.S. Noah is totally awesome.)

Sign of the Apocalypse: Peterson Envy

To piggyback on my last post: Writing about the firing of Byron Scott, Matt Yglesias notes:

Paul, Okafor, and a bunch of average guys could make the playoffs. But these are not average guys. Morris Peterson is shooting .341 from the field and .269 from three point land.

For comparison's sake: Kirk is shooting .346 and .222 from 3 land; Salmons is at .306 and .262.

My Kingdom For A Two-Guard!

Only caught the fourth quarter, so it's kinda funny in retrospect that throughout it, I was so disgusted by Kirk's play that I was screaming at the TV, "Where the hell is Salmons?! Put in Salmons!!," blissfully unaware that the subject of my desire was himself mired in a 1 for 11 game. (Then again, at least he had no turnovers, compared to Kirk's four. And my God, was Kirk fouling up the offense in the 4th! Dribbling to nowhere, stupid passes, forced shots. Just putrid.)

Anyway, you can't win when your two-guards score 16 points on combined 4 of 21 shooting against the worst defensive team in the league. The good news was that Hinrich and Salmons managed to hit 2 of 7 threes, thereby raising their 3 pt. FG percentage thus far to a stunning 24.6.

In other news, there's some guy playing the two for Detroit who's putting up 24 points a game, hitting 37% of his threes (still a career low), and getting to the line 7 times a game. (Our two shooting guards don't get there five times a night combined.)

But hey, why cry over spilled milk? Jerry Reinsdorf made a lot of money by letting that guy go, and we fans should like totally appreciate that.

Dates To Remember: 12/7/41, 9/11/01, 1/5/09

In light of this, let us never, ever forget: Rick Morrissey is a douchenozzle.

Ten months ago, this guy wanted to cut Joakim Noah while admiring Larry Hughes' game, and he now thinks that eating a newspaper in public will somehow atone for his stupidity. Of course, when you churn out crappy columns every week without shame, what's a little more public humiliation?