Scouting report:
The Bulls:
- Derrick Rose is the man. Can’t believe he’s just a rookie. His decision making is terrific. He has a super quick first step, was aggressive driving to the basket (and finished either hand), while also effective dishing out the ball to teammates. Never over-dribble or over-handle. The most impressive possession is this: while he’s on the right wing, guarded by T.J. Ford. He made a perfect left-to-right crossover to shake off Ford, driving towards the lane, and then dished a perfect alley-oop lob to Joakim Noah for slam dunk. And-1. That’s sportscenter highlight worthy. On another stretch at Q3, he hit back-to-back 3-pters to pull away. This has really ignited the stadium. Everybody in the United Center went crazy, and I was also yelling and waving my hands in my couch . To finish things with a high note, he made a two-handed fashbreak slam dunk in Q4. His major weakness is his defense, and the somewhat streaky Js. It is not like he can shoot back-to-back 3s on any given night. But ROY? No doubt. At least so far.
- Nocioni is the second best player in the team. He hit most of his shots (9-13 FG, 20 pts), grabbed a lot of rebounds and was aggressive on both ends, bullying around in the paint. He hit a clutch 3 too.
- Luol Deng played extremely selfishly, seldom gave up the ball, and whenever he got the ball, he would drive hard, but always forced shots. If lucky he would get fouled and shoot the FTs, but most of the time it ended up as misses. I was surprised because I didn’t recall he was such a selfish player. Maybe he thinks he’s a superstar now after signing the fatty contract. Sigh.
- FA-to-be Ben Gordon shot a lot and did nothing else. He did help to score some big baskets in 2H though. But clearly he had absolutely no chemistry with teammates. Yup, this is their leading scorer.
- Noah played hard and hustled, but he basically has no skills at all.
- Gooden played ok as a role player but need to improve his D.
- Tyrus Thomas was completely useless, even white stiff Aaron Gray is better than him as a backup big man.
- Hughes’ shots were way off, even worse than mine. He tried to draw fouls and score on FT instead, but his offense is really limited. He recorded 3 steals but in general not an effective defender.
- Overall, the Bulls didn't look like a well coached team. Seldom offense plays were drawn and the defense was just so-so. It’s just the brilliance of Rose and the toughness of Nocioni won the game for them.
The Pacers:
- This is the first time I saw them play in almost a year. I’d say they are better than I expected but not at all an elite team. In general, they are just like any other Jim O’Brien’s team: defense and 3-pters. They played good defense, and most of the time played half court offense. They relied on ball rotation to find open man for perimeter shooting, esp. 3-pters by Granger, Troy Murphy and Jarrett Jack. Not that fun to watch but you can see they are well trained and played under control.
- PG T.J. Ford (16 pts) is still very quick. For sure he can score and finish the basket, but he’s not a good playmaker and his shots were a bit off (7-18 FG). The thing I don’t like is that he likes dribbling and dribbling and dribbling. He dominated the ball too much that the ball movement of the Pacers was stalled. Another problem is his poor D. It’s embarrassing watching rookie Rose burning Ford time and time again.
- Danny Granger (15 pts) is a star in the making. He is ultra athletic and play with energy and intelligence. His J in particular impressed me the most, cuz I never recalled that he can shoot in the past. He played earnest defense and was actively running around the court on both ends. He’s not Shawn Marion though, he doesn’t dominate the board like the Matrix and he doesn’t have that crazy athleticism that once the Matrix possessed. He’s more like a Richard Jefferson type, only is quicker.
- Marquis Daniels (13 pts) is another good role swinger. He will never be a star but he can shoot Js and he’s quick.
- Troy Murphy (12 pts) shot and missed too many perimeter Js but he did his job on rebounds (13 reb).
- Nesterovic is surprisingly effective, esp. against the so-so Bulls big men. 12 pts on 6-13 FG and 12 reb. He has a knack on passing too. I think he should go back to San Antonio and play for Greg Pop.
- Jeff Foster’s game has deteriorated a lot. In the past he relied mostly on hustles and hard work to earn his job. Now at 31 and after the injury, it seems like he no longer can be that effective.
- I think the Pacers are better than last year but they are far from a playoffs-bound team. They need at least 1 more solid scorer at the wing (Daniels should be off the bench), a strong rebounder at PF/C (Murphy or Foster off the bench) and to trade T.J. Ford for a pass-first PG.
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