April Bulls Recap

April 30, 2017

Thankfully the Bulls’ lost season comes to the end. With so many problems to fix it will be a long time before this team contends for a championship. Maybe they can time it for when LeBron retires, many years from now.

Let’s start with the lowest ranked coach Fred Hoiberg. For two years he has tried to fit square blocks into round holes. A good coach puts together an offensive game plan that his players can execute. Hoiberg wants a fast break running team and then has plays where Butler walks the ball up the court. The defense is non-existent. Whenever they play a team that shoots 3 pointers they are usually wide open. Players don’t rotate properly. This is something you work on in practice. Many people think that the injury to Rondo caused the Bulls to lose to the Celtics. If he is so important, Fred, how do you explain 5 games when he didn’t play and then was relegated to the second team?

Things could have gone better if the goofs in the front office did their jobs. Two payers they acquired at the start of the season were inserted into the line up to replace Rondo. It took to the final 10 games realize Grant and Carter-Williams suck. In the playoffs they both got benched because they continued to suck. Speaking of benching, first round draft pick Valentine didn’t play until game 6 was out of reach. The reason given was that he was bad defensively. Speaking of bad defense, Mirotic seems to be continuously lost. He is always losing his man under the basket or they fly past him to get there. What you have is a 6’10” player who can’t handle the ball, can’t post up and plays no defense. Every shot he takes is a 3 pointer and he’s not good at that either. He should not be here next season. Next front office blunder, the Taj Gibson trade. The key component, Cameron Payne, was inactive for the playoffs. The other 2, Lauvegne and Morrow, didn’t get the chance to break into the rotation. This just tells you how bad they must be.

The future looks worse than the present. Wade will probably exercise his option and come back. No matter what anyone says it’s all about the money. Wade will not pass up 23.8 million. Five years ago this would have been a good deal for the Bulls.  Butler played well but often disappeared during the playoffs. It seems highly unlikely someone would trade a lottery pick for him. He also looks confused when the double team comes. Rondo should be back and Lopez who played well should be back. That’s only 4 players plus Portis, Zipser and a remaining cast of bad. I hear that this year’s draft goes deep in talent. The Bulls could draft a decent player at number 16. However, look who’s making the selection…those goofs in the front office.

Bears Draft 2017

April 28, 2017

Let’s start by saying the most expensive free agents signed were a quarterback and a tight end.

In a year of not ready for prime time quarterbacks in the college draft, the Chicago Bears pulled off a stunner drafting Mitch Trubisky of North Carolina. The last time the Bears drafted a quarterback in the first round was Rex Grossman. Although he was a late round pick, he did lead the Bears to their only other Super Bowl appearance since 1985.

General Manager Ryan Pace has always talked about building your team through the draft. This does not coincide with his many free agent acquisitions or trading multiple picks to move up one spot in the draft. Now I didn’t see any North Carolina football but I can see the numbers. Thirteen starts with an 8-5 record doesn’t bowl me over.

The team has talked on and on about signing and drafting game changers to increase turnover ratio. So they go offense for a guy who won’t see the field for at least a year or an injury to your starter.  I am wondering if San Francisco would have drafted Trubisky (indications say no). If not, the Bears could have drafted him with the 3^rd pick. We’ll probably never know. If the 49ers took Trubisky, the Bears could have chosen Solomon Thomas. Put him with Aikeem Hicks and Eddie Goldman, you may have a game changing defensive line and saved the traded picks to fill the many holes the Bears have.

The Bears have been lamenting about a record low 11 turnovers. They said they were looking for playmakers who make interceptions and cause fumbles. So, naturally in the second round they choose a tight end, Adam Shaheen. This guy has big time credentials coming from a Division II Ashland College where he could run over small and less talented players than in major universities.

So while most teams draft players who can make an impact right out of college, the Bears picks don’t improve this team. The most glaring need was in the defensive secondary and this was not addressed. They will probably be as bad as last year. If you’ve seen the schedule they’ll probably start out 0-4. They receive anther high draft pick in a year of better quarterbacks than Trubisky. John Fox should be let go. If Trubisky doesn’t pan out in 2018, Pace will be shown the door.

If you think this is bad, coming up is a look at the Bulls...

Blackhawks Obituary

April 21, 2017

The television show The Wild World of Sports used to have an early narrative that included the agony of defeat. The Blackhawks and their fans now know this feeling. The series was painful to watch. The Hawks had 109 points and 50 wins this season. Many people, including yours truly, thought they would easily get to the finals and play for the Stanley Cup. However, 1 week and poof, they were done.  What looked so promising became embarrassing. getting swept 4-0 by the 8^th seeded Nashville Predators. With the agony wearing off I tried to think of reasons for this stunning result:

The Over the Hill Gang - The Blackhawks looked old, slow and sloppy. Too many giveaways in their own zone, getting beaten to loose pucks and loosing every scrum. Where’s Andrew Shaw when you need him? Oduya and Campbell will be gone. Contracts will make it difficult to unload Seabrook, Hossa and Hjalmarsson     

Three goals in four games - A team with 6 twenty goal scorers and one with 19 didn’t seem to show up. They made bad plays at both ends of the ice, most notably Hossa’s giveaway in game 3 OT. Not that it mattered. There was no way the Hawks were going to win that game coughing up a two goal lead. Corey Crawford did his job and only Kane and Kruger did theirs. Toews played the worst series I’ve ever seen from him.       

Coach Q-He’s great at changing lines, mixing his defense pairings, and match ups against other team lines. However, as a coach couldn’t he look at tape to come up with a plan to combat what the Predators were doing to stymie the Hawks? The only strategy I saw was the dump and chase which never worked because the Predators were faster to the puck. This allowed them to set up their offense, relentlessly attacking, carrying the puck into the Hawks' end. The other change was playing Kane every other shift. He can’t do it alone. He just looked spent at the end of the game.

     What may be the biggest reason for the series defeat? By clinching home ice early, the Hawks lost all their momentum by resting and not caring how they played the last three games. It seems things have to keep moving for them to find their groove, like during the regular season. The inactivity may be a reason for the slow start. Meanwhile, at the end of the season the Predators were fighting for a position to get in the playoffs. These games had the intensity of post season play, giving them an edge. Until next season...

  

Hawks Bulls post Season 2017

April 14 2017

It’s a great time of the year. You have baseball, basketball playoffs and Stanley Cup Hockey. In Chicago that’s two great teams and two lousy teams .Because baseball is just starting we’ll talk Stanley Cup and basketball playoffs

Although the Blackhawks lost the first game there is no reason to panic. The Hawks can play much better than last night and you saw Nashville’s best. The Hawks are the better team and should come out flying in game 2. Earlier this season when they had six days off and were supposed to fresh, they lost 1-0 to Edmonton.  They then proceeded to win 5 straight on the road.  The only real problem is sometimes teams can ride their goalies to the cup. Crawford is that type of player. I don’t think the Predators Rinne is and the Hawks offense will figure him out.. Another problem may be the power play which looks awful. The Hawks were better 5 on 5. Nashville was probably the best team in the conference going in. It may be tough however, I think the Hawks can win on the road and reach the second round.

 Turning to basketball, the team from the West to reach the finals will probably be the Golden State Warriors. One thing I can assure you is that they won’t be playing the Bulls. The worst thing that could

happen to this team was making the playoffs and not the NBA lottery. Usually the Bulls face Lebron’s team and get bounced. This year Cleveland looks vulnerable (not that the Bulls would beat them) and it could have been interesting,

This year’s first round is against a very good Boston Celtics team. The Bulls may have split four games winning twice at the United Center, (one on a phantom foul) and getting annihilated twice in Boston. In one game the Bulls had only 29 points at halftime and didn’t score a point until 5 minutes were gone in the first quarter..So each team wins at home and the series goes seven right?  Not a chance. Playoff basketball is different and if the Bulls win one game I’d be shocked. They may win game 4 with Boston losing interest up 3-0. We’ll talk about all that ails this team and their bleak future after the draft.

Stay tuned because after the first round this becomes good theater. This is especially true with all the great teams in the Western Conference. In the East you’ve got Cleveland, Boston and my pick, the Bullets, to battle it out for the Eastern Conference title.

2017 NCAA Tournament

April 5, 2017

Every year I look forward to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The fun of filling out brackets, the one and out intensities of the games and breakout stars.  It’s called March Madness and the results prove why.

In previous years most upsets take place in the first round. Aside from a couple of games, this was not the case this year. Wild card entry USC beats SMU. Number 12 Middle Tennessee beats number 5 Minnesota. This is when the madness began.

When picking winners you can usually count on all 1 and 2 seeds making it to the sweet 16. The first game on Saturday was the shocking upset of #1 Villanova to #8 Wisconsin. You would think #2 Duke would have easy road to final four. However, they lose to #6 South Carolina. At this point, the number one and two teams don’t reach sweet 16. In a last shot thriller #3 Florida beats Wisconsin then loses to South Carolina.  A #6 team reaches the final four.

When Michigan beats Louisville another number #2 doesn’t make it to the round of 16. Oregon squeeks by Rhode Island then shoots lights out to beat Michigan.  #1 seed Kansas cruises by Purdue by double digits then gets upset by Oregon. The break out star is guard Tyler Dorsey of Oregon. Against Rhode Island, 27 points on 9-10 shooting. In sweet 16 20 points with game winning layup versus Michigan. Led team past Kansas, 14 points 4-6 from three point range. The final four has a #3 seed.

Gonzaga had the easiest time getting to finals. The competition they faced seemed to the easiest path. It might have been different if #2 Arizona doesn’t get beat by #11 Xavier. It was great to see Northwestern win a game and put a scare in Gonzaga coming back from 18 points to get it close. Blown call turns 3 point into seven point lead.

There was only one bracket where there were no upsets although Kentucky almost lost to Wichita St. to reach the sweet 16. #1 N. Carolina beat #4 Butler. #2 Kentucky beats #3 UCLA. Then in what was probably the best game of the tourney. N. Carolina beats Kentucky by one in a back and forth game with several lead changes and ties.

Gonzaga’s luck continued. After disposing of #11 Xavier they faced the lowest seed remaining. S. Carolina had some solid upset buts all good things come to an end and lost by 4. Not a great difference although I felt this game was never in doubt. In the other match up every N. Carolina run was countered by one from Oregon. Despite Tyler Dorsey going 3-10 before fouling out they only trailed by one with 5.4 seconds and the clock stopped, N. Carolina at the free throw line. After the free throws there would have been enough time to get down and shoot a 3 to tie the game. They miss the first foul shot and you’re thinking Oregon may get in the paint to tie game or go for the win with a 3 pointer. When the next free throw missed the Tar Heels got the rebound. This scenario repeated itself with 4 seconds left with Carolina getting the rebound on the second miss. The first thing Oregon works on next season is how to block out on free throws.

The final game was a real stinker. Bad play, countless fouls long timeouts. It was slow and uneventful. Someone had to win and Gonzaga with their inflated record against mediocre teams and an easy path to reach the final. N. Carolina was most likely the best team they faced all year. The Zags kept it close for the first thirty minutes and lost to the better team.