Bulls Prefer Loyalty to Winning

April 16, 2019

It seems as if Chicago teams owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, prioritize loyalty over winning. How else can you explain that Kenny Williams is still employed by the White Sox? Since the World Series in 2005 the Sox have only appeared in the post season once. Williams’ bad decisions in trades and free agency crippled this team. He is now the Executive Vice-President. I have a hunch he was in some way involved in the Manny Machado fiasco. Rick Hahn replaced him and was saddled with the worst manager in Sox history, Robin Ventura. After posting a won-loss record of 375-435, Ventura resigned at the end of the 2016 season. The only thing that kept him around for 4 years was loyalty. Instead of conducting a managerial search in the off-season, loyalty reigned as they hired Bench Coach Ricky Renteria the next day.

Reinsdorf’s other team, the Chicago Bulls, have an eerily similar situation. In 2003, they named John Paxon General Manager. Six years later he hired Gar Forman to be his GM while he became Executive Vice President. Most of these years the Bulls have been terrible. The best year they had was when Derrick Rose had his MVP season and they went to the conference finals. Jerry’s son, President Michael Reinsdorf, held a press conference pledging his alliance to Paxon and Forman. He didn’t understand why fans weren’t pleased. Maybe because they haven’t won a goddam thing. I guess it doesn’t matter because the fans keep filling the United Center.

As I’ve stated before, I don’t like firing a coach during the season. The management wonks lost faith and let their golden boy coach Fred Hoiberg go as the Bulls started out 5-19. In a you have to be kidding me move, the Bulls hired Assistant Coach Jim Boylen. This would not be so bad if they had made him an interim coach and conducted a candidate search in the off-season. Instead they extended his contract covering next season and it seems that they want to add 3 more years to this contract. Unbelievable! So Bulls fans, how do you feel about Boylen and his spiffy won-loss record of 17-41?

Boylen is the antithesis of a modern NBA coach. He hasn’t picked up on the fact that the NBA is all about spacing the floor and shooting three point shots, not points in the paint. If you look at the top teams, they all have players who can hit threes. The Bulls were last in the league in three point shot attempts. Boylen also is always pacing the court, yelling at his players.  He called for a practice after back to back losses and almost had a revolution on his hand. You think potential free agents don’t hear about this? Granted, the Bulls have been beset by injuries. But in February, Lauri Markkanen was averaging over 20 points and 10 rebounds a game and Zach LaVine was playing like an all-star. The Bulls were still getting blown out. If a game was close, he couldn’t find ways for them not to choke. Otto Porter Jr. came aboard and they almost played 500 when he was healthy. However, he is not a player who will turn your franchise around.

  Most players come to the NBA with good offensive skills The Bulls coaching staff has to teach them the importance of and how to play defense. The Bulls defense ranks near the bottom of the NBA. They are especially bad defending three point shooters, who continually get wide open looks. This problem is a direct result of bad coaching.  One of the most infuriating things about Boylen is he can’t seem to concentrate on both offense and defense at the same time. When he first came in, he slowed the tempo down and stressed defense. The results were huge losses only with lower point totals. He then promised the offense would get better. The results were losses with higher point totals.

 Boylen may be passionate and caring, though last time I checked these are not synonyms for winning. However, if the Bulls get lucky in the draft lottery, coaching may not matter. On my wish list is Ja Morant. Zion Williamson will be a great player but Morant is the perfect point guard who can make his teammates better. If Markkanen and LaVine get better with Morant, the Bulls have three stars that can win championships. Sounds good, but most likely they will be gone before the Bulls pick.

Hawks Mantra: Wait Until Next Year

April 9, 2019

For the second consecutive year the Chicago Blackhawks failed to reach the playoffs. This is quite the dubious feat when you consider eight of sixteen teams make it to the post season. Things have to get better.

I’m not in favor of firing a coach in mid-season. However, I will give Hawks management the benefit of the doubt in replacing 3 time Stanley Cup winning coach, Joel Quenneville, with minor league coach Jeremy Colliton. While Colliton got to know his players and vice versa, the Hawks went 3-14-3 in his first 20 games. They sunk to the bottom of the standings. Although they managed to get back into the playoff race, in the end they just couldn’t overcome the hole they dug for themselves.

Colliton made some keen moves during the stretch run that almost got them over the hump. The Hawks had one of the poorest power plays in the league. By inserting offensive minded defenseman Erik Gustafson on the point, the power play became one of the league’s best. For years the Hawks have been looking for wingers to pick up Jonathan Toews. Colliton paired him with the Hawks best player, Patrick Kane and both had career years. Second year forward Alex Debrincat was scoring goals in bunches (he would end up with 41). Paired with 21 year old Dylan Strome (acquired for Nick Schmaltz) gave them a second scoring line. They were right on the cusp of taking the final spot when the wings fell off. Back to back home losses to two teams they were chasing, the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars, stunted their push.

Following a road trip that included a 6-3 loss to the last place Los Angeles Kings, the Hawks were running on fumes. However, they got hot and started winning games. With 12 games left they still had an outside chance of grabbing the eighth and final playoff spot. After winning the first two, the Hawks ran out of gas scoring less than three goals in five straight games. After being shut out by Arizona, the season was over.

The major problem for the Hawks was they were second to last in goals allowed. Gustafson may turn out to be a great scorer but his defense is atrocious and the penalty killing units are awful. Aging veterans Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook would possibly be more effective with less minutes. Connor Murphy is their only top notch defenseman. The other young defensemen should improve with more experience.  General Manager Stan Bowman stood pat over last summer. He has ample salary cap and needs to sign defensive minded defensemen.

The Hawks are not far off from being a contending team. They went 18-9-3   in their last thirty games.  If they could have won 5 games during Colliton’s first twenty, they would have made the playoffs this past season. I’m excited about the 2019-20 season with Colliton at the helm. The offense looks solid and Corey Crawford looked great once the rust wore off from his concussion. The defense has to step up.

April 2, 2019 

How many people out there have the final four teams left in your brackets? Although I have no real rooting interest and there is no Cinderella team, I have been glued to my TV. These games have had drama and excitement galore.

The lowest seed left is Auburn. In their opening-round game, the Tigers were ahead of the New Mexico State Aggies by two points. The Tigers committed a three-shot foul with seconds remaining. The Aggies shooter missed two out of three and Auburn escaped with a one point victory. Auburn went on to beat perennial power Kansas and pulled the upset of the tournament by annihilating the No. 1-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels by 17 points. The next big win was over the No. 2 seed, Kentucky. Auburn prevailed, thoroughly outplaying the Wildcats in overtime.

I had not seen or heard of No. 3 seed Texas Tech Red Raiders until this tourney. They remind me of the Chicago Bears. The offense is nothing special but the defense is outstanding. They cruised through the first three rounds. In the Sweet Sixteen, their opponent, No. 2 seed Michigan, was limited to 44 points.  The Red Raiders then upset high-scoring No. 1 seed Gonzaga, holding the Zags to 69 points.

The Virginia Cavaliers, the only top seed left, had an easy time reaching the round of 16. They ran into trouble against a streaking 12-seed Oregon.  After many lead changes and ties, the Cavs eked out a 53-49 victory. The next game against Purdue was special. Both teams were running on all cylinders. Purdue thought it had won the game. With 5.8 seconds left, the Boilermakers were ahead by 3 points with Virginia at the foul line shooting two free throws. Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome, made the first and purposely missed the second. The Cavs, got the rebound in their backcourt and passed the ball up-court to a wide open Mamadi Diakite. He hit the short jump shot forcing overtime. Both teams deserved to win. Virginia was a little better in OT, winning 80-75.

I thought the best team in the tournament was the top-seeded Duke Blue Devils. The Michigan State Spartans, a No. 2 seed, crushed their competition on their way to the Elite Eight. Meanwhile, Duke twice was almost upset early. They beat the ninth-seeded UCF Knights and the fourth-seeded Virginia Tech Hokies by only two points. Both UCF and Virginia Tech had a chance to win but missed last-second shots. This set up an epic battle between two powerhouse programs. This game was tight, with each making clutch shots. With 5.8 seconds left, the Blue Devils were at the foul line trailing by two points. The problem for Duke was that the player fouled, R.J. Barrett was only averaging 66 percent on free throws. After missing his first free throw, he tried to miss the next hoping Duke would get the rebound. Unlike Virginia, the second shot went in. The Spartans won, 68-67.

I have no clue as to who is going to be crowned National Champion. I am just hoping it will turn out to as exciting as it has been up until now.

What I took away from this tournament is that if the Bulls get lucky and add either Duke’s Zion Williamson or Ja Morant of Murray State, they will be instant contenders. However, chances are those two won’t be available when it comes to the Bulls’ turn in the draft.