Slumping Bulls

 

February 10, 2023

The Bulls were only one of two teams that stood pat following the trade deadline. Arturas Karniovas, V.P. of Basketball Operations was quoted as saying the Bulls have a good team with a lot of good players and can make a run in the playoffs. He must be
 watching a different Bulls team than me.

This team has several flaws that to be corrected for the Bulls to competitive. In this day you need to have 3-point shot makers. The Bulls get beat in this category by not having a consistent shot maker and their failure in stopping teams who always have more accurate 3-point shooters. They have no true point guard who can bring the ball up court and add a little offense. This is where the injury to Lonzo Bell hurts. He would make this a much better team. However, the Bulls had to shut him down. Who knows when he’ll be back and will regain the form he had prior to his injury.

Zach LaVine became the face of the team. Being a team leader, the Bulls offered him a max contract. The big contract makes it unlikely for a team to pursue him via trade. If he is having a poor shooting night and commits turnovers, he is detrimental to the team. Think of all the guards who are better. This will take some time before you get to LaVine.

Teams have caught on to DeMar DeRozan and he keeps shooting against double and triple teams. His shooting percentage is down. I don’t know why the Bulls let him bring the ball up court. He is a terrible ball handler and gets the ball taken away from him. DeRozan continues to put up points though many times he’s putting up a lot of shots. I can’t believe the Bulls didn’t explore a trade for him.

Karnisovas indicated the Bulls will try to retain Nikola Vucevic, who is having his best stretch as a Bull. He finally is taking advantage of his size. In the low post he has been outstanding. The problem is he is in love with an inconsistent 3-point shot.

The three are all good players. However, you need a superstar who can take over games to compete for championships. The other two starters, Ayo Dosunmu and Patrick Wiiliams are the future of the Bulls. Both are very young in only their second year (Williams was out most of last year).

Bears Obituary

 

January 12, 2023

On their final play, the Bears took a knee and mercifully ended their season.  The loss to the Minnesota Vikings extended their consecutive losses to 10, a Bears record.  The Bears set another team record in futility, losing 14 games. Not one player made the Pro Bowl indicating the deficiency in talent. Meanwhile, they traded away Roquan Smith who was third in the league tackles and made the Pro Bowl. The Baltimore Ravens were all too glad to sign him a 5-year contract, something the Bears wouldn’t do for their best defensive player. With so many holes, there is no quick fix for this team. 

The only reason to watch the Bears was the growth of Justin Fields. He became the third quarterback in history to rush for over 1,000 yards. He was able to make some electric runs after alluding to pressure. He was the catalyst for a four game run of over 30 points. It is hard to judge him as a passer as he had constant pressure and receivers who couldn’t get open. He did show some flashes, as in the only game when he wasn’t sacked, he threw for 250 yards.

Despite all the losing, tight end Cole Kmet had a breakout season and should get even better. There are only a couple of other players that should return. Wide receivers Darnell Mooney and Chase Claypool will be back as will linemen Cody Whitehair and Braxton Jones. Khalil Herbert should be the feature back however, they seem to be in love with David Montgomery. Montgomery usually has a couple of nice carries but most of his runs are of the three yards or less category. When is anybody going to recognize he is not a third and one running back. 

Montgomery is an excellent receiver out of the backfield, however, the offensive coordinator rarely calls this play. That brings to the crux of the problem. Offensive Coordinator Luke Getsey made a plethora of questionable calls. He rarely called play action or roll-outs, Fields' strengths. He also called running plays when down two scores at the end of games. Against the Packers, they were down one and he’s calling passes. That potential comeback ended with an interception.

One of the most disheartening things was the defense was the worst I can remember. The basic skill of tackling is a foreign concept. All year long opposing quarterbacks had all the time in the world to complete passes as there was zero pass rush. Defense was supposed to be Coach Matt Eberflus’ specialty and the Bears were just brutal. The blame can be shared with the roster put together by General Manager Ryan Poles.

Poles had a decent draft in Safety Jaquan Brisker and Corner/Nickel back Kyler Gordon. Fifth round pick Braxton Jones played every snap on the offensive line, Jaylon Johnson and Eddie Jackson should be returning at cornerbacks. Undrafted rookie middle linebacker Jack Sanborn will also be back. Every other move made by Poles was a failure. There is not one defensive lineman that should be back. Poles kicked off mistakes in his hiring of Eberflus, a defensive coach. Former Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has led the New York Giants to the playoffs. And, with the worst offense in football it would have been nice to sign some playmakers. Fields can’t do it all by himself. 

This is a critical year for Poles and the Bears. They have 115 million in salary cap money and the number one overall pick. Chances are the Bears will not sign a bona-fide number one receiver and will continue to sign second tier players. The Bears need so many players they should try to trade down for a couple of picks. I have zero confidence that Poles is the right choice as GM. There are too many flaws to see the Bears as playoff contenders in the near future.       

 

 

Is There Reason to Believe This Year Will Be Better Than The Last

 

January 5, 2023

 

The Bears hit an all-time low, losing to the Detroit Lions 41-10. I can talk ad nauseam about the myriad of problems with the Bears. My expectations weren’t high, but I never envisioned they would wind up with only three wins. New GM Ryan Poles, who is supposed to have an eye for talent, missed on every move. Signing players no one else wanted does not bode well for success. The defense was bad all-year, overcoming a rejuvenated offense, to lose games. Bad coaching decisions also led to their downfall.  Poles has plenty of cap salary to sign an A-1 bona fide receiver, but I expect the Bears to not spend the money it takes to make this kind of acquisition. The Bears own the second overall pick and plan to turn this into multiple picks.

2022 is one the worst years for Chicago sports. None of the teams were competitive and none have a chance of winning in the near future. The two Chicago baseball teams have combined for only two championships over the past 100 years. The Bulls are struggling with Lonzo Ball being injured. Before going down last year the Bull had one of the top records in the NBA. Ball was the catalyst of both the offense and defense. There is no timetable for his return and knows one can predict if he can regain his form. Without Ball, the Bulls have had their ups and downs with some big wins and some catastrophic losses. There are no championships with the current construction of the roster. Despite all this, I still love watching.

Last year, in their rebuild that’s not a rebuild, the Cubs held auditions for players who could be on the 2023 roster. There was something happening on the north side. The Cubs went 41-30, with third lowest ERA and have added a couple of players to hopefully become competitive in the Central Division, most notably shortstop Dansby Swanson. They added Yankee starter Jameson Taillon to join all the young arms who will be competing for spots next year. You have to have faith in Jed Hoyer. He shouldn’t be done, as the Cubs need some power. I wouldn’t count on Cody Bellinger.  It might not happen this year but the Cubs will be better and you never know.

Perhaps the most disappointing team is the White Sox. After they made the
playoffs, there were World Series aspirations; they ended with an 81-81 season, missing the playoffs by a wide margin. There were some major injuries to play through. There was also a lack of power. The best thing that happened was the former manager had to step down due to health reasons. New manager, Pedro Grifol will make the Sox come out ready to play not just going through the motions. He should have them work on base running and defense. The fact he is not LaRussa, translates into five wins minimum.

Many of you may have forgotten Chicago has a hockey team and with good reason. The Blackhawks have not reached the playoffs since 2017. They played last year in the shadow of the cover up of a sexual misconduct charge. This year after trading two of their top offensive players they are the worst team in hockey. This was the start of tanking for the number one pick. They are the only team who can tank trying to win every game. They need a lot more than just the number one pick in the draft.