SI's top 100 players in the NBA

Discussion in 'Chicago Bulls' started by Denny Crane, Sep 15, 2014.

  1. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    http://www.si.com/nba/2014/top-100-nba-players-2015-list

    In the first installment of this weeklong series, we count down players 100-51 today.

    #98 Jimmy Butler

    He held shooting guards to a Player Efficency Rating of 11.0 and small forwards to a PER of 10.1 last season, according to 82games.com. Hitting those marks requires unbelievable endurance. Not only does Butler consistently face active, top scorers, but last season he also ranked second in minutes per game and averaged a ridiculous 41.1 after Chicago traded another wing iron man, Luol Deng, in January.

    Butler's brand of offense is equally energetic if less finely tuned, with last season’s shooting numbers dipping sharply. Still, he's responsible enough in his shot selection and approach to maximize his overall value. -- R.M.

    #75 Taj Gibson

    Joakim Noah won the Defensive Player of the Year award last season, but Gibson -- as corroborated by various plus-minus and on/off metrics -- may be Chicago's best defensive player. He draws less acclaim because he plays fewer minutes, not to mention having a less demonstrative style than his frontcourt teammate. What Noah does for the Bulls is obvious because of the visual pull of his activity. Gibson plays a subtler defensive game, underscored by the fact that he rarely makes a mistake.

    Such steady, high-level play positions Gibson as one of the few power forwards capable of defensive captaincy. It's on those grounds that he outranks a more emphatic and productive player in Kenneth Faried. Whereas Faried's limitations complicate his fit on a team level, Gibson fills a role that could benefit most any roster. Sometimes the sensible outweighs the spectacular. -- R.M.
     
  2. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    Others of note, guys we've talked about in various threads, or otherwise of interest:

    Kevin Martin #99
    Jamal Crawford #86
    Tyreke Evans #84 (I wish we got him, still do)
    Aaron Afflalo #81 (ditto)
    Kyle Korver #74 (one better than Taj - go figure)
    Monta Ellis #66 (I was a big time proponent of trying to get him)
    Omer Asik #64
    Gordon Hayward #57
    Luol Deng #55 (55 is not bad at all!)
    Joe Johnson #51 (we scoff at his overpriced contract, but #51 at his age means he's still a seriously good player)
     
  3. transplant

    transplant Global Moderator Staff Member Global Moderator

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    Thanks, Denny.

    Rose was #12 in last year's SI rankings. It'll be interesting to see how much they'll drop him.
     
  4. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    It seems odd that they have both Omer and Lu much higher than Taj.
     
  5. transplant

    transplant Global Moderator Staff Member Global Moderator

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    If you find it odd, you might just want to attribute it to them being wrong. I'm pretty sure this is allowed.
     
  6. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    Either that or we and garpaxdorf overvalue Taj.
     
  7. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    #49 Pau Gasol

    Two things regarding Gasol have been made clear in the last year.

    First: he will not kill himself, or even much trouble himself, to do the dirty work for a team he doesn't feel deserves it. Gasol's last NBA season, with the last-place Lakers, was underlined by half-hearted defensive effort, which wasn't a good look for an aging big man with waning mobility. The second: When Gasol is committed, as he was for Spain at the FIBA World Cup and as he should be for Chicago, he remains one of the most cerebral and effective post players in the league. After all these years, Gasol is still a standout in both post-up effectiveness and variety.

    Gasol has also experienced surprisingly little decline in his pick-and-roll game, offering another avenue for teams to get the ball in his hands. Good things tend to happen when possessions flow through him. Whether operating from the high post or making a catch on the move, Gasol sees the full floor and picks out open teammates with on-target passes. That he's such a willing distributor and a high-functioning scorer makes Gasol a drain on an entire defense. Gasol may no longer be able to serve as a team's first option, but precious few bigs share in his knack for facilitation. He makes other talented players better, provided that he's on a team contending for something other than nightly consolation. -- R.M.

    Nobody else on the Bulls ranked 50-31. We must be really good.
     
  8. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    Honorable mention, as my previous non-bulls list:

    #39 Tyson Chandler
     
  9. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    It would be interesting to compare rosters with our competitors to see how we stack up.

    Does #10, #15, and #20 beat #30, #31, #32, and #33? That sort of thing.
     
  10. such sweet thunder

    such sweet thunder Member Staff Member Moderator

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    [video=youtube;SG3UaKp-NYw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG3UaKp-NYw[/video]
     
  11. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    #23 Derrick Rose

    Let’s keep it real: The only reason that Rose is in this position, or even the top 50, is because he was so scintillating during his 2010-11 MVP season that the benefit of the doubt he stockpiled still hasn’t been exhausted during three years of injuries, rehabilitations, more injuries and more rehabilitations.

    (let's keep it real, my motto)

    If not for the vivid memories of elite play, there would be little to justify his inclusion. Over the past three seasons, Rose has played 49 regular-season games and one playoff game. Over the past two seasons, he’s rarely seen the court and has looked as rusty as it gets. During the FIBA World Cup, Rose regularly looked like Team USA’s weakest link, averaging 4.8 points and 3.1 assists while shooting just 25.4 percent from the field and 5.3 percent (1-of-19) from three-point range. Though he made a number of end-to-end flashes, he never really left his mark on the tournament, no matter how much positive encouragement he received from coach Mike Krzyzewski.

    Ultimately, those shortcomings in Spain were irrelevant -- Team USA cruised to gold -- but Rose’s ability to regain something close to his old form will determine whether Chicago needs to be taken seriously as a contender in the East. The good news for Bulls fans is that Rose appeared to be enjoying peace of mind this summer despite all of his recent struggles. The bad news is that the cycle of negativity is perpetually waiting to rev up should he do so much as tweak an ankle. Hanging over this comeback, still, is Rose’s max contract, which paid him $34 million during the last two seasons and will pay him $18.9 million this season. The pressure, expectations and scrutiny won’t be easing up any time soon, but, with any luck, Rose will find a way to translate that peace of mind into the poetry in motion that has been missing for far too long. -- R.M.
     
  12. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    Kyrie Irving beats Rose. At #21.

    Iggy #29
    Wall #31 (he sorta kicked ass in the playoffs against us, no?)
     
  13. truebluefan

    truebluefan Administrator Staff Member Administrator

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    Good post Denny, pretty much my take as well. I was pleased with his play for Spain.
     
  14. truebluefan

    truebluefan Administrator Staff Member Administrator

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    As of at this moment, ya, I won't argue with that.
     
  15. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    #17 Joakim Noah

    The Bulls had no choice but to lean on Noah more than ever in 2013-14 following the loss of Derrick Rose and the cost-cutting midseason trade of Luol Deng. The 2007 lottery pick responded with the most complete season of his career, earning All-Star, All-NBA First Team and Defensive Player of the Year honors as he carried Chicago to 48 wins. Noah led the league in defensive rating and defensive win shares while serving as the backline of the NBA’s second-best team defense. The 6-foot-11 center gets it done with frenetic energy, a maniacal commitment to the defensive glass, a honed understanding of defensive spacing and the physical tools to cover lots and lots of ground.

    In an unexpected twist, and perhaps because of Chicago’s sheer desperation for anything approaching hope on the offensive end, Noah’s growth as a playmaker wound up drawing significant acclaim last season. Stuck on a roster devoid of off-the-dribble threats and true floor-spacers, Noah emerged as a high-post facilitator; he averaged 5.5 assists per game, the most among players standing 6-foot-10 or taller, and he did it while cutting down his turnover rate. The approach ultimately proved to be nothing more than a useful curiosity, as the punch-less Bulls were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Wizards, failing to top 94 points in any of their four losses. That coach Tom Thibodeau turned to Noah to address his team’s biggest weakness, though, serves as additional evidence of Noah’s overall value.

    As a two-way player, Noah is much closer to Marc Gasol than he is to Dwight Howard, with his own abilities as a scoring threat slanting towards passable rather than overwhelming. That’s a totally manageable reality assuming Rose finally returns to form: Noah easily slides back perfectly into his role as captain of the defense and a complementary option on offense who picks his spots and cleans up in the basket area. If Rose can’t shake his depressing cycle, Chicago will once again be stuck without anything resembling a true No. 1 scoring option, a fact that not even Noah’s elite defensive abilities will be able to overcome. — B.G.
     
  16. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    Melo #11
    Love #6

    (too bad we didn't get one of those guys)

    Westbrook #4
     
  17. transplant

    transplant Global Moderator Staff Member Global Moderator

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    If Noah's the Bulls' best player this season, the Bulls are going to have to take NBA gestalt to a whole new level.

    Let's do this thing! :headbang:
     

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