http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...kola-mirotic-strong-start-20141001-story.html "He's a lot more than just a shooter," Noah said. "He's a great shooter, and he's done things that are pretty surprising. You don't think of 'stretch fours' as guys who can block shots, run the floor. And he can. He's a hell of a player." In fact, Thibodeau said he thought Mirotic had a strong first day of practices Tuesday. Then he reviewed the film. "It was even better than I thought," Thibodeau said. "He has a great attitude. He's going to be a good player." Mirotic, who actually apologized to reporters for his English, admitted Bulls practices are harder and more intense than those in Europe. But teammates have praised his work ethic as well. Read more http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...kola-mirotic-strong-start-20141001-story.html
Thanks for sharing, boys. These are two pretty great articles. My takeaways: 1) Tom Thibodeau reviews game tape of preseason practices. 2) Joakim Noah might be a really decent person. I can't imagine Mirotic's transition on the Bulls is going to be easy. He's joining a crowded front court, he's management's guy, he's relatively young, he's new to the city, he has no NBA experience, and he has some language issues. Those people make easy targets in every workplace. Hell, Thibodeau vibed him at his frickin introductory press conference, according to various journalists. So what does Joakim Noah -- one of his minutes competitors along the front line -- do? He tells every journalist in town that Mirotic is going to be a hell of a player . . . It's a really sweet thing to do. 3) Mirotic's English is much better than it was during his introductory press conference. I think he's a really smart dude. I'm envious of people who can learn languages like that. He already has a better grasp on the language than Asik did during his time here. Which brings me to my next point . . . 4) I never thought it was fair that Thibodeau compared Mirotic's experience to Asik's. It showed a lack of awareness on Thibodeau's part. When Asik came over he had played a little over a season of ball at a top European franchise and had limited international experience. Mirotic has been on the roster of a Euroleague/Spanish league team for the last five years and has had a ton of international experience. Mirotic literally has played in almost five times more Euroleague games that Asik, and the Spanish League is no joke. He's played 80-game seasons before. Mirotic should as a theoretical exercise be the most NBA ready player in the history of the league. That doesn't mean he's going to be good, just that it's unfair to compare his European experience with Asik's European experience. 5) Tom Thibodeau watches game tape of preseason practices? 6) This little section makes me think KC Johnson may have a little bit of a man crush: "Mirotic, who actually apologized to reporters for his English, admitted Bulls practices are harder and more intense than those in Europe." 7) I thought these comments were interesting: "The thing that I really like about his game is he knows when to shoot and he knows when to pass," Thibodeau said. "So he doesn't force things. When he's open, he shoots. (If) you're closing at him hard, he'll put it on the floor. He's guarded well, he'll make the play. So usually when a guy plays like that the team will function well." I always thought that it looked really easy for Mirotic in Europe to make make decisions because he was always open. Mirotic instigated the offense like Rose does while playing high pick and roll. You know Rose is going to have his man beat off the pick so he instantly forces a cascading series of defensive rotations. Mirotic is the same way. You have to run him off the the three point line, which means someone has to rotate on defense to guard him attacking the hoop, which means that someone is going to be open on the pass. 8) I'm really excited about this season, as I am most seasons. But this season things are way wide open in the East. Gonna' be fun. 9) Tom Thibodeau watches game tape of preseason practices.
I enjoyed your post. Thanks. Coming into this season, this is one of those years when it pays off to be a fan who doesn't mind doing some prep work. Put another way, it's a great season to be an educated Bulls' fan. Casual fans have heard of McDermott, but the limited amount they know about them could cause them to create unreasonably high or low expectations depending on which snippets of info they've run across. Few casual fans know much of anything about Mirotic, and as a result have no expectations for his potential contribution to the team. I can't ever recall looking at a Bulls team in October with such a wide range of possible outcomes. It all starts with DRose. Will he return to MVP form or be no better than an upper-half PG...neither outcome is really an outlier. How much does Gasol have left? How's Noah's knee? Is Gibson be ready to make another step up? Will he be given the opportunity to step up? McDermott...where will he fit between Bird and Adam Morrison? Mirotic...where will he fit between Dirk and Darko Milicic. How will Thibodeau deploy his seemingly very deep bench. Will he give the rooks a chance? Will he run his vets into the ground? Good times!
For the second time in three days, Noah, who doesn't throw around compliments lightly, raved about Mirotic: "He's a worker, hell of a talent. He's going to be a big weapon for us. We've never really had a stretch four like that with that kind of ability Read more http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/ct-bulls-bits-spt-1005-20141005-story.html
The natural pairings along the front court in terms of playing styles are Noah/Mirotic and Pau/Gibson. I wonder if there's a chance Thibodeau enters the season with that along his front court?
If he's that good, start him. Over who, though: Gasol or Noah? Maybe Taj should be traded for a quality SG or SF or combo.
A definite possibility, but first they need to see what they have in Mirotic, McDermott and to a lesser extent, Tony Snell. Best case, the first two are starter quality and Snell a capable swingman. This would open all kinds of fun trade possibilities.
Given what we know about Thibs, should we really be surprised that he watches game tape of preseason practices? That totally fits.
Seems to me a good coach would watch game films of his team in preseason and even practices. Maybe it seems Thibs is OCD about it, though. Like, does he have a life outside of coaching and watching game films?