Trib: Cavaliers coach sings praises of Bulls' Nikola Mirotic

Except that was a couple basketball generations ago. Maybe Nikola Pekovic is a better example of a player who had a lot of European success but didn't immediately light it up his rookie year. Pek put up 5.5 pets and reb and didn't really start to kill until right at the very end of his rookie season. I actually think Mirotic's game may translate a little more easily, if I'm not quite sure who is the better player

 

Good point. I think the international 3-point line was at something like 20.5 feet back then...that could be part of the reason for Kukoc's poor FG% in his rookie season.

Actually, looking at Kukoc's per-36 numbers for his rookie season, his 16.2pts, 5.9rebs and 1.6stls were above his career averages and his 5.0 assists per-36 was just 0.1 off his career average. Not all that bad.

 

Our starting SG last season had a 13.5 PER. Our starting SF last season had a 12.6 PER.

The minutes crunch is at PF/C. I think at the two wing positions we're both thin and while Dunleavy is a fine shooter, he's not a scorer.

With Noah at 12.6 PPG, Jimmy at 13.1 PPG, Taj at 13 PPG, and Dunleavy at 11.3 PPG, it seems like Rose has to carry most of the load. I'm not a fan of that lineup. So I agree with rosenthall that Mirotic (or Gasol) should start, and for the same reason he says Mirotic should start, so should McBuckets.

IMO

 

It would be great if Thibodeau decides that McDermott has won a starting wing spot. That puts Dunleavy where he's supposed to be (i.e., bench wing). If they're all healthy, those 3 could probably cover about 80 of the 96 wing minutes.

While a stretch 4 with the starting unit has its advantages, so does a highly-skilled 7-foot versatile scorer/passer like Gasol.

I'm not keen on Gibson starting on this team. Though his offense has improved, particularly his post moves, he's still weak at finding the open man on the double-team. I don't want to stop the ball with the first unit.

 

As a bench player, he was a candidate for 6th man of the year. As a starter, he'd be pretty far down the list. Behind guys like Love, Griffin, Aldridge, Dirk, Milsap, Bosh, Duncan, Ibaka, Melo, LeBron, and even Shawn Marion, etc.

 

As the 'ol sayin' goes, "its not who starts, its who finishes!"

In the 4/5 logjam, who is going to get the minutes and who is going to finish.

I posted my minutes distribution guess. I also would guess that Gibson finishes.

Boozer didn't like not finishing. It was a blow to his ego. But, he was on his way out. Mirotic and Gasol are on their way in. I wonder how they will handle it.

Big part of NBA coaching is managing the egos. Its going to be quite the tap dance for Thibs.

Who do y'all think will get the most minutes and who will be finishing?

 

No, it could be a very good idea. Rose - Doug - Jimmy - Mirotic - Noah seems pretty balanced, assuming that Mirotic can play well in the NBA.

 

Pretty timely article for our little Kukoc-Mirotic comparison.

More at the link.

 

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I certainly hope Mirotec is a better all around player than Toni, who was ok and got glory from a couple of clutch shots but played defense like a YMCA B league men's league tall socks short short Milton.

 

Hinrich > Kukoc ?

 

No.

 

That could happen yes, or we could bring Mirotic off of the bench and reign 3's in the second unit.

Our bigs might wreak havoc on teams no matter who starts

 

I'll agree that there isn't really a minutes dilemma. But Taj not being worried about his next contract? I would be worried if I were him. Guys like Kenneth Faried are getting Team USA invites and accolades, when Taj is a true, legitimate, two-way player. I'd be pissed.

 

Despite singing Gasol and Mirotic, I look for Gibson to build on what he did last year.

 

I feel like you're under the impression that we agree on Gibson's value when we actually don't. I think he was the best player on the Bulls last year, an allstar caliber talent, not a sixth man of the year type player. I look at Gibson as a guy whose stats are getting killed by playing in Thib's system. His rebounding numbers and blocks are artificially low because he's caught chasing guards all over the court; his composite numbers are artificially low because he doesn't start; and his offensive numbers are crushed by the fact that the Bulls rarely get easy shots and turn every game into a grind. (Compare this with a guy like Faried and who I see as having inflated stats across the board due to the way the Nuggets play.)