Chicago Bulls vs. Atlanta Hawks: 5 Takeaways
Oct 20, 2016; Omaha, NE, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler (21) attempts a shot over Atlanta Hawks center Dwight Howard (8) at CenturyLink Center Omaha. Atlanta defeated Chicago 97-81. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
The Chicago Bulls finished their preseason with a middling 3-4 record, tallying a loss to Dwight Howard and the new-look Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night.
Let’s unpack the positives and negatives of last night’s 97-81 preseason defeat for the Chicago Bulls at the hands of the latest incarnation of Mike Budenholzer’s Atlanta Hawks, at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
Omaha, let’s not forget, is home to Creighton University, whose basketball team is coached by Greg McDermott. Oh, right, there’s also this — the Jays’ two most famous NBA players just happened to be suiting up on opposing benches last night.
How’d they do, ask those of you watching the Cubs game (which, to be fair, was all of us — I’m catching up thanks to the wonders of League Pass archiving)?
Read on, dear friends.
Oct 20, 2016; Omaha, NE, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Dwyane Wade (3) drives against Atlanta Hawks forward Kent Bazemore (24) at CenturyLink Center Omaha. Atlanta defeated Chicago 97-81. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
Dwyane Wade was on fire from deep this preseason
As the Bulls’ Facebook mentioned tonight, Dwyane Wade “finished the preseason shooting 43.7% from downtown. That percentage would have ranked 4th in the NBA last season. Just saying.”
I really don’t know what to make of this. Sadly, Flash shot abysmally from all over the court tonight, converting just three of his 14 field goal attempts for a 21.4 percent completion rate. He made just one of his five 3-point attempts.
Will the career 28.4 percent 3-point shooter average 20 percent from outside this season? 43.7 percent? I have absolutely no idea.
It’s up to Wade and Hoiberg to figure out how best to space him, the way the “Three Alphas” run their sets around each other (and the way their minutes are staggered, and the personnel they’re running with) will determine just how far these Bulls can go.
Oct 20, 2016; Omaha, NE, USA; Atlanta Hawks center Dwight Howard (8) gets ready to check into the game against the Chicago Bulls at CenturyLink Center Omaha. Atlanta defeated Chicago 97-81. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
Maybe the Bulls should’ve looked into signing D12
Despite his world-famous farts and infamous team chemistry problems, Dwight Howard has looked really good with his hometown team this preseason.
That trend continued last night, as he demolished poor Robin Lopez to the tune of 16 points, 15 rebounds, one block, a +12 plus-minus rating, and went 6-of-9 in free-throw shooting!
What the heck is happening?
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Lopez had seven points, two rebounds, and a -8 in the plus-minus department. To be fair, he also lofted up a pretty sweet turnaround sky hook over Howard, had a whopping six blocks and overall played okay defense. But let’s get back to Howard — what if Budenholzer’s grand experiment, letting Al Horford walk in favor of the 404’s more volatile prodigal son, actually works?
This begs the question of whether or not the Derrick Rose trade netting the Bulls RoLo was the move they should have made, considering Howard was readily available as a free agent. If Dwight Howard was guaranteed to be as good as he was tonight (again, while facing a pretty good defensive center in Sideshow Rob) for, say, 75 percent of the regular season and all of the playoffs, would you rather have that Howard inked onboard as a free agent, plus Rose flipped for Ben McLemore, Darren Collison and draft picks or the package we got plus Dwyane Wade?
Wade?
Yeah, me too.
I don’t trust the honeymoon period of Dwight’s Atlanta reign. He and James Harden destroyed a pretty good Houston team just about a year ago, and his back has limited his availability for eons. Wade is a proven leader, an all-time player who, while in the twilight of his career, is still crafty and persistent enough that I think he’s going to log some productive time in Chicago.
Still though, Robin Lopez had secretly been the second-most exciting off-season addition throughout these seven preseason games. It was kind of a bummer to see him schooled by a supposedly washed-up Dwight Howard.
Oct 20, 2016; Omaha, NE, USA; Chicago Bulls forward Doug McDermott (11) drives on Atlanta Hawks guard Kyle Korver (26) at CenturyLink Center Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
Doug McDermott is not Kyle Korver
So how did Doug McDermott respond in his first Omaha basketball action since graduating Creighton as the consensus national player of the year, and the fifth-highest scoring college player ever (keep in mind, most of the best players don’t last four years before the pros beckon)?
While he did have 16 points, the 6’8″ forward posted a plus-minus of -7, made only a third of his 15 shot attempts, had as many turnovers as he did rebounds (two), and he had as many assists for the Bulls as I did.
Okay fine fine, he also had one steal and made all four of his free throws, and that -7 mark was actually one of the better plus-minus ratings on the team last night. The shots that he did make were pretty nice, between off-balance floaters to crafty tear drops and lay-ins. The dude does have a stroke, but it wasn’t totally worth giving up Gary Harris and Jusuf Nurkic for him during the draft.
Fellow Creighton alum Korver had 16 points, too, but he got them kind of differently. The 6’7″ ex-Bull shot 6-for-10 overall (including 4/8 from deep), had four rebounds, six assists, a block, just one turnover, and notched a stellar +16 plus-minus, tied for the highest such stat on his team (with Kent Bazemore, a guy the Bulls totally could’ve signed this summer, but whatever).
Oct 3, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Rajon Rondo (9) passes the ball against then-Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Carter-Williams (5) during the first half at the United Center. 14 days later, they were Bulls teammates. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
Michael Carter-Williams is the Bulls’ backup point guard
And, Jerian Grant isn’t good enough to even be his backup (that’d be sharp-shooting water-bug Isaiah Canaan).
Michael Carter-Williams underwhelmed in his Bulls debut, registering the worst plus-minus (-12) on a team full of bad plus-minuses Thursday. In 20 minutes, MCW went just 1-of-5 from the floor, had just three assists, one rebound, one steal, one turnover and two personal fouls.
To be fair, he’s brand new to Fred Hoiberg’s system (if you can call that offense a “system”) and is still recovering from a hip surgery in March. He will improve.
Speaking of surgeries, though.
Oct 6, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; (From R-L) Chicago Bulls Jimmy Butler, Rajon Rondo, and Dwayne Wade watch from the bench during their game against the Indiana Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Pacers won 115-108. Two of these “Three Alphas” have had serious knee surgeries. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Number of 2016-17 preseason Bulls with a history of serious knee injuries: 7
As the Bulls’ preseason comes to a merciful close, I just wanted to do more of a preseason takeaway than a game takeaway for this last slide.
There are seven players on this team who have had severe knee injuries. Seven.
After ditching Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose this summer, in no small part due to those former All-Stars’ depressing history of knee injuries, the Bulls added or kept a whole bunch of dudes with a depressing history of knee injuries. Seeing this team struggle in transition against Atlanta reminded me of everybody’s balky knees.
Here’s a handy inventory for the curious: Wade (two meniscus surgeries), Rajon Rondo (one ACL surgery), Denzel Valentine (two arthroscopic surgeries), Doug McDermott (one meniscus surgery), Paul Zipser (knee tear that caused him to miss six months of play), Robin Lopez (one meniscus surgery), and Spencer Dinwiddie (one ACL surgery).
Granted, Dinwiddie is more likely to suit up in Hoffman Estates than in Chicago come when the Bulls’ regular season tips off next Thursday.
Or just get, pardon the expression, cut (poor guy has a non-guaranteed contract).
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