The Bulls made a splash in free agency this summer, signing several new veteran players. Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago breaks down the specific ways that costly new additions Lonzo Ball, DeMar DeRozan, and Alex Caruso can help Chicago earn its first postseason berth in five years.
Schaefer notes that DeRozan boasted the 21st-best offensive rating in the league last season (110.4) and can help boost the Bulls’ offense in a variety of ways. DeRozan’s ability to get to the free throw line, protect the ball, and create offense when Bulls All-Star shooting guard Zach LaVine sits will all help Chicago win, Schaefer contends. Ball should help expedite the pace of Chicago’s offense. On the other end, stingy pick-and-roll defender Caruso should help the team limit opponents at the point of attack.
There’s more out of the Central Division:
- The Bucks‘ offseason earned a B grade from Zach Harper of The Athletic. The Bucks upgraded their backcourt depth in signing veteran point guard (and former Milwaukee reserve) George Hill, as well as Tremont Waters. Harper suggests that Milwaukee also improved on the wing by adding solid veterans Grayson Allen and Rodney Hood, who should be able to recover still-injured swingman Donte DiVincenzo. Harper opines that the Bucks regressed in the frontcourt after letting defensive-minded forward P.J. Tucker walk in free agency. Meanwhile, the Bucks stayed the same while preserving their 2020/21 center rotation.
- The Cavaliers have made some new coaching adjustments, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Dan Geriot, formerly an assistant on head coach J.B. Bickerstaff‘s bench, will become the head coach of the club’s NBAGL affiliate, the Cleveland Charge. Recent Charge head coach Nate Reinking, meanwhile, will join the Cavaliers as an assistant.
- The rebuilding Pistons have some intriguing rotation decisions that could be informed by training camp performance, writes Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. Langlois recognizes that Detroit’s top six players appear to be fairly established, but that there is room for minutes for the club’s developing young players beyond that.
The bucks regressed big time in the front court… loosing Tucker. Brooklyn is eastern conference favorites for now
At least PJ got his ring with the Bucks, he deserved it. He can help the Rockets out a lot this season if Miami makes the playoffs. That will allow Houston to swap the pick they get from Brooklyn for the Heat’s first round pick if Miami stays out of the lottery. If the Nets are as good as expected, that could be a pretty significant swap. And the Rockets will also have their own pick.
Wow, so this is what life after trading a Star for bucnh of picks looks like. Pretty sad, OKC and Pels at least got Ingram and SGA to root for after trading their guys
Things worked out fantastic for Houston. They got Kevin Porter for absolutely nothing last year, thanks to Cleveland. After joining the Rockets he became the youngest player in NBA history to score 50+ points with 10+ assists in a game. Then after tanking, Houston lucked out in the lottery getting the #2 pick and got a new star in Jalen Green. The future looks so wonderful here, thanks for asking.
I don’t know if you made up this screen name or are actually Zach Harper, but regardless, that analysis is deeply flawed because you simply ignored one of the other Bucks’ signings.
Semi. He has exactly the same body type as PJ, he shot better from 3 than PJ last year (who really can’t move well on O anymore and passed up many shots that were closed out for ill advised drives), and his overall counting stats have gone up by a small amount in each of the last 3 years and were all superior to PJ’s.
He is younger and better than PJ now and he can be coached up to play that style of D.
If he does, they still have the KD harasser that won them the championship last year.
Bucks’ final grade is actually an A (even just for FA, though they had an exceptional draft considering their slot, maybe finding a raw gem forward and the replacement for Brook, both later in the draft).
I’m just an average joe fan afaik. I was blown away by PJs defense on Durant. I don’t know how Semi comes close to that
I can’t disagree, but PJ no longer has the quickness to move laterally very well or get off his jump shot (lowering his attempts to a career worst and often resulting in turnovers or bad shots when he put the ball on the floor after being closed out).
Semi was called the Giannis stopper when he was with the Celts. While that was a bit overblown, he did effectively harass and play bully ball with Giannis in order to make him utterly useless and tired at the end of games.
Given the PJ is going to be 36 by the next play offs and Semi IS 26 and has a nearly identical physique and has shown flashes of this ability in the past, it’s not at all difficult to rank this as potentially the best move the Bucks made this off season (apologies to Grayson, who will be great, but in a far different role).
While you can reasonably argue that Semi has not come close to what PJ has done in the past, we must remember that PJ played ONE season in the NBA, went overseas for 5 years, and then was pretty bad in his first season back at age 27 (though he actually really wasn’t that good for his first 4 full seasons back in the league).
It wasn’t until his age 31 season that PJ became a beast of a defender who put up fairly decent offensive numbers, which he matched through his age 34 season.
With the Bucks, after being terrible for the season in Houston, he at least got back his defensive edge, but was still terrible on offense.
The WHOLE point of your article was to assess the off season FA moves and PROJECT how they could/would change the team.
The fact that you completely ignored the signing of Semi is egregious.
The fact that you don’t realize that players develop at different rates (especially tweeners like these 2 who have never had a proper role in the league and are hard to integrate into ANY system) shows that you are a very average fan who doesn’t understand hoops or athletic development.
I never said Semi HAD done what PJ has done. Just that he WILL do it in the future because he is a clone of PJ and is at the EXACT same age as PJ was when the light went on a little bit and PJ made himself into an effective role player.
Semi could be the most important player for the Bucks next year, because he will be the guy to rough up the stars in the play offs.
Giving the team a B for its FA moves while failing to grade one of their papers is criminally stupid by the author (and strange coincidence that you chose a screen name that matched the author’s EXACTLY).
I suspect you are him and trolling your own articles to defend them!!
haha…I mean, you (or he, the real Zach H) mentioned Hill, Hood and Allen without mentioning Semi, BUT mentioned Tremont Waters, who doesn’t even merit minutes in the G League.
How dumb is that?
He won’t play a minute for the Bucks except when someone is injured and he’s called up as a practice player and occasionally gets garbage time.
He’s complete garbage.
People overvalue PJ – if he did such a good job on KD, why did Durant score 40+ pts efficiently almost every game of that series? I understand that KD can score on anyone, but that means tha PJ is just an average D player
On offense he literally put up 0 pts several times durinmg PO
It gave them an excuse to not use Giannis, Middleton or Holiday on him for extended minutes.
Fair point. But they should’ve put Giannis on him full time – for a great defensive player he barely guards other teams best players in playoffs. Case in point – Kawhi in 2019. Kawhi did guard Giannis in that series and still managed to score a lot
I think the reasoning was that Giannis is more valuable as a help defender than locking down a specific player..plus with all the switching the Nets forced, it wouldn’t have worked.
I wondered a lot why it seemed Giannis rarely guarded the opponent’s best scorer, and that’s the explanation I recall hearing.
As a former college player and coach, I can assure you that would have been a HORRIBLE strategy.
Giannis is a decent at best on ball defender–he can be had by quicker players–and you don’t want him gassed chasing the best pure scorer in the NBA at all 3 levels.
Giannis is most effectively used on another player so that the system allows him to help and rotate to maximum utility.
Agree with you. Tucker overvalued for sentimental reasons.
They don’t win it without him pounding KD into missing the last shot and having a foot on the line of the other.
If anyone else had guarded him, KD swishes both from 3 and the Bucks lose.
However, Semi is younger and can move and actually had better numbers than PJ last year (and has consistently improved).
If he can be taught to play that kind of D, the Bucks have actually upgraded at the position.
Not true. Basketball is actually a really weird form of martial art that incorporates a little judo, wrestling, and even karate type blows (if you don’t get caught).
What PJ did do is effectively use all of his fouls and never foul out, and he gave KD the body blows that would allow the Bucks to finally KO him after he fought a very good fight (yes, the foot on the line and final air ball were because he was gassed).
And Semi will do that again this year.
Nothing against Tucker but he’s a guy you trade 2nd rounders and filler for for a playoff run, nothing more.
Kpj has talent no doubt but I’d be surprised if he doesn’t implode at some point in Houston
Does Samuel Dalembert still play for the Bucks? He could pick up some big man minutes there.
Do you mean some “old man minutes “? Dalembert hasn’t played in the NBA since 2015 and would be 39 years old for the 2021/2022 season.
Has there ever been a face you just want to punch more than Lonzo Ball?
Yours.