Do the Bulls have a problem in the paint?

[Big Bid'Ness]

From:NBCSports.com

The Chicago Bulls — without Derrick Rose and playing John Lucas III 45 minutes at the point — beat the lowly Washington Wizards Wednesday night thanks to their suffocating defense.

And defense is why the big men on the floor for the key moments of the game for Chicago were Omer Asik and Taj Gibson — not Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah. Just as they had been the game before that. Tom Thibodeau is a pretty straight ahead coach — if it works he’s going to use it. And right now Asik and Gibson is working. They were working in the playoffs last year too, when Thibodeau went with the bench bigs for long stretches.

If your backups are working well and your high-priced stars are sitting a lot late, do you have a problem?

Maybe it’s a sign of bigger issues to come, wonders Aggrey Sam at CSNChicago.com.

After praising the “lockdown defense” ability of Gibson and Asik, the coach talked about how some of his post players bring scoring, indicating Boozer’s strong suit, while others bring defense before throwing in that some bring playmaking, a nod to Noah’s unique ball-handling and passing, which is, at the present moment, his only advantage over his fellow big men, as he’s struggled to score the ball this season. Boozer, though one wouldn’t know it from his solid field-goal percentage, has also experienced scoring issues….

At the same time, Noah’s perceived regression on offense could fuel newfound rumors about the Bulls’ willingness to engage Orlando in a potential deal to acquire Magic All-Star center Dwight Howard.

Chicago could put together a heck of a package — Noah, Luol Deng, Gibson, and a couple of picks, including one from the Bobcats. There are other guys that could be thrown in as well.

Rose and Howard would make the Bulls annual contenders for a decade at least (providing health and them not leaving after their deals are up). Two franchise players, one inside one outside. But, Chicago would be trading away a lot of its key role players to do it — the roster would have to be rebuilt, and it’s not easy under the new labor deal. Also, they would never do this without Howard agreeing to stay in Chicago after this contract, and there are reports Adidas doesn’t want that because they don’t want their two biggest stars in one market.

More importantly — why mess up what you have? The Bulls are title contenders. It is them and the Heat in the East, and unless the Bulls front office thinks the current roster will never best the Heat why take all these risks?

Maybe because they’re not as sold on Noah and Boozer as it appears? Hard to say, but when Orlando does put Howard seriously on the block after the All-Star break, Chicago has some difficult questions to answer.

 

[BwareDWare94]

Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer are good players, but they have severe limitations and these limitations are incredibly obvious in close games. I've heard nothing from either one yet, and I don't expect to. Asik and Gibson are excellent young players that are a great defensive pair in the paint. Why should Thibodeau play Noah and Boozer if one is a liability on defense and the other's a liability on offense. It makes no sense, and in a 66 game season, you play four bigs if you have four bigs who can be effective.