| An Offensive Grind Authored by Christopher Reina - November 13, 2007 - 6:36 pm
The Bulls, predicted by many to be an Eastern Conference favorite, are off to a 1-5 start where they have been outscored by 9.7 points per game.
As much as Kobe Bryant rumors and nagging injuries have created problems and a cloud of uncertainty, the Bulls have a league-worse 1.02 points per shot attempt.
This figure will surely improve substantially as some of their shooting woes logically turnaround eventually, but last season they still ranked 21st with 1.22 PPS. Only Detroit and Cleveland fared worse in this category and qualified for the playoffs.
Scoring easily has been a systematic problem with the Chicago offense throughout John Paxson’s tenure and it cannot strictly be blamed on the absence of a scoring big (i.e. Eddy Curry, LaMarcus Aldridge), as it was also bad when the always-high FG% Curry was still in Chicago.
2005-2006: 1.19 (24th)
2004-2005: 1.17 (25th)
2003-2004: 1.09 (last)
Ben Gordon is the only player on the club who can consistently create his own shot off the dribble, but he struggles against bigger shooting guards and is shooting poorly this season (35.4 FG%/31.4 3P%). He also habitually relies on the jump shot, frequently settling for 22-footers with 15 seconds left on the shot clock.
Kirk Hinrich is almost averaging as many fouls per game (4.2, 1st in the NBA) as he is assists (5.7). He doesn’t create enough easy shots for his teammates and backup Chris Duhon has been more effective this season (+16.1 net vs. Hinrich’s -13.5 net). Hinrich is also struggling even worse than Gordon with his shooting (32 FG%/15 3P%). Rarely is Hinrich able to penetrate into the paint, something Duhon is more adept at.
The Bulls rely too heavily on perimeter shots and because of a severe shooting slump over their first six games, the overlaying problems of the team's construction have been magnified. Layups and open shots in transition have been scarce and no team is forced to grind out their points like the Bulls have this season.
Versus Toronto on Saturday, the Bulls were 18-59 on jumpers, 7-17 on layups and 2-3 on dunks. The Raptors, conversely, were 27-60 on jumpers, 8-10 on layups and 6-6 on dunks.
Against the Clippers, they were 18-66 on jumpers, 10-13 on layups and 2-2 dunks.
At Milwaukee, the Bulls were 12-52 on jumpers, 13-21 on layups and 1-2 on dunks.
Against Philadelphia, the Bulls were 18-57 on jumpers, 11-21 on layups and 4-5 on dunks.
On Opening Night at New Jersey, they shot 24-69 on jumpers, 11-21 on layups and 3-5 on dunks.
In their lone win against Detroit, they were 21-57 on jumpers, 14-24 on layups and 4-4 dunks.
Tyrus Thomas led all Chicago scorers with 19 points, while Luol Deng had 17, Joe Smith had 13 and Andres Nocioni had 10. These four forwards combined to shoot 26-47 (55.3%) while Gordon and Kirk Hinrich combined to shoot 32%.
Deng is making a concerted effort to post up, which is a promising start, but he frequently receives the ball too far away from the basket to be effective.
Thomas is still a very raw offensive player in the halfcourt and Ben Wallace never has been or will be a scorer.
Nocioni and Smith have been two of their most effective scorers, but overlap with Deng and Thomas.
Thabo Sefolosha has been a disaster offensively, shooting 21% from the floor and Joakim Noah is still looking for his first NBA bucket.
The offense desperately needs to feature fewer pump-fakes, more imagination off the dribble and a less rigid overall structure. This should result in less laborious scoring opportunities, but the club will still have a roster in which advancing deep into the playoffs will require them to shoot at an ungodly clip. |
