| With Hinrich Back On Track Bulls Can Do Some Damage Authored by Derek Flack - January 28, 2008 - 7:10 pm
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Chicago is currently sitting in 10th place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 17-26 and would miss the playoffs if they started today. Lucky for the Bulls the playoffs don’t start until April and they have plenty of time to pull things together and catch the inexperienced Atlanta Hawks and the struggling Milwaukee Bucks.
Since the Bulls fired Scott Skiles they have actually won a few games and are playing better as a team. The Bulls have gone 8-10 under Jim Boylan, which isn’t great but is an improvement over the 9-16 xthey went with Skiles at the helm.
The biggest difference since Skiles firing though has been the play of Hinrich. Playing under Skiles, Hinrich was only putting up 11 points and 5.7 assists a night. Under interim head coach Jim Boylan his production has increased like an assembly line worker with a raise to 14.9 points and 6.8 assists per game, including a career high in points with 38 to go along with his near triple-double performance that included 10 assist and 7 rebounds in a win against the Indiana Pacers on January 23rd.
Hinrich is playing with more confidence under Coach Boylan and has drastically improved his team’s chances of making a run for the playoffs in the second half of the season.
The recent success of the Bulls can also be attributed to the new rotation that features scoring machine Ben Gordon in a familiar role coming off the bench as the 6th man. Gordon has come off the bench in recent years and the Bulls have played better and won more games when he is a reserve than when he starts.
Gordon is the same type of player as Hinrich. They are both about the same size with a similar game, but Gordon is a more prolific scorer and is a shoot-first type of player. With him coming off the bench it allows Hinrich the opportunity to get the team playing well in the first few minutes of the game by getting everyone involved and in rhythm by passing the ball. Then Gordon is able to come in and start scoring his team-leading 19.6 points a night right away.
The new rotation has all the players playing with more energy and hustle like Joakim Noah in a Florida Gator uniform. It is also giving Gordon more of an opportunity to make a bigger impact on the game. Since Gordon is only 6’3” he was a liability on defense as a starter when he was regularly matched up against much larger opponents who are just as explosive, if not more then he is. Coming off the bench Gordon is getting more minutes against the oppositions second unit, who are usually not as skilled offensively as their starter counterparts, which lets Gordon focus most of his energy on scoring the ball.
If Hinrich and Gordon keep rolling the Bulls might just get hot make the playoffs even after enduring their horrendous start. |
