If you look at half the box score of the Bulls 113-108 loss to the suddenly high flying Atlanta Hawks you’d think the Bulls would have handed the young Atlanta team its first loss of the year.

Derrick Rose lead the way with 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists.  Ben Gordon and Lou Deng both put in 19 points and Andres Nocioni chipped in 20 off the bench.  Even demoted starter Thabo Sefolosha managed to break through the lid that has generally been on the basket when he shoots and scored 13 points on 5-9 shooting

That is just the type of all around effort that this Bulls team needs to win.  Sure they may not yet have a dominating scorer, but that type of production should produce a win.

Unfortunately there are some other players whose names, and not much more show up in the box score.  Starting big men Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah combined for 5 points on 2-11 shooting.  Both of them were out rebounded by their rookie point guard and Thomas threw in three turnovers for good measure.

Continue reading "Chicago Bulls Big Men Just Plain Bad"

There is no stove hotter than the one burning on the south side of Chicago this winter.  Coming off of an improbable division title the White Sox are a team some people would expect to return most of their lineup.  Despite making the playoffs for just the 5th time since 1959, last season’s White Sox were a flawed bunch.  At no time were those flaws more apparent than in their first round series against the Rays.  After four games the younger, faster, and better defensive team won and went on the win the pennant. 

The ink had hardly dried on the season when the rumors started flying.  Paul Konerko to the Angels?  Javier Vazquez anywhere but here?  Jim Thome shipped out?  For now nothing has happened to change the roster and Kenny Williams seems to be putting on his best poker face by saying he is confident in his youngsters stepping in to fill the voids at third and second base.  The first chip fell when Nick Swisher was dealt to the Yankees for Wilson Betimet and two minor league pitchers.

Continue reading "What is Kenny Cooking?"

After reading article after article about how great an acquisition Swisher will be for the New York Yankees I think it is important to look at the trade from the perspective of the White Sox.

I was excited as anyone last winter when the Sox acquired Swisher for three unproven prospects.  It seemed like Kenny Williams was getting a proven, young, player with a ton of upside.  He had the grinder mentality the Sox praise and he even could take a walk.

After a few months however, Swisher’s act got tired.  His goofy personality couldn’t hide the fact that his .218 batting average was hurting the team. 

The typical baseball stat head response to that statement is that Swisher’s OBP was still relatively high at .350.  They yell about how little batting average tells about a player’s productivity etc. etc.

Continue reading "Why The White Sox Won't MIss Nick Swisher"

Last night in Oakland Derrick Rose was the man down the stretch. He was clutch, go to, prime-time, a closer, and what ever other clichés you want to throw out there. His 12 points in the quarter don’t even tell the whole story. Every time the Warriors pulled close toward the end there was Rose hitting jumpers with ease and getting to the basket with electricity and explosion. We all got a scare when he went down late but it sounds like he his okay. With a player of Rose’s talent it is always easy to jump the gun on declare him the next great NBA point guard. But guess what? he is. For a Bulls franchise starved for a true star since you know who hung it up early, this Rose smells sweet. His 18.8 point, 5.5 assist, and 4.3 rebounds a game suggest he has arrived as a s

Continue reading "This Rose Smelling Oh So Sweet for The Bulls"