Why Not The Bulls

     It’s pretty much been a forgone conclusion that the Cavs are going to make it to the NBA finals.  Not that they’re so good but that most of the east is stuck in a perpetual state of mediocrity.  The Bulls have been my only pick since the beginning of the season to even have a chance of upsetting Cleveland but they’ve been so inconsistent that it’s been really hard to take them seriously.  But for the first time this season I’m thinking why not the Bulls?  It’s not that I think they’ve figured anything out.  I’m sure they’re going to be inconsistent all year long but they are definitely a bad match up for the Cavs.  Gasol is totally comfortable against anyone in the Cavs front line and Rose plays Kyrie well.   Butler can’t stop Lebron but he makes him work hard and expend a lot of energy.  When other members of the Cavs guarded Butler he got his shots fairly easily.  It’s just a matter of hitting shots for Butler, Gasol, and Rose.  Love has difficulty guarding anyone on the front line of Chicago.  I’m not sure Love is going to still be on the Cavaliers by the trade deadline as Lebron is clearly calling the shots and I see their relationship as a bit toxic.  But having said that I really didn’t expect Love to resign with the Cavs to begin with.  I thought he’d head west given that Lebron has a look of disgust on his face every time Love does anything on either end of the basketball court.  Love is a mysterious guy though and it’s very difficult to figure out where his head is at.  He doesn’t give away much.  It wasn’t just that the Bulls beat Cleveland on Saturday night but that they looked like clearly the better team doing it.  Rose shot terribly but it didn’t matter.  He got mostly good looks and penetrated at will.  If a few of those layups roll in it’s an even bigger blow out than it was.  I have no confidence in Tyrone Lue as the mind to solve the Cavs troubles.  When you’re making decisions according to how your team reacts to a big win as Griffin claims he did after the seeing how the Cavs reacted to beating down the Clippers your team is in trouble.  That’s not on the coach.  It’s on the GM for assembling a group of people that don’t really get along.  The Wiggins for Love trade is going to haunt the Cavs for a long time unless they figure things out soon and win it all.  Wiggins would have fit in incredibly well on this team.  Him and Lebron would have been a great defensive combo and Wiggins would have given them more of a running mentality.  Lebron, or his people, clearly wanted the Love deal to happen and I think we can say there is pretty clear evidence that Lebron will be about as good a GM as Jordan has turned out to be.  There are too many power forwards on Cleveland and not one of them has the full skill set necessary to thrive with Lebron.  Love opens up the floor with his shooting but his defense is atrocious and he’s just not scoring enough to make it worth having him out there so much.  Part of that is on the other Cavaliers.  They have to force feed Love on offense in order to validate his playing time.  It might be enough to win the east just using Love as a decoy to spread the floor but it’s not going to beat Golden State and San Antonio and at this point I’m not sure it’s enough to knock off the Bulls either.  Everything about the Cavs seems confused and in flux right now and looking at Lue on the bench I just don’t get the feeling that he has the experience to make any significant changes to this team.  If I were Griffin I’d hire Tom Thibodeau immediately and give him free rain to say anything to anybody and do anything to anyone’s minutes. 

     As far as the real championship  goes the Spurs and Warriors will meet for the first time Monday night.  It comes as no surprise that Duncan suddenly has a mysterious knee ailment and will miss the game to rest.  Pop doesn’t like to give stuff away and he’s happy to play undermanned and give alternate looks for games like this.  It kind of sucks because pretty much everyone has been looking forward to this game all season as these are clearly the two best teams but I totally understand why Popovich does this shit.  Why give Golden State a chance to see what they’re going to have to solve if they meet up in the playoffs.  Pop has been pulling this shit for years in what amounts to the bigger regular season match ups.  I’m sure it will still be a great game…