Preseason Takeaways Thread

The future of quick release 3pt shooting form.

shawn marion already shoots like that

The Hawk said:

Hater? I guess that is directed at me. He is a rookie. To expect a rookie to excel his first year in the NBA is pretty far fetched. I think that a successful rookie year for McDermott would be somewhere around 8-9 points a game. That would be a good season.

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Wasn't directed at you in particular. McDermott will score 8-9 points without even trying. I fully expect double digits and for him to compete with Taj for leading scorer off the bench.

clonetrooper264 said:

Wasn't directed at you in particular. McDermott will score 8-9 points without even trying. I fully expect double digits and for him to compete with Taj for leading scorer off the bench.

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Not from what iv seen man, and I watched all of Chicagos games. Just the way the offense is I don't see him as a rookie taking control like that

Kizzle said:

Not from what iv seen man, and I watched all of Chicagos games. Just the way the offense is I don't see him as a rookie taking control like that

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Of course you don't

Rose played very will that's the #1 thing I'm taking away from preseason.

clonetrooper264 said:

Of course you don't

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Look, he didn't take a shot at McDermott. His point was similar to mine. For McDermott to average the 12-13 points per game that you envision, he is going to have to have significant playing time. FOr that to happen, Thibs will have to change his philosophy regarding rookies. I don't see that happening unless a couple of things happening. They are: 1) McD proving he can play defense; 2) Butler prove that he can play SG; 3) Dunleavy sucking at SF; 4) Mirotic shifting over to play the SF position primarily.

I like McD BTW and I really like Mirotic. I hope both of those guys prove themselves to have the talent predicted for them. But as we all know, Thibs is a tough taskmaster. We will see.

The Hawk said:

Look, he didn't take a shot at McDermott. His point was similar to mine. For McDermott to average the 12-13 points per game that you envision, he is going to have to have significant playing time. FOr that to happen, Thibs will have to change his philosophy regarding rookies. I don't see that happening unless a couple of things happening. They are: 1) McD proving he can play defense; 2) Butler prove that he can play SG; 3) Dunleavy sucking at SF; 4) Mirotic shifting over to play the SF position primarily.

I like McD BTW and I really like Mirotic. I hope both of those guys prove themselves to have the talent predicted for them. But as we all know, Thibs is a tough taskmaster. We will see.

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McDermott only needs like 7-9 shots to put up 10-12 points. A couple threes, a couple layups or midrange jumpers, and a couple free throws. I don't see how that's unrealistic by the end of the year. If you're running with Hinrich, Brooks, McDermott, Taj, and Gasol (or Mirotic if you rather) as your primary second unit, McDermott can get around those shot attempts in about 20-25 minutes per game as the second or third option for that unit. He almost did it in preseason when his shot wasn't even falling (8 points on 7FGAs in 26 minutes while only shooting 35% from the field and 29% from 3). Is it so unreasonable to think that as he gets more acclimated to the NBA game that he could raise his shooting percentage up to even 40% from the field and 30% from 3 and thus get around 10 points per game? And I doubt anyone thinks he'll struggle THAT much.

clonetrooper264 said:

McDermott only needs like 7-9 shots to put up 10-12 points. A couple threes, a couple layups or midrange jumpers, and a couple free throws. I don't see how that's unrealistic by the end of the year. If you're running with Hinrich, Brooks, McDermott, Taj, and Gasol (or Mirotic if you rather) as your primary second unit, McDermott can get around those shot attempts in about 20-25 minutes per game as the second or third option for that unit. He almost did it in preseason when his shot wasn't even falling (8 points on 7FGAs in 26 minutes while only shooting 35% from the field and 29% from 3). Is it so unreasonable to think that as he gets more acclimated to the NBA game that he could raise his shooting percentage up to even 40% from the field and 30% from 3 and thus get around 10 points per game? And I doubt anyone thinks he'll struggle THAT much.

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He is not likely to get 20-25 minutes a game. Can he play defense at the level that Thibs wants? He is going to have to improve his defense significantly. ANd, on the 2nd team, he is not going to get the ball where he wants to with Hinrich and Brooks at guard. They are not play makers.

I think that you are going to be disappointed on your expectations is all. I expect McD is going to be a very solid player but it will take time.

The Hawk said:

He is not likely to get 20-25 minutes a game. Can he play defense at the level that Thibs wants? He is going to have to improve his defense significantly. ANd, on the 2nd team, he is not going to get the ball where he wants to with Hinrich and Brooks at guard. They are not play makers.

I think that you are going to be disappointed on your expectations is all. I expect McD is going to be a very solid player but it will take time.

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We'll see...

Here's what Doug Collins took away from the preseason: http://www.nba.com/bulls/doug-collins-bulls-very-different-team

Notably:

Noah and Gasol will have to figure out how to play with each other. Now that the offense is not running through Noah, how will he fit offensively.

How is Thibs going to fit Mirotic into the big man rotation and who will be the ones closing out games?

McDermott would do better as a starter and Dunleavy would help solidify the bench unit which was inconsistent all preseason.


I definitely see the merit of that last point. There's a lot of new faces in the bench unit so they'll either have to figure out how to play together well (ala bench mob 2010-2012) or you swap McDermott and Dunleavy's spots in the rotation to give the bench more solid veteran presence with Dunleavy, Hinrich, and Gibson all having experience there. This helps McDermott as well because the shots he'd be getting playing off of Rose, Gasol, and Noah would be much better than with the bench guys. I think that was true in preseason from the few times I saw it.