Mirotic 1st Season Progress reports

Raskolnikov

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Well...it looks like he is both slipping into Thib-a-do's doghouse and getting pinched for minutes as the Bulls are currently constructed.

One unintended consequence is the pressure to perform and competition Mirotic's presence has put on both the rookie McDermot and the 6th man hopeful Gibson. They both look to be playing full throttle high octane all the time having a player of Niko's caliber behind them.

Snell is the guy who is trapped when everyone is healthy, he appears to have defensive value to the team when Jimmy Buckets is out as a defensive stopper.

The zone rotations of Niko seem to be drawing stink faces from Tom, although I have felt like he makes up for in steals what he gives up in positioning so far, plus carries weight on offense. He seems to be getting his feet a little wet and slightly overwhelmed. I think he can shake these early jitters and there will be places to earn minutes all season.
 
NCChiFan

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This team has a lot of depth all of a sudden in scorers, heh or guys who think themselves such. I believe they will have to adopt a "what is good for the team" attitude, with the limited min some of them will get.
 

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Raskolnikov said:
Well...it looks like he is both slipping into Thib-a-do's doghouse and getting pinched for minutes as the Bulls are currently constructed.

One unintended consequence is the pressure to perform and competition Mirotic's presence has put on both the rookie McDermot and the 6th man hopeful Gibson. They both look to be playing full throttle high octane all the time having a player of Niko's caliber behind them.

Snell is the guy who is trapped when everyone is healthy, he appears to have defensive value to the team when Jimmy Buckets is out as a defensive stopper.

The zone rotations of Niko seem to be drawing stink faces from Tom, although I have felt like he makes up for in steals what he gives up in positioning so far, plus carries weight on offense. He seems to be getting his feet a little wet and slightly overwhelmed. I think he can shake these early jitters and there will be places to earn minutes all season.
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It looks to me that Thibs is acting like a mad scientist concocting a formula. It is an interesting thing to watch how he matches up his players. Mirotic had a lot of minutes last night and I thought played pretty well. He got after it on defense and that is going to help the mad scientist concoct his potions:)
 

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Too early to tell. His offense was good last night and his defense and rebounding were not. A full NBA offseason will help next season.
 

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I'm not so sure I agree. Niko filled in fairly nicely for Taj last night. He had 12 pts and 8 rebounds in 28 minutes. Not bad imo. He had a real nice assist to Noah under the basket, and looked real good on his jump side hook. I thought he helped out on defense nicely as well.

If anyone was in the doghouse last night it was McD with his 11 minutes and 2 points. I don't think Thibs liked McD's airball early on. McD looked real good driving the rim on one play but didn't finish as well.

Bottom line is we've played 3 games and both guys look pretty good imo, and are going to get better.
 

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Papa Wheelie said:
I'm not so sure I agree. Niko filled in fairly nicely for Taj last night. He had 12 pts and 8 rebounds in 28 minutes. Not bad imo. He had a real nice assist to Noah under the basket, and looked real good on his jump side hook. I thought he helped out on defense nicely as well.

If anyone was in the doghouse last night it was McD with his 11 minutes and 2 points. I don't think Thibs liked McD's airball early on. McD looked real good driving the rim on one play but didn't finish as well.

Bottom line is we've played 3 games and both guys look pretty good imo, and are going to get better.
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The real thing missing thus far is the rebounding expected, especially offensive rebounding. It may be that they are jacking up and missing too many deep outside shots. That results in a lot of deep rebounds off of the back of the rim. The other thing about that is when you have a deep rebound, the other team has an edge on the fast break the other way. They will settle in, though. Thibs will kick some ass to get them into running the offense properly and to get back on defense.
 
Bear06

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czman said:
Too early to tell. His offense was good last night and his defense and rebounding were not. A full NBA offseason will help next season.
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Mirotic's defense and rebounding was actually pretty good last night. He's an underrated rebounder IMO.
 

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Familiarity with the system and the other players isn't what it will be in the future...

Half the battle in sports is getting comfortable on the field, court or rink with your teammates...

He hasn't had nearly enough time but has definitely shown promise and tons of potential...

I only expect his defense to get better with time... By next season he will look so good he will look like a different player...


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JZsportsfan

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He played well against Minnesota. Needs to work on his defense but he made some big shots
 
Raskolnikov

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I think its time to resurrect this. It appears Gibson could go out for a bit just as precaution, and with a career high in points and minutes Mirotic looks like the guy that benefits.

Now....maybe he won't start, I kinda feel like Gasol is close, and Rose is probably close too. I'd like to see Mirotic take a leadership roll on that second unit. Its a tough group to get to work together, Brooks, McD, Mirotic all feel like they look to score first, when Gibson should be the primary focus of inside outside basketball.

We have too many guys that can play, and I feel scared that they will have an extended look at life without Gibson.
 
RoseMVP1

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It's pretty clear that Mirotic is the real deal. He just has to make some adjustments and work on some things.
 
Raskolnikov

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RoseMVP1 said:
It's pretty clear that Mirotic is the real deal. He just has to make some adjustments and work on some things.
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I thought he looked good in grainy tape, but his body is more unique than I realized. He is a white guy with Sudanese arms. I still see a need for shot selection, we might have to rain him in if he is just gonna be shot jacking. But I like that shot fake move and drive, he just needs to dish more off it
 

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We will see a lot more of him if Gibson misses significant time.

Mirotic looks very polished offensively and seems to be adjusting nicely. I think he was not ready for how strong NBA players are. He seems to be playing stronger, although I still think he needs a full NBA offseason or working out and lifting with an NBA strength trainers. Looking at him though, I just don't see a move to SF. Adding strength will help him compete and allow him to play PF, where his skill set will make him a huge mismatch.

PF is very crowded right over the next few years so it will be interesting to see what happens.
 
Raskolnikov

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I just wish Thibs would make an effort to give him 20 minutes a game more consistently. I feel like 6, DNP, 10, 25, 6 kinda messes with your head.

18-25 seems about right.
 

czman

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Raskolnikov said:
I just wish Thibs would make an effort to give him 20 minutes a game more consistently.

18-25 seems about right.
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96 minutes man. 96.......

It is kind of ridiculous to think he can get 18-25 minutes a game when there are only 96 minutes at the 4/5 and the Bulls already have Noah/Gasol/Gibson.

I think Gasol should be getting 28-30 minutes a game. I think Noah should get 30-32. That is ~60 minutes. There is only 36 minutes left. If you give 24 minutes to Gibson there are only ~12 minutes left. Noah and Gasol are both getting more minutes, so we know why Mirotic is getting so few minutes. I would like to Mirotic getting 12-14 minutes a game.

There is no way Mirotic deserves 20 minutes a game on this Bulls team unless someone is injured. The other guys are just better right now, especially with the way the Bulls play.
 
Raskolnikov

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czman said:
96 minutes man. 96.......

It is kind of ridiculous to think he can get 18-25 minutes a game when there are only 96 minutes at the 4/5 and the Bulls already have Noah/Gasol/Gibson.

I think Gasol should be getting 28-30 minutes a game. I think Noah should get 30-32. That is ~60 minutes. There is only 36 minutes left. If you give 24 minutes to Gibson there are only ~12 minutes left. Noah and Gasol are both getting more minutes, so we know why Mirotic is getting so few minutes. I would like to Mirotic getting 12-14 minutes a game.

There is no way Mirotic deserves 20 minutes a game on this Bulls team unless someone is injured. The other guys are just better right now, especially with the way the Bulls play.
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I think Noah and Gasol would both benefit from capping them at 27 then. 96-54 is 42. 27 for Gibson, and 15 for Mirotic.

I see your point, but making 15 for Mirotic should be a priority, and what is the point of playing those guys longer than that in the regular season? I say keep them fresh, and they will probably play even more games.

All the more reason to cap those big guys at 25 for the regular season, we don't need them except to stay sharp and healthy. Its hard to make minutes with two all-stars and a 6th man candidate, but I maintain both those big men that start need precaution and rest, and all effort should be made to force Thibs to do so.
 
Benchmob757

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Mirotic is a baller. He'll become a real impact player in the years to come, as long as FO, the fans and Mirotic himself are a little patient. I can imagine how frustrating it can be to go from being the best player on your team to a bench rider.
 
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Benchmob757 said:
Mirotic is a baller. He'll become a real impact player in the years to come, as long as FO, the fans and Mirotic himself are a little patient. I can imagine how frustrating it can be to go from being the best player on your team to a bench rider.
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And we have two of them right now lol. This time is key for Mirotic because he'll get consistent playing time. That can do wonders for a guy's confidence. Unfortunately for Doug, he's getting less minutes than Snell right now. That and he's played awful in the minutes he does get. Once both of these guys get some confidence and rhythm, our bench will be dangerous top to bottom instead of just Taj doing all the work.
 
RoseMVP1

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Mirotic is definitely more Dirk than Ryan Anderson. He'll be an all star once he gets the starting job down the road.
 
Jerry Cortez211

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He just needs to work on his defense and get more comfortable with his role, glad to have him on board though
 
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