Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
I’m going to interrupt the Joakim Noah love fest for a second to ask one question… Is Jimmer Fredette still alive? Remember when he was signed last week. The flooding of reports of how he was supposed to help the Bulls in some form of capacity? Was that form just to fill out the minimum bodies that a team has to have on a bench? I’m just saying. This is not to temper the great performance the Bulls had against the Heat on Sunday, because it was one for the ages. But let’s all remember it was ONE GAME! There are some huge games coming up this week with San Antonio and Houston this week. Somehow the Spurs have done it again, they managed to get the top seed in the Western conference…again, and the Houston Rockets are white hot lately as well. What does this mean? Time for the Bulls to put the Heat behind them and focus on these two big games coming up.
The Bulls currently sit in the fourth slot in the Leastern conference just ahead of the Washington Wizards and the Brooklyn Nets. The Bulls are one game in the loss column ahead of the Wizards and two games ahead of the Nets. The Bulls stood pat not making any moves on Let’s Make A Deal NBA style, while the other two teams made deals that have paid immediate dividends. While Jimmer Fredette has been Carlos Boozer’s best buddy on the bench in 4th quarters of games since he arrived in Chicago, the players that the Wizards and Nets traded for have made quite an impact these days. Why don’t we start with…
Marcus Thornton-Traded out of Sacramento to the Brooklyn Nets for a Box of Newports (Jason Terry) and Puma Sweats (Reggie Evans).
Man, if production on the basketball court is the way of saying thanks. Marcus Thornton must be washing General Manager Billy King’s car after every game. Since his arrival Thornton’s has been on a tear dropping twenty point games like it’s hot. To top it all off, he smoked his former team the Kings for 27 points leading the Nets to victory. This is nothing new Pippen Peoples. Marcus Thornton is wildly inconsistent but when he gets that jump shot working and gets into a groove, he is fun to watch. He has been a godsend to Brooklyn with his firepower off the bench. This trade may have saved the Nets playoff hopes and the jobs of Billy King and Jason Kidd. Well as for Kidd keeping his job, well you can’t win them all. But seriously folks, as hot as the Bulls are in 2014, the Nets are right behind them and are coming fast. If they catch the Bulls, Marcus Thornton will be one of the reasons why.
Andre Miller- Traded off the Titanic…I mean the Denver Nuggets to the Washington Wizards in a three team trade that sent Jan Vessly to Denver and Eric Maynor and two second round picks to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Man I knew this was going to be a problem. Ever since Andre Miller came to town along with a 10 day signee Drew Gooden, the Wizards are playing better ball as of late. What Dr. Dre brings to the table is simple, the brother knows how to play the game of basketball. When he gets into the game, please believe me the Washington Wizards will be more efficient on offense. When was the last time you saw Trevor Ariza go for 40 points in a game? I’ll wait. Even Al Harrington decided to earn a check a play from time to time. Drew Gooden is actually PRAYING that the team signs him for the rest of the season. Do you know why this is? It’s because players will run and play hard when they know they’ll get the ball in good position to be effective. Dre Miller does that.
I hope the stand pat approach at the trade deadline doesn’t come back and bite the Bulls. Jimmer Fredette at this moment is sitting at the end of the bench for a reason. Defense. He is not that good at it to start with plus he probably don’t know the defensive rotations well enough to be effective. (I’m not downing the guy, Carlos Boozer has been in Chicago for years and he hasn’t figured it out yet.) Plus with the fact that DJ Augustin has gone nuts since Luol Deng was traded (He leads the team in scoring with 15 ppg since Deng left) and Kirk Hinrich who has the trust of Tom Thibodeau, there’s just no minutes for Fredette right now.
There’s a saying…Sometimes the best trades are the one’s that never happen. It’s happening with the Toronto Raptors not trading Kyle Lowry, let’s hope the Bulls are not at the other end of the spectrum. Their playoff seeding depends on it.