By Mike McGraw
Chicago Bulls
Posted Monday, February 19, 2007
Here is a name that could figure prominently in the Bulls’ future success: Steve Francis.
That’s not to suggest the Bulls should acquire the perpetually underachieving Knicks guard. Don’t be ridiculous.
But it’s worth noting that New York finally started to show improvement in the past several weeks while Francis was out of town rehabbing an injury. The Knicks are 8-16 this season when Francis plays, 15-14 when he doesn’t.
With Francis out of the way, the Knicks’ best lineup fell into place — Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford, David Lee, Channing Frye and Eddy Curry, with Quentin Richardson as the sixth man. Why coach Isiah Thomas hasn’t stuck with this group full-time is anyone’s guess.
But now Francis is back in uniform, and he played backup minutes in the three games before the break. So don’t be shocked if the Knicks’ chemistry suddenly takes a turn for the worse.
The former No. 2 draft pick, chosen after the Bulls took Elton Brand in 1999, has paid lip service to becoming a quality teammate and willing role player. But the feeling here is Francis, like Marbury, doesn’t know any other way to play beside dominating the ball, playing no defense and trying to post big numbers.
This affects the Bulls, of course, because they can swap draft spots with the Knicks this summer. As of today, New York’s pick would be No. 10, barring any lottery luck.
But if the Knicks lose three games in the standings, their position would rise to No. 6. If they lose four games in the standings, they’re up to No. 4.
As we’ve mentioned before, Pau Gasol would look great in a Bulls uniform. But it’s conceivable the Bulls would be better off adding a competent big man or two in the draft and free agency, while keeping the nucleus of Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng intact.
•Last season, the Bulls’ fast finish (12-2 over their last 14 games) was forecast weeks in advance because of the soft schedule.
Another sprint to mid-April is possible this year and the Bulls (29-25) could still approach 50 wins, but they need to pick up the pace right now.
Following Tuesday’s home game against Atlanta, the Bulls face an interesting put-up-or-shut-up stretch of four games in five nights against East contenders. The stretch features Cleveland on the road, Washington at home, Detroit on the road and Orlando at home.
The good news for the Bulls is the second game of the two back-to-backs are at home — and both opponents, the Wizards and Magic, will have played the previous day.
Basically, there are two keys for the Bulls getting homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs: One is to stick to their preseason goal of single-digit home losses. That means going 12-2 at the United Center the rest of the way. The best teams still to visit are Detroit, Cleveland and Washington and the Bulls have already beaten all three at home.
The other key is beating bad teams on the road. The Bulls have another stretch of travel in early March while the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments take over the United Center.
But the road opponents include the four worst teams in the league — Milwaukee, Boston, Philadelphia and Memphis — plus Miami and Orlando. The Bulls will be going for a 4-0 season sweep of the Heat.
So if the Bulls can go 12-2 at home and break even on the road, they would finish 48-34. Unless the East is much better than it’s shown so far, that record should be good enough to get home court.
•Finally, a few leftover thoughts from the long West Coast road trip:
Utah’s Jerry Sloan is one of the four best coaches in NBA history, in my opinion, along with Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson and Pat Riley. He continues to do an amazing job of getting the most from the majority of his players.
Sloan doesn’t yell and scream for a couple years, then move on when the players get sick of him, like Larry Brown and others. The work he’s done this season has been impressive. ...
One move that doesn’t get enough criticism is Portland trading the No. 3 pick in 2005 to Utah, thereby passing on Deron Williams and Chris Paul, to take high school shooting guard Martell Webster. If the Blazers had one of those point guards, they might be headed to the playoffs. ...
This is almost too cliched to be true, but outside Key Arena in Seattle before the Bulls-Sonics game, they were offering free samples of cinnamon mocha latte.
Pip's wishful thinking
Scottie Pippen's comeback plans would be much more intriguing if I could erase the memories of his return to the Bulls during the 2003-04 season.
This was the final tally: He played like his old self in two games, looked like he was overdue for retirement in 21 others and sat out 59 times to rest a sore knee.
As bad as the Bulls' bench has been this season, it's difficult to imagine Pippen being much help to the Bulls or anybody for the stretch run.
— Mike McGraw
They said it, all-star version
“I’m like President Bush. You may not like me, you may not respect me, but you voted me in.”
Miami’s Shaquille O’Neal on being an all-star starter despite playing in just 13 games this season
“I’m not a sprinter. When I do my five miles, I don’t wear a watch. I go out for an hour, hour and 20 minutes a day, and try to keep in shape. Keep these 67-year-old legs in the best shape I possibly can, so I can do my profession.”
Referee Dick Bavetta on his workout regimen
“I’m going to try to figure out how we’re in Vegas and getting booed. And I look to my left and it’s all about Bill.”
Forward Swin Cash on the lingering unpopularity of Detroit Shock coach Bill Laimbeer
“It was explained very clearly to us you can’t touch the basketball until the person is finished shooting. They didn’t listen.”
Laimbeer on the disqualification of Team Chicago in the Haier Shooting Stars contest.
“My trigger finger was itchy.”
Bulls guard Ben Gordon on why he shot out of turn and cost Team Chicago a victory.
What do you think about this ?
