Category Archives: Bulls

Brian Scalabrine Is… “The White Mamba”

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/Charles Krupa

He came, he ran, he shot the ball, then received a standing ovation from the Bulls fans. That is what this legendary ginger man did when he checked in for some trash minutes against the Washington Wizards.

Yup, that shot you just saw is what Kobe usually does. A catch and shoot one legged fade away jumper. He finished with 2 points going 1-1 in 1 minute of play. Definitely one of the hardest 2 points he ever done.

Fun ScalaGinger fact: In the Chicago Bulls 2nd game against the Detroit Pistons, our boy Scalabrine logged in a season high of 20 minutes finishing with a season high of 6 points on 3-4 shooting. He also filled the stat sheet with a bunch of 2′s. Logging a season high of 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals along with 2 turnover, 2 personal foul and 1 block.

Al is a contributor to Stacheketball. If you have any tips on ways to cook Bacon, and tips on how to get Jessica Alba and Keira Knightley to go on a date with him, then you should tweet him at @ahmong. Oh, and he now just realized Britney Spears is pretty.

2011 NBA All-Star Game Predictions

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NBA All-Star weekend tips off tomorrow and I’m anticipating it to be one of the best we’ve seen in a while. Me and the chief-of-staff, Rey-Rey, will be tweeting all weekend from Staples on behalf of American Express and AmexSports (Follow us on twitter for all updates, behind the scene pictures and live tweets: @TheNoLookPass & @Suga_Shane).

For all the participants in this weekends events, check out http://espn.go.com/nba/allstargame. On to my predictions for the weekend.

Rookie/Sophomore Game MVP:

This game has some promise although Tyreke Evans,  the reigning Rookie of the Year, won’t participate. DeJaun Blair took home the MVP last year and he will be suiting up for the Sophomore team again this season but I’m going to go with DeMar DeRozan here. Kid’s been a beast as of late and one of the lone bright spots on a dismal Toronto team. His jumper has really come along and I don’t really need to tell you about his athletic abilities.

Skills Challange:

The skills challange is setup in such a manner that it favors speedsters with passing accuracy and a nice mid-range shot. That mid-range shot and passing accuracy become very important half way through the challenge because you have to hit a 20 footer and then thread a some what difficult pass into a tiny hole.  I have to eliminate Chris Paul because of how hurt he’s been looking the last few weeks. He’s going to be lacking the necessary speed to win it all.

I’m going to go with Stephen Curry here. Curry has some sneaky quickness to him plus he is the second most accurate passer and the best shooter in the bunch. D-Rose fans: Sorry i snubbed your dude, but I’ll make it up to you in a bit.

3-Point Shootout:

This event will probably be the funnest of all the sideshows mainly because of all the characters involved. Mainly Paul Pierce. He was really lobbying to get himself selected because he wanted to have a nationally televised shootout versus his Celtics teammate, Ray Allen. Well, Paul got what he wished for but it’s not going to be easy to repeat as the 3-point champ this year. Ray Allen happens to be the newly crowned 3-point king and James Jones is a dark horse to surprise everyone. I honestly don’t know who will win this one but I’m going to go with my gut here and select Ray Allen.

Slam Dunk Contest:

I keep having these horrible nightmares where Blake Griffin pulls a Shannon Brown and disappoints the entire world. Deep down inside, I know you are all fearing the same outcome. But really, who would bet against Quake? Anyone? No? Didn’t think so. Then again, DeMar DeRozan is a scary foe in this competition.

All-Star Game:

Have you seen the Eastern Conference starting five? It’s pretty much you All-NBA First Team and your TeamUSA starters for London 2012. No joke. This has to be the meanest 5-man line-up we’ve seen in a long time. If the East doesn’t take this, then blame it on Rondo (why not?).

All-Star MVP:

Derrick Rose has to be the MVP, right? Now that he is a starter, the offense is going to run through him for the majority of this game. And after watching him go H.A.M. vs. the Spurs (and the majority of this season) I feel compelled to side with Rose.  After all, why can’t he be MVP?

The Shoes:

By far my favorite part of the All-Star weekend. This is the part were we, the fans, win. Enjoy.

Shane is a part-time contributor for Stacheketball & NBAOffseason.com and a full-time lover of fresh socks. Find him tweeting nonsense at @Suga_Shane


Carlos Boozer: More Than Just An All-Star Snub

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When Joakim Noah went down with a thumb injury, Carlos Boozer was looked upon to provide the spark he had been signed for.

Boozer has created more than a spark; he’s lighting it up averaging 19.5 points per game.

Then, Boozer was snubbed as an All-Star reserve, and some argued that the MVP should be given to Rose at season’s end.

Chicago is not looking for another All-Star or another MVP, they’re clearly on the path for a shiny new ring and Boozer has become their biggest asset.

Chicago started the season 9-6 as they faced one of the toughest early schedules in the league. Since Boozer’s return, the Bulls have been on a tear going 27-10 since his return. As Joakim Noah nurses a right thumb injury, Boozer’s 10.1 RPG lead the team who are second in the league in rebounding. With Rose’s emergence as an MVP candidate, his stellar play leads to more looks for the big man. Noah benefited from the open space created from Rose and Carlos Boozer mid-range jumper is simultaneously helping create more of the open lane.

There’s no denying Derrick Rose as the leader in Chicago, but Boozer is the missing link to the Bulls’ long playoff run. The Bulls’ defense is what is keeping them afloat among the elites, and as much hate Boozer receives for his defense, he has bought into Coach Tom Thibodeau’s system. Chicago is second in points allowed at 92.3 per game, and New Orleans—whom the Bulls beat on Saturday night—rank third at 92.4.
After the Bulls’ win over the hornets, Thibodeau gave his message on attacking the defense: “You have to execute against them, you can’t settle for all jump shots. You’ve got to make the extra pass and attack them.’’

That’s been the message for every game this season. Boozer has scored 56% of his points from inside, and when he’s not inside; he takes advantage of the aforementioned open mid-range jumpers.

For all the hate Boozer has received since leaving Utah, he’s had a love-fest in Chicago. He isn’t letting any ego get the best of him as he has repeatedly stated that Derrick Rose is the team’s go-to guy. Even through all the injuries in his career, Boozer is second to none when it comes to toughness.

He’s booed in Cleveland. He’s booed in Utah. But, in Chicago, Carlos isn’t letting anyone sober up on that Booze. Carlos Boozer as an All-Star snub will be an afterthought come playoff time.

The NBA Trade Machine: I Love This Game

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The NBA trade deadline is roughly three weeks away and there are a lot players who could be changing teams in the next coming weeks. Contenders like Chicago and Oklahoma City could be looking to make that move to put them over the top, the Lakers are possibly looking to shake things up, while the Nuggets are still shopping Carmelo. Yesterday we covered a few of the rumors that are flying around out there, but I wanted to take it a little further and propose some real fake trades that could happen and some that probably have no chance of happening, but should be fun to talk about. Click each image to enlarge

The Bulls are in desperate need of a SG. Keith Bogans is the worst starting SG in terms of PER in the NBA while Ronnie Brewer is at best a serviceable player. I made two trades, one that should happen and the other that should happen if the first trade falls through.

This one is a no brainer for the Bulls. Mayo is having his worst season as a pro so far and the change of scenery and pairing him up with a great PG in Rose could do two things: 1) Takes the scoring burden off of Rose and 2) Makes teams have to stop from helping in on Rose when he drives to the basket. The only downside to this trade is Mayo would need the ball in his hands more which could cut into Rose’s production though ultimately this trade could push Chicago to another level.

This trade makes sense in terms of fit. Aaron Afflalo is having a great season for Denver. He is shooting 45% from the three point line and is one of the best on ball defenders in the NBA today. He would be dangerous in this Bulls lineup for when teams have to help on Rose drives and anytime someone doubles down on Carlos Boozer. If Chicago could pull this trade out, they might actually be in a better situation than if they could get Mayo from Memphis.

Oklahoma City is currently sitting at fourth in the Western Conference but the standings are so close that every game counts. The Thunder are missing on key piece and really is the only true hole in their lineup, a dominant inside player. This trade with Denver could solve this for the Thunder and give them what they need to make a run for a top 3 seed in the West.

Now there are no signs that Denver is going to give away Nene and if the Nuggets do end up moving Carmelo and are looking to get younger, then this could be a possible deal they could look to in doing so. The Thunder getting Nene would really shore up the middle for them while the Nuggets could get a very solid young player in Jeff Green. Obviously the Nuggets are trying to get rid of Al Harrington and to get Nene the Thunder would have to take him and my only concern is, would Al mess up the chemistry of this Thunder team?

Carmelo Anthony desperately trying to get to New York, so I thought I would oblige him and get him there. I made two trade to get Carmelo to the Knicks with one of them being very farfetched but would be an NBA fans dream.

This is a trade that has been kicked around for a while now and there is really no reason to rehash things that have been said over and over. The Knicks are probably not giving up enough players in this trade and would probably need to include a few draft picks, however, all three players have expiring deals. Of all of the Carmelo to New York trades, this seems the most logical.

For the second trade, I went three teamer. Now this trade has about zero chance of happening but as an NBA fan, this is a dream trade. Sure the Knicks have to gut their roster but picking up Steve Nash and Carmelo Anthony would make up for a lot of the players they had to give up. Phoenix gets Landry Fields as another piece to build around and the Nuggets get those expiring contracts. Draft picks would be included in this trade going to Denver and probably Phoenix, but ignoring all of that, imagine how sweet it would be to watch Nash running the break with Carmelo and Amare filling the lanes with him. Ok, back to reality.

The Lakers are currently struggling and seem out of sync, and with Mitch Kupchak saying that trades are possible, I decided to try out five trades that the Lakers could make to not only shake up the roster but to also get them back to the Finals for a shot at a three-peat. The first four here are the ones that have the best shot, albeit not the greatest, of actually happening.

All four of these trades here really upgrade the SF position for the Lakers and would give them another big time players to help take some of the burden off of the aging Kobe Bryant. Now Artest has said he doesn’t want to be traded but moving Artest and Bynum, seems like the best move the Lakers could make. Danny Granger is having a rough season in Indiana and the change of scenery to LA could be the shot in the arm his game might need. Granger has shown in the past that he could be a prolific scorer and going to the Lakers would make him the best third or fourth option in the NBA. Another destination for Carmelo could be LA. Denver might consider making this trade if they are convinced that Carmelo will be gone no matter not (which he will) and LA will basically rent a fired up Carmelo for the stretch run. A crunch time lineup of Kobe-Carmelo-Gasol-Odom-Fisher or Blake would be a scary good lineup.

The Lakers and Sixers trade is one that I thought was interesting but highly unlikely. Andre Iguodala is “The Guy” in Philadelphia and that never seemed like a role that he could fit but for the Lakers he could play off the ball really well and be the guy who could save Kobe’s legs on the defensive end. Thaddeus Young is another interesting piece to this trade as it would give some more athleticism to the Lakers inside group.

The LA-Cleveland trade is more so to get Antawn Jamison onto a winner finally, plus I think he would be a great fit in LA as he could easily be the fourth option on this Laker team. Jamison is a great player and would easily accept his role on the Lakers. Adding Hickson to this trade give the Lakers another solid, high energy big man off the bench. Though I highly doubt either Cleveland or LA are looking at each other as trade partners.

This last trade is similar to the Nash/Carmelo to the Knicks trade as in this one will never happen but it is fun to imagine. Phoenix gets to reload with young pieces while the Lakers get two great players that will come in and contribute right away and more than make up for the lost talent. The only people who say no to this are coaches for every other team in the NBA lead by Greg Popovich demanding that David Stern veto this trade like he is the commissioner of a fantasy league.

Obviously some of these trades there would be cash considerations and future draft picks but the trade machine doesn’t allow you to add those in.

My hope is that the NBA trade deadline is as active and crazy as it could be and isn’t just all talk while living up to the No Balls Association name that Simmons coined a few years back.

Nick is a contributor to Stacheketball and full time lover of all things roundball related. Follow him on Twitter to discuss basketball or if you can help him get in touch with Mila Kunis @Jubanator14

2011 All Star Snubs: Love, Aldridge and More

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The 2011 NBA All Star reserves were just announced and according to Yahoo! Sports, here’s who made it:

WEST Reserves: Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol, Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin, Manu Ginobili, Dirk Nowitzki & Deron Williams
EAST Reserves: Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett, Chris Bosh, Al Horford and Joe Johnson

*According to Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Steve Nash will replace Yao Ming, who has been out for the majority of the season with injury.

So, who got snubbed?

Kevin Love (PF, Timberwolves): This is the first name I think of for this year’s snubs. This might go down in history as the worst snub, ever. Love is averaging 21.4 points per game (16th best in the NBA) and a league leading 15.5 rebounds per game. Sure, his team is awful. They have only won 10 games this entire season. But according to Win Shares, Kevin has been responsible for 7.8 of those 10 wins.  No one in the NBA is responsible for a greater % of their teams wins in terms of Win Shares. For more, read this great piece by Myles Brown. And if all that doesn’t convince you, I have two words for you: Thirty-Thirty

LaMarcus Aldridge (PF, Trailblazers): LMA is one of only four players averaging at least 21 points and 9 rebounds in the NBA (Love, Griffin, Howard). LaMarcus also has a team — who has lost its leading scorer as well as it’s former #1 pick — 3 games above .500 and currently in 8th place in the though West. He has literally carried this team to a playoff spot while putting up better numbers than All-Star power forwards Gasol, Nowitzki and Duncan.

Zach Randolph (PF, Grizzlies): Z-Bo deserves some love for what he has done this season. His 20 points and 13.3 rebounds per game put him in a very small group and he has his historically comical Memphis Grizzlies 2 games above .500 and just 1/2 a game out of the playoffs.

Eric Gordon (SG, Clippers): EJ is the 8th highest scorer in the NBA but I can understand why he was left off. The Clippers are 23 miles below .500 and his teammate, Blake Grffin, was selected. Can’t justify two All Stars on a sub-.500 team when the Spurs — best record in the NBA — barely got in two themselves.

Carlos Boozer (PF, Bulls): Carlos’ 19.8 points and 10.2 rebounds got looked over mainly because he missed 1/3 of the games to start the season but can we really ignore the fact that Boozer is the second best player on the NBA’s third best team? (based on W’s/L’s)

Raymond Felton (PG, Knicks): Ray started out the season red hot and was a leading candidate to make the All-Star team this season. But despite his continued production — 17.1 points and 8.9 assists per game — his team has dropped to 25-23 and the 6th seed in a soft Eastern Conference.

Do you think anyone else got snubbed this season? Do you feel that I snubbed a player by nut including them on my ‘snubbed’ list esentially double snubbing them? Want to rant and rave about it? Let us know in the comments below or on twitter: @Stacheketball & @Suga_Shane

Shane is a part-time contributor for Stacheketball & NBAOffseason.com and a full-time lover of fresh socks. Find him tweeting nonsense at @Suga_Shane

2010-11 MVP By The Numbers: Why Rose Isn’t The One

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Like a stampede in the distance, the rumblings are getting louder and more terrifying. If the herd of supporters continues to grow the rest of the contenders will get trampled over by the bull rush leaving one Bull at the helm, Derrick Rose. But is he the right choice?

First lets dissect the idea of the MVP. What makes a player an MVP, is it individual skills? Is it prolific scoring? Or is it based on team success measured in wins? I took a look at the last 20 MVP winners (from 1990-2009) and investigated where they finished in terms of a few key categories:

Player Efficiency Rating  (PER) – The definition of PER according to basketball-reference.com:

Player Efficiency Rating (available since the 1951-52 season); PER is a rating developed by ESPN.com columnist John Hollinger. In John’s words, “The PER sums up all a player’s positive accomplishments, subtracts the negative accomplishments, and returns a per-minute rating of a player’s performance.” Please see the article Calculating PER for more information. Also seeVAA and VAR.

In today’s NBA, PER is as relevant as ever thanks to the works of John Hollinger and the Advanced Statistical Revolution that is taking place in the NBA. For most who believe in the relevance and importance of PER, the metric is used to measure who is the most skilled player in the NBA. In most cases, PER is just a statistical valuation to help provide mathematical proof to the “eye test”, i.e. Kobe vs. LeBron.

Team Wins – This is simple and straight forward. What place did the player’s team finish in during the corresponding NBA season. Many believe that to be an MVP you must lead your team to victory. Since the Award is voted on before the playoffs, this only applies to regular season wins and not the more crucial playoff wins.

Win Shares (WS) - Win Shares is a metric which estimates the number of wins a player was responisble for or contributed to the teams total. Please see the article Calculating Win Shares for more information.

Points Per Game (PPG) – There once was a time where scoring was the greatest marker of individual success. Today more advanced measurements, such as PER and WS, have helped erase the idea that the highest scorer is the best player.

Perception (Fame) – There is one category that we can’t quantify and that is the perception of the fans and media. Many times the MVp award voting is skewed based on hype or the perception that one is deserving. We can’t measure for this but it is an important factor to keep in mind.

Lets have a look at the list of winners from 1990 to 2009 and see where they rank in each category.

A few things imedietly stick out to me:

  1. Steve Nash might not have deserved that second MVP and perhaps not the first, either.
  2. If you win the MVP you are probably not going to win a title.
  3. Maybe Karl Malone did deserve some of those MVPs.

Looking at the list of players who have won the award and where they rank in each category you will notice that no MVP has finished outside of the top four in terms of team wins in the past 20 seasons. This shows that voters have always stressed the importance of winning. 16 of the 20 winners have had one of the top two records at the end of the regular season.

Scoring no longer seems to be important considering that the league MVP hasn’t won a scoring title since Allen Iverson did it in 2000-01. That year also comes with a great deal of controversy as Shaq O’Neal finished 1st in PER, 2nd in Wins, 1st in WS and 1st in PPG and he also won the title yet Iverson was awarded the MVP. O’Neal was probably robbed again the following season where his numbers bested Tim Duncan but Tim won the MVP. MVP voting isn’t always fair or by the numbers and that’s left a dominant player like Shaq with four championship rings, three Finals MVPs and only one league MVP.

Like wise, in 1993 Hakeem probably stole David Robinson’s first MVP award. The Admiral finished #1 in all four major categories but Hakeem won the MVP. Hakeem had a very good season himself, finishing no worse than 3rd best in each of the four categories and also taking home an NBA Title in June but by the numbers, Robinson was the best player in the league that season.

One more important fact to note; in the past 20 seasons, the MVP has finished at #1 in at least one of the four MVP categories except for Kobe Bryant in 2007-08, Steve Nash in 2005-06 and Hakeem Olajuwon in 1993-94.

Now that we understand what categories voters key in on when selecting their MVP candidates we can sift through the 2010-11 field. I’ve included almost everyone that has even been mentioned as a possible MVP this season so the list is rather long. The only elite level team that isn’t represented on this list is the Boston Celtics and that’s due to their team-orriented style of play and reliance on defense, both of which keep individual stats as low as the media hype. The list includes LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Derrick Rose, Pau Gasol, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Manu Ginobili, Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Kevin Love. Yes, KEVIN LOVE! (While Love’s team wins and individual WS are low, his individual stats are rather impressive. He is putting up very impressive numbers despite being stuck on a team drenched in a rotting pool of horrendous suace.

We can eliminate a few players based how voters have acted in the past.  Amar’e, Nash and Love can all be eliminated because none of their teams are in the top ten in terms of wins and will probably have no shot at getting that high. Although no previous MVP winner has finished outside the top four in team wins, I’ll leave the top ten alone because we still have half a season to go and anyone of these players’ teams can rise to or fall out of the top four. This leaves us with a solid 10 players to rank.

Next, I’ll see where each player ranks on average based on all four categories (AVG). In the previous 20 seasons, the MVP winner has had an average ranking of less than 3.79; meaning that they were on average at least the 4th best in each category. Let’s look where this year’s candidates rank:

Based on this, LeBron James, who I think is still the best player on the planet, deserves to win the MVP for a third consecutive year — Something that hasn’t happened since Larry Bird did it from 1983-85. Everyone’s favorite to win, Derrick Rose, seems to be at the bottom of the top five, hurt by both his Win Shares and PER. Check out Dwyane Wade landing at #2 on the list, just further proof why everyone originally feared this duo teaming up. Miami probably has the two best players in the Association playing on the same team.

Next I wanted to isolate the players from the one category that seems to matter less and less, scoring. I took the average ranking for each player in Wins, PER and WS (AVG2).

Again, LeBron James is at the top of the game with his Miami running mate, Dwyane Wade, dropping to #3. Chris Paul slides on up to the 2-spot. Derrick Rose, who is a high volume, low efficiency scorer, drops even further when we eliminate the use of PPG. An interesting situation also arises in Los Angeles where Pau Gasol now looks to be more suited for the MVP than his more famous teammate, Kobe Bryant.

Amar’e Stoudemire – Through December, Amar’e was the hot ticket and the fan favorite to win the MVP. But the hype has cooled down quite a bit since New York has struggled to keep winning games. I’d say Amar’e's shot at winning the MVP this season has fizzled out.

Pau Gasol/Kobe Bryant – Both will suffer in the “Perception” category. Kobe is being viewed as old and it’s no longer vogue to consider him the greatest. Blame that on marketing, media, hype or on LeBron James but it is the world we live in today. Pau Gasol, likewise, suffers from being perceived as too soft and is often times blamed for many of the Lakers’ struggles. Fact or fiction, that is the label that is attached to him and it with severely hamper his shot at the MVP.

Dwight Howard – While I mentioned that scoring has become the least important factor in MVP voting, for Dwight it might be the opposite. Howard can put up a good number of points if he chooses to but his lack of a true post game and his inability to hit big shots and knock down clutch-time free throws will almost certainly eliminate him from receiving top MVP honors.

Kevin Durant – Kevin has struggled for much of the season and for a good stretch Russell Westbrook was the best player on the team. It might be too early for the 22-year old Durant to win the MVP but chances are he will win his second scoring title this season, so there is that to look forward to.

Manu Ginobili/Dirk Nowitzki - Both of these guys have been the catalysts for their teams success but they both lack the individual stats to put them over the top. While Dirk has greater individual numbers his team wins will hurt him and for Manu the opposite is true.

Dwyane Wade - Flash is an amazing basketball player. He is one of the top 5 in the NBA and many will argue he is #2 right behind his teammate, LeBron. But that right there is the problem. How can you award someone the MVP when most don’t even believe he is the best player on his own team?

Chris Paul – CP3 has been robbed of the MVP before (2007-08) so don’t be surprised when the best point guard in the NBA finishes out of the top 3 in MVP voting.

Derrick Rose - I understand why so many believe Rose could be the MVP but that doesn’t change the fact that he shouldn’t be. one thing that blows my mind is that the same faction of media and fans that believe Rose deserves the MVP also think Chris Paul is the best point guard in the NBA. So if Rose isn’t the best at his own position how can we consider him the best overall in the league? Dwell on that for a minute.

LeBron James – By the numbers, LeBron is still the best player in the Association. But a few things will prevent him from winning the MVP including “The Decision” and his teammate, Dwyane Wade.

One thing I am sure of, no matter who wins this year, it’s not going to be near unanimous like last season.

**EDIT**: From the comments and emails I’ve gotten, I believe that some of you have misunderstood the point of this post. I’m not making a claim that Derrick Rose is undeserving or incapable of winning the MVP this year. I simply wanted to point out that historically, the media/voters have chosen the MVP based on a few categories, even if they weren’t totally aware that they were doing so. Using this data we can build a profile of what the media ‘thinks‘ the MVP should be like or at least how they have voted so in the past.

D.Rose doesn’t fit the typical profile (Someone who is in the top 3 in most of the four major categories that I’ve pointed out) but that does not mean he can’t win the MVP. Nash, who didn’t fit the prototypical MVP profile in 2005-06 ended up taking home his second consecutive MVP award. Rose might be that player that not only doesn’t fit the mold but casts an entirely new mold for the next generation to fit into. I just don’t see it happening.

Read Part.II of the discussion HERE.

All player and team stats via www.Basketball-Reference.com – An NBA blogger’s best friend.

Shane is a part-time contributor for Stacheketball & NBAOffseason.com and a full-time lover of fresh socks. Find him tweeting nonsense at @Suga_Shane

Chris Bosh Will Always Be A Basketball Loser

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Chris Bosh is a loser. Now I don’t mean this in a he has no friends’ type of loser, he actually seems quite popular since LeBron and Wade wanted him to be their third wheel. No, I mean this as when it comes to basketball; Chris Bosh will never be a winner.

First this season, Chris just wanted to chill instead of work like Coach Spoelstra wants his Heat team to work, and now, after last night’s loss to Chicago, Chris Bosh tells everything us exactly who he is.

Video via @outsidethenba

The play above is a pretty typical play that you see in almost every basketball game across America. There is a loose ball and players diving on the floor for it; nothing out of the ordinary. This fact, however, is not as clear to Chris Bosh as it is to everyone else.

Bosh was injured on the play (sprained ankle) and didn’t play the entire fourth quarter because of it. But in Bosh’s eyes, that play should have never happened like that.

When asked about the play that he was injured on, Bosh gave us this gem of a quote:

“C’mon, that is how guys get hurt, that is how serious injuries happen. You’ve got to watch people’s legs. I know guys want to hustle and everything but we all want to play and provide for our families and have a job.”

“We all want to be healthy and that is very important, if it is by somebody’s leg, don’t dive for the ball, it’s too close.”

“It could’ve been a lot worse so I consider myself lucky, the damage is mild, so I’ll just do the proper treatment and what the doctors tell me to do. I couldn’t push off of it. In situations like that you have to keep the big picture in mind.”


I had never been angrier by what an NBA player said after a game then when I read what Chris Bosh said.

Bosh has been gifted with ability to play the game of basketball, which we all love, at the highest of levels. He is a 5-time All Star, an Olympic Gold medalist, and is easily a Top 20 player in the NBA. Yet when he says things like this, it makes you wonder if he has any awareness at all about how he will be perceived.

Guys have clawed and fought with every fiber of their being just to get a shot at maybe making an NBA roster. Even if they do make it, they could be cut at a moment’s notice. But according to Chris Bosh, everyone should just “chill” and not play so hard because someone might get hurt. Maybe, Chris, if you would have dove on the floor for the ball, like you should, then you wouldn’t have gotten hurt. When you are going all out in a highly contested game between two of the top four teams in the East, your only objective should be trying to get the ball at all costs; not worrying about the ball being near someone’s legs or not.

The line that sums up Bosh’s entire attitude best is when he said that you have to keep the big picture in mind. In my mind, the big picture for the NBA regular season is to get the best record possible so you will have home court advantage in the Playoffs. Omer Asik wasn’t trying to hurt you, Chris; he was doing exactly what you said every player out there should be doing, and that was keeping the big picture in mind. The Chicago Bulls are an Eastern conference-best (with Boston) 18-3 at home while the Heat have 8 of their 12 losses on the road. With as tight as the Top Four in the East will be, every game between the top four will be that much more important when it comes to getting home court in the Playoffs.

I am barely 6 feet tall and never had the chance to play College basketball, let alone in the NBA. Every chance I got to play when I was in High School, I went all out because I knew that after this, the only basketball I would get to play would be pickup games. So for Chris Bosh to approach the game of basketball like this, it drives me crazy.

I now am rooting for Chris Bosh to be remembered as not only as one of the softest big men in NBA history but also as a zero-time NBA Champion.

(Photo Credit: Doug Benc, Getty Images)

Nick is a contributor to Stacheketball and full time lover of all things roundball related. Follow him on Twitter to discuss basketball or if you can help him get in touch with Mila Kunis @Jubanator14

D-Rose Rises to the Heavens to Put Home NBA Jam-esque Alley-Oop (Dunkinstache)

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Photo credit: Nuccio DiNuzzo, Chicago Tribune

Growing up, I played video games a good bit. I understood that I shouldn’t attempt to do things I was doing on my N64 in real life like, you know, shooting people in GoldenEye.

I don’t think Derrick Rose ever got that lesson. I figure he must have been playing NBA Jam prior to tonight’s Bulls-Pistons game. While playing on his Xbox 360 against Keith Bogans (who kept wondering where the Sonics were), Derrick’s player rose above the rim, above the backboard, above the shot clock and then he caught the alley-oop and threw it down in one rim-shattering move. Afterwards, Rose suited up for the game and he must have decided to try what he had just done in a video game during a real game.

And he sure came close.

Video credit: GetBangedOn

And although Derrick didn’t get as high as in his video game acrobatics, he got WAY up there – and he’s a point guard! The call by the announcer is the icing on the cake: “STOP IT! I WANNA GO HIGHER!”

I’m sure Derrick unlocked an achievement or two there.

Cardboard Gerald is the Baby Spice of the Stacheketball writing staff and the resident Bobcats fan. You don’t need to feel sorry for him, but you can follow him on Twitter, if you’d like (@CardboardGerald).