"Bloargh!"
Derrick Rose: Last night, the rook had 1 measely assist (versus 16 shot attempts and 3 turnovers) in almost 39 minutes of PT. It was his second 1-assist game of this short season. Now, when I brought this up yesterday, people were defending Rose by basically saying "his teammates suck." But -- and I'm just checking here -- aren't these the same guys that Drew Gooden (3 assists), Luol Deng (also 3 assists), and Kirk Hinrich (3 assists) were passing to? And isn't Rose charged with handling the rock and running the offense most of the game? Oh, and regarding that "teammates suck" theory: Kirk "I'm the backup now" Hinrich hasn't dished for fewer than 3 dimes in the team's first four games. Hell, Earl Watson hasn't dished fewer than four assists yet this season...and he's playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

In the last three games, Rose has 5 assists, 8 turnovers and 50 [!!] shot attempts. And so my point remains the same: A shot-to-assist ratio of 10-to-1 is not what you want from your starting point guard. Look, I'm not trying to demean Rose's talent. He's super quick and can get to the hole at will. He sort of strikes me as a more athletic version of Tony Parker, except he's not French or a woman. But, like Parker, he's not a true playmaker. He's more of a scoring point guard. More accurately, he's a shooting guard trapped in a point guard's body. That concerns me because he's the franchise's new cornerstone, and Chicago desperately needs a guy who isn't just a great individual player...but someone who makes his teammates better.

For comparison's sake, check out Chris Paul's game log from his rookie season for the Hornets. He didn't have a single 1-assist game all season. Now check out the roster. It's not like it was playing with the Super Friends.

Luol Deng: Is Deng in a shooting slump? What could you call 31 percent shooting (14-for-44) over four games? And that includes the first game of the season -- during which all the Bulls padded their stats -- when he shot 8-for-13. Since then Luol has gone 6-for-31 from the field (19 percent). Let's hope last night's 1-point, 0-for-8 shooting performance was Deng's way of bottoming out. But this is one of those times I'd like to remind everybody that Deng was the one player John Paxson declared "untouchable" when the Lakers were semi-shopping Kobe at the beginning of last season. FACEPALM.


The Bulls' end-of-game plan: "Hey guys, we're down only two points with 23 seconds left. Let's have Ben Gordon shoot an off-balance, fade-away jumper over slam dunk champ Dwight Howard with 15 seconds left on the clock to try and tie things up!" Seriously. That's the best shot, and the best use of the clock, that the Bulls could manage with the game on the line? DOUBLE FACEPALM.


J.J. Redick: From sixth man to DNP-CD in only four games. That has to be some kind of record.

The Bobcats "big guns": Jason Richardson was 2-for-10. Gerald Wallace was 3-for-10. Both men were outplayed by Adam Morrison...offensively, anyway: Adam was 4-for-6, including 2-for-2 from downtown, for his 10 points.


Kwame Brown: He was actually surprisingly effective last night: 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots and (SHOCK ALERT!) no turnovers. But -- and you knew there was a "but" coming, right? -- he was 1-for-6 from the field. And four of those misses were layups. He also inexplicably took a 15-foot jumper, which is about 15 feet out of his range.

Rasheed Wallace, quote machine: How do you feel about the trade, 'Sheed? "Do we like the trade? Maybe not. Ain't no telling. I can't talk about it until we see what happens. Who knows?" Oh, also, Wallace received his first technical of the season last night.

Jersey number disputes: Whenever a superstar changes teams, there's always the chance that somebody is going to get screwed. In the case of the Detroit-Denver trade, Rodney Stuckey will probably have to surrender his jersey number 3 to Allen Iverson. But apparently it will at least require a conversation. Said Stuckey: "We're going to have to talk about it, I guess." Talk about what, exactly? Money, perhaps? "Like I said, we'll talk about it." At any rate, it sounds like Stuckey is resigned to the change. He's already talking about his new number. "I want to do a single number, so I'll probably do something like 9 or something."

Joe Dumars' "master plan": I'm sorry, but if the plan really is to make a big run at Bosh, Wade or James in 2010, it's a flawed plan. I guarantee that Bosh and Wade are going to re-sign with their teams, and LeBron is either staying in Cleveland or bolting for New York. Anyway, here's a fun comment from Basketbawful reader anacondahl: "Perhaps the Pistons trade is an indirect way of admitting to the fans 'Yeah, we screwed up in 2003, sorry. We want to make it up to you in 2010.'" Oh, and geert had a suggestion for what to call it when the front office tries to redress a mistake they made years earlier: "What about make-up management? Like make-up calls, but by the front office of a team." I like it.

Sloppy journalism that gets it right: Basketbawful reader lord kerrance discovered a funny: "Check out this article from TSN. Not sure how long the gaffe will stay up, but right now it says the AI trade gives Iverson a chance to win a championship, something he wouldn't have been able to do with the Pistons. Inadvertantly truer words have never been spoken." Indeed. Here's the screen capture:


The Sacramento Kings: Quick quiz: When does 0-3 feel more like 0-10? Answer: When you lose those first three games by a combined 66 points. The Kings may very well be the worst team in the league.

Kevin Martin: Sacramento's future is struggling with the present: He's averaging 17.8 PPG on 38.6 percent shooting so far. This from a guy who a lot of people thought might lead the league in scoring this season. He's finding out that sometimes it's really hard to be The Man. Anyway, last night he was 4-for-10 and had the worst +/- score on the team (-27). He has, for the moment, surrendered "Best Player on the Team" status to Spencer Hawes. Yes, Spencer Hawes.

Kareem Rush: He apparently hasn't realized that his last name is "Rush" and not "Abdul-Jabbar," because he's already complaning about his lack of PT this season. "It's very discouraging. I didn't plan on this when I signed here, but it's the way it is. A lot of these guys have been here for a number of years and played with (coach Maurice) Cheeks a number of years, so I think it's a familiarity thing that he has with these guys." Yeah, or maybe Cheeks is just familiar with your career numbers.

The Golden State Warriors. They scored only 79 points. Against the Memphis Grizzlies. The Nellieballers shot 34 percent from the field (33-for-93) and 15 percent from Threeland (3-for-20). Stephen Jackson (6-for-21, 2-for-9 in threes) was the primary bricklayer, but it's worth noting that Al Harrington and Corey Maggette combined to shoot 0-for-9 from downtown. This offense would really benefit from a true point guard, and I'm not talking about Monta Ellis.

Andris Biedrins: Nice defense there, Andy. You let Marc Gasol erupt for 27 points (on 9-for-11 shooting) and 16 rebounds. Said Biedrins: "He really made us pay for not keeping attention to him. We were more worried about Mayo and Rudy Gay, and didn't think about (Gasol) so much." Uh, nice excuse. But you probably should have noticed a little sooner than after the game. Update! From Basketbawful reader Derek: "Also, on the ESPN recap the headline reads 'Gasol, Biedrins help Grizzlies end losing streak vs. Warriors,' further cementing his contributions." He's right.


Anthony Randolph: One trillion!

The Dallas Mavericks: They fell to 0-2 at home after getting spanked, and spanked hard, by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Their shooting was lousy -- Dirk Nowitzki was 3-for-10, including seven straight clanks -- and their rebounding was atrocious (they got pounded 52-35). If this keeps up, Dallas fans are going to start getting nostalgic for the Avery Johnson era. Once again...FACEPALM.

Each time Mark Cuban suffers, a kitten is born.
The Los Angeles Clippers: Baron Davis and Marcus Camby actually played last night, but you hardly would have noticed. The Clips scored only 73 points at home and let the still Deron William-less Jazz beat them down. In particular, Paul Milsap (24 points, 8-for-12, 9 rebounds) walked all over them. Yup...they are who we thought they were.


Kyrylo Fesenko and Kosta Koufos: They each submitted a Mario last night against the Clippers. That's what they get for having names that sound like they were created by Stan Lee.

Kobe Bryant: He farted in a public elevator yesterday. And he had eaten a cabbage, liver and onion burrito for lunch.

Labels: Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Derrick Rose, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Sacramento Kings