HoopsHype.com NBA Blogs - Marc Narducci

The Chicago Bulls got off to a miserable start this year, one that consisted of bum ankle to their star point guard that altered the team’s fortunes, rumors of the coach’s impending firing, and the search for more offense after the departure of Ben Gordon.

While the ship hasn’t totally been righted, the Bulls appear capable of returning to the postseason, even though the team’s makeup could change by the Feb. 18 NBA trading deadline.

First off, when point guard Derrick Rose injured his ankle early in the preseason, the entire Bulls team felt his pain.

Rose hasn’t missed any regular season games, but he certainly wasn’t his explosive self early on.

“It was frustrating,” Rose said.

Rose eventually worked his way through the injury, but it wasn’t easy.

“He missed the whole month of training camp pretty much and that set him back, getting in condition and from a mental aspect of not being able to push off his ankle the way he wants to,” Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said. “He has relied on athleticism a lot and when that was taken away from him, that obviously changes things.”

Now healthy, Rose has shown marked improvement after earning Rookie of the Year honors last year. This season he has been named to his first NBA all-star game, something that should become an annual occurrence over the next decade or so.

Not only were the Bulls coping with injuries to Rose, along with Kirk Hinrich and Tyrus Thomas, but Chicago was dealing earlier in the season with rumors of Del Negro’s potential departure.

The low point came when the Bulls squandered a 35-point lead and lost 102-98 to the visiting Sacramento Kings on Dec. 21. The Bulls would lose their next game in New York, 88-81 to drop to a season-high seven games under .500 (10-17). As recently as Jan. 8, the Bulls were 14-20, but then turned things around by winning 9 of their next 11 games.

Before that recent surge, nobody was receiving more heat than Del Negro. It seemed like every day there was a story speculating on his potential successor. Del Negro says when the team was at its lowest, his only recourse was to keep battling.

“I never get too excited or too down if you win or lose, you have to keep fighting and figure things out, especially with young teams,” he said. “Some of our guys are playing at a high level.”

The players, like everybody else were aware of the rumors, but like their coach, they had no choice but to block out all distractions and concentrate on trying to turn around a disappointing season.

“The players really kept together,” Rose said. “We weren’t worried about anything like that and we let the front office deal with that, it’s not our business. Our job is to come in, play hard and make this organization look good.”

Few have done more to make a team look good than Rose, one of the most explosive players breaking down a defenders in the NBA.

“The way he’s been playing he has really helped us turn the season around,” Bulls swingman John Salmons said.

Just when the team was regaining its collective health, Joakim Noah is now out until at least the all-star break with plantar fasciitis in his left foot.

Earlier, Hinrich missed six games with left thumb sprain before returning the second week of December. Thomas was sidelined 22 games with a left radius fracture from Nov. 7 to Dec. 22.

Plus Luol Deng, says it took time to come back from right tibia stress fracture that cost him the final 22 games of last season and the playoffs.

“I missed all that time last year and in the summer I didn’t touch the ball and didn’t run,” Deng said. “I sat around, waiting for my bone to heal and I am starting to play better as the season goes on.”

The same, Deng says goes for Del Negro, who came to the Bulls without any head coaching experience.

“You can’t expect coach to be great right away after he got the job,” Deng said. “One thing he has done great is get better, and that is all you can ask.”

Seemingly, the Bulls have gotten over the worst, although a prolonged losing streak could invite that same old negativity to return.

This is a young team that still is searching for offense that hasn’t been replaced since Gordon opted to go to Detroit 

Still, if the Bulls can stay around the .500 mark that might be enough for an Eastern Conference playoff berth. Like last year, the Bulls hope to be playing their best basketball in April, when they won five of their last six regular season games to finish 41-41 before giving the 2008 champion Celtics all they could handle in the postseason.

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He came on so strong at the end of last season and looked right at home in the postseason that a natural question in his second year is whether Derrick Rose will be able to move up to the select group of point guards in the NBA.

Actually the question isn’t whether he will, but when will the ascent actually occur?

Whether Rose will make an appreciable leap in his second season running the Chicago Bulls offense remains to be seen, but few doubt that he will eventually be listed among the NBA’s best point guards.

Coming off an outstanding showing in his first postseason, Rose provided enough evidence that he is going to be a serious impact player. This should be no revelation since Rose was the first player taken in the 2008 draft.

First, before glancing into the future, it’s impossible not to look behind. In losing a seven-game opening round series to the Boston Celtics, Rose was truly an impact player. While players don’t always match their regular season statistics in the postseason, Rose  exceeded his output.

As a rookie, he averaged 16.8 points, 6.3 assists and 3.9 rebounds and 2.5 turnovers. Against the Celtics in a truly pulsating first-round, Rose averaged 19.7 points, 6.4 assists, 6.3 rebounds. Of course it must be noted that he averaged over seven minutes a game more in the postseason.

Two negatives were that he averaged 5.0 turnovers in that Boston series and he missed all four of his three point attempts.

Both statistics are related because Rose is not yet a threat as a three-point shooter. He shot 22.2 percent in the regular season. Since he derives so much of his offense by driving to the basket, he is more apt to turn the ball over while attempting to create his own scoring opportunities.

The other part of Rose’s game that must improve is his defense. True, when somebody is creating so much on offense, there is a tendency to rest on D. Yet to move up to the elite level, he has to make a better effort when the opponent has the ball.

One other question about Rose will be his health. He just turned 21, played in 81 games during his Rookie of the Year campaign and averaged 44.7 minutes in the playoff series with Boston. However, Rose suffered an ankle injury during this preseason and still hasn’t looked 100 percent, although in an opening 92-85 win over the San Antonio Spurs, Rose had 13 points (5 for 12 shooting), seven rebounds, seven assists and just one turnover in 33 minutes.

While there can always be debate, it says here that Chris Paul of New Orleans and Utah’s Deron Williams are currently the top two point guards in the NBA. (It’s hard to believe that Williams hasn’t earned an All-Star invitation, something that should be remedied this year).

The thing that has to be noticed about both is that they have improved each year in the league. Both are now in their fifth NBA season.

Last year Paul was a first-team All-NBA Defensive Team selection while Williams received three second-team votes.

Like Rose, Paul was a poor three-point shooter as a rookie. He shot .282 from beyond the arc as a rookie and last year was up to .364. Williams on the other hand had his best three-point shooting season as a rookie (.410) and worst last year (.310) and that remains an inconsistent part of his game.

Still, both Williams and Paul are much better shooters and defenders than Rose and each has more savvy as a floor leader. That is to be expected with their experience.

In looking at Paul and Williams, it’s interesting how players develop.

Williams made his great improvement, at least from a statistical standpoint between his first and second year, going from 10.8 points and 4.5 assists per game to 16.2 and 9.3 his second season. Of course his minutes increased more than eight per game, but his improved play earned Williams the extra minutes.

Paul made his biggest gain between his second and third season. He went from averaging 17.3 points and 8.9 assists his second year to 21.1 points and 11.6 assists his third season.

What made that leap so impressive is that his playing time went up less than one minute per game.

It goes to show that players develop at different rates. Don’t be surprised if Rose shows his greatest improvement between his second and third seasons.

Before taking aim at Paul or Williams, there are several other point guards that will provide plenty of competition for Rose, including greybeards such as Steve Nash, Chauncey Billups and Jason Kidd. There are also veterans with All-Star experience (Devin Harris, Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas, Mo Williams, Jameer Nelson, Baron Davis) and others looking to crack the top group (Rajon Rondo, Jose Calderon, Russell Westbrook).

Rose has the ability to move above all these point guards before taking direct aim at Paul and Williams. Asking for it to happen in his second season may be too much to expect.

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Doug Collins and New York Post basketball writer Peter Vescey have been selected to receive the 2009 Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame during Enshrinement festivities scheduled for September 10-11, 2009 in Springfield, Massachusetts.

On Sept. 19, a statue of Collins and his college coach Will Robinson will be unveiled at Illinois State University. Collins averaged 29.1 points per game in his three-year college career before earning a berth on the 1972 U.S. Olympic Team and later becoming a four-time NBA all-star with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Robinson passed away at the age of 96 in April of 2008.

Collins talked to HoopsHype.com about these events and others pertaining to basketball.

Could you give your reaction to your Hall of Fame honor?

Doug Collins: I was shocked. I don’t think a lot of people realize. I’ve been a broadcaster 21 years, if you go back to when I worked for CBS in the 80’s. The great thing for me I have been involved in tremendous companies. It was great being with CBS and doing the NCAA tournament and NBA playoffs of course with Turner. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to play and broadcast the NBA finals, the NBA all-star game and the Olympics. And now Dick Ebersol asked me to do the 2012 Olympics in London (for NBC). I feel very fortunate.

Your broadcasting success seems to stem from being able to explain a complicated game in simple terms. Could you talk about that?

DC: That is my exact goal. One thing I learned a long time ago. It’s one thing to have a mind as a coach or player but so many people watching are casual viewers and you can’t talk coach-speak. You have to be able to articulate in a way it makes it easy for the fan at home. The fan sees what is happening. I like to say what happened and this is why it happened. Many times, it may be action off the ball. We are trained as people to watch the ball and so much of the game in the NBA and my career was played off the ball. But coach-speak is a killer. You can do that in clinics but not on television.

When you do a broadcast, what is your philosophy?

DC: Don Hewitt (the 60 Minutes creator), who recently passed away, said the essence of television was four words – tell me a story. That is my philosophy of broadcasting. Tell me a story. When you sit down to watch, there will be a story, a beginning a middle and an end. I am in charge of telling the story. As much as I might prepare, that story may change every night and you have to be so prepared.

It must be exciting to have a statue of you and your former coach Will Robinson at Illinois State.

DC: Two years ago they named the court after me, which is amazing. I got the first full basketball scholarship at Illinois State. Back then freshmen couldn’t play varsity. As a sophomore Will Robinson came in, the first black man to be a Division I basketball head coach. He was amazing. The first moment I met Will Robinson, he said, “You’ve got it and if you pay attention and trust me, I will take you where you want to go.” That was the beginning of a more than 30-year love affair with the guy.

You will always be remembered for making the two free throws after being almost knocked out in the 1972 Gold Medal game with Russia, giving the U.S. a 50-49 lead with three seconds left. We all know what happened after that, but what are your recollections of that moment?

DC: I was knocked out and was a little shaky but something that happens will resonate forever. One of the coaches was talking about getting a replacement to shoot the free throws and coach (Hank) Iba said, “If he can walk he is shooting them.” It was like an electric surge went through me. He instilled in me that I wasn’t going to miss them and I was able to come through.

This is probably a month you’ll never forget.

DC: Actually, I was going back the last 14 months of my life and it’s been an unbelievable time. Last summer my son Chris was part of the Olympic team in Beijing. Coach K brought his assistants from Duke, and he became part of the scouting and preparation. The Olympics were special for many reasons. I had 36 years of heartache when my gold medal in 1972 was taken away. Coach K and Jerry Colangelo asked me to speak to the team. As soon as the final game was over, LeBron James hugged me and said you are a big part of this and said we consider you part of this gold medal. My son was a part of a gold medal and I had that moment. And a grandson was born in January. Then my son-in-law Paul Romancazuk won a state championship (as coach for Pennsylvania’s Archbishop Carroll) and then we had the wonderful NBA playoff run and now the Curt Gowdy Award and this statue and it’s a lifetime of achievements that happened in 14 months.

How close were you to returning to coaching the Chicago Bulls in 2008?

DC: There has been the perception that I am dying to get back to coaching. What I always have done is say I will listen. It would be silly not to listen to opportunities in life. One of the great things about working for Turner is that they are about family and want what is best for my family. Two years ago John Paxson called me and I was very close to going to Chicago. They were a young team and I really saw a good 6-7 year run. Chicago is a city my wife and I spent 10 years in. Jerry Reinsdorf said he loved me like a son, and said he could always find a coach but didn’t want something to hurt our friendship and that he couldn’t fire me again. I said let’s give a hug and move on.

This past year your name was linked to both Philadelphia and Detroit coaching situations. What was fact and fiction?

DC: All this stuff with Philadelphia, I never spoke with them. I was never part of that equation. Joe Dumars called me about coming to Detroit. We spoke a few times and I don’t think situation was right for me. I didn’t want to go to a team starting over. There is perception I am itching and that isn’t case. I will keep an open mind on things.

It appears as if more teams feel they have a shot at least to get to the NBA finals than in recent years. What are your thoughts on the Eastern Conference?

DC: You have three heavyweights in the East. Cleveland adds Shaq and we’ll see if that will work to bring the Cavaliers a championship. Every day there will be questions asking whether LeBron is coming back. They added pieces, Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon are good additions. You saw last year at the three spot in the playoffs they got exposed. They love to slide LeBron to four and play small. They couldn’t do it against Orlando.

Then you have Orlando who lost Turkoglu but added Vince Carter, Matt Barnes and Brandon Bass. They are incredibly deep. I also liked moving Rafer Alston because he wasn’t happy sitting. Orlando tasted it last year and is poised to make another great run. They are very good on the road.

You have Boston, with Kevin Garnett coming back healthy, Rasheed Wallace has added depth to the team. If they are healthy they will be very good. The No. 1 seed could prove so important, because you have to play only one of those other two teams in the playoffs.

To me the next little rung, I feel Chicago is going to be good. They will have Derrick Rose, John Salmons, Luol Deng at the three and have a bigger team. They were undersized. I like that they kept Hinrich and I like Pargo off the bench. The big key for them will be young big guys Noah and Thomas and if they show the improvement they showed in playoffs when they went toe to toe with Boston.

Another team is Washington if they stay healthy. Arenas, Caron Butler, Jamison, Mike Miller, Randy Foye, Flip Saunders. If they can defend and rebound that will be a good team.

Toronto improved with Turkoglu and I like Jarrett Jack with his toughness. The Raptors will want to show they will be in the mix to keep Chris Bosh.

Atlanta is interesting. Jamal Crawford should help. I like Jeff Teague at the point. A question is the play at small forward and can it be consistent.

New Philadelphia coach Eddie Jordan runs a lot of that Princeton offense. Last year Philadelphia went with a big lineup and lost its identity. They are an open floor team. When Elton Brand and Samuel Dalembert played together with Thaddeus Young and Andre Iguodala, they had no shooting and spacing.

They lost Andre Miller and you have to wonder if they will have enough shooting.

And then there is Miami. Dwyane Wade is a one-man show and basically carried them to the playoffs. Can he do it again?

What about the Western Conference?

DC:  In the West, the Lakers are still the team to beat. I love what San Antonio has done. The Spurs needed to add speed and quickness with Richard Jefferson. If the Spurs want to bring Ginobili off the bench, they now have the depth and speed and quickness to do it.

Dallas made nice moves, with Shawn Marion, Tim Thomas and Drew Gooden.

Portland is very good. Is Greg Oden able to stay healthy and can he take over. Can the team run more with Andre Miller?

One of the keys last year for Denver’s success was keeping Kenyon Martin healthy. He and Nene must stay healthy. Chauncey Billups had a great year.

Utah has the Carlos Boozer (contract) situation hanging over them . You can’t give him away but you have to watch what contracts you take back due to the luxury tax. If Deron Williams stays healthy, he makes them very tough at home.

I think New Orleans will be in the playoff mix, but so much is on Chris Paul and David West. Now they have Emeka Okafor, but Peja Stojakovic is key and a big part is three point shooting. If he plays like two years ago and Paul and West continue their progress, they are back in the mix. I thought they lost some mojo last year.

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