Big Ben's big disappointment

The Bulls have played 53 games so far this season, winning 29 of them. That’s not so bad. They are the fourth best team in the East right now, which means if the playoffs ended today they would be the number five seed with a matchup against Toronto, who has a worse record right now. They have four players avenging 15 or more points a game and have the eighth best defense in the league. (In terms of points per game.) Yet I can’t help being disappointed as we reach the All-Star break with the teams performance.

The big problem with the Bulls the past few seasons has been their over-reliance on jump shooting and poor perimeter defense. And this year really has been no different. Their leading scorers, guards Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich along with forward Loul Deng, are all outside shooter’s who rarely score many points in the paint. When those guy’s aren’t scoring, the Bulls usually aren’t winning. And defensively, the team still has a lot of work to do. Too often quick player’s (See Leandro Barbosa in the two Suns games for poof) have an easy time putting up a lot of points on them. Though if I recall, the Bulls signed somebody in the off-season that was supposed to help the perimeter defense by clogging up the lane.

{Wallace’s} rebounding, which is his main skill, has gone down in each of the past three seasons, as has his minutes per game. He offers no offensive skills, and will be almost un-tradable with his $12.4 million a year contract.
The second part of the Wallace signing is whether this puts the Bulls closer to a title. And the answer is still a no in my eyes.
-July 4

I just don’t like the Ben Wallace signing at all. I tried to get myself excited for it and I just can’t…The Bulls’ problems the past few years have been to get consistent scoring, not defense. Wallace can’t put points on the board, and he can’t play in the fourth quarter, because he shoots worse from the line then Shaq does. For a team that has young guys at every position, how does it make sense to add a slower, older player who gets four more rebounds then {Tyson} Chandler did for seven million more a year?
-July 13

As we can see from these quotes, taken directly from this very blog, I was very critical of the Ben Wallace signing this summer. I said his skills had been diminished and that he was not worth the price the team was paying him. And so far, unfortunately for the Bulls, I have been right.

But how bad has Big Ben really been? To further examine, I put Wallace’s numbers head-to-head with the man he replaced, current Oklahoma City Hornet Tyson the toothpick Chandler.
NOTE: Each player has played 50 games
Points per game:
B.W. ---6.2
T.C. ---8.0

Field goal percentage
B.W. ---.438%
T.C. ---.601%

Free throw percentage
B.W. ---.409%
T.C. ---.481%

Rebounds per game:
B.W. --- 10.3 (3.9 offensive, 6.4 defensive)
T.C. ---12.1 (4.1 offensive, 8 defensive)

Blocks per game:
B.W. ---2.08
T.C. ---1.80

Total turnovers
B.W. ---65
T.C. ---82

Total personal fouls:
B.W.---97
T.C. ---173


While this matchup seem even, Chandler leads in four categories while Wallace takes three, I’d say the big edge goes to the toothpick. He leads in more important categories for centers (field goal %, rebounds) and is facing tougher competition in the Western Conference. Add that he’s playing with a less talented team and is being paid about five million dollars a year less then Wallace is, and he’s definitely more valuable to his team.

Even though Wallace has been an expected disappointment, (I think that may be an oxymoron), and the team has under-performed thus far, it doesn’t mean the Bulls can’t get to the NBA Finals this season. It will be an uphill climb since Detroit is playing very well, Miami is getting back into shape and Cleveland, if they can get one more player, can be extremely dangerous. But I also like the Bulls nucleus very much. Hinrich, Gordon and Chris Duhon are a great trio at the two guard spots, and it’s good that coach Scott Skiles likes playing them all together. Loul Deng should have been an All-Star at small forward, and when Andres Nocioni comes back from his foot injury, that gives the team two talented swingmen. PJ Brown has been nice new addition for the team, and rookie Tyrus Thomas has come on well lately. Wallace needs some improvement, but he is a veteran with a lot of playoff experience, so I expect him to come around when playoff time approaches. But who would have ever thought I would be saying I wish we had Tyson Chandler?