Somebody Call Yoko Ono: Dethroning the Heatles

[Myles]

After winning a title in my first year as the Phoenix Suns GM, I decided to time travel to take another job, that of the 2010-2011 Chicago Bulls. Yes, I'm taking on another great team, but this team never could surpass the dominant Heat team, led by the Big 3 (I really don't have to name them, right?). We wanted to take our style of REAL TEAM basketball, not that bunch of superstars on the court crap, and show the world that LBJ is indeed beatable.

The Goal
Beat the Heat en route to a NBA championship, keeping the core principles of those Bulls team intact

The Constraints
I have to keep at least three members of the Bulls core. The core includes Rose, Noah, Deng, Boozer, and Gibson.
We have to have a top 5 defense at all times. Tom Thibodeau doesn't settle for anything less.
If I finish below .500 in any season, I'm fired. No tanking!

Hopefully this goes well. If it's not looking good, someone's gonna need to call Yoko Ono for me. She has some experience breaking these types of teams up.

[Chilikonkarne]

Cool another DDPB17 story! Will be following for sure

[Myles]

The Team
PG: Derrick Rose/C.J. Watson/John Lucas III
SG: Ronnie Brewer/Kyle Korver/Keith Bogans
SF: Luol Deng/Ronnie Brewer/Kyle Korver
PF: Carlos Boozer/Taj Gibson/Brian Scalabrine
C: Joakim Noah/Omer Asik/Kurt Thomas

We have a really strong core group of players. Rose is one of the top offensive point guards in the league, Deng is an excellent two way wing, Boozer is a strong scorer and rebounder, and Noah is one of the best defenders around. Behind them, I've got a thin and limited wing rotation (Brewer is a good defender but no scoring, Korver is a great shooter but lacks defense, and Bogans is a mediocre combination of both), but strong frontcourt depth, with Gibson and Asik both being capable players in their own right. I'm also lacking in backup PG, which will only be an issue if Rose gets injured. I don't expect to play my backups there much.

I'll certainly be targeting wing depth, and I'll be experimenting all season long with what wing pairs best next to my other starting 4 to see what my crunch time lineup will be. My initial guess is Korver, but Brewer and Bogans both have chances to earn those crunch time minutes.

The Strategies
Our offense is going to be fairly well balanced. With Rose as our primary attacker, we are focusing on pick and roll, as well as transition offense to let him run loose. We are also going to let him (and Boozer) isolate to really make sure our best players are getting shots. We'll look for our spot up shooters, and we'll run some post ups for our big men to keep them involved. Ultimately though, we are mainly focusing on Rose to make our offense go.

Offensive Pace: 4
Full Court Press: 1
Zone Defense: 3
Defensive Intensity: 8
Offensive Rebounding: 7
Defensive Rebounding: 10

We are going to make sure we dominate the glass, especially on the defensive end. We have some strong offensive rebounders, so we'll definitely try to crash the boards there, but we still want to make sure we get back on defense. Our offense may be a little slow, but we are built on being a defensive minded team, so I'd rather make sure we get good shots only on offense. Speaking of defense, we are going to get in the faces of our opponents. We'll zone occasionally, as we've used that to good effect especially during Thibs time as a defensive coordinator for the Celtics.

[Marcos_Beck]

First thing: trade Boozer.
Second thing: add shooting.
Third thing: don't forget to draft Jimmy Buckets.

[hardenwithnod]

Start the GOAT Scalabrine.

[Myles]

Depth Chart and Top Lineups
PG: Rose 36/Watson 12/Lucas
SG: Brewer 14/Korver 20/Bogans 14
SF: Deng 32/Brewer 12/Korver 6
PF: Boozer 32/Gibson 16/Thomas
C: Noah 34/Asik 14/Thomas

Besides that starting 5, we are also running a lot of lineups featuring Boozer and Korver as the top scorers, with Watson, Brewer/Bogans, and Asik surrounding them. Our crunch time lineup is the starters with Korver instead of Brewer. We are definitely going to be monitoring the lineups, especially since I've staggered Rose and Boozer quite a bit so we always have at least one of them on the court at a time. I have a lot of lineups with Rose trying to carry Gibson, Asik, and other defenders on his own. We'll see how that goes.

November
We started off the month doing really well, going 7-3 with some big statement wins against Dwight Howard's Magic and Danny Granger's Pacers. After that, we started a long western road trip, dropping 5 of 6 to finish the month at 8-8. We beat the surprisingly good Golden State Warriors led by Ellis, Curry and Lee, but lost to the Lakers, the Blazers, the Nuggets, the Jazz, and the Spurs. The East is all really close, with the Knicks currently at the top at 9-6, and Brooklyn at 10th with a 6-8 record.

We've found some lineups that have worked, and some that haven't worked. Right now, our best lineup is our starting 5, which has used Rose and Boozer to buoy our defensive players in Brewer, Deng and Noah. Our next best unit replaces Brewer with Korver and Boozer with Gibson, giving us a really strong defensive front and a shooter in the backcourt next to Rose. All of our top lineups have a balance of offense and defense in it, as our other two top lineups feature Boozer down low, but with Watson at the point and Asik at center.

We do have some really bad lineups though. Two in particular are really bad. We have a Watson, Korver, Brewer, Boozer and Asik group that just really struggles to score. Watson isn't enough of a creator and Brewer is too bad of a shooter to make that unit work. Our other bad lineup is Rose, Korver, Deng, Boozer and Noah. We really lack defense in that lineup, as Noah can't do everything by himself and Deng can only guard one guy on the perimeter.

As far as individual performance is concerned, obviously it's been a mixed bag but I think it's got potential.

Rose: Leads us in scoring with 29.4 points per game, and is doing so efficiently by getting to the line almost 8 times per game and shooting 90% from there. He is absolutely the engine that keeps us going.

Boozer: Second on the team in scoring, but with only 14.6 points per game. I want him to be more assertive, especially on the backup units he runs with, as he only has a usage rate of 22%. No complaints on his performance though.

Noah: He's been fantastic defensively and especially on the glass, but man his offense sucks. He leads my team in both blocks and steals, and is second in rebounding percentage at nearly 21%. But he misses so many easy layups, and that's all he shoots. 90% of his shots come within the paint, and he's only shooting 38% overall. Yikes.

Deng: Noah and Deng both fit in this strange category, where they both suck at shooting the ball (Deng is also shooting 38% from the floor), but they are both in a lot of my top lineups, Deng especially. I guess he just does so much besides shooting the ball that makes him valuable, so I'll keep playing him tons of minutes.

Wings (Korver, Brewer, Bogans): Lights out shooting from Korver, and I expect nothing less. Brewer is obviously doing the exact opposite, but his defensive numbers look good and he's also featured in a lot of top lineups (usually in lineups that also have Rose and either Korver or Boozer, so he's not needed at all on offense). Bogans, like I said earlier, seems to be capable of doing a little bit on both ends of the court.

Gibson/Asik: These two have been awesome as backups, and I want to give each of them a little more responsibility. I'm actually starting to consider throwing out a lineup of Rose/Korver/Deng/Gibson/Asik, as I think the offense in the backcourt would supplement their frontcourt defense and rebounding really well. Both have been excellent rebounders, shot blockers, and have been very efficient scoring the ball as well.

After making the adjustments to my lineup, I decide against making any moves yet as it's still early on in the season. I have 9 more games before December 22 (the 60 days prior to the trade deadline date), and it's a fairly balanced schedule in terms of top opponents, not so great opponents, home games, road games, etc. I think these 9 games will tell us exactly where we stand, and at that point we will have a better understanding of what changes might need to be made.

[Chilikonkarne]

I can see you are using the new features of the 17 version (lineup, usage rate...) - really bring value to the understanding of your team.
How do you feel when it comes to evaluation defense since the player defensive statistics (STP%, PA/SF, TOFC) aren't available in this version?

[Myles]

I can see you are using the new features of the 17 version (lineup, usage rate...) - really bring value to the understanding of your team.
How do you feel when it comes to evaluation defense since the player defensive statistics (STP%, PA/SF, TOFC) aren't available in this version?

I can't stand the fact that there's no defensive metrics. Pisses me right off. I'm stuck using steal and block percentage, as well as trying to understand the impact of each player in the lineup stats section. For example, Denver is featured in 4 of my top 5 lineups, and I know his offense is trash, so at least I know he's good at defense.

Also, the lineup stats screen is cool, but it is so lacking. The only thing it shows me is total minutes and total +/- so I have to do the math myself and what lineup is actually the best lineup. My starting lineup is +48 in 224 minutes of play, whereas one of my other lineups is +26 in 73 minutes of play. Which one is the better lineup? The math isn't hard but I shouldn't be the one forced to do it, there should be a column for that already. Also, why am I only shown +/-? Why can't I see the ORtg and DRtg of each lineup?

Needless to say I'm frustrated

[Myles]

December
So like I said at the end of November, we have about 8 games before the deadline to make our first move, as I don't want to be handcuffed at the deadline. I made changes to the lineup that I'm hoping will use our balanced roster to have better on-court production. Let's take a look.

@Philadelphia: 101-80 W
Philadelphia: 95-77 W
@Milwaukee: 93-82 W
Washington: 101-90 W
New York: 90-76 W
@Charlotte: 97-112 L
LA Clippers: 108-116 L

Losing to the Clippers isn't bad, as they are a really talented team at the top of the Western Conference. Charlotte is also surprisingly good, as they lack stars but have a really deep roster. Outside of them, our schedule wasn't too impressive, as Philly is near the bottom of the league but the other three teams are all playoff hopefuls. The one thing our loss taught me (and those scores in general) is that we are seriously lacking offense. Outside of Rose and Boozer, we have no one else we can count on. Rose scored 37 points, Boozer had 22, and the rest of the team combined for 38 points on 13/37 shooting (35%). Ouch.

The only problem is, I'm not really sure what trade to make. Giving up Rose or Boozer defeats the purpose. Deng is the only player in all of my top 3 lineups, and in 4 of the top 5. I'm not sure what value Brewer, Bogans, Gibson, or Asik hold, and trading Noah just feels wrong. I have Kurt Thomas outside of the rotation, and I get the feeling that he could take some of Gibson's minutes and I could just expand Noah and Boozer's roles... perhaps.

Reader's Chance for Input
So I'm curious as to what you guys think I should do. I've decided that how I want to play this is to add a 3rd scorer to the team, who will come off the bench at SG. I'll make sure to always have two of Rose, Boozer, and this currently unknown SG on the court at all times. This is what I originally had in mind with Korver, but he just isn't aggressive enough or skilled enough offensively to be considered our third best offensive player. I also can't keep playing Rose with four defensive players, as all my lineups that feature Rose but without Boozer just don't perform that well.

Here's guys I'm targeting. My goal is to trade Gibson and perhaps some filler for one of these guys and maybe a filler PF. I don't want Thomas to suddenly be my 4th big, but I'm prepared for that. Worst case, I can make a trade moving Bogans for a backup PF in a separate deal.

Joe Johnson (16.8 ppg, 33% from 3)
Ray Allen (17.3 ppg, 42% from 3)
Jason Terry (12.5 ppg, 36.5% from 3)
Nick Young (12.7 ppg, 41.7% from 3)
Wes Matthews (13.8 ppg, 46.3% from 3)

Based on the trade feedback, all five of these guys should be obtainable. Terry and Allen are the most available, whereas the other three would be pretty close. What do you guys think?

[wms02a]

December
So like I said at the end of November, we have about 8 games before the deadline to make our first move, as I don't want to be handcuffed at the deadline. I made changes to the lineup that I'm hoping will use our balanced roster to have better on-court production. Let's take a look.

@Philadelphia: 101-80 W
Philadelphia: 95-77 W
@Milwaukee: 93-82 W
Washington: 101-90 W
New York: 90-76 W
@Charlotte: 97-112 L
LA Clippers: 108-116 L

Losing to the Clippers isn't bad, as they are a really talented team at the top of the Western Conference. Charlotte is also surprisingly good, as they lack stars but have a really deep roster. Outside of them, our schedule wasn't too impressive, as Philly is near the bottom of the league but the other three teams are all playoff hopefuls. The one thing our loss taught me (and those scores in general) is that we are seriously lacking offense. Outside of Rose and Boozer, we have no one else we can count on. Rose scored 37 points, Boozer had 22, and the rest of the team combined for 38 points on 13/37 shooting (35%). Ouch.

The only problem is, I'm not really sure what trade to make. Giving up Rose or Boozer defeats the purpose. Deng is the only player in all of my top 3 lineups, and in 4 of the top 5. I'm not sure what value Brewer, Bogans, Gibson, or Asik hold, and trading Noah just feels wrong. I have Kurt Thomas outside of the rotation, and I get the feeling that he could take some of Gibson's minutes and I could just expand Noah and Boozer's roles... perhaps.

Reader's Chance for Input
So I'm curious as to what you guys think I should do. I've decided that how I want to play this is to add a 3rd scorer to the team, who will come off the bench at SG. I'll make sure to always have two of Rose, Boozer, and this currently unknown SG on the court at all times. This is what I originally had in mind with Korver, but he just isn't aggressive enough or skilled enough offensively to be considered our third best offensive player. I also can't keep playing Rose with four defensive players, as all my lineups that feature Rose but without Boozer just don't perform that well.

Here's guys I'm targeting. My goal is to trade Gibson and perhaps some filler for one of these guys and maybe a filler PF. I don't want Thomas to suddenly be my 4th big, but I'm prepared for that. Worst case, I can make a trade moving Bogans for a backup PF in a separate deal.

Joe Johnson (16.8 ppg, 33% from 3)
Ray Allen (17.3 ppg, 42% from 3)
Jason Terry (12.5 ppg, 36.5% from 3)
Nick Young (12.7 ppg, 41.7% from 3)
Wes Matthews (13.8 ppg, 46.3% from 3)

Based on the trade feedback, all five of these guys should be obtainable. Terry and Allen are the most available, whereas the other three would be pretty close. What do you guys think?

Not knowing any of the ratings and just basing it upon historical real life performance I would target Matthews as I assume he is one of the better defenders of this bunch and is the hottest from the three point at the moment. I would then look at Joe Johnson based upon he flexibility position wise. I am assuming he has decent handles and can play both wing positions easily

[Chilikonkarne]

Ray Allen - probably has 2/3 solid seasons in the tank

[hardenwithnod]

Is Allen on the Heat? If so, then him, as you get to weaken that team while adding a valuable 3pt gunner.

[Myles]

Is Allen on the Heat? If so, then him, as you get to weaken that team while adding a valuable 3pt gunner.

He's on the Celtics but they have fallen off hard

[Marcos_Beck]

Trade Boozer for JJ. He will help Rose with shot creation.
Add Bogans and grab yourself a 4th big or a backup PG as well. Deng can also play PF and you don't need Taj to play C with an already great C duo.
Rose / JJ / Deng / Gibson / Noah
Watson / Brewer / Korver / PF / Asik

Of course I don't know the ratings. If Johnson isn't obtainable I'd say Matthews who's young, a great shooter and a real defensive pest. I'd stay away from Young, Terry would be a nice option only if he can play PG (could come off the bench) but better options available and Ray Ray should be a great addition but would be my 3rd choice as he's more of a Kyle Korver on PEDs.

[hardenwithnod]

Is Allen on the Heat? If so, then him, as you get to weaken that team while adding a valuable 3pt gunner.

He's on the Celtics but they have fallen off hard

Oh I see. How old is he? I also like Matthews a lot, as I suppose he can play defense, which shold help Deng out.

[Myles]

@Marcos: I don't want to give up Boozer or move Deng, as our best lineups are with Deng at SF, and Boozer has been excellent. My goal is to add a third scorer, so if I move Boozer, I'd still need to acquire a third scorer anyway. Trading Boozer to get a scorer is a lateral move, whereas I'm trying to turn a little defense into a little offense.

@Gary: Ray Ray is 35.

[hardenwithnod]

@Marcos: I don't want to give up Boozer or move Deng, as our best lineups are with Deng at SF, and Boozer has been excellent. My goal is to add a third scorer, so if I move Boozer, I'd still need to acquire a third scorer anyway. Trading Boozer to get a scorer is a lateral move, whereas I'm trying to turn a little defense into a little offense.

@Gary: Ray Ray is 35.

Damn, I say Matthews then, as he can shoot, and plays defense.

[Marcos_Beck]

@Marcos: I don't want to give up Boozer or move Deng, as our best lineups are with Deng at SF, and Boozer has been excellent. My goal is to add a third scorer, so if I move Boozer, I'd still need to acquire a third scorer anyway. Trading Boozer to get a scorer is a lateral move, whereas I'm trying to turn a little defense into a little offense.

@Gary: Ray Ray is 35.

I really believe your team is performing that bad offensively because of the real Chicago Bulls' problem: lack of a secondary creator. Boozer is useless in that team scoring 15 points per game, you need a guy you can count on to add 20 and create for the others as well, that's the only way you're going to make some impact.
The Bulls never won anything because they signed Boozer instead of Joe Johnson who would have been the PERFECT fit for them. If anything, add some shooting, space the floor and give Rose even more offensive responsibilities while having an FANTASTIC defense around him, that's why I suggested trading for Matthews if you can't get Johnson done.

That's how Thibs' teams performed better, Gibson instead of Boozer (who sucked so much defensively it was like playing 4 x 5 on D) and Brewer / Korver at the wings, giving defense and shooting. The problem is none could bring both, but JJ can, and so does Matthews.

I used to watch EVERY game, but DDS rates players different from what they perform so again I might be off here.

And you don't need a secondary scorer with Rose adding 30 per game, with a 2nd scorer adding 20 and helping Rose with ball distribution + amazing defense (including off the bench with Brewer / Asik) and a better point guard to keep the scoring up while Rose rests (a la Nate Robinson) will do it.

[Myles]

These are my top 5 lineups:


These are my bottom 5 lineups (ignore the one with John Lucas, that's my blowout lineup):


I know what the real life Bulls problem was, but I don't think that my in-game Bulls suffer from that same issue. Boozer is in 4 of my top 5 lineups, and in only two of my bottom 5. Rose on the other hand, is in 4 of my bottom 5. So while true, Boozer is not a creator, I think his ability to anchor units with shooters around him really works. Look at the third lineup, worth +24 in 63 minutes. Watson shoots 42% from 3, Korver 37%, and Deng is a solid glue guy in this lineup. I honestly think that Boozer is fine where he's at, and that in this case, it doesn't mimic real life.

However, the more I look at it, the more I'm unsure that Gibson is the guy to trade here. Here's a side by side comparison:



I think Asik is the guy to trade, and I should increase Gibson's role to play both PF/C. Perhaps get Boozer and Noah around 32 mpg at each of their positions, Gibson all of the backup PF minutes and another 8-10 backup C minutes, and snag a random backup C to fill in the other 8 minutes there. I don't know how Boozer and Gibson will play together, but that might be the best plan of attack here.

You guys are getting a real inside look into my thought process when it comes to making moves, lol.

I went and checked Asik's trade value and... it sucks hard. So there goes that. Decided to just check all of my players just to see who has trade value, and it looks like the only people I could realistically trade to get something good back are Gibson or... Boozer. Trading Rose or Noah just aren't options, they are too integral to what we do.

So do I trade Boozer? He has a lot more value than Gibson. Whereas the Hawks would barely do Gibson for Johnson straight up (actually I think I would have to add some draft compensation to make it work), they would gladly add to their side of the deal in a Boozer for Johnson deal. Maybe I could get myself a top level SG and a decent scoring backup PF.

My Top Trade Offers
Taj Gibson for Ray Allen and Glen Davis (Davis can capably take Gibson's role, he's no slouch)
Taj Gibson for Wesley Matthews straight up (Would then turn Bogans into a backup PF somewhere)
Taj Gibson and my 2013 1st rounder for Joe Johnson and their 2011 and 2013 1st round picks (can then flip a pick for my new PF)
Carlos Boozer for Devin Harris and Kris Humphries (2010 was a different time, Harris would make an excellent SG/PG and Humphries was a top rebounder and shot surprisingly well inside the arc)
Carlos Boozer for Chauncey Billups and Nene (the only reason I like the Nets offer over this one is because Harris is much younger than Billups)

I have no idea what to do. I'm honestly leaning towards the Gibson for Johnson deal, but I really like the Denver offer for Boozer. I actually think the Wesley Matthews is my least favorite at this point, as I'm not sure he's going to be able to be a secondary creator. All the other guys I'm looking at can create, and the Boston offer gets me the upgrade at SG and my PF replacement in one deal.

If it was up to me, I'd do the Gibson for Johnson deal. I'll ask you all for input one more time, and then I'll make a decision. What do you guys think?

[wms02a]

I like the JJ/Gibson deal. You gain an extra pick in the process. Contract wise how do the two players stack up to each other?