Scottie Pippen writes for Bulls.com

[Morten Jensen]

... and this is his first article.

http://www.nba.com/bulls/news/pippen_091106.html

[myboyz33]

Love ya Pip. Always happy to see you involved in the Bulls!

[fleetwood macbull]

By Scottie Pippen
11.06.09

We’re only five games in to a very long regular season, but I’m comfortable saying it: the Bulls can be contenders in the Eastern Conference. They’ve got a legitimate chance of being a top four seed in the playoffs the way they are playing right now.

The biggest luxury that this team has is that so many players have been able to step up. Everyone keeps talking about the absence of Ben Gordon, but the Bulls have players who are hungry on offense and looking to make up for his scoring. I like the pecking order Head Coach Vinny Del Negro has established. He uses John Salmons a lot and of course you have a lot of creativity from Derrick Rose. They’ve got a lot of versatility out there on the court, then you look at their bench and guys like Kirk Hinrich and Brad Miller can come in and step up with big plays. This is a team that plays well together, and you can’t underscore the importance of that in this league. Not to take anything away from Ben Gordon, but that style of play and how the offense revolved around him when he was in the game became too predictable. Their chemistry seems to be a lot better too at this point in the season.

The Bulls picked up a key win in Cleveland on Thursday night. To me, one word comes to mind: experience. Hinrich and Miller played huge roles off the bench. Salmons got it going a little bit, as well. It just looked like a team that is comfortable playing on the road and that is what you want to see. They were very patient with their offense, rather than just running up and down and pushing it only to take bad shots. Don’t get me wrong, the Bulls are trying to play an up-tempo game, but they did it in the right way against the Cavs. They used their conditioning to their advantage against Cleveland.

The Bulls are off to an impressive start, there’s no question about it. They’re going to get better, but so will other teams. I expect them to finish over .500, with a chance of winning a handful more games and competing for one of those top four spots in the Eastern Conference.

If they can stay healthy, the sky is the limit for them. And that doesn’t go for just for guys like Rose. They need Brad Miller and his savvy out on the court. Joakim Noah is playing as well as I’ve ever seen him play and he is a big part of what they are doing. He’s very active and got a long body, and he’s out there with a lot of confidence. He makes plays and he’s got a great feel for the game. Noah is an extremely valuable player to have out on the floor and contributes to the team’s chemistry. The East is going to be very competitive this season and it is going to be a fight to get either the third, fourth or fifth seed. But the Bulls are capable and it will be interesting to see what they are made of over these coming months.

[Future Coach]

better than sam smith, that's for sure.

[Bekim]

Great great great ....I love it!...Good to have him back!!

[fleetwood macbull]

Soooo, Pip likes the offense, and he also likes it better without El Gordo:

Everyone keeps talking about the absence of Ben Gordon, but the Bulls have players who are hungry on offense and looking to make up for his scoring. I like the pecking order Head Coach Vinny Del Negro has established. He uses John Salmons a lot and of course you have a lot of creativity from Derrick Rose. They’ve got a lot of versatility out there on the court, then you look at their bench and guys like Kirk Hinrich and Brad Miller can come in and step up with big plays. This is a team that plays well together, and you can’t underscore the importance of that in this league. Not to take anything away from Ben Gordon, but that style of play and how the offense revolved around him when he was in the game became too predictable. Their chemistry seems to be a lot better too at this point in the season.

something of which Mr Smith is referring to as well (in his new mailbag o' tricks.) Essentially, the ball moves more frequently now, and the Bulls used to resent Gordon's *ahem* blinders:

I remember last year after Noce got traded he said something along the lines of the Bulls only worrying about themseleves getting shots and not about the entire team. Now, after last night's game most of the players were saying that everyone got their shots within the offense and that no one forced anything...and that they just seemed like they gelled more... Are these all subtle shots at Gordon...now that he's gone? I thought everyone liked him?

Jason Quaid

Sam: Yes, after that first game with the balanced scoring you did sense a bit of restrained glee about the ball moving more frequently. Guys didn't dislike Ben. He pretty much stayed to himself, but he always seemed likeable and accepted by the others. I think there was some resentment that he played in a sense with his head down, that he was mostly looking for his shot no matter what. Like at any job, there's jealousy and in basketball it's often over shots. But Ben was valuable, and I think some players since that game have seen that there's more pressure when Ben isn't there. It seems a subtle thing, but everyone knew Ben was the guy to make and take shots. It didn't bother him when he missed, the sign of a true shooter. Guys like Salmons and Hinrich don't have that mentality. And I think some part of their slow start in shooting is that Ben isn't here and not taking the load for shooting. If Ben missed and shot poorly he had no problem facing up to it because he knew he'd make them. The other guys have never been in that position, and it does take awhile. I think they'll get there, but it's not as easy as it looks.

I gotta say, the offense itself looks fine enough. Excepting the posibilty that Salmons might be scoring easier at SF than SG. Its just that nobody can hit a fricken shot. But, the Bulls have played some tough defensive teams thus far. Can't overlook that. And Certainly Derricks issues.
Outwardly, the offense is not so good. But there are some circumstances that could possibly account for some of the mediocre actual scoring numbers

[Polynice4Pippen]

I gotta say, the offense looks fine enough. Excepting the posibilty that Salmons might be scoring easier at SF than SG. Its just that nobody can hit a fricken shot. Also, the Bulls have played some tough defensive teams this far. Can't overlok that.

The offense definitely looks fine ball movement wise, which should be a credit to Vinny and the staff. I mentioned during the Boston blowout that the one (and only) impressive thing that came from that game was the team sticking to the offense and not veering and trying to do their own thing. They clearly believe in the system and are disciplined enough to stick with it. But the offensive personel simply isn't there at this point for this team, that can't be disputed. We have yet to shoot 42% from the field in a game this season. We need an upgrade offensively with a legit perimeter scorer and a big guy who can be depended on to score at least a little bit if we ever want to contend with the big boys. That's all on Gar/Pax next summer.

[DuckIII]

Scottie Pippen writes for Bulls.com?

Scottie Pippen writes the song of my basketball heart.

I'd get 33 tattooed on my ass if I didn't already have a pair of 1950's eyeglasses inked there.

[Rodman]

I love Scottie being with the Bulls, I would love it even more if he would get a chance to work with James Johnson... Since James is not playing anyway they could get Scottie to work with him extensively.