Not a single SheridanHoops staff member picked Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler to win this year’s Most Improved Player award, but nearly a quarter of the way through this season, Butler would appear the runaway winner. The Marquette product scored at least 20 points in a game just five times a season ago, but has reached that number eight times in his last nine games including a 26-point, five assist performance in Sunday’s win over Brooklyn. Butler says his confidence and
Derrick Rose said some interesting things about the reason behind the decision to sit out certain games over the first couple of weeks after tweaking both of his ankles in just the second game of the season. To make a long story short, the oft-injured point guard stated that he’s putting his long-term health into consideration because he doesn’t want to feel discomfort years later when he is done with the game of basketball. Naturally, that’s a bit of a controversial statement and
PHILADELPHIA – Joakim Noah still winces at the mere thought of it. Sitting in the same locker room where the new and according to the experts much improved Chicago Bulls had just finished holding off the still winless but feisty Philadelphia 76ers 118-115, the painful memories of May, 2012, came flooding back. Those Bulls were top seed in the East then, with Doug Collins’ No. 8 seeded Sixers expected to be a speed bump on their way to a Conference Finals matchup
Pau Gasol has everything the Chicago Bulls were missing in the past. Clearly Chicago needs a healthy Derrick Rose to compete for a championship, but Gasol looked every bit of the team’s missing part in Wednesday night’s 104-80 win over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Gasol scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 29 minutes in the win and added a lot to the team that they lacked last year, according to Bulls players and head coach Tom Thibodeau. “He’s
For the first time in years, the Chicago Bulls entered the offseason with salary cap flexibility and great expectations in the free agent market. But they finished second in the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes, whiffed on Kevin Love and settled for veteran Pau Gasol as a consolation prize. However, if this team has the look of the same old Bulls, that may not be all bad. Derrick Rose returns from what amounts to a two-year layoff, and if the former MVP can
BARCELONA — Attack mode. Derrick Rose had lost it. Now, after a long one-on-one meeting with Coach Mike Krzyzewski, he has rediscovered it. And all that talk about how he was hurting rather than helping Team USA should disappear, too. It was a sight to behold Tuesday night in a 119-76 victory over Slovenia, the Derrick Rose we had grown accustomed to seeing a couple years ago before the two knee injuries. The guy who exploded to the basket and always was
I hate to say I told you so, but after the first day of Team USA training camp in Las Vegas, I wrote that Kenny “The Manimal” Faried must be the first guy selected for the roster and everyone else should come thereafter. My reasoning was Faried’s motor, toughness and energy level with intangibles such as putbacks and garbage points would be invaluable to this team. In Sunday’s come-from-behind victory against Turkey, Faried led Team USA team with 22 points and
As the week here in Vegas is coming to a close and Team USA will play an exhibition showcase tonight at the Thomas & Mack Center, here are five things to keep an eye on. [Read more…]