Ben Gordon doesn’t even start for the Pistons. And a longstanding backcourt partnership with Derrick Rose certainly would feature stretches where neither of them could guard a streetlight.
Nevertheless, Gordon’s return Saturday night for the Bulls’ home opener against the Pistons brings into sharp focus the team’s unsettled shooting guard position.
It’s impossible to predict the roster ramifications if Gordon had accepted either long-term extension offer the Bulls made in the summers of 2007 and 2008. Although it’s safe to say the Bulls wouldn’t have been in the game for Dwyane Wade this summer.
What is valid is analyzing the position since Gordon left.
John Salmons struggled to transition from small forward to shooting guard and became a salary-cap trade to the Bucks last February. Kirk Hinrich stabilized the position alongside Rose — albeit testing the “shooting” part of the position’s name — until he, too, was traded for nothing but cap space to the Wizards in June.
So the position’s three departures got the Bulls in the game to try to attract two from the pool of Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh last summer. Instead, the Bulls got a top-tier power forward in Carlos Boozer and then filled in holes, which included Keith Bogans and Ronnie Brewer at shooting guard and Kyle Korver as a shooter/swingman.
One regular-season game is no snapshot. But combined with exhibitions, concerns over Brewer’s health and performances are valid.
Brewer suffered through an ugly 0-for-6 outing in Wednesday night’s opener against the Thunder, which once again featured the lack of lift and poor timing that have resulted from his lingering right hamstring issues.
“As an NBA player, you just have to work,” Brewer said. “I want to extend my range and get back to playing with my athleticism. If I do that, I’ll be on the court for a good amount of time.”
Other than a brutal unforced turnover that led to Rose having to burn his fourth foul to prevent a breakaway, Bogans played solidly in close to 36 minutes with seven rebounds and four assists. However, his lone 3-pointer will do nothing to make Bulls fans forget Gordon.
Coach Tom Thibodeau remembers Gordon well from the classic Bulls-Celtics playoff series in 2009, Gordon’s Chicago swan song.
Korver, surprisingly, didn’t play much, fewer than 16 minutes, although he talked in upbeat fashion afterward. In fact, I’ve rarely seen such a confident locker room after a loss.
Sure, players lamented the lack of fourth-quarter execution, which featured 6-for-24 shooting and five turnovers. But three players proactively touted the potential of this season’s offense, albeit in casual, not-for-attribution fashion.
“When we all get familiar with each other and the sets, we’re going to be really good,” said one veteran player not known for hyperbole. “We’re running some really creative stuff.”
It didn’t look that way in the fourth, when the offense committed a shot-clock violation
out of a timeout
and reverted to blown sets and watching Rose launch wild runners with the shot clock winding down.
“The first three quarters, we did a good job of attacking their switching,” Thibodeau said. “In the fourth quarter, when they went to more switching, I thought we held on to it and were standing too much.
“We kept waiting for Derrick to break them down. I’d rather have us come into more pick-and-rolls so we can continue our movement and attack that way.”
Afterward, players kept repeating the same thing: It’s easily fixable.
Even without BG.
