Welcome Back, Kirk!

I decided that, with my obsession with basketball (playing it and watching Da Bulls), I could add some commentary to go along with the overabundance of that which is already out there.  I don’t get cable, so I won’t be able to do this for every game.  Lucky you.

Kirk Hinrich came back into action on Monday after missing the whole regular season up to that point with a torn thumb ligament.  It might be just me, but Da Bulls seam like an entirely different team with him out there.  I didn’t see Monday’s game, so I’m basing this off of what I saw last night at Toronto against the Raptors.  Their defense and their selflessness on offense was reminiscent of the three years that Scott Skiles coached them into the playoffs (‘05, ‘06, and ‘07).

Kirk is known for his defense, and in his return, it appears that he has already set an example for the rest of the team.  Of course, this brings us to the issue that was inevitably going to present itself- Da Bulls have an abundance of guards, and someone is going to lose playing time.  Thank God that someone (so far) is Larry Hughes.   Kirk doesn’t shoot the ball when double and triple-teamed, he doesn’t complain about playing time, and he cares more about winning than his own stat line.  Hughes is the opposite.  For the first time this season, Larry Hughes did not play in a game for which he was healthy (he played 7 minutes on Monday, which was his low for the season).  Coach Vinny Del Negro gave Hughes extended playing time in the few games leading up to Monday, and he performed decently, although he made some very selfish decisions that probably cost Da Bulls a win Saturday night against the lowly Oklahoma City Thunder (formerly known as the Seattle Supersonics).

Hopefully, there are some GM’s out there who saw his stats but didn’t see the actual game.  Then we can trade him for a power forward or center.  Otherwise, Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah are actually starting to perform, so I wouldn’t mind seeing Paxson doing the same thing with Hughes that he did with Eddie Robinson back in ‘03 I think it was- ban him from team functions.  Let his contract run out after next year and then we’ll have plenty of cap space for the epic free-agent Summer of 2010.  He gets paid a lot, but the team chemistry looks 1000 times better with Kirk out there.  With the much improved ball movement that was on display, Noah was left open under the basket a few times and his teammates found him for the easy dunk.  He also came up with the game-clinching blocked shot on All-Star Chris Bosh (who would be the perfect acquisition for that summer of ‘10).

Although the Raptors were without their up-and-coming point guard Jose Calderon and big man Jermaine O’Neal (who seems to be washed up anyways), this victory showed what Da Bulls are capable of when they play for the team and not for themselves.  That was by far some of the best passing I’ve seen from them since they made it to the conference semifinals almost 2 years ago.  Although it usually gets ugly when Da Bulls get into their 1-on-1 mode, Derrick Rose seems to know when it’s necessary.  When the Raptors started making a game out of it, Rose basically took over for 4 of 5 consecutive possessions to keep the game in Da Bulls’ hands.  That man is a BEAST!

If Tyrus continues to play to his strengths and maintains the recent consistency in his mid-range jump shot, and if Del Negro continues to utilize Luol Deng’s slashing abilities in the offensive sets (as he finally started to do last night), and if Thabo Sefalosha continues to show that he can shoot the ball as he has of late, and most importantly, if I’m right about Hinrich’s return rejuvenating the team, we might just be able to make it past the 1st round of the playoffs again (with a 5 or possibly a 6 seed).  I know that sounds like a lot, but we’re not that far removed from the last time that occurred.  Kirk Hinrich is a very intelligent basketball player and I believe the young’uns will learn a lot from how he plays the game.