Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

Curry was injured and ended the season.

In other seasons, the Bulls would definitely use Evan Fournier to temporarily replace Curry in tactics.

At most, Duend can take on more offensive tasks and become the team's first scoring point again.

At the same time, by tailoring some tactics to other role players that suit their performance, the Bulls' overall offensive efficiency may not drop much.

The Bulls themselves are a strong defensive team and can win many games relying on defense.

As long as the scoring problem after Curry's absence is solved and Curry's outside shooting firepower is compensated, the Bulls will still be the Bulls and the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference.

But the problem is that it doesn't make much sense for the Bulls to continue to pursue record results this season.

After all, the regular season serves the playoffs and the championship.

After the Bulls injured Curry, no matter how well they performed in the regular season, the possibility of advancing to the first two rounds of the playoffs and finally reaching the finals was already very slim.

Moreover, playing in the playoffs is different from playing in the regular season.

During the regular season, even if a team is led by a single core, it is not impossible to rely on star players and role players to stand up and win.

But what about the playoffs? Single-core is not going to work!

Indeed, there are some special cases of single-core championships in NBA history.

However, more single-core teams fell early in the first and second rounds of the playoffs.

When it comes to NBA head coaches, there are indeed many who have poor on-the-spot preparation skills.

But if you want to say that the pre-game arrangements are poor, you really can’t find many.

Even some head coaches who only know how to play chicken blood and engage in interpersonal relationships also know how to restrict single-core teams.

Playing single-core, right? This is not simple!
Just cut off the connection between the star and other teammates and do the rest to defend!

Why is it so simple?

That's because role players have limited abilities and potential, and they can be seen at a glance.

Moreover, some objective factors cannot be ignored.

In the regular season, even the more important main rotation players usually only take seven or eight shots per game.

How many points can you score by averaging seven or eight shots per game?

The outside usually does not exceed 10 points, and the inside scoring efficiency is slightly higher, but even if the score exceeds 10 points on the field, it will not exceed too much.

In the playoffs, without some chance balls and simple ball scores, can the average score of about 10 points per game be maintained?
Furthermore, many of the scores scored by role players are not independent scores.

Instead, they relied on stars to attract defenses, and then with the help of teammates, they scored those chance goals and simple goals, which turned into their personal data.

In the same playoffs, the defensive intensity that stars encounter is completely different from that of role players.

Role players have a lot of opportunities to play, and they can also play according to tactics, relying on stars to attract defenses and score some simple goals.

The stars have to play some difficult shots, attack tough shots, and rely on their personal abilities to help the team score.

Now, do the Bulls have role players who can hold the ball in isolation and effectively digest difficult balls?

Maybe, but most likely not.

These role players in the Bulls have potential, but under the protection of Duane, Curry, Leonard and others, they have never had the opportunity to play difficult goals and attack tough goals.

Now if we have to rush the ducks to the shelves and let them do things like this that stars should do, then there is a high probability that they will mess up and make a mess.

Of course, there is a small chance that after training in the remaining 30 regular season games, he will be able to play it all at once, making up for Curry's firepower.

However, the question that the Bulls management and coaching staff now need to solve is - can they do it?

It’s definitely too late to try them one by one. Just picking Middleton or Fournier to fill Curry’s vacancy is a bit risky.

On the one hand, the Bulls coaching staff and management have not yet reached the point of urgent medical treatment.

On the other hand, both are fourth-year rookies and will face contract renewal issues after this season.

Once it is played, the Bulls may not be able to continue!

The rookie's maximum salary next season is 20 million, and Curry doesn't even get that much!

If you don't play well, you will have wasted more than 30 regular seasons, and you may not be able to retain the players.

After all, given the opportunity and the ball, the data can also increase.

There is a high probability that other teams are willing to take a gamble, but the Bulls may not be willing to risk their lives to renew the contract with the gentleman.

Also taking these issues into consideration, the Bulls are unwilling to find a tactical replacement for Curry so quickly.

More importantly, it focuses on a bowl of water with even rain and dew, providing some opportunities to all the rookies in the team.

After all, just because Curry was injured this year doesn't mean he won't be injured next year.

The Bulls will definitely compete for the championship in the next two seasons!
Injuries are part of the game too! The Bulls must prepare a plan in advance so that the Bulls can still win the championship even if Curry is injured.

Just imagine next season, before or during the playoffs, Curry gets injured again. What should we do?
After Curry is injured and absent, the biggest problem is that no one can make up for Curry's scoring for the time being.

In Duane's current form, averaging 30 points per game in the playoffs is already amazing.

If Curry is still there, no matter how low the scoring efficiency is, there will still be no problem digesting the ball. As long as he is given about 20 ball rights per game, he can definitely score 25 points per game.

The Bulls have the basics of Duane and Curry, and other role players only need to defend well and prevent their opponents from scoring more than 100 points.

At this time, if the Bulls want to win, the remaining role players only need to make up for the points, which is only 40 or 50 points.

In other words, the playoffs are based on an eight-man rotation. As long as one of the remaining six players scores 20 points in a single game, and the other five players each score 5 points, the game can be won.

If no one breaks out, at least three of them will score in double figures, and the remaining three role players will have no problem scoring less as long as they do the dirty work.

However, when Curry is reimbursed for the season, the problem becomes serious!
Who will take the difficult shots that Curry should have taken, and who will take the three-pointers that Curry can take?
You can't just leave Du En to do everything, right?

Once Duan is exhausted, the Bulls need other players to take the ball and play alone. Who will digest the ball and who will score stably?
Even in the playoffs next year, Duan is still in good shape, averaging 30 points per game in the series.

If the Bulls want to win, Green, Gobert, Middleton, Crowder, Bojan, Fournier, and Hibbert must each average 10 points per game.

Of course, we are also facing this problem this year.

If the Bulls want to win without Curry, they need two stable 15+ scorers.

During the regular season, it may not be difficult to unearth such players internally.

But in the playoffs, it's not that easy.

Duen alone can't attract defenses by feeding his teammates so much bread and creating so many opportunities.

The reason why the Bulls can secure the first place in the Eastern Conference this season is because Curry played well and performed in the top five in the regular season!
Of course, there are tactical bonuses here, as well as the help of Du En and others. However, the benefits Curry feeds back to other teammates are also real.

After Curry's absence, the Bulls' role players did not play as freely and happily as before.

Even though the ball rights increased, the scoring data did not increase significantly, and the scoring efficiency even declined.
Judging from the current situation, although many of the Bulls' role players have received championship rings, and even some like Green are already substitute All-Stars, they are still not good enough.

Maybe they did a good job defensively, but basketball is a scoring game after all.

He can only defend but cannot score. He is just a blue-collar player after all.

Of course, even if you can shoot three-pointers, what if you can score?

3D, even the so-called league's first 3D, is not a role?
The reason why role players are role players is that they are far less stable than stars and find it difficult to take on major responsibilities.

Some outside players are very explosive in scoring when they feel the touch, and they are not inferior to Biao stars.

However, when the opponent's outside gate comes specifically to arrest, how should we deal with this?

As strong as Thompson is at his peak, there are also many cases of crotch pulling in the playoffs, not to mention other role players.

Why is the playoffs a stage for stars?
In high-intensity, high-pressure games, the performance of role players is not as stable as that of stars!
Of course, even stars will often stretch their hips once or twice when encountering particularly difficult games!

Not to mention role players who are not as good as the stars.

In the NBA, although worth doesn't mean everything, it can also explain some problems.

When it comes to the playoffs, whole money is better than loose change!

Even in the more intense and tough playoffs, the gap between ordinary stars and superstars and super giants will be exposed.

Therefore, this year, next year, and the year after that, if the Bulls want to win in the playoffs without Curry, it will not be enough to rely solely on the quality of the current role players.

The Bulls need to strengthen their role players, and they also need to recruit a third player with the ability to hold the ball in the off-season, or develop one themselves in the regular season next season.

In short, the ending of this season is basically determined.

If the Bulls want to rely on Duan to lead the team with a single core, they will definitely not be able to go far.

Under normal circumstances, even if a single-core team is lucky, there will be one or two games in the series where role players can stand up.

But it's unlikely that with such good luck in every game, role players can play a role comparable to that of stars.

In other words, if the Bulls don't want to give up the playoffs early, give up the regular season.

Then we must find players who can digest Curry's players and can stably average 20+ per game in the remaining -odd regular season games.

Even this player must have the potential to perform stably in the playoffs, otherwise his work will be in vain.

In fact, in a few years, both Middleton and Jokic will have such strength.

But now, Middleton is still a little behind, and he seems to be not good enough to take on a big responsibility.

Jokic just lacks the heat and time to boil the oil and fry his pork belly, transforming more talents and accelerating his growth.

As for the rest of the Bulls, Green, Gobert, Crowder, and Aaron Gordon are basically blue-collar players who do not have the ability to attack independently.

To put it nicely, it means being willing to do the dirty work and creating a high-quality title-winning puzzle piece that meets the needs of a championship team.

To put it bluntly, once they are used as core training, they must rely on the team's boss and second-in-command to be C-level, otherwise they really won't be able to lead them.

Therefore, no one can count on the current situation within the Bulls.

Even if the remaining 30-odd regular season games were used to develop Middleton and Jokic, it would be too late to be of great use in the playoffs.

The Bulls' current dilemma is that they don't have a second scoring point or a second core, so it's hard to rely on Duan alone.

Other role players do not have the ability to score stably under the high-intensity defense of the playoffs when Curry is absent and the team lacks an off-ball marksman to open up space.

Simply put, before the game started, Mike Brown and Tyronn Lue had no idea that those people would be able to play their due role on the court and help Dunn make up the remaining 70 or 80 points and help the team win. ball.

It’s also unexpected, so I don’t know who to train or establish as the team’s second core.

In the end, the Bulls coaching staff can only lower their expectations for the playoffs in advance and shift their recent tasks to cultivating rookies.

It is for this reason that after Curry was absent, the Bulls coaching staff was still trying to decide who was more suitable to start between Middleton and Fournier.

When the management reacted, the contracts of Middleton and Fournier needed to be pressed, so they quickly communicated with the coaching staff.

Then Josh Richardson and Norman Powell, two rookies who had been sent down to the Development League, were quickly recovered and reused.

Although Middleton was the first starter, Middleton and Fournier played less time and had less possession of the ball than the two rookies.

At the same time, Portis, Aaron Gordon and Jokic, who often appeared in garbage time in the past, also received part of the playing time that originally belonged to Crowder, Green and Gobert, and their personal data began to rise.

It can only be said that in order to prevent the rookies they have trained in the off-season from joining other teams and the Bulls having a shortage of picks next season, the Bulls management has to adopt these unseemly tricks.

In fact, this cannot be blamed on the management. The most important part of the NBA is business.

Whenever the salary cap increases significantly, the players are often happy, but the management is unhappy.

Many times, if too many junk contracts are given, no matter how outstanding the management team is, they will be fired by the team owner.

And the contract for the championship team is difficult to give!
After the introduction of the salary cap and luxury tax rules, most of the time, the championship game is no longer a peak matchup on the ball field, and the winner can be determined by a head-to-head sports competition.

Instead, it has become a capital game of clearing salaries, stacking draft picks, and stacking stars to compete for the championship.

In the past few years, the Bulls have won many championships by relying on rookie bonuses and the owner's willingness to pay luxury tax.

Of course Du En's personal strength also plays a considerable role.

Now that the Bulls have to re-establish the goal of winning the championship, the importance of salary space and team configuration has once again been revealed.

Therefore, although the Bulls are in urgent need of cultivating role players at this stage, they have to temporarily suppress the fourth-year rookies in the team and let them collectively enter the rotation list.

As for the first- and second-year rookies who have never been able to get playing time, they have been given more opportunities to practice through games and improve their strength.

However, a rookie is a rookie after all, and he has to pay a lot of money during his growth period.

In order to cultivate rookies and improve the strength of role players, the Bulls' team record has continued to decline in a short period of time.

Fortunately, after the rookie officially integrated into the team, the situation changed.

The Bulls, who lack Curry, are still a strong player in the Eastern Conference. In addition to being unable to beat the strong teams in the Western Conference, they can still compete with the weak teams in the Eastern Conference.

Moreover, by the end of the regular season, the rookies trained by the Bulls were somewhat tempered.

Taking into account the fact that the bad team was even more thorough, the Bulls played well in the final stage of the regular season.

With 52 wins and 30 losses, the Bulls ended the season with the second record in the Eastern Conference. (End of chapter)