MVN - Most Valuable Network

Heeeeeeere’s Aaron!

New reports all over the place (including this one from KC Johnson, everybody’s favorite Bulls’ beat reporter) have Aaron Gray in consideration for the Bulls’ fifth starting spot. More specifically, starting alongside Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng and Ben Wallace - all of whom are shoo-ins provided they’re healthy. I hate to toot my own horn (aww, who am I kidding, I love to toot my own horn) but I thought of that after the first preseason game. And though I thought it would take the coaching staff a while to consider it, I’m glad it didn’t.

Aaron likely gets his first preseason start tonight against the Mavs, and we’ll see how that goes, but in the meantime, let me tell you why I’d like to see a second-round pick as the starting center for the Bulls on Oct. 31, when they open the regular season at New Jersey…

Aaron Gray is undoubtedly the best post scorer on the team right now. I realize he’s a second-round rookie, but nobody else really even comes close - Ben Wallace gives you very little scoring ability; Joe Smith is a shooter, not a post scorer; Tyrus Thomas’ moves down there are still tremendously raw and he can really only finish consistently with dunks; Joakim Noah has decent post awareness, but no real polished moves and is one of the worst finishers I’ve ever seen at 7′0″ - he misses chip shots and layups like it’s his trademark; Luol Deng may be working on his post game, but he’s a small forward, not a big man. Oh, and Viktor Khryapa is a point guard in a 6′10 frame; he’s soft like a pillow.

Scott Skiles has shown a desire, throughout his stint with the Bulls, to toss the ball inside to a scorer for the first two possessions of the game and establish something inside. Presumably it opens things up a bit for the motion offense the Bulls want to run on the perimeter. He’s so determined to do this, in fact, that he forced offensive possessions into the hands of PJ Brown and Ben Wallace with relative frequency early in games last year. Gray answers this problem.

He may not have the veteran savvy of Joe Smith, or the athleticism of Tyrus Thomas, or the near-psychotic motor of Joakim Noah, but Aaron Gray is a basketball player, something that is far-too-often overlooked in today’s NBA (which perhaps explains how the best post scorer in the draft was available midway through Round 2). He needs to improve his defensive rotations (just ask him) and his defense in general; he may even be prone to early foul trouble if he starts. But that’s FINE - in that case, he’ll get a couple early looks inside, hopefully give the Bulls a couple inside scores, and then hit the bench for a while in favor of Smith or Thomas. But Gray will provide the Bulls with the ability to establish the interior immediately in games - something that they have tried and mostly failed to do since Eddy Curry left town.

Also, Gray starting gives the Bulls the most dynamic, exciting, powerful bench in the NBA. Tyrus Thomas, Joe Smith, Andres Nocioni, Joakim Noah, Thabo Sefolosha, Chris Duhon, JamesOn Curry, Viktor Khryapa, Adrian Griffin and probably Thomas Gardner. There is a lot of talent and a lot of options available to a coach with that bench. And it might even inspire Tyrus to work his butt off trying to get back to the starting lineup.

I know that’s what many people are attributing the Gray talk to - an effort to inspire Thomas by slighting him, to a certain extent. Suggesting that he needs to work harder if he wants to start ahead of a second-round rookie. But I hope that’s not the case; I hope Scott Skiles is really thinking about using the big guy as a starting center. And I think Gray will go out against the Mavs tonight and make a damn good case for himself.

That’s all for now from me, but please keep checking out all the season previews going up on NBA blogs around the web… Today, the Northwest…

Utah Jazz
Daily Basketball
Taking it to the Rack
Basketball John

Seattle Supersonics
Sonics Central

Portland Trail Blazers
TrueHoop
The Inferno

Timberwolves
TWolves Blog

Denver Nuggets
Nugg Doctor

Blog Previews Archives
CelticsBlog NBA Section

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 12:42 pm and is filed under Aaron Gray, Bulls, KC Johnson, starting lineup, Joakim Noah, Tyrus Thomas, Eddy Curry, John Paxson, Scott Skiles, Ben Wallace, NBA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.