[JNixonParticipant]

Bulls:

Note: Derrick Rose and Tyrus Thomas didn’t play because of injuries…

Taj Gibson is a good looking shot-blocker/post defender with those ridiculously long arms. He plays alot stronger than he looks and is very active. Get alot of boards. I like him but he plays alot like Noah in that he’s not very talented on offense (his hands are made of stone), and since they have enough defensive-minded yet offensively challenged bigs that will limit his PT. But he’ll get a few minutes.

James Johnson looks real good. He’s very vocal and he plays tough. Has a big body for a wing player and a nice jump shot. He’s the complete package on offense. He doesnt play the best D and makes silly decisions sometimes, but he should get decent PT off the bat.

Luol Deng’s jumper is still automatic from the mid-range, and he now has 3-point range too. He looks to be fully recovered, and ready for the breakthrough season Bulls fans have been wanting to see since they forked him all that money.

Janerro Pargo is still that man as a sparkplug on offense. Will shoot alot of shots, for better or worse. He is a hard-working defender still too. He will replace some of that scoring they lost from Ben Gordon.

Noah is a hard-working defender and below average offensive guy still. He has developed NONE on offense..it would make him better if he did. Even though he tries on D, Boozer and Milsap gave him fits with their strength. He’s their starter, but he needs to get stronger and develop at least 1 move to be a truly good player.

Utah:

Deron Williams is everything we already know he is. An elite yet underrated PG.

Ronnie Brewer looks stronger in his upper body. Still that scrappy defender and great athlete. He is a slightly better mid-range shooter than he used to be, but still a liability.

Andrei Kirilenko hustles hard and still defends. Made some nice passes, and is still that Swiss army knife for them. Has a better jumper now too, but nothing to get too terribly excited about.

Boozer and Milsap looked good, they were too much for Noah. Milsap did run into problems with Gibson though, because he doesnt get elevation and Gibson would just swat his shots. He still did good though, and looks like he’s has more muscle mass.

Eric Maynor played good, he looked quick and did good in the drive and dish. He has restored the faith I lost in him after the Summer League a little. He is average as a shooter and defender.

Ronnie Price is explosive, they should get him time. Will go amongst the trees and put up a good shot whether he finishe or not.

Kosta Koufas looked confused for the most part. Not impressed by him, even though he’s talented on offense.

[Michael.S.Participant]

thanks, I agree on Price, he can create plays on O, he can be very good. I will do one of these next time.

[butidonthavemoney]

Koufos is now on my hate list.

**Hate List**
——————

Gordon Giricek
Goran Suton
Kosta Koufos

[quincey hodges]

i actually like taj offensively better then noah..he looked pretty good the other day getting 19pts. he actually has very good hands so im not sure where the bad hands thing is comming from. whats funny is how hoopsworld pumped up noah sooo much saying his offense is light years better this year after he worked out at there img academy gym half of the summer…sound sliek biasness there

[justin22443Participant]

Big ups to Eric Maynor, I’m a fan of his and he had some nice steals late in the game. I think he’s going to be a sleeper this year.

[youngmagParticipant]

James Johnson will take Tyrus place…he fits there offensive system better. Defense there both mediocre.

[llperez]

I only saw the last quarter, and I thought the chicago rookies Johnson and Gibson both looked real good. Also, Maynor ran the point like a pg should and I think he beats out price for the back up minutes. But he needs to work on his jumper. He took a wide open 3 and barely drew iron.

[marcusfizer21Participant]

James Johnson at the buzzer… Wow… Lots of guts for that rook… I see talented players drafted mid-late in 2009… And to think 2009 is said to be a weak draft… We can definitely see some potential players in Taj Gibson and Eric Maynor…

[BlazermannParticipant]

but i gotta man crush on james johnson game winner and i dont think hell take tyrus spot on the roster he is the best shot blocker they have on the team and has a okay mid range jumper now still need to gain weight and 2-3 post moves and 2-3 more rebs

[TheAlchemist]

i was there (cus it was in london) and james johnson looked good. He’s definetely lost some weight since leaving wake forest. But i was most surprised by joakim noah. He is a bad ass, and there is no way he is 6’11. He towered over brad miller and mehmet okur

[quincey hodges]

sorry but taj would take tyrus spot before james since hes a better defender rebounder shot blocker and better on the blocks..taj has been the better of the 2 so far also. thought james has more future potenial

[JNixonParticipant]

James Johnson is a SF anyway…he saw zero time yesterday in the post. I don’t see what the difference would be in playing Taj Gibson over Noah anyway. They have the same strengths and weaknesses.

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

I know James Johnson is 6′ 9″ 245 lbs and Paul Pierce is 6′ 7″ 235 lbs, but does anybody see a little of Pierce in Johnson’s game?

[JNixonParticipant]

Thats actually a very good comparison of Johnson, especially if he can play better D like Pierce has done in the last 2 years.

[TheAlchemist]

no way is james johnson 245lbs. he looked about 220 to me

[gatorheelsParticipant]

Taj Gibson is not going to take Tyrus or Noahs spots.  They are both better than Taj.

[Author]

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