The All Don't Give A Crap Team

Thursday night, I sat on my couch, alongside my sleeping brother, watching the final quarter and overtime of the Celtics/Lakers tilt.  The game was a good one, as are so many of their match-ups.  The Lakers, despite having played (and won) the night before in Toronto, came down and wore out the Celts, sweeping the season series.

Watching the game, I couldn't help but think we'd all be better off if they'd just cancel the rest of the regular season and let the Celtics and Lakers duke it out for the championship.  Wait until Andrew Bynum gets healthy again, and then throw them into a seven game series.

I know this post isn't about that game, but I have to do two things.  First, commend Paul Pierce for his defense on Kobe Bryant.  Living in someone's shorts for the final quarter plus has to be uncomfortable, so I applaud the effort.  Second, who would think that Glen Davis would wind up, a couple of years into his career being a more valuable player than his college running mate Ty Thomas?  That's not to say Thomas won't be better, but, Big Baby?

Anyway, on to the subject of this post...

Lamar Odom might as well be one of the Hardy Boys, because he's long been one of my favorite mysteries.  Sometimes, like last night or the 03-04 season, he plays hard and the results are nearly always positive.  Often, like the Finals last year or several years on the Clippers, he fades into the background, content to do nothing other than fill out the requirement the NBA puts on each team to play with five guys at any point in a game.

And so, watching him last night, I go to thinking, in a league filled with guys that often play lethargically and minus effort, who would make the All Don't Give A Crap Team?  Read on.

C - Erick Dampier

This guy must wake up laughing.  Damp had one good season in his entire NBA career.  Check it out.  Coincidentally, that lone good season came when he was in his contract year.  I swear, it feels like in games I've seen him "play" in, he'll just pick up two quick fouls in the first quarter on purpose so he doesn't have to come back in until the third.  And, as is the case with most of these guys, what actually bothers me is that he could be a good defensive player, rebounding and blocking shots, if he actually tried all the time.

F - Lamar Odom

Doesn't often try hard, fades in out of big games (or any game for that matter), blah blah blah.  Though out of this whole group, he's easily the most talented.  Six feet ten inches, Odom can dribble with either hand, take the ball up court, drive to the basket, post up (not great, but he can do it), shoot the ball, rebound...You get the point.

F - Tim Thomas

Mr. Don't Give Crap himself, this guy pisses me off the most because he's from my home state and he could've been so much better.  Thomas has made a career, somehow, out of being a guy that has a ton of potential (never over 16 ppg). Ray Allen once said that Thomas could be the best player in the league if he wanted to be.  Don't get Jordan, or I, started on sports cliches.  No he couldn't be.  Best player in the league?  Jeez(us Shuttlesworth), take it easy.  Thomas can score from anywhere on the court (and has) but just doesn't care to play defense (see proof, stage left) or ever try hard other than jacking up long distance 3's.

G - Ricky Davis 

Here's a guy that cares, just not about the right things.  He's a selfish s.o.b. that once tried, successfully, might I add) to get himself a triple-double by shooting at his own rim to secure a 10th rebound.  No, I'm not kidding.

G - Vince Carter

I've talked about this before, but the general gist is a refrain that I'm sure you've all heard before.  Carter can one night dominate and look the part of a top 5 player in the league, and the next, you barely know he's there.  His consistently high numbers might distort the idea that he doesn't always try, but the proof is in the pudding (or, more appropriately, in the watching of him play).

Here are a few others that I didn't mention but I know would make the bench or some kind of second string (if they cared enough to try out):  Eddy Curry, Baron Davis (sometimes), Jerome James, and Kwame Brown.

There has to be others.  Who is on your favorite team that doesn't give a damn?  I know I'm missing people.  Get at us.

Can It Get Any Worse?

I don't have to tell you the Chicago Bulls aren't very good.  Let their nine point home loss to the 6-32 Oklahoma City Thunder Saturday night tell you all you need to know about this team.

At 16-21, the Bulls are in 4th place in the Eastern Conference's Central Division entering tonight's game against Portland.  Amazingly, because the East is so top heavy, despite their poor record and consistently poor performance the Bulls are just a game behind Milwaukee for the eighth spot in the East.

Yet, there would be nothing worse than this team of misfits playing a first round playoff series against Cleveland, Orlando or Boston to just be blasted in four games.

The Bulls are in the NBA's proverbial "no man's land".  They're on the verge of being a playoff team (but really, what does that mean in the NBA) and yet they're also on the verge of being one of the worst teams in basketball.  (In fact, you could argue right now that they are.)  Other than Derrick Rose, there is not a promising player on this team.  Ben Gordon scores, but he's too short, plays too little defense, and is too one-dimensional to be considered a guy to build around.  Luol Deng has been injured, but when he's not been injured he's been bad.  Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah are both brutal draft picks by GM John Paxson who have shown little promise or basketball skills.

It's a complete mess.

That's why I've decided, until changes are made, I'm done watching this team.  There's no point.

I'm a Bulls fan.  Full Disclosure.  But there's no point watching a team that has no potential to go anywhere but down.  They have no chance of competing for a title now, or really ever with this roster of players, and until they blow this thing up, they'll never compete for anything more than a ticket to lose in the first round.

John Paxson should be fired.  Larry Hughes wants to be traded, and should be shown the door.  If anyone would take Tyrus Thomas or Joakim Noah, send them on the first flight to the city of their choice.  Find a big man that can actually help Drew Gooden underneath.  And find some players that will actually take first year head coach Vinny Del Negro seriously. (And that'll be hard too, since the organization doesn't even take him seriously considering they hired Bernie Bickerstaff and Del Harris to be Vinny's babysitters.)

The Bulls are in the worst spot imaginable in sports.  They're bad, but not bad enough.  They have a bunch of cast off players that aren't desirable to any other teams.  Rebuilding this thing won't take a season, but instead another long rebuilding effort that Bulls fans can no longer tolerate.  At some point, the championship DVDs get old, and people want to start seeing a team that can actually compete.  Or, at least one that can entertain.

So I'm done.  I'm not watching this.  As much as I'm a fan, there's no point in wasting my evenings.  I'm not coming back until the Bulls show me and the rest of their frustrated fan base that they seriously want to compete.  And if you're a Bulls fan, you shouldn't either.