NBA Analysis: Rip Hamilton Can't Save the Chicago Bulls

I will preface this by saying that I am not a huge Rip Hamilton fan. I like him as a person and he has been a great Piston. I am just not a huge fan of the limited dimensions of his game. I think Mr. Berri's comments are a bit harsh and I do think that Rip Hamilton can make the Bulls better. They need an offensive threat to go with Derrick Rose and Rip can give them that. They already have incredible defenders, smart players, good outside shooters, etc., but they do not have a consistent scoring threat other than Derrick Rose. Boozer and Deng are really good players, but neither are guaranteed to give you 20 a night. I think Rip, especially on their team, still can.

I said back when the Pistons got rid of Chauncey that it should have been Rip instead. Chauncey was our 4th quarter, big shot guy. He was also the leader and facilitator. 2 guards are a dime a dozen and Rip does not have some of the main things you look for in a 2 guard. In my opinion, the best shooting guards in the league have a dangerous outside shot and can take it to the rim and get to the free throw line. Rip has worked on his 3-point game, but it has never been great. He has an ability to get to the hoop, but he normally chooses to pull up and whether he pulls up or takes it to the hole has never been a great finisher. He is a career 84% free throw shooter, which is not bad, but because of his tendency to pull up I feel he doesn't maximize his trips to the line or put enough pressure on the other teams bigs. My other problem with Rip is the whole offense has to be setup for him. Because he doesn't have a great 3-point shot and isn't a great driver, he has to get shots in mid range which require screens and facilitating by the entire team. You need a 2 guard that can create his own shot and score anywhere on the court. Rip needs the offense to flow through him to be really productive. That part of his game is what will probably hurt the Bulls. Derrick Rose is an iso player and Hamilton needs to be setup. I don't think the two work together. I wish Rip all the best and I would love it if he was able to push the Bulls past the Queen, Dwyane and 1-18 aka "get out of the kitchen".

Wow. This has to be THE most worthless analysis I have ever come across. I'll just start by pointing out that Mr. Berri's point is based on a metric that has players like Landry Fields and Kris (Kardashian) Humphries ahead of Derrick Rose in term s of wins produced. I don’t know how this data is calculated but if you have ever dribbled a basketball then you should know that Derrick Rose was responsible for almost ALL of his teams league leading 62 regular season wins. That is why he won the MVP fer gods sake! I could just stop there, but I won’t. Because this dork uses the same backwards metric to say that Kyle Korver, Ronnie Brewer and Keith Bogans are ALL better than Rip Hamilton. Really? Well then how come Hamilton has averaged about 10 pts more than all these players PER GAME over their careers? 10 POINTS! PER GAME. Do you have any idea how many games an extra 10 points can win over the course of a season? Let me give you a clue; of the 20 losses the Bulls had in the regular season only 5 were by 10 points or more, and only 2 of the 7 losses that came in the playoffs were by a similar margin.

Okay, a few more things. First of all Rip Hamilton will not be taking any minutes away from younger players. He will be replacing Keith Bogans who is the same age and it is universally agreed that Bogans must not start in Chicago. Second, Rip Hamilton is A CHAMPION, a 3 time All Star, and in 2008 surpassed ISIAH THOMAS as the Pistons' all-time leading scorer in the playoffs. The 3 players that Mr. Berri thinks are "better" than Hamilton have zero all star appearances combined. None of them will likely EVER make an all star team or break ANY scoring records let alone surpass a Hall of Famer like Thomas in ANYTHING. However they may end up Champions; IF Hamilton can continue his winning ways. Mr. Berri thinks that Hamilton only won previously because he played next to "talented" players. Well news flash Mr Berri, Hamilton will be playing next to Derrick "fast don’t lie" Rose, who happens to be more talented than anyone on any of those Pistons teams, and arguably more talented than anyone playing in the league right now. So, please Mr. Berri, get a life and stop writing about Basketball. MVP. OUT.