It’s no real secret that the Chicago Bulls need to add some versatility to their offense. Our own John Krolik talked about that in his post about what the Bulls need to do when the lockout ends — when LeBron James locked down Derrick Rose in the fourth quarter of playoff games, Chicago had no real “Plan B.”
Horace Grant knows what Plan B should be — Carlos Boozer.
In an interview with ESPNChicago.com, Grant joined Bulls fans across the Windy City to call for Boozer to step up his game.
“Boozer needs to be, for lack of a better phrase, Scottie Pippen to a Michael Jordan,” Grant said Friday morning after a breakfast at Dandenong Stadium (in Australia)….
“You have scorers. You have Rose. You have [Luol] Deng. You have guys coming off the bench,” Grant said. “[Boozer] needs to be a combination of being that physical presence down low. He has the body to do it. He can score whenever he gets himself in the right position. And the Bulls need another second-tier rebounder. [Joakim] Noah has done a great job. Taj Gibson when he’s in there. But they need that extra guy.”
Jazz fans are laughing right now, saying “good luck with that.”
Boozer can score but what Pippen really brought to the table that helped the Bulls was defense. Boozer doesn’t bring that. Pippen also could create shots for others in a way Boozer can’t — he has great skills and touch around the basket but he’s not a classic shot creator.
Boozer has his role on this team, a key role bringing points inside, but the Bulls need another guy who can create his own shot and create shots for others, ideally from the wing. That is not Boozer. Or Deng. Nobody is going to be Rose, but they need another creative option on the offensive end.
Because I’m not convinced Boozer can ever be Pippen.
