Hinrich, Gibson To Move Into Starting Lineup

December 24th, 2009 by Andrew Wamboldt

According to ESPN Chicago, Kirk Hinrich will replace John Salmons in the starting lineup and Taj Gibson will replace Brad Miller in the starting lineup.

Guard Kirk Hinrich and forward Taj Gibson will be fixtures in the Chicago Bulls’ starting lineup for the foreseeable future.

Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro told reporters after Thursday’s practice that Hinrich and Gibson would replace John Salmons and Brad Miller as starters.

Brad Miller had to be removed from the starting lineup. His play has become pathetic, as he has only scored 2 points in his last 4 games. Taj Gibson, who is the third most efficient scorer on the Bulls, was a logical replacement. Hopefully Tyrus Thomas will be reworked into the starting lineup once he gets a few games under his belt, as he returns from his injury.

Replacing John Salmons with Kirk Hinrich makes little sense though. I guess something had to be shaken up, as Salmons has been playing poorly, but Hinrich has played much worse than Salmons. While Salmons is scoring at a dismal 48.2 TS%, Kirk Hinrich is scoring at an even worse 43.9 TS%. Kirk Hinrich shouldn’t be rewarded for his pathetic play.

However, because of Bulls’ ownership’s cheapness (failure to sign Derrick Byars, despite his great preseason play), the Bulls have few other options to try out. The only other options would be to start Jannero Pargo at shooting guard, or to start Tyrus Thomas or James Johnson at small forward, and move Deng down to small forward.

Bulls ownership has really created a mess with their cheapness. If the Bulls choose to stand pat, the only chance for the Bulls to salvage the season is for Tyrus Thomas to come in and make a big impact. Unfortunately, if Thomas does become the hero of the Bulls season, resurrecting the team from their crappy play, it is unlikely that he would be retained into next season.