Andres Nocioni and Argentina defeated Lithuania 87-75 early this morning in the bronze medal game. Argentina took the lead early on and never gave it up. Argentina was ahead by over 20 points, but faltered a little at the end after Luis Scola fouled out. Argentina was without Manu Ginobili for the entire game due to an aggravation of an ankle injury from the NBA season. Andres Nocioni finished the game with 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 steals.

I took the time to take a look at Andres Nocioni one more time this summer, in the competitive environment of a medal game, to take a look at how he might fit with the Bulls this coming year. For Nocioni, the game was a story of two halves.

Nocioni looked a little lackluster in the first half. On multiple occasions, Nocioni would lean in when jumping to contest a three point shot, making contact with the man. On one of the occasions, the referees let it slide, however, on the other, Nocioni was called for a foul, and Siskauskus had an and one.

Nocioni also showed that he still makes some poor judgments. During one sequence, he airballed a wide open three in the corner. He followed this up by driving recklessly towards the basket and putting up a right handed floater, which he airballed.

During the first half, one thing that stuck out was that Nocioni was often guarding no one. He would float towards the paint, to get into position to rebound. Nocioni still ferociously tears down rebounds, so if he is in the right position, he will usually secure the rebound for you.

In the second half, a completely different Nocioni showed up. This Nocioni showed real hustle and actually played defense. Nocioni played Bruce Bowen style, lock down defense throughout the second half. It was beautiful to watch as Nocioni caused Lithuania to turnover the ball with his ferocious defense. During one play, Nocioni picked his man at the top of the key and dribbled in for the breakaway dunk. On the next play, Nocioni broke up a pass to his man on the wing, popped up the ball, then chased it down and went in to lay the ball in for the easy score. On another sequence, Nocioni dove on the floor knocking the ball away, starting a pinball sequence. Argentina ended up with the ball and scored.

Throughout the game, Argentina played Nocioni in the weakside corner. Nocioni wasn’t expected to create any offense, and just played off Pigrioni, Scola, and Delfino. Nocioni moved perfectly without the ball, moving into great positions to score off the dribble penetration of Pigrioni and Delfino.

One especially great move by Nocioni came on a give and go. Nocioni handed the ball off to Scola in the corner and then did a step back move. Scola gave Nocioni the ball back, and Nocioni nailed the jumper.

So how exactly does Nocioni fit with this year’s Bulls team? He should fit in very well with his ability to play off the dribble penetration and set ups of others. Nocioni is probably the 2nd most dynamic player on the Bulls, behind only Ben Gordon, in terms of getting you a win. Nocioni has the ability to be a very good player on both sides of the ball, he just chooses not to.

The key with Nocioni is to reel him in. If the new coaching staff can call Nocioni out when he is dogging it, and getting him to play hard every minute he is on the court, he could have a huge impact for the Bulls this year. The problem with Nocioni is he is a lazy player. However, Nocioni is also a talented player, one of the most talented players on the Bulls.

The Bulls should wait and see which Nocioni the new coaching staff is able to produce. If it is the Nocioni from the first half, who was dogging it the entire time, and not playing defense, then the Bulls would be wise to trade him, either as part of a package deal or for an expiring contract. However, if the new coaching staff is able to get that Nocioni that is playing hard, and actually playing defense, that player is a keeper. That Nocioni is golden to the Bulls and can help win a championship.

The Argentina national team won FIBA’s diamond ball after defeating Australia today in the finals. Here is how it went down and how Andres Nocioni did in the games.

• Argentina starts off by defeating Iran in their first preliminary game, 81-71. Andres Nocioni scored 5 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, and had 2 steals.
• In their second preliminary game, against a Serbia team featuring Nenad Krstic, Argentina won 75-60. Andres Nocioni had 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 1 block.
• In the finals, Argentina came from behind, powerered by Luis Scola’s 28 second half points (32 points total), to defeat Australia 95-91. Argentina held Andrew Bogut down to only 4 points and 2 rebounds. Andres Nocioni scored 20 points, had 8 rebounds, and 1 block.

Overall, in Argentina’s three tournament games, Nocioni averaged 13.3 PTS 6.7 REBS. Nocioni scored the ball efficiently, recording an extraordinary 80.9 TS%. Nocioni shot 57.9 FG% overall, 53.8% from three, and 84.6% from the free throw line.

The Argentina national team competed in the 2008 FIBA Diamond Ball Tournament in Nanjing, China in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.