The Bulls Are Coming Up Short

By failing to trade for a certain seven-footer from Memphis and by not getting Andres Nocioni back as soon as they'd hoped, the Bulls have often found themselves looking up to their opponent ... literally.

Scott Skiles has favored a three-guard lineup lately that features Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon and Chris Duhon -- none of which stand taller than 6-foot-3. Toss in the fact that (lanky but slight of build) Luol Deng and Ben Wallace (sans 'fro) stand just 6-9 and, well, it's not a surprise this team has been outworked on the glass the past few games.

Everyone is railing against this doomed strategy, which has resulted in the team getting out-worked on the glass, from an angry Matt Bernhardt from Blog-A-Bull to crotchety old Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune:

Skiles referred to his players as having the "thousand-yard stare" of a tired team. But it could be a team tired of finishing most games with three guards and no one taller than 6 feet 10 inches.

Not surprisingly, though, there is at least one supporter of the three-guard lineup ... and it happens to be the one who stands to gain the most playing time: Chris Duhon.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

''We're real effective when we go small,'' Duhon said. ''Just as much as an advantage [an opponent] has on the offensive end, we have the same when we have our three guards out there. It's just going to come down to us executing better down the stretch. We had opportunities to win the game [Monday]. We just didn't execute."

I could be completely off base, but does Scott Skiles favor the smaller lineup because he was always an undersized, scrappy player during his playing days? Or is he just making the most of what he has to work with?

''To me, it only makes sense to bring in somebody if we're going to play him or he's somebody we like long-term that we want to hang around, keep him this summer and look at him next year,'' Skiles said Sunday. ''If it's just a guy for an insurance policy, I don't see the purpose in that.''

Given his resistance to adding another big body simply for depth purposes (which isn't uncalled for considering Nocioni will miss at least the next few weeks), I'm inclined to believe he's trying (consciously or not) to build the team in his own image.