Chicago Bulls Thread

[mp3]

Who the heck talks about a new contract on frickin MEDIA DAY?!?

Carmelo Anthony does.

It's not so bad for the Bulls and there fans as it was with the knicks with Rose still having two years left on his contract unlike Melo who hinted at quiting at seasons end

[air gordon]

It's not so bad for the Bulls and there fans as it was with the knicks with Rose still having two years left on his contract unlike Melo who hinted at quiting at seasons end

I won't make it a contest but it is shitty for Bulls fans to endure this. There's already the history of Return Gate and his comments about not being sore for his kids graduation. Some Rose supporter explain to me why he is he talking about a new contract? None of the media asked him any questions of that nature. You can see Noah, who is sitting next to him at the podium, putting his face in his hands when Rose made his comments about being financially secure

Probably sucks for Knicks fans with Anthony. I'm not familiar with the situation but I get the impression when he's on the court, he wants to win. He has the selfish streak but only because he wants to win

I have no idea what Rose's motivation is. $250 million endorsement deal with adidas plus a max contract and he's speaking publicly on media day about securing himself financially

Shut up and play. Let Hoiberg, Jimmy buckets, Pau, and Noah do all the talking

[mp3]

Great post!

Yeah it's still not good for any team to have there often injured franchise player just talking about getting paid during media day when the focus should be on the team and winning.

[Axel]

Great post!

Yeah it's still not good for any team to have there often injured franchise player just talking about getting paid during media day when the focus should be on the team and winning.

Jimmy Butler is clearly their franchise player.

[Andrew]

Would Bulls fans still be a fan of Rose if he was in a different uniform?!

Just stating the facts here-
Currently on a max contract
Has played in only 32% of games in the past 4 years
Level of play last year was clearly below his standards
Is seeking a max contract even though he is still under contract for 2 additional years

Probably not, but then that kind of goes for most players, I would imagine. I do get where you're coming from, though. As it stands, it's getting a little harder to cheer for him, even as a Bulls fan, because of the stuff you go on to mention in your later post.

[air gordon]

He's got it backwards. Supposed to play first like a superstar then do or say stupid things.

Remember when he said "why can't I be MVP?" when the talents went south beach? I thought it was a little funny at the time but what do you know, he backed it up and did it. That seems so long ago

[Andrew]

Yeah, it feels odd to feel nostalgic for something that happened only a few years ago.

[air gordon]

Kinda sad lol

So Hoiberg is open to putting together Noah and Pau together on the floor. Unless Noah is back to his DPOY form and competent on offense, I'm against it, especially with MJD not out there to space the floor with his shooting

[mp3]

I agree that unless Noah isn't playing great defence and rebounding it's hard to justify him being out there but that being said he is one of the best passing big men I have ever seen and maybe that could be part of Fred's offensive plan?

[air gordon]

Let's hope so. Point center Noah is fun during the regular season but doesn't work when teams prep for it

[air gordon]

And the preseason is here! Honest to the man upstairs, I did not see any magic Hoiberg offense. A lot of Thibs like high screens on the ball

Noah moved pretty well. Timing looks off big time but it's almost considered a success he wasn't hobbling

Dougie fresh was lights out from the perimeter. He was also 2 for 2 in drives to the basket getting blocked. I'll let it slide this time haha

[Andrew]

Blogtable: Is it time for Bulls to trade Rose?

I'd have to agree with the consensus. It's not that trading Rose is unimaginable; it's that it isn't an absolute must (yet), and more importantly, doing so is easier said than done.

Forget GarPax's track record in getting good value in trades for a moment. Generally speaking, it's tough for any team to get fair value when trading star players, and that goes for players who are far better and far healthier than Rose. Just look at pretty much any Hall of Famer, or future Hall of Famer, that's been traded. Now throw in the fact that Rose hasn't played his best basketball in four years, and he's had a bunch of injuries, and it's even harder to get a good trade that won't involve taking on an even worse contract.

If you're going to trade one of your key players, ideally you want to either make your team better immediately, or set things up so you have ways of making your team better in the near future (shed bad contracts, clear space, remove a logjam, and so on). As it stands, I don't think you can do either in trading Rose. I can't imagine many (if any) teams would be seriously considering the risk, and certainly not to the extent where they'd give up non-guaranteed lottery picks or quality players in return. And again, because of his big contract, the Bulls would likely have to take on some even worse deals to get the deal done.

Sticking with Rose, trying to make it work, and hoping for the best, is really all they can do for now. Short of some GM losing their mind and offering up one of the best players in the league for him, trading him just isn't viable, unless you're willing to make a lateral move, or make it difficult to improve the roster in the name of riding him out of town on a rail. As noted in the article though, he becomes an expiring contract next year. And, if things continue to sour with Rose, and Butler keeps getting better, and teams have offers that either make the Bulls better, or put them in a position to get better...well, then you can re-evaluate the possibility, because his expiring contract makes him a little more appealing. For now, though, their hands are tied.

[air gordon]

No ba zing comment of Rose having his 3pt shot fixed along with his face? Wth

Yeah I agree it doesn't make sense to trade him at this point for the reasons mentioned.

I don't think the contract is as bad as the panel suggests. He can use this season to prove his worth and then the following year he will be all in for that new max contract

Management should get criticized for not bringing in a legit backup pg

[Andrew]

But they brought back Aa...yeah, can't finish that sentence with a straight face. Well, hopefully he doesn't disappear like he did last year, or Rose plays at a level that means he doesn't have to be called on as much in the postseason.

Also, I just noticed I referred to the lottery picks in any hypothetical deals as "non-guaranteed". when I actually meant "non-protected".

[air gordon]

Preseason thoughts? Magic Hoiberg offense anyone?

Sorry Aussies- bairstow should be cut. A slow big guy who prefers to fade on shots or take floaters? Yeesh

[Andrew]

Yeah, he's no Luc Longley.

[NovU]

Great to see McDermott playing well in preseason games. Last year was disappointing as he was one of the rookies I was looking forward to. Perhaps he can turn things around this year and hopely become a Bulls starter for long time to come.

[air gordon]

Opportunity is there. Bulls need his 3pt shooting bigtime

Snelly got buffed out but so far meh in oressason

[Moz]

I'm really liking the spacing and anticipating how Rose will fair in the new offense. Jimmy Butler so far is not playing the max player that he should be... He's still struggling making his own shots and mostly relying on referees to bail him out... Speaking of relying on referees, Mirotic is still pump faking... Gasol's much further range and McBucket's confidence on the other hand are hype inducing. I love how Bobby Portis play. His motor and range somewhat make Taj more expendable. It's been summer league in the 4th quarters and seeing a lot of ETwuan Moore in these games makes me feel more convinced that they should've went on signing somebody else instead of Brooks...

[air gordon]

I agree with that. I'm encouraged by Niko's aggressiveness on the block. I do cringe with the pump fake 3 but it is effective when he's 15ft away from the basket

Waiting for the Portis jersey TShirt to hit the stores. This guy has been great. I'll slow my roll though because i think Gibson will still be needed for those athletic freaks like Davis. The Brow probably could have went off for 50 today if he wanted to.

[air gordon]

Ben Gordon realeased by the Warriors. Bulls should give him a roster invite. Nostalgic reasons aside, I'd rather have Gordon as the 12th man who may randomly put up 20pts than the journeyman Crawford

Happy to see Taj back on the court. With him back and Portis impressing thus far, maybe it is Noah who is on the hot seat

[Andrew]

I'd take Gordon over Crawford, too. Like you said, partly for nostalgic reasons, but also because he's a better candidate to provide some instant offense every now and again, and less of a headcase. If nothing else, he's never suggested he was as good as Michael Jordan. I reckon he'll latch on elsewhere, but yeah, I wouldn't mind seeing a reunion.

[Moz]

Gordon has some good runs with the Magic last season especially on those times that Oladipo or Harris was injured so I'm on board if he'll replace Crawford as Hinrich's proxy. I gotta agree that it's becoming like Noah's the odd man out after seeing that Taj can be an asset on this new offensive scheme. I hope Hoiberg learned in this game that putting both Noah and Gasol (also noting Mirotic at SF) in the frontcourt will slow them down on the defensive end (specifically their rotation). Also one thing I don't like about Thibs is when he's inappropriately subbing out somebody for some unnecessary tactical reason... Hoiberg did that with Portis I reckon it's in the 2nd quarter when he's making his shots and they're finally making a run, closing the gap on the scoreboard (IIRC they're just down by 2 when he abruptly subbed Bobby out for Jo and then after that, the momentum subsided)... I don't know perhaps Jimmy is just chilling since it's the pre-season but I'm afraid that a lot of people will label him as the new Boozer if he continues this mediocrity...

[air gordon]

glad we can agree on something lol. i hope it's not just wishful thinking for Gordon

Noah has been pretty bad so far in the preseason. he is known for notoriously slow starts but Portis doesn't make it easy to be patient when he's canning jumpers and being active on the boards

hard to say if it was Thibs like with his rotations or just Hoiberg just trying out different combinations. noah-pau-niko combo seems just silly. i'd like to see how a Taj-Niko-c/pf combo goes

and yeah what is up with Butler? he was acting like the man in the preseason opener. now he seems bored most of the time and then is out of rhythm when he starts trying

[Andrew]

Hopefully it is just boredom over it being the pre-season, a sense of "I just want to get to the games that count", but...yeah, for someone pegged to be a possible franchise or at least cornerstone player, you want to see that competitiveness and focus no matter what. That sense of "Sure, I'm only playing 24 minutes in a pre-season game, but for those 24 minutes, I'm going to compete and be the best player I can be", rather than going through motions.