ii The Return of the Bulls !!

This is the story of the Return of the Chicago Bulls to former glory(or at least i hope so).
I'll keep it (very) short. I have to, because my english won't allow me more.
I'm still a beginner (just got the game) so be indulgent.

I'll play with 82-Games (8 Minutes calculated/ 7 Minutes when played) most of them i won't play by myself. i'll just intervene in the last quarter, if the score is close

The Playoff i'll play during the whole length (it's set to 5-5-5-5)

Season 2005

Chicago Bulls 2005 Roster:

Starters:
C - Curry 6'11"'(66)
PF - Chandler 6'9" (64) / Davis 6'9" (63)
SF - Deng 6'8" (59, Rookie) / Nocioni 6'7" (61, Rookie)
SG - Gordon 6'3" (66, Rookie) / Pippen 6'8" (65)
PG - Hinrich 6'3" (67)

Bench:
C - Trybanski 7'2" (46)
PF - Harrington 6'9" (52)
SG - Piatkowski 6'7" (48) / Robinson 6'9" (53)
PG - Pargo 6'1" (55) / Williams 6'3" (50) / Wilks 5'11" (46)

The Roster in the first season seemed to me quiet jumbled up. (My knowledge of the actual NBA is quite limited, so i don't know the reallife team) I liked Curry and the two young Guards (Hinrich & Gordon) but there was no real franchise guy. As you see above, the starter-position for PF, SF and SG isn't set, the starting players always changes.

In the first half of the season the team was able to keep a positive record, but after about 30 games they began to lose more and more and i wasn't able to turn the tide (i lost most of the games whichi intervened)

So the team ended up with the following record:


Chicago Bulls 2005 Record

Games Won: 36
Games Lost: 46

The Bulls did not qualify for the Playoffs

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Playoff 2005 (without the Bulls)


3 - Sacramento
0 - Clippers
.............................. 3 - Sacramento
.............................. 0 - Memphis
3 - Memphis
0 - Dallas

............................................................ 3 - Sacramento
............................................................ 0 - Denver

3 - San Antonio
1 - Lakers
.............................. 2 - San Antonio
.............................. 3 - Denver
3 - Denver
0 - New Orleans


..........................................................NBA FINALS: ....Sacramento Kings vs. Detroit Pistons 51:32(1:0), 35:54(1:1), 49:48(2:1), 45:54(2:2), 58:60(2:3)



3 - Detroit
1 - New York
.............................. 3 - Detroit
.............................. 1 - Indiana
3 - Indiana
2 - Orlando

............................................................ 3 - Detroit
............................................................ 1 - Philadelphia

0 - Miami
3 - Philadelphia
.............................. 3 - Philadelphia
.............................. 1 - Boston
1 - Toronto
3 - Boston



NBA Champions 2005: Detroit Pistons
Starters: C Ben Wallace, PF Rasheed Wallace, SF Tayshaun Prince, SG Richard Hamilton, PG Chauncey Billups

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Last edited by Atilathehun on Wed Oct 19, 2005 3:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

Offseason 2005

The first Season wasn't really satisfying. But what is to expect from this team, that is still suffering from it's colossal history. Hinrich and Gordon, the two young Guards look promising, so i decided to build up a team around them.


Salaries and contracts after 2005 Season:
Davis 12M/ 1y - much too expensive
Robinson 6,7M/ 1y - 7M for a bench player?
Pippen 5,4M/ FA
Chandler 4,8M/ FA
Curry 3,9M/ FA
Gordon 3,4M/ 3y
Harrington 3,2M/ FA
Hinrich 2,3M/ 2y
Deng 2,3/ 3y
Trybanski 1,8/ FA
the rest of the roster is below reckoning

so i had to wait one more year to get rid of Davis and Robinson, who, both no regular starters, used about 20M of my salaries.

i signed new contracts with following Players:

C Curry - 4,07M for 4 years
PF Chandler - 4,1M for 4 years

those two were quite young and i hoped for some improvement so i decided to keep them.

i could find no use for the rest of the free agents and pippen resigned anyway so following players left the team:

C Trybanski
PF Harrington
SG Pippen
PG Pargo
PG Wilks


Draft
I got Pick nr. 9 in the 1st round. I did not really prepare for this draft (just a little) so i had to chose players i did not really know very well:

1st Round - PF Whiteside (quite good at dunks but a poor rebounder)
2nd Round - C Nzingah (An average Center from South-Africa)

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Last edited by Atilathehun on Wed Oct 19, 2005 4:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

Season 2006

Chicago Bulls 2006 Roster:

Starters:
C - Curry (66, very strong)
PF - Chandler (67) / Davis (63, still good on the inside)
SF - Deng (63) / Nocioni (63, Good for Rebounds)
SG - Gordon (72, go-to-guard)
PG - Hinrich (73, slow but shoots and passes quite well)

Bench:
C - Nzingah (49, Rookie)
PF - Whiteside (54, Rookie, Dunker, can't grab any rebounds)
SG - Piatkowski (49, shoots accurate, but doesn't master the rest of the game) / Robinson (54, nobody likes him)
PG - Williams (54, still in the team, because of his contract)

Other than in the first season, the two guards (Hinrich & Gordon) soon evolved as the leaders of the team. Curry was getting weaker game by game (in the first season i liked him, but that had begun to change). I also began to prefer Nocioni(because of his close-to-board-abilities over Deng and Chandler over Davis(but Davis was still the man for the crunch-time)

But the team did very bad, they lost game after game. Whatever i did they seemed not yet fit to win(regularly) and after about 50 games i abandoned my last hopes for playoff qualification. Hinrich and Gordon both had similar scores (high in Points, some assist) Curry and Chandler were there for Rebounds. Nocioni was phlegmatic, sometimes he was able to score well, somtimes he grabed some extra-rebounds.

Chicago Bulls 2006 Record:

Games Won: 33
Games Lost: 49

The Bulls did not qualify for the playoffs

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Last edited by Atilathehun on Wed Oct 19, 2005 8:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

Playoff 2006 (without the Bulls)



3 - San Antonio
1 - Houston
.............................. 3 - San Antonio
.............................. 1 - Memphis
3 - Memphis
2 - Dallas

............................................................ 3 - San Antonio
............................................................ 2 - Minnesota

3 - Minnesota
1 - Seattle
.............................. 3 - Minnesota
.............................. 1 - Denver
2 - Sacramento
3 - Denver

..........................................................NBA FINALS: ....Boston Celtics vs. San Antonio Spurs 60:77(0:1), 60:56(1:1), 63:55(2:1), 62:60(3:1)


3 - Boston
0 - Toronto
.............................. 3 - Boston
.............................. 1 - Miami
2 - New York
3 - Miami

............................................................ 3 - Boston
............................................................ 1 - Charlotte

1 - Washington
3 - Charlotte
.............................. 3 - Charlotte
.............................. 2 - Indiana
1 - Detroit
3 - Indiana



NBA Champions 2006: Boston Celtics
Starters: C Raef LaFrentz, PF Al Jefferson, SF Ricky Davis, SG Paul Pierce, PG Gary Payton

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Offseason 2006

In the summer of 2006 the hyper-expensive contracts of Robinson and Davis, that costed about 20M a year ran out. i was very happy about that and released the two into freedom. There were several more players asking for an extension of their contracts, but i didn't wanted them any more, so they all left the team. Suddenly there was very much cap space free(about 20M).

Because i had that much cap space and that few players (only 10) i decided to trade(last years team wasn't good enough) and to hire some FA's(reliable bench players)

The two guards are the heart of the team, so i have to build around them. I realised, that curry, despite being a strong and assertive guy, was quite lazy in defense(and he declined during off-season). Chandler as PF was OK, strong in Rebounds, no go-to-guy but a solid starter (and he had a contract for 3 more years) but SF was also weak. Nocioni, declined during off-season and Deng who so became starting SF was a reserved defender.

So i decided to do something with my SF and C Positions.

i soon found the ideal target. The Dallas Mavericks kept all the guys i wanted. First i traded lazy curry against the quite much older, but defensive stronger Erick Dampier . But much more important was my trade with Deng and Nzingah for Jerry Stackhouse. (Deng may will be strong in some seasons, but i didn't liked him and i wanted to go to the playoffs immidiately). There was an other center involved in the trade (because dallas had no roster space left) very weak and of no recognizable use, Eschmeyer his name.
Stackhouse was a major reinforcement for the team. i think it's because of him that the bulls made the playoffs that year.
After those achievements i signed some FA's as substitutes:

left the Team:
C Curry (Traded for Dampier)
C Nzingah (Traded for Stackhouse/Eschmeyer)
PF Davis (Free Agent)
SF Deng (Traded for Stackhouse/Eschmeyer)
SG Piatkowski (Free Agent)
SG Robinson (Free Agent)
PG Williams (Free Agent)

joined the Team
C Dampier (Traded for Curry)
C Eschmayer (Traded for Nzingah/Deng)
C Rebraca (Free Agent)
PF Hsu (Rookie)
SF Stackhouse (Traded for Deng/Nzingah)
SG Barry (Free Agent)
PG Claxton (Free Agent)
PG Francisco (Rookie)

Draft:
The Bulls got the third position in the draft. The No.2-Team picked our favourite pick so we decided on a talented chinese Guard(btw. I changed the rookie names per DB, couldn't stand those spaniards with finnish names and vice versa) i chosed mainly by talent, age and height(if PF or C):

1st Round (#3) - PF Shan Hsu 7'1" 20y Talent: Good (57)
2nd Round - PG Alan Francisco 6'1" 18y Talent: Good (42)

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Last edited by Atilathehun on Wed Oct 19, 2005 4:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

Season 2007


Chicago Bulls 2007 Roster

Starters:
C - Erick Dampier (65, Good in Rebounds, sometimes he scores quite well)
PF - Chandler (67, Gets a littlebit better each season, but is now possibly the weakest in the starting 5)
SF - Jerry Stackhouse (76, hits if the others don't)
SG - Ben Gordon (75, quick and surehanded, team is built around him)
PG - Kirk Hinrich (75, hits more and more of the important 3-Pointers, the fans just love him)

Bench:
C Rebraca (56) / Eschmeyer (45, usually among the audience)
PF Hsu (58, Rookie, 20years old, improving rapidly) / Whiteside (57, loses ground against Hsu)
SF Nocioni (61, he won't ever be more than a substitute in this team)
SG Barry (58, can hit from downtown;-)
PG Claxton (speedy is a good substitute) / Francisco (42, Rookie, very young maybe he will be worth something in a few years)


This season was different than the preciding. The Bulls were on the winning path (almost) constantly and finished with a 47:35 Record. Especially strong in the 4th quarter (when i involved myself and Stackie rocked the house;-)
Each game either Stackhouse, Gordon or Hinrich scored very high (up to mid-20'ies) and Dampier and Chandler were there for the Rebounds. The Mixture was good and many opponents have found no answer to it. The Weakness of the Bulls was the bench.

The Starting Five (Gamelength 4x8/ 4x7)
C Dampier 7,2pts/ 7,4rbs
PF Chandler 5,8pts/ 6,3rbs
SF Stackhouse 11,7pts/4,3rbs
SG Gordon 13,3pts/ 3,6rbs
PG Hinrich 13,2pts/ 2,4rbs

Awards
Gordon was awarded the MIP(Most Improved Player) and Hsu took part in the 2nd Rookie Team.
Dampier made the 5th Rank in the Rebounds-Ranking.

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Playoff 2007

That year the Bulls participated in the Playoffs. The Pacers have been quite easy (quite unorganised) but against the Team from the "Mistake by the Lake" it was quite much more difficult.

1st Round

Indiana Pacers vs. Chicago Bulls 1:3

In this series the Bulls demonstrated their superiority over the Pacers. The Chicago Offense seemed partly a bit unstable, but if it worked it worked very well: Stackhouse, Gordon and Hinrich were able to hit from outside, while Dampier sweeped the Paint. Indiana had got no response to that

Chicago @ Indiana 69:56 (1:0)
- The Bulls score from the outside. Indiana seems sometimes quite helpless. Chicagos tall Board Defense secures the victory.

Chicago @ Indiana 70:53 (2:0)
- The Game is decided in the first half. Indiana with a miserable quote from the field. Chicago PF Chandler is hot and scores 18 points. Dampier gets 13 Blocks.

Indiana @ Chicago 72:65 (1:2)
- A back and forth for both teams. with the luckier end for Indiana.

Indiana @ Chicago 51:57 (1:3)
A close game until the end. Indiana appears to be stronger and more organised than before. But Stackhouse and Gordon are able to shoot Chicago into the second round.

2nd Round

Chicago Bulls vs. Cleveland Cavaliers 0:2

Cleveland @ Chicago 68:61 (1:0)
- The Bulls with a weak day. Hinrich leads the bulls with a mettlesome fourth quarter from initally 18 to 3 Points close to the Cav's but at the end cleveland doesn't fail to secure it's victory. Cleveland-Star LeBron James is unstoppable and scores over 20 points.

Cleveland @ Chicago 72:71 (2:0)
- A Hard and in the end very close game. First the Bulls play with a man to man defense after coming 20 Points in behind, they switch to the usual zone defense and manage to catch up. Hinrich misses a Threepointer in the last 5 Seconds. Hinrich with 18 and Gordon with 15 points, Dampier and Chandler both with 11 Rebounds. LeBron James proves his worth for Cleveland and scores high.

Chicago @ Cleveland 73:80 (0:3)
- Very good first Quarter for the Bulls, but they lose all the consecutive ones. Stackhouse is on Fire in the first half, but does almost nothing in the second. Cleveland wins at last and has definetly proven to be the better team.


The Playoff-Tree

3 - Dallas
1 - Clippers
.............................. 3 - Dallas
.............................. 2 - San Antonio
3 - San Antonio
2 - Houston

............................................................ 2 - Dallas
............................................................ 3 - Memphis

0 - Sacramento
3 - Memphis
.............................. 3 - Memphis
.............................. 2 - Seattle
1 - Denver
3 - Seattle

..........................................................NBA FINALS:....Memphis Grizzlies vs. New York Knicks 59:79 (0:1) , 62:57 (1:1) , 51:62 (1:2) , 80:73 (2:2) , 65:68(ot) (2:3)


0 - Detroit
3 - Cleveland
.............................. 0 - Chicago
.............................. 3 - Cleveland
1 - Indiana
3 - Chicago

............................................................ 3 - New York
............................................................ 0 - Cleveland

1 - Miami
3 - Boston
.............................. 1 - Boston
.............................. 3 - New York
3 - New York
2 - Milwaukee


Memphis has got a very broad cadre with different 70+ Players even on the Bench(most of them are young), so it was just a Question of time until when this team can participate in the Finals

NBA Champion 2007: New York Knicks

Starter:
C - Nazr Mohammed (54) - 5,3pt / 5,8rb
F - Kurt Thomas (64) - 6,2pt / 7,2rb
F - Tim Thomas (70) - 13,4pt / 4,7rb
G - Jamaal Crawford (79) - 15,2pt / 2,2rb / 3,9as
G - Stephon Marbury (85) - 13,7pt / 3,0rb / 5,9as

Bench:
C: Podkolzin (48)
F: Sweetney (64), Anderson (59), Williams (56), Butler (55), Guolla (55)
G: Houston (64), Jarrett (53)

Last edited by Atilathehun on Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:10 am, edited 18 times in total.

Great dynasty, i didn't really like the Curry trade. The Kings did amazingly well in the first season. Good luck against Cleveland, this should be a close one.

i changed the sliders a little, it seems to be much harder to win now (just lost the first vs. cleveland)

the curry-trade is controversial. i had a lot of future in that team then, but ist wasn't a competitive team and i had this 20M free cap space. i had todo something. I had some possibilities:

1) Trade Hinrich for a quicker PG (who will be then teamleader)
2) Trade Curry for a more defensive Center (What i did)
3) Get a good SF and get rid of one of the two young SF's (what i did, i wanted an agile and surehanded SF, so i got stackhouse)
4) Get a strong PF (i rely on my guards, so i didn't wanted a go-to-PF)
5) Get a strong Center (same as above)

but it's very interesting to see what happens in the next few years (what i like very much on the dynasty mode)

Offseason 2007

Player Contracts before Offseason 2007:
C Dampier (65 ovrl, 33 years old) - 10,4M / 4y
C Rebraca (56, 35)- 1,3M / 1y
C Eschmeyer (45, 32)- 3,7M / FA
F Chandler (69, 24) - 4,4M / 2y
F Hsu (58, 20) - 3,01M / 3y
F Whiteside (60, 24) - 1,8M / 2y
F Stackhouse (74, 32) - 8,0M / FA
F Nocioni (61, 27) - 1,4M / FA
G Gordon (77, 24) - 4,9M / 1y
G Hinrich (77, 26) - 2,3M / FA
G Claxton (67, 29) - 1,7M / 1y
G Francisco (44, 19) - 0,62M / 1y

of course i wanted to keep Hinrich and Stackhouse.
I offered Hinrich a deal for 7 years (he will be 33 then) and 6.5M per year.
Stackhouse i signed for another year for 8M the negotiations have been very hard.

The Draft

The Bulls made the Playoffs so the just got a real crappy Pick. That years draft was predicted very strong.

As expected all our favourita candidates were picked by the preceding teams. So we just picked two losers.

1st Round - SG Ulysses Thurmond (48overall, 21years ; Knows how to shoot)
2nd Round - SF Kyle Talbott (46overall, 18years ; still in development)

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Season 2008

Chicago Bulls 2008 Roster

Starter:
C - Dampier (65, 33years & is getting weaker, but 90+ in both Rebounds)
PF - Chandler (70, on the rise, knows how to shoot, strong in Rebounds )
SF - Stackhouse (73, on slow decline, but still of great worth for the team)
SG - Gordon (78, the leader of the team)
PG - Hinrich (77, playmaker and the other teamleader)

Bench:
C: Rebraca (56, good in all the technical stuff)
PF: Hsu (59) / Whiteside (61, too weak in Rebound, strong in the paint)
SF: Talbott (49, Rookie, only 18 he could become a great player)
SG: Thurmond (52, Rookie, only 5'11" tall but shoots quite well)
PG: Claxton (58, very very fast) / Francisco (44, he probably won't get a new contract)

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if you wanted a faster PG, i suggest trade Hinrich and others for somebody then build the team around Gordon