Chicago Bulls Thread

conflicting reports on the cheap shot speculation now. i'm not sure if an 8 game suspension is enough or too much. from the articles, it sounds like the bulls followed league protocol and contacted the league front office in the matter

at the least portis should be forced to wear a protective mask as long as he's on the team/Niko has to wear the mask.

conflicting reports on the cheap shot speculation now. i'm not sure if an 8 game suspension is enough or too much. from the articles, it sounds like the bulls followed league protocol and contacted the league front office in the matter

at the least portis should be forced to wear a protective mask as long as he's on the team/Niko has to wear the mask.

I don't know how there can be conflicting reports when multiple eyewitnesses all described it as a sucker punch.
Chicago Sun-Times

According to multiple witnesses, Portis and Mirotic had a heated confrontation in practice, resulting in an apparent shoving match. Portis, however, took it a step further, landing what was deemed a “sucker punch’’ to Mirotic’s face.

Chicago Tribune

According to several witnesses, tensions heightened between Portis and Mirotic during a competitive scrimmage. Several words were exchanged over trips up and down the court. Some shoving escalated matters and Mirotic once moved in Portis' direction. And then Portis landed the lone punch, which placed Mirotic on the ground for several minutes before his hospital trip.

In fact, the only one who is saying it wasn't is Paxson with his statement on how "Both players owned responsibility in the incident itself," (Sounds similar to something a certain Orange leader said about another violent incident recently? Yep.) and....well, we know how much we can trust the bs that comes out of his mouth. Did you see his justification for the Bell trade? "Needed to build equity with owners"

On more positive notes, we actually scored over 100 points and didn't lose by 20+. That's practically a win with this team. I'll take it.

Is Portis even that talented or a player with good potential for Bulls management to look the other way for what he did and just give him a slap on the wrist? Asking you Bulls fans.

Is Portis even that talented or a player with good potential for Bulls management to look the other way for what he did and just give him a slap on the wrist? Asking you Bulls fans.

Imo not even close. I think he's a scrub and have no idea why a majority of the fanbase have been saying crap like "Free Portis" since he got drafted. He's a player who tries to do a bit of everything but isn't particularly good at any one thing. Again, I would've just used the incident to cut him and get his salary off the books.

I think there's some talent and potential there, but certainly not enough to not come down harder on him. In fact, I would suggest that even if he was better with even greater potential, there'd still be no excuse for them going easy on him. You don't want to tolerate those actions from anyone, and if you're talking about a young player that you hope will mature into a key player for the team, it's something you need to address and make clear right now.

Tomato tomaato, valor haha. To me if they were already getting physical and then Portis clocked Niko when Niko approached him- it's not a cheap or sucker punch. But hey I'm not condoning the behavior

Free Bobby Portis is just ok. He is agile for his size but just average hops/explosiveness. There were a lot of reports of him putting a lot work in the off season. Didn't have a good preseason and now this. Yeesh.

Missed the game. How did markkenan look?

I think there's some talent and potential there, but certainly not enough to not come down harder on him. In fact, I would suggest that even if he was better with even greater potential, there'd still be no excuse for them going easy on him. You don't want to tolerate those actions from anyone, and if you're talking about a young player that you hope will mature into a key player for the team, it's something you need to address and make clear right now.

Can anybody remember a similar instance in history where a player punched another player in practice, and what the suspension was? I know I heard of Garnett and Wally (No suspension), but I think that was equal fault on both of them. I know Thomas and Laimbeer got into it in practice, but again I think that may have been equal aggression on both sides.

Also, now that we are at the height of social media, it's harder to hide these squabbles that happen in practice and off the court.

MJ and Kerr are the obvious example to bring up here in the Bulls thread. From recollection, MJ was thrown out of practice, and told to apologise to Kerr. It wasn't quite as bad a scuffle, they patched things up, and there was no further punishment (at least in terms of suspension). As you noted, it happens. It's not a proud moment, but it does happen, and usually it hasn't been anywhere near this bad.

Sad that I forgot about that one.

Well, it was over twenty years ago, and we're getting ancient. Pretty soon, I'll start forgetting about benchwarmers from the 90s.

That's a lie. Who could ever forget about Marty Conlon?

Who could ever forget about Marty Conlon?

Beast.

Kobe and Samaki Walker threw hands in practice as well, no suspension iirc.

Was a sucker punch too from Kobe.

Walker said the Lakers players would put down $100 each in a pot on whoever could make a half-court shot first. After a road trip to Cleveland, Bryant won the half-court contest one day and Walker expected that he would have 48 hours to pay up his share of the pot.

“It wasn’t even 48 hours, Kobe comes to me on the bus, asking me where his $100 is, believe it or not,” Walker said. “Out of all the people, he chose me, which is still to this day puzzling. I told him, ‘Man, I don’t have no $100 on me right now. First of all, why are you coming at me for $100?’ With that being said, I put my earphones back on, and once I put my earphones back on, the most amazing thing happened. Kobe, he sucker punched me.”

The hit resulted in a black eye. Walker asked head coach Phil Jackson to stop the bus and wanted to take the fight outside before Bryant declined. Jackson called it an isolated incident between Walker and Bryant and nothing drastic.

Walker went to add that he and Kobe are still friends.

tbf both were in the wrong there, Kobe for the sucker punch bitch move and Samaki for the dick move of not paying a bet.

Tomato tomaato, valor haha. To me if they were already getting physical and then Portis clocked Niko when Niko approached him- it's not a cheap or sucker punch. But hey I'm not condoning the behavior

Well, NBA fights are usually pushing and shoving anyways, I doubt anybody expected a punch to the face with enough force to shatter someone's bones will be involved so yes, it was a sucker punch imo.

If I recall correctly, Phil kinda instigated the whole MJ and Kerr thing by giving Steve every call. Being the classy guy that he is, lil Stevie apologised for getting a black eye from MJ, which is incredible

tbf both were in the wrong there, Kobe for the sucker punch bitch move and Samaki for the dick move of not paying a bet.

Agreed. Both uncalled for.

Did you see his justification for the Bell trade? "Needed to build equity with owners"

On more positive notes, we actually scored over 100 points and didn't lose by 20+. That's practically a win with this team. I'll take it.

Just getting caught up with this.

Pax admitted they only scouted 5 players for the 2nd round and also even admitted they have limited scouting resources. Smh Piss poor management

More losses to come like that one. Bulls lack of shot creators and that 2nd qtr lineup was on full display

Oh well on to the next one

You'd think a team that is as profitable as the Bulls would have the resources to scout more extensively. But yeah, what else can we say about management at this point?

Haha yes they are checking off all the boxes

Sadly the team could use a veteran playmaker like Rondo. Grants not a starting pg

So an extensive article was just published on ESPN detailing the main points and some of the behind the scene stuff that's happened in the past few shit filled seasons for the Bulls, here's my summary of the article...

1. For a while there Butler got a big head and started to clash with some established leaders of the team (Noah), alienated himself from the core group too.
2. They actually blamed Thibs for failing to beat Lebron's Cavs in the second round, when we weren't even supposed to be in the second round with all the injuries.
3. GarPax wanted to micromanage coaching.
4. GarPax wanted credit for "providing Thibodeau with rosters full of professional players." - You're kidding me right? What else were they going to provide him with? College players?
5. Forman thought Hoiberg was going to be 1.) an offensive guru, 2.) a great communicator, and 3.) Steve Kerr 2.0. - None of which are even remotely close to happening.
6. Team culture, work ethic, competitiveness completely disappeared after Thibs got fired.
7. GarPax had no idea wtf they were doing when they signed Wade and Rondo after saying they wanted to get younger and more athletic, but tried to spin it as their original plan.
8. Gibson was the glue that held the team together post-Noah, and they traded him away for peanuts soon after.
9. "The Bulls ended up paying Wade close to $39 million for one season" - When they put the numbers up like that...Yikes.
10. Hoiberg has no bloody clue what he's doing "would we have handled the situation differently? Maybe. I don't know." (Regarding the punch)
11. Paxson doesn't have a clue either "Paxson acknowledges that the situation is "unprecedented" but affirms the organization will stand behind both players." - Even though the relationship is reportedly unrepairable. Okay John.

It goes to show how important leadership, atmosphere, and culture is. GarPax seem to subscribe to the notion that being in charge means absolute power, that the main point of being in their position is to boss others around and have them be subservient lapdogs. That's not leading, and it certainly doesn't allow the head coach to be a leader, either. That said, I don't think Hoiberg is cut out to coach at the NBA level. Granted, he's not in a great position with the organisation being so dysfunctional, but like you said, he doesn't seem like the guru that was promised.

I'm feeling a little optimistic about Markkanen. The shooting percentages leave something to be desired (though he shot a respectable percentage against the Cavs today), but the scoring talent and range on his jumpshot are there, and he's also getting a decent amount of rebounds. Early days and it remains to be seen if someone picked lower won't turn out to have been a better choice in retrospect, but there's promise there. Something to like, amidst the gloom.

that's the most non joe cowley anti bulls article from a chicago beat guy

out of curiosity- how would you think hoiberg would fare if he was coaching the bulls when Rose & Noah were healthy??

"We had 60-win seasons," Noah says. "We would go into summers, like, really believing that we could win a championship. That's rare. ... So yeah, I miss that grind with those guys, believing that we had a shot of winning a championship. That was the best. Believing that you can win a championship is the best."

good times

Marrkanen. yessir

I think he'd have still been a disappointment. Having a healthier team with all the talent on the floor might've notched a few more wins by default, but I think he's a bust as an "offensive guru", the defense would likely still be lacking, and he'd probably still lose the locker room because he doesn't command the same respect that Thibs did. My take is that he may be a fine college coach, but he's not cut out for the NBA.

its an interesting what if scenario.

hoiberg may not be an offensive guru but keep in mind with the current garbage roster- bulls have hit 100 points 2 of 3 games so far. journeyman holiday is @18ppg.

small sample size yes but i would be optimistic if he was given legit talent to run his system

First win of the season is in the books.

air gordon's brainwashing is complete.

we're running hoiberg's offense in my rec league.

hoiberg for COTY

bulls are bad but that ATL team is terrible with no schroder and ilyasova. Markannen shot was broke. lol i'm still surprised he can get to the basket and finish

We've been 21st in offensive rating in the past two seasons under Hoiberg. Under Thibs we were top 10. That's Hoiberg's credentials as an "offensive guru"...

In other hilariously depressing news, GarPax just showed off their "genius" once again by picking up the team option for Cameron Payne