Bulls 2015-16 Regular Season Thread 2.0

[David]

Tanking for picks only works if you make the right picks (see the 76ers as a way to fail miserably at this)

 

more like tanking for picks only works (as far as becoming a championship contender) if you happen to do it the year there is a once a decade super-duper-star available.

 

otherwise, making the right picks will just get you into a place similar to where the bulls were (not that they got there entirely this way)...which is a very good team that wins a bunch of games with little to no shot at a title.

[Ryne Ween]

Tanking for picks only works if you make the right picks (see the 76ers as a way to fail miserably at this)

 

more like tanking for picks only works (as far as becoming a championship contender) if you happen to do it the year there is a once a decade super-duper-star available.

 

otherwise, making the right picks will just get you into a place similar to where the bulls were (not that they got there entirely this way)...which is a very good team that wins a bunch of games with little to no shot at a title.

 

Buy even getting a HOFer in the draft at 1-3 picks hasn't translated into a title for anybody but the Spurs since the 1984 draft. Getting a superstar guy at 1 pick rarely translates to a title or even a long run at the top.

 

OKC had three top lottery picks got two all NBA players and all time great and they have been around the 4th best team in their conference over the past 5 years.

 

Cleveland will probably be left without a title despite having maybe the best player ever in his prime with 3 additional #1 draft choices.

 

Its pretty obvious that the best way to win titles or contend seriously for a long period of time is to continuously improve your team every year. Rebuilding doesn't work. Drafting well (curry at 7 clay at 17 green and Barnes later in the draft) using free agency well and getting lucky with health has been what translates to success.

 

Constantly improving your team and trying to win more and more games each year is best.

 

Also when you have a top coach you don't Fire him for making your players put in exceptional effort.

[Sammy Sofa]

They fired him because everyone hated him at the end. The players weren't at that point and weren't going to continue to give an "exceptional effort" for someone they were fed up with.

[Ryne Ween]

They fired him because everyone hated him at the end. The players weren't at that point and weren't going to continue to give an "exceptional effort" for someone they were fed up with.

 

Why do you think that you know this?

[Sammy Sofa]

Because the team started looking like horsefeathers like they were completely checked out at times, plus all of the stories of how you had players going to management and saying they wanted him gone or supposedly even threatening to boycott if he was brought back:

 

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2015/5/28/8678683/bulls-players-tom-thibodeau-offseason-fired

 

http://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/bulls-players-threatened-to-boycott-tom-thibodeau/263121

 

http://bullsbythehorns.com/bill-simmons-zach-lowe-discuss-behind-scenes-unrest-chicago/

 

I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think a coach like Thibs is going to have a relatively short shelf life. No matter how much a player initially buys in, most of them are going to be pretty fed up with a coach like that after a few years, especially if they don't pull off a championship or two. Bringing him back wouldn't have accomplished much outside of not having to pay for two coaches.

[Ryne Ween]

Because the team started looking like [expletive] like they were completely checked out at times, plus all of the stories of how you had players going to management and saying they wanted him gone or supposedly even threatening to boycott if he was brought back:

 

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2015/5/28/8678683/bulls-players-tom-thibodeau-offseason-fired

 

http://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/bulls-players-threatened-to-boycott-tom-thibodeau/263121

 

http://bullsbythehorns.com/bill-simmons-zach-lowe-discuss-behind-scenes-unrest-chicago/

 

I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think a coach like Thibs is going to have a relatively short shelf life. No matter how much a player initially buys in, most of them are going to be pretty fed up with a coach like that after a few years, especially if they don't pull off a championship or two. Bringing him back wouldn't have accomplished much outside of not having to pay for two coaches.

 

The first link says that reports say that players avoided thibs in the offseason. Which players?

 

The second link is saying Dan Bernstein says he's heard that 3 "starters" said they wouldn't come back if Thibs came back. First off its Bernstein and thus meaningless. Second, three of Taj Noah Pau Rose dunleavy and Butler were willing to not report this season if thibs was back? There is absolutely no way that's true.

 

Your third link has nothing in it relevant to your point of view. It's about management and thibs not getting along which all concede.

[Sammy Sofa]

So basically nothing can convince you that Thibs lost the team. I can't really help you with that. There's never going to be anything explicitly showing the players saying this stuff, but there sure as horsefeathers was a ton of smoke.

 

If it was just the FO wanting him gone, why bother waiting to fire him for his last season? They couldn't stand him for years before that. If he's got the players still on his side and willing to bust ass for him, then just let him finish out his final year and opt not to re-sign him when they inevitably fail to go anywhere yet again. Why do the opposite and piss off the players you think were still wanting to give him "exceptional effort" when you can just let him walk after his last year?

 

Seems much more likely that the other shoe dropped of him losing the team and thus them losing their reason for keeping him around despite the FO hating him.

[UMFan83]

Aside from the poor value the Bulls front office thought it was getting back in any potential Gasol deal, another big reason the deal wasn't made is because of the front office's belief that the Bulls' consecutive seasons playoff streak -- which stands at seven -- is a big selling point to free agents, not to mention an extra moneymaker for the franchise.

 

lmao, they thought 'yeah we are one of the 16/30 teams that make the playoffs every year' was a selling point to FAs? Even funnier is that this influenced their decision to keep Pau and they still didn't make the playoffs.

[Banedon]

Bring back Krause.

[Banedon]

[tweet]

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[UMFan83]

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This is exactly why I think we can trade Rose this offseason without having to take on a bad contract. When the cap explodes, so does the floor, and team would rather take a risk on a guy like Rose in his walk year and own his bird rights rather than disperse the difference between your payroll and the cap floor amongst your current players? The Sixers are looking to make their team semi-relevant again...wouldn't trading one of their many 2nd rounders for Rose be something they would strongly consider?

[WrigleyField 22]

So we trade Rose and are targeting who in FA?

[Sammy Sofa]

A poster of Pistol Pete and a really tall guy Paxson thinks he saw on the L one day.

[MarkR]

What are the odds they make a deal to ship off Butler in the offseason?

[Wilson A2000]

What are the odds they make a deal to ship off Butler in the offseason?

 

Lakers for the #1 pick

[David]

in hysterically cowardly fashion, the bulls hold a surprise post mortem presser tonight and paxson gives forman a vote of confidence. garbage.

[bukie]

Bulls the first team to finish above .500 in the East and not make the playoffs since 2004.

[Brian]

in hysterically cowardly fashion, the bulls hold a surprise post mortem presser tonight and paxson gives forman a vote of confidence. garbage.

 

and Reinsdorf did this pointless press release

Tonight, Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations John Paxson and General Manager Gar Forman spoke about the disappointment that everyone in the Bulls organization, including myself, feels about this season. They also talked about the commitment shared by all of us – John, Gar, Fred, Michael and me – to be strategic and aggressive in the steps taken to improve the team. I want our fans to know that we are grateful for the way they stood by us during a season in which we fell far short of our expectations and that the resources needed will be made available to get this team moving in the right direction.

[Sammy Sofa]

It reads better if you pretend they just made fart noises instead.

[Banedon]

The Bulls are the bottom of the Chicago sports barrel at this point.

[apete6]

The Bulls are the bottom of the Chicago sports barrel at this point.

 

Absolutely. With not much hope of getting above the middle. Teams ranked in order of championship likelihood:

 

Blackhawks

Cubs

White Sox

Bears

Bulls

 

Could maybe switch the Sox and Bears. Bulls are going to be crap for a long time.

[David]

The Cubs are better at baseball than the Blackhawks are at hockey. Just how crapshooty the hockey playoffs might be and how that impacts championship likelihood, I'm not sure.

[Banedon]

The Cubs are better at baseball than the Blackhawks are at hockey. Just how crapshooty the hockey playoffs might be and how that impacts championship likelihood, I'm not sure.

 

And baseball playoffs aren't crapshooty?

[David]

The Cubs are better at baseball than the Blackhawks are at hockey. Just how crapshooty the hockey playoffs might be and how that impacts championship likelihood, I'm not sure.

 

And baseball playoffs aren't crapshooty?

 

Where did I say they weren't?

[UMFan83]

The Bulls are the bottom of the Chicago sports barrel at this point.

 

Absolutely. With not much hope of getting above the middle. Teams ranked in order of championship likelihood:

 

Blackhawks

Cubs

White Sox

Bears

Bulls

 

Could maybe switch the Sox and Bears. Bulls are going to be crap for a long time.

 

I'd definitely swap White Sox with Bears simply because they have to compete for the same championship the Cubs are competing for.