cubbyvirus00

Yawn

zzzzz

There was nothing to get serious about; he doesn't want to play here. Just like he didn't want to play in LA? LA had been in and out as a place he might end up at. It's been pretty clear from the start that Chicago essentially had and has zero chance to keep him. Before this report, all the reports indicated Howard wanted no part of LA just as much as he did Chicago. In fact, one of the reports from last trade deadline said that Howard waived his player option in order to convince Orlando not to trade him to the Lakers. LA has stayed in the picture as has Houston because until now, LA didn't demand a Howard extension in order to pull off a deal. Exactly. If anything, he's realized this is turning into a nightmare and wants it to be over. He has also realized there is almost a zero chance that he ends up with Brooklyn unless he somehow manages to hit FA which is unlikely.

Oh, so you're going to give up on it, right? If the Lakers do indeed get Howard, I guess the next 5 years won't be too enjoyable with the Heat/OKC/Lakers probably winning the next 5 titles. Those teams are and will be stacked. I will watch from afar and resent the fact that Chicago made zero effort to get serious about Howard. There was nothing to get serious about; he doesn't want to play here. Just like he didn't want to play in LA?

Oh, so you're going to give up on it, right? If the Lakers do indeed get Howard, I guess the next 5 years won't be too enjoyable with the Heat/OKC/Lakers probably winning the next 5 titles. Those teams are and will be stacked. I will watch from afar and resent the fact that Chicago made zero effort to get serious about Howard.

To be fair, they also lost Noah in that series and I'd say it played a major role in them losing it. They also had the best record in the league while Rose missed close to half the games. They did lose Noah, but they also had Rose for all of game 1, so they went 1-4 against the 8 seed without him(and later Noah). Ultimately the point was that they lost to the 8th best team in the East without Rose, and it wasn't exactly by a razor's edge. As for the regular season, I think it's fair to point out that the regular season is not all that meaningful, at least in a "who's the best team" sense. If Thibodeau were coaching some of the teams in the league and the Bulls another guy, I think the priorities would have shifted and the Bulls wouldn't have had nearly the sparkling regular season mark. That doesn't taken away from the accomplishment necessarily, that's part of Thibodeau's charm. But it does weaken your ability to say "well what if this guy didn't get injured" for the playoffs when Tom is grinding them hard through the regular season. Big picture, I think it's fair to say that the Bulls are in the conversation for the 2nd best team in the East with a healthy Rose, along with Brooklyn, Boston, and Indiana. Without Rose, I think it's very difficult to put them on that plane. They did win in the regular season without him, but not only are those not really meaningful games, but for the purposes of the conversation the Bulls are now replacing Asik, Korver, Brewer, Watson, and Lucas from the bench that proved such a difference maker in those situations. Throw Deng in on top of that, and I don't think it's at all outrageous to suggest they'd play like a lottery team. Grit and hustle can only get you so far during the course of the season. Without superstars, it doesn't get you very far in the playoffs. I hope they are a lottery team. This team needs to be beefed up a little bit.

The NBA is a joke and the Lakers have been team stacking for years. Hey at least the Buss family wants to win.

Based on the Bulls being interested in Darko, it looks like Asik is a goner. Thank goodness.....

Yep, which only adds to the hilarity. Meanwhile, from CBSSports preview of the Bears... http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/19602791/chicago-bears What's funny about these is that Marshall and Cutler are being labeled as guys as being capable of "imploding", but there is nothing to suggest that will be the case. First of all, it takes a whole lot of slants and angles to call Cutler's wanting out of Denver "imploding" when the team he just threw for 4500 yards for in his 2nd full season as their starting QB, at 26 years old was basically pushed out of town by his new head coach wanting to bring in an older, less experienced QB, drafted in the 7th round just because the coach was familiar with him. Secondly, if that's considered imploding, then when has Cutler ever imploded before or since the day after his meeting with McDaniels which caused him to request a trade? As for Marshall, he has had several run-ins with the law. And we can go ahead and call those "implosions". But what has the man done since leaving Denver? He's been in the news for negative publicity 2 times. Once he was stabbed by his wife, there were no reports or charges filed that he did anything wrong in that incident. Secondly, was the incident before the trade to the Bears where an investigation revealed no reason to bring charges against Marshall for the incident of the woman being punched. I'm not going to excuse him of the most recent 2 incidents, because where there's smoke there's fire and he seems to have smoke consistently following him. But implosions they are not. And he talks about the Lions being so stable at QB. Very stable with a guy that has only played 6 games more than 1 time. And he does mention that people think the Lions are capable of imploding, but he doesn't? If Marshall is an implosion OFF field risk? Then what are the Lions? They have had 5 players actually arrested AND charged with real things this offseason. They have had players implode on the field. They had a player kicked out of OTAs for punching a teammate. They have a coach that has glossed over everything. The Bears never get any love. I dont understand the seething dislike for Cutler.

Lakers making great moves so far this offseason, adding Howard to that team would be disgusting.

I think you're conflating the media scrutiny, twitter-centric, social media, ubiquitious cell phone camera era of today with Jordan's time. Bingo. I never quite got the obsession over MJs gambling. Who cares?

That's not why people were and continue to rail on you... It's the "all or nothing" approach of meatballism; if someone disagrees with the meatball it must be because they hold the opposite extreme opinion of the meatball's extreme Actually my approach is to stop standing pat and be creative with your roster. Either punt the season and trim payroll or don't. But don't add Asik only to be saddled with his contract in 2014.

Haha and people were railing on me for taking shots at the conservative bulls management and ownership...

That Asik deal is a bucket of fail. Just let him go. His defense is nice to have off the bench but it's not the best use of resources especially when this team is without shooters off the bench and a solid #2.

well Jerry Krause didn't' like cornrows, so..... HA! Well the chances of the Bulls striking out in free agency are good. I mean I'm not sure how Brooklyn is a better destination of winning a championship then Dallas so we can throw all common sense involving these players out the window. I'd rather give Howard a shot then limping into free agency with restrictive contracts and losing players for nothing. Worst case scenario is we have a wide open roster that we can fill in free agency. Best case is we have Rose and Howard for the next 5 years.

With a butt load of cap space and a kickass free agent class and who knows how many stars wanting to be traded (Love). Exactly. If the goal is to create cap space, then why sign Asik to a restrictive contract? Why not start shedding the dead weight now and working trades with the current Bulls players whose contracts will be gone by that FA class? It boils down to GarPax currently wanting to win 44 games instead of 39. Hinrich and Asik don't add much in terms of chasing a championship. They are the kind of players you want AFTER having star players on your roster. We only have 1 at the moment.

Now is when one can swoop in on Howard. I think it's the best chance of getting an impact player and mor sure then going not 2014 and winding up like the Mavs this year.

I'm guessing he had an extremely negative viewpoint about 2014 if it's something you agree with. Nope, it was realistic and a reasonable line of logic that wasn't overly positive. The Bulls track record of roster management speaks for itself.

As far as 2014 goes, Lawerence Holmes has hit the nail on the head. Good stuff on the score this week.

Hahaha the bulls are so predictable. Just let Asik go.

Heat sign F Rashard Lewis

Forman already pretty much admitted this team is done for in the short term. You start to clear cap space now and prepare for 2014 NOW that is if you truly want to build a title contender for 2014 and beyond. Not planning make the 5th (optimistic) seed in the East and get blown out in the playoffs. You either play all in, or all out. This middle ground stuff is maddening.

Package them together and get nice value in return. It makes 100% sense.

My point is that back in 2002 when they were 6th in the Central division, 2003 when they finished 8th in the Central division, 2004/2005 they were first round exits, They made it to the second round of the playoffs in 2006, but DNQ in 2007. Then it was known that they lacked an inside presence but they sign Ben Wallace who everyone knew couldn't score and was undersized on the decline. My point is that this team in fact DID need a major shakeup and rebuilding phase because this team had been toiling for years in mediocrity without much in terms of trades and quality FA additions. No, stop, backtrack; you still haven't explained how you know they're worried about losing ticket sales due to rebuilding. Their ticket sales were great all of the years you listed, so why would they suddenly go south if they decided to "rebuild?" They were selling out when they sucked. I never thought nor said that they were 'worried about ticket sales.' My thought is that they WERE being overly conservative because they don't want to rock the boat and to disrupt their business from profiting. Fans have been selling out the stadium with some medicore middle of the pack teams. Now with the arrival of Rose, perhaps the pressure will finally rise. I'm going over the history of this franchise in the last 10 years and none of it really inspires confidence that they will do what is needed to field a powerhouse title contender to rival OKC or the Heat.

My point is that back in 2002 when they were 6th in the Central division, 2003 when they finished 8th in the Central division, 2004/2005 they were first round exits, They made it to the second round of the playoffs in 2006, but DNQ in 2007. Then it was known that they lacked an inside presence but they sign Ben Wallace who everyone knew couldn't score and was undersized on the decline. My point is that this team in fact DID need a major shakeup and rebuilding phase because this team had been toiling for years in mediocrity without much in terms of trades and quality FA additions.