UMFan83

BTW, for all those interested. ESPN1000 said that Lu, Thabo and.....Kirk Hinrich will be back tonight. Kirk will probably only play 10-15 minutes.

If we have $25 million free and someone isn't happy in their current situation, and they have a chance to play with a potentially budding superstar (Rose) a pretty decent 3rd or 4th option (Deng) in the 3rd largest city in the country that has a pretty decent (although not great) tradition, why wouldn't they? Consider our ownership. I don't think that matters. Lets say by the end of next season, Rose is putting up 20/4/8 while shooting 48% and is generally considered a budding superstar that will make players better. We have the money and we have the ideal situation to win. If a player is looking to leave his current team (which will be the team that can offer the most), Chicago would be the 2nd most attractive option after New York. Let NY get LeBron and Bosh, then we can throw a bunch of money at Wade or Amare or Dirk or Pierce. If that doesn't work out, we might be able to sign a player for $16 million and another for $10 million and get 2 pretty good players to go along Rose. I know you're thinking of 2001 and thinking we're going to get burned again, but times have changed. We actually have some players in place. Hell at the end of next season VDN's contract runs out, we might tell Amare or Wade that he can pick his own coach to come here. You still have to be willing to throw alot of money at one of those free agents. It isn't like they will play for the MLE because of Derrick Rose. Yeah, and I'm saying we'll have $25 million to throw at a FA most likely if we can get rid of Hinrich (should be easy, and something that's been discussed), and let Gordon, Gooden and O'Neal go. I haven't thought it out fully though, its just a topic to discussed. If you can get DWade for $20 million to team with Rose, you have to do it right? If Lebron, Bosh, and Amare are all gone, then yes. But IMO, Wade and Rose would not be a good fit as they both demand the ball at the top. They would be redundent parts. I would still love Wade, but a low post guy like Bosh would be so much better. Rose has shown he can adapt his play to fit the style that is needed on that given night. You're probably right though, Rose and Wade both take the ball to the whole very well for a majority of their points, and both don't rely on long jump shots and 3's. I still think Rose will be a better distributer than scorer when all is said and done.

If we have $25 million free and someone isn't happy in their current situation, and they have a chance to play with a potentially budding superstar (Rose) a pretty decent 3rd or 4th option (Deng) in the 3rd largest city in the country that has a pretty decent (although not great) tradition, why wouldn't they? Consider our ownership. I don't think that matters. Lets say by the end of next season, Rose is putting up 20/4/8 while shooting 48% and is generally considered a budding superstar that will make players better. We have the money and we have the ideal situation to win. If a player is looking to leave his current team (which will be the team that can offer the most), Chicago would be the 2nd most attractive option after New York. Let NY get LeBron and Bosh, then we can throw a bunch of money at Wade or Amare or Dirk or Pierce. If that doesn't work out, we might be able to sign a player for $16 million and another for $10 million and get 2 pretty good players to go along Rose. I know you're thinking of 2001 and thinking we're going to get burned again, but times have changed. We actually have some players in place. Hell at the end of next season VDN's contract runs out, we might tell Amare or Wade that he can pick his own coach to come here. You still have to be willing to throw alot of money at one of those free agents. It isn't like they will play for the MLE because of Derrick Rose. Yeah, and I'm saying we'll have $25 million to throw at a FA most likely if we can get rid of Hinrich (should be easy, and something that's been discussed), and let Gordon, Gooden and O'Neal go. I haven't thought it out fully though, its just a topic to discussed. If you can get DWade for $20 million to team with Rose, you have to do it right?

If we have $25 million free and someone isn't happy in their current situation, and they have a chance to play with a potentially budding superstar (Rose) a pretty decent 3rd or 4th option (Deng) in the 3rd largest city in the country that has a pretty decent (although not great) tradition, why wouldn't they? Consider our ownership. I don't think that matters. Lets say by the end of next season, Rose is putting up 20/4/8 while shooting 48% and is generally considered a budding superstar that will make players better. We have the money and we have the ideal situation to win. If a player is looking to leave his current team (which will be the team that can offer the most), Chicago would be the 2nd most attractive option after New York. Let NY get LeBron and Bosh, then we can throw a bunch of money at Wade or Amare or Dirk or Pierce. If that doesn't work out, we might be able to sign a player for $16 million and another for $10 million and get 2 pretty good players to go along Rose. I know you're thinking of 2001 and thinking we're going to get burned again, but times have changed. We actually have some players in place. Hell at the end of next season VDN's contract runs out, we might tell Amare or Wade that he can pick his own coach to come here.

If we have $25 million free and someone isn't happy in their current situation, and they have a chance to play with a potentially budding superstar (Rose) a pretty decent 3rd or 4th option (Deng) in the 3rd largest city in the country that has a pretty decent (although not great) tradition, why wouldn't they? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think NY is the only team that will have more space than us to bid for FAs, which is fine because people would probably choose to play in NY for less anyways. They will have enough to get 2 of those guys. Wade will probably stay in Miami, but if he goes anywhere Chicago has to be one of the few places he will consider. Amare might also consider Chicago if the Suns start to flounder (and they are showing signs). Also, this is the list of people that could be available in 2010: Paul Pierce LeBron James Josh Howard Dirk Nowitzki Tayshaun Prince Shane Battier Yao Ming Mike Dunleavy TJ Ford Zach Randolph Kobe Bryant Pau Gasol Dwayne Wade Richard Jefferson Michael Redd Tyson Chandler Peja Stojakovic Kevin Durant (restricted) Samuel Dalembert Jason Richardson Amare Stoudemire Tony Parker Andrei Kirilenko Caron Butler

Also, since people seem to be interested, this is the link that the rumor originated from: http://www.rumorpress.net/ Doesn't sound like anything is imminent, but I know Chicago desperately wants and needs to make a trade and Toronto is more than listening to offers for O'Neal. The guy that posted the rumor has an inside source and has a really really good track record for rumors (in otherwords, this isn't BigBird)

Apparently, Toronto isn't interested in giving up on Bargnani at the moment.

Yay Michigan is ranked! I have a bad feeling they won't be ranked next Monday.... @ Illinois v. Ohio State That's a tough week

it's more than I'd expect for Hughes, so I'd go for it. What is O'Neal's injury status? He's gonna be injured on and off for the rest of his career. There's no way around it. This isn't the Jermaine O'Neal that led Indiana for a few years. But he has managed to play in almost 30 games this year, and putting up decent numbers (14/7/2 BPG) for a team that has another low post option. It's a good move because 1. Helps us rid of our guard glut with Hughes going 2. Gets rid of a player we really don't need, and who is under contract for 4 more years (Nocioni) 3. Gives us somewhat of a post presence and interior defender. Easily makes our team playoff caliber for the next 2 years and then gives us a crapload of money available in 2010.

How would you guys feel about Hughes and Nocioni for Jermaine O'Neal? Apparently its being discussed according to RealGM. O'Neal is a 21.3M expiring contract after next season (before 2010)

If Rice played for the Twins during the peak of his career would he have gotten in?

It's Rickey and Rice officially

Good to hear Harry try to pronounce Assenmacher one more time

Seriously. i was going to say that this is the most exciting boring game i've ever watched. I don't know why, but for some reason all games between NFC East teams bore the hell out of me. Theres really no reason why...they are all traditional teams, they are all pretty good, and they all have great rivalries with each other. Maybe its just because they seem to be on TV every weekend.

I guess its smart but its kinda weird to make people buy something they don't want and won't read just to get a better spot on the waiting list. That said, I'll probably do it.

Michigan beating up on Iowa at halftime. Hopefully this isn't a reverse Indiana game for them...

It probably has something to do with being down and not having the running game to open up the rest of the field. The only drive they had where they werent down (besides the drive where they fumbled), they marched right down the field and scored.

LOL, in one week the Bulls lost to the two worst teams in the NBA on their home court.

There is nothing worse than getting a playoff bye and then losing in the first game. Trust me, my Bears have done that twice this decade.

Team was bound to slump at some point, especially on a roadtrip

It's kinda scary that the Panthers greatest strength, their running game, has been mostly taken out of the equation for the 2nd half. I bet we are going to see a bunch of mini-Hail Marys to Steve Smith's direction in the second half.

It's not like Arizona is a terrible team. They played in a bad division, but this team obviously has explosive playmakers on offense and they are an extremely aggressive defense. How could we honestly know how good or bad Arizona is? They won 6 of their 9 games against their pathetic division (played the 49ers both times before they turned it around) and were 3-7 against the rest of the teams, with all 3 of those wins at home (albeit against Dallas, Buffalo and Miami). Plus 5 of their 7 losses were blowouts to playoff caliber teams. There was no reason to think they could beat a solid Carolina Panthers team (not that the game is over yet).

Did anyone, anywhere pick the Cardinals to win this game?

And then in the AFC, you could see an 8-8 team hosting a conference championship against a team that went 4-12 last year and gave Miami their only win and is starting a rookie QB.

Looks like I spoke too soon. Don't think Arizona is going to win but they might keep it competitive for awhile.