WrigleyField 22

If there was a tank movement it ended when they were unable or unwilling to move Butler. As it stands now you could probably even make an addition by subtraction argument (Not my favorite stat, but...) - Pau Gasol, 21.7 PER in 2291 MP - Derrick Rose 13.5 in 2097 MP - Joakim Noah 14.1 PER in 635 MP And nearly 3000 MP to under 10 PER guys Hinrich, MDJ, Barstow, and Snell (assuming on Snell and MDJ). So Gasol actually had our best PER, and a good PER, but people who watched a lot more Bulls than I have said he wasn't a good fit despite the stats. Rose was not a fit, nor productive. Lopez can do 3/4 of what Noah did in hopefully more minutes. Not bringing back or just riding the pine with other dead weight and replacing with league average production is additional improvement. Calderon can at least hit an outside shot if he plays. Basically though this is at lrast one shot at seeing if there is any untapped potential left in Butler (he now has complete command of the offense) and if Mirotic can tap into his promise and be that third option. Focus on good fits in FA. If you strike out in FA, well, I dont know, but at least probably keep whatever value Butler has intact by letting him inflate his stats. There's probably not that much difference between spots 5-11, and even a first round playoff run brings in valuable revenue, valuable experience, and maybe some additional trade value. If a guy like Valentine is a "hit", he will have value if a top trade target is available. All the first round picks and possible first round picks (Sac) will hold value. Butler will have value.

The NBA should really do away with the max.

Wait that has to be only 4 years right? So basically the max? I was expecting a lot of 10m backups and 20m starters, but if non superstars start making 30m... yea we can add one starter in FA, and that's it.

as much as i wanted to believe that at the time and shortly thereafter, i don't anymore. In the most abstract sense I think it was true, but not actually. We lost Asik and someone else important was banged up I think. After that season they were able to round out the ancillary pieces they needed and even our upgrades couldn't have outpaced their improvement.

Not as disagreeable now that you spell it out like that. And my point isn't that we should tank, my point is that it is unlikely that we become a legit contender without a star that is better than Jimmy Butler. Now if the Bulls had a lot of intriguing assets that could either develop into an attractive team, or be used as trade bait for either a star or lottery picks, then yes I am completely fine with not blowing the whole team up. But this team is Jimmy Butler and a cast of mediocre role players basically. We are not going to improve our long term outlook by drafting high floor, low ceiling guys like McDermott and Valentine. We are not going to improve our long term outlook by trading Rose for a packaged headlined by Joakim Noah lite (I know Rose's trade value wasn't high and they did get a potential high ceiling low floor guy in Grant, but I'd rather have the cap space than a 3 year commitment to Lopez at 14 per). These are marginal assets for future transactions. So if we are a 50 win team with no hope of the title, that's fine if we are building toward something or accumulating assets, much like the 05-09 Bulls or the last 2 Celtics teams. But every move I've seen the Bulls make lately has been designed to keep the Bulls in that 42-47 win range without much long term upside and no asset accumulation. So yes I would prefer to blow it up and bottom out for what hopes to be a year or two than watch a team led by Jimmy, Taj and Robin Lopez struggle to make the playoffs. I understand the risk that it will make the team unwatchable and I understand 1-2 years could turn into 5-7 years, but at this point I am having a hard time finding other ways to compete long term. Good trait bait is usually draft picks, recent top 5 draft picks, and salary filler. You aren't going to get guys at 14 who are really that high potential which significantly improves the return verses solid, young, cost controlled assets with less potential. We should at least see their FA strategy and execution.

how much fun did you have watching this game? http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200504240CHI.html Because I had a lot of [expletive] fun that day and I'm OK with admitting that. I was there. On that team we had 2 promising lottery picks, Deng in particular had a superstar ceiling or was thought at the time. There were still people that believed Curry and Chandler had some superstar potential left in them. Gordon was looking like a really good number 2. They were in really nice shape with the salary cap. Yes that team in particular was not going to win a title, but there was a ton of hope that they had their superstar developing and they were on a legit road to the title. This particular team building is Jimmy Butler, whose ceiling we know, then a bunch of low ceiling role players (Valentine, Lopez, Taj, Doug, Niko, Snell, Calderon). Grant is the only player that you might argue could have a ceiling as a star but its also isn't a particularly likely ceiling to achieve. So the Bulls are in a situation where they have 1 star, albeit closer to a top 10-20 in the NBA star, and a roster of role players with low ceilings. They don't have a ton of valuable assets outside of Butler that we can use to get better via trade. Can the team win 45-50 games and win a playoff series? yes. But I am not sure how they can improve much beyond that picking 15-20 every year and making modest FA improvements (because they aren't enticing a superstar with this roster). Trade. Obviously they sucked enough to get a high pick as an asset but the Celts showed that model. The Heats first title they lucked into a star with a non top 3 pick and then finished with another star in a trade. Mavs spent a long time wasting years on their non top 3 pick superstar before the right mix of trades brought them the supporting stars to bring a ship.

Nice highlight video. Just wondering why he only averaged 5 PPG last year. Also he tore a knee ligament in 2014. Denzel Valentine has knee issues. You'd think we've been burned by bum knees enough in our recent history. It's Euroball, it's not like you're gonna get 20ppg scorers. The minutes distribution is typically more even along with ball distribution. The year we spent a first rounder on Mirotic he had just put up 7.5 ppg. The few years after that he exceeded double digits.

So Thibs was just trolling the whole time?

Although some strategic disassembles can make sense. Like I wanted to blow up the roster after Rose's second injury. Yet that team became probably my second favorite team since the championship teams. So what do I know anyways.

I had a lot of fun watching various iterations of second round exit Bulls teams. Whether by FA, trade, or draft you need a horsefeathers ton of luck, so I say go and compete and remain as flexible as possible while winning some games.

i'm very confused. your post could almost not have been more wrong. Disagree. David is right.

Yea I guess talks are ongoing. I wonder if the 14th pick is going to factor in....

I guess we should know within the hour if anything materializes

Must be an NFL player

Whoa

Yea Penny on the Knicks was definitely afterthought-ish. I think even the dumbest if Knicks fans saw him as just an ancillary piece as he was pretty old then. Marbury and Francis, and now arguably Rose were big moves meant to reinvigorate the team.

Specifically PG for the Knicks. Also I don't think it's strictly an injury thing, otherwise I'd put McGrady over Marbury. Stylistically or expectation wise Penny doesn't fit as well as the others either.

Steve Franchise Francis

So should I be expecting anything exciting leading up tho the draft. I've really fallen off following nba draft prospects at all. I think the McDermott year was the last I sort of did.

How many of their own picks do they even own? Tanking ain't so attractive when youre already out of the game every other year for foreseeable future.

Guess I need a new t shirt as a Rose shersey was my only Bulls attire. Throwback Hoiberg jersey? So if they wanted to release their cap holds on Gasol and Noah and keep their hold on Moore looks like they'd be at just under 70M with a 94M cap (a savings of about 1.4M). Contracts are going to get absurd though as well. Wonder if the better player is to use cap space to absorb "bad deals" from teams chasing a big name. What good player do the Warriors need to dump to sign Durant? Would think Dunleavy is a likely trade target now as well?

Wait the guy with a .422 eFG% was the key in the deal for you? If anything it would seem the goal was to get a competent Gasol/Noah replacement. Wonder if there's still cap wiggle room, not that I'd get my hopes up on them.to actually close a big name.

mark prior says hi and now I'm crying yup Rose's fall was definitely further. As much as I expected changes there was part of me that really thought the Bulls would just roll ahead with minor changes, so I'm a little bit shocked still. Haven't watched enough Bulls or NBA to formake a strong opinion on the deal.

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Going soft in his old age.