Chisoxfn

Unless the Bears get insanely blown away, there is zero chance they are trading Howard within the conference. Zero. Far more likely they make a deal for Bell.

The Bulls FO has to hope that someone else, Jimmy's caliber, pulls a similar stunt this season or next season as I presume their plan is to land one guy via a "value" trade, surround him with Mark/Carter Jr., and whichever non Mark/Carter Jr. pieces they didn't trade, and use that nucleus to try to add via free agency. Butler is going to get traded for pennies on the dollar.

No young team is good at defense. Its the facts of life. This team might always be bad at defense, but it is a big reason why many pundits still expect Bulls to be really bad. I will point out, Lavine had another electric offensive performance. Like dynamite.

Probably the safer flex choice. Mahomes is must see tv right now.

The Stat I was quoting was representative of purely NEW US auto sales. Tesla represents 2% of NEW US auto sales.

Technically speaking, the Camry outsold the Model 3. Camry sold 30K units in September vs. 22K from Tesla. What Tesla is though is the undisputed champion of all things EV. Not even close...they are the market. You can take all the other major EV players and combine them together and they still fall short out of Tesla (in the post Model 3 world). The interesting concept will be what will Telsa's go-forward run rate look like since they had a huge order book going into launch. Either way, while I question Tesla's long term ability to be a sustainable car manufacturer...I do not undersell the impact they will have on the auto industry. Tesla, post Model 3 success, represents ~2% of the US marketplace. Prior to the Model 3, they represented roughly .3-.4% of the US marketplace. Additionally, electric vehicle sales represent barely much more than the Tesla market-share. What Tesla has accomplished is astonishing and if EV ultimately becomes fully mainstream, they will be the reason why (or at least a huge driver in why it emerged when it did, etc)...that said, the sheer mass production capabilities of the major auto manufacturers can quickly pivot as the scale/margins evolve. This is not to say that Tesla doesn't have a massive head start...it does...but it also has certain material limitations around production/distribution (including robust worldwide capabilities). At some point Tesla will be acquired...but not for a long time as they are way way too expensive (valuations > than every other auto manufacturer on the planet). Instead companies will continue to reverse engineer and pour more and more into R&D as the EV marketplace continues to emerge. We can look back in 10 years at this post and see how crazy wrong I am haha.

The Dodgers will not collapse. They have all the money in the world and like 5 top GM's all on the same payroll. I might be exaggerating slightly but they have legit bench talent throughout their organization. From front office execs to scouts to coaches. They are run like the big "investment" funds and have spent millions acquiring top baseball talent (i.e., scouts and front office people) to pick "investments" (i.e., players).

Maybe their owner wants Buckets and is now going to bring someone in who helps get him Butler?

First off, I'm not ready to get ahead of ourselves. Superstitious or whatever. But that aside, I don't believe NBC can flex games that early in the season. I thought it was only during the last 6 weeks of the season or something?

I figure the Bulls have too many injury prone guys that very rarely will they have all of their guys on the court. That said, I'm prioritizing Lavine, Mark, Carter, and Dunn (and obviously Hutch) over pretty much everyone else. I say Lavine because if he healthy, he has all of the athleticism and skills to be a top notch player. He may still end up being nothing but a chucker, but his basketball tools are off the chart, imo. Basketball IQ is a separate discussion though. I still think this year is about development in the younger pieces and getting a roster decent enough that you can start to land some impact guys via FA or trade. One thing I think people are underestimating is how a piece like Jabari can be used to facilitate a trade for a player looking to leave.

Parker's fit on this squad is still an extremely odd one. I view it as one of those why not lottery ticket moves that they did more than anything else.

I like Portis and think he's an extremely valuable bench contributor and think he can play a nice role in a contending team. However, if you are having him eat up a good chunk of your cap space...welp, you are going to have a hard time being a contender. Love Portis attitude and energy, etc, but I'm worried that this will be one of those deals that gets in the way of us doing something special in free agency, etc. If we already had a championship roster and you were just going to be dealing with JR and company paying luxury tax or at risk of that, I'd have a different view because I generally like Bobby's game. He can score in so many ways and whether he can play enough D to be a starter or not, he can certainly be an extremely valuable 6th man who can spot start. But I'm not taking up $15M of cap space for that.

I should point out, I say that because I think his defensive limitations will crop up too much. Not because I think he will regularly shoot like he did last night. He's proven that he can score and can be an efficient scorer. The question to me is what sort of defense can the guy play. I think with his limitations, he probably isn't a $20M per year guy.

Odds are this will be Parker's only season with the Bulls (at least under his 1 and 1 contract). That said, maybe he'll really take his game up a level.

Why do people bag on Joe? He's won everywhere he's gone. When was the last time the White Sox won 95 games? Come on man.

They won 95 games and its baseball. Yes, they lost two must-win games at home...but shit happens in baseball. Best teams don't always win. Fans are going to want to overreact but I wish we were in the situation the Cubs were in. They need better front-end pitching and they have some bad contracts, but they also have a heck of a lot of quality players / pieces and pretty deep pockets.

I know one thing...it was preseason so I don't want to get ahead of myself (and one game) but he looked better than I saw him for any game last season in terms of his explosion (and that is counting that absurd night he had against the Twolves last season). Can't comment on his defense and any improvements he made, but hopefully he stays healthy. If he does, I think we are going to see a significant improvement in his percentages across the board. He will take bad shots though, I guarantee that much.

Remember though...new lottery format could turn that into a decent pick. On the brightside...it is preseason but Lavine was freaking explosive last night.

We noticed the same things. I think Howard was dealing with a wrist injury, but I think part of it was probably momentum / scheme / sticking with the hot hand. Howard will get his though. Nagy is creative and will find a lot of ways....plus if we can open up the intermediate and deep passing game like they did this week...there will be lots of room for Howard as the season gets going.

Rosen is so freaking smooth and talented. I stick to my guns that he will be the best QB in this past years draft class. The guy I really am not impressed with (thus far...small sample size) has been Sam Darnold. Small sample size so no conclusions, but imo, he's looked the least NFL ready (which shouldn't be a surprised as I think a lot of people thought he was less ready than Mayfield or Rosen). Still he's got good moxy and obviously good tools.

This. It was great to see the flash, but it is one game and the crazy part was, we still left plays out on the field. The big thing to me was Mitch looked significantly more comfortable in the pocket and quicker in his reads. A big thing I also noticed was a few throws where he created the window by looking off the DB's and than firing a confident pass back over. Was very pretty. Also kudos to Cohen..he was absolutely fantastic as was Gabriel. Great to see so many open guys...I'm hoping at least some of it is the quality of our weapons and system vs. just the Bucs being lousy Either way, I'll take it. By the way, Eddie Jackson is just an absolutely stellar safety. I hope he stays healthy and has a long long career in Chicago. Such a ballhawk. Dude just has a nose for the football and also has really good athleticism. Total playmaker. Also, Mack was great...but major kudos to everyone else on the D not named Mack...including Tolliver. Bucs have a ton of weapons and Bears D played really well. That said...next up...hopefully we have good practices / productive bye week heading into Miami. One week at a time but I hope the team doesn't spend too much timing listening into what I presume will be unnecessary hype (again....because this is one game). I need to see a lot more consistently good to great performances before I really start jumping to conclusions But man...such a fun game...easily one of the best games I've ever seen the Bears play in my lifetime.

Fantastic and we actually left points out there. Great to see and hopefully a sign of future to come!

On the flip side...this could be the thing that helps the bulls get one more big draft asset prior to starting to focus on free agency. Maybe this ends up being a blessing in disguise?

It’s nice to at least go into a game thinking the bears can win. Not saying they will but I can at least see scenarios we could win. Offense will have to play better and defense will need to make plays and rattle Fitz. Should be a good game but I agree, if I were a betting man my lean would be Tampa, especially with the bears secondary banged up. Bucs have some nice offensive weapons in Evans, Howard, Jackson, and Galloway.

Wtf. Man I am cursed as a sports fan. Spoiled rotten with Jordan to be toyed with for my post Jordan era life haha. Get better quick Lauri!