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QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 27, 2017 -> 09:21 AM) I actually think Lopez is the glue that makes us competitive, our rebounding will be awful if he leaves. Lopez is so damn solid. Will always root for him. Very much learned to appreciate him during his short Bulls career. But yes...if we are tanking to the fullest extent, they'll have to move him. Interior d, etc, will evaporate.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Oct 27, 2017 -> 09:15 AM) No shot. And what you are suggesting is a worst case scenario. They are committed to being terrible this year. They know that they need to do whatever is necessary to lose a ton. Atlanta, New York and Phoenix will challenge them but this is one of the worst teams in the league. It's imperative to land Porter Jr, Bagley or Doncic. It's a complete failure otherwise. They'll likely move Lopez, Mirotic and Holliday as well. Markkanen is impressive. This is a very bad basketball team though and it's that way by design. By the way, I completely agree...it is a bad scenario. I could live with it if it is because Lauri is a superstar, Levine comes back amazing (and continues an ascension) and Dunn becomes a beast. But I don't see all of those things happening (or at least not happening that fast). But there are a lot of really really bad teams in this league. Like a lot. It's why I said in another post we need to move Lopez sooner vs. later (and I can also see then moving Mirotic sooner...albeit I think if you hold him a bit longer, he could pad his stats and actually create some value).

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Oct 27, 2017 -> 09:13 AM) Gage thought the 99-00 Bulls were a playoff team too at the beginning of that season. Haha...in this East they probably would be. Look at the Hawks as an example. Lots of teams with that type of garbage. My delusional brain last night was watching the game going...god, if only we had Lonzo Ball on this roster...I'd be really happy (Lonzo, Levine, Lauri)...L cubed. But then I was like...it's okay...we can draft an elite PG this year with our high pick...then I was like...no, we aren't going to suck enough. Lonzo would be such a good fit for Hoiball. I can't stand watching Grant play PG as much as he does. How do you play "Hoiball" with Jerian Grant at PG.

So since I'm on a run of hot takes...I truly believe this Bulls team (as constructed today), if healthy, makes a run at the 8 seed. Not because the team as a whole is any good...but because the East is freaking terrible. We are way too good to be a bottom 3 team (if healthy). The injuries should give the Bulls a head start (in terms of tanking), but if Levine is healthy later on and Dunn make strides, we are going to win more games then people expect. If Bulls are serious about tanking, they'll need to move Lopez sooner vs. later (cause he flat out is a solid player who will drive wins but doesn't fit the long-term strategy) and who I would hope we could get some form of young asset for. The good news is...one of the reasons I'm making this statement is because I think Lauri is far more advanced than I originally thought he was when we drafted him (and that showed in Euroleague play and is already showing now). He is also way more athletic then I thought he was (albeit he needs tighter handles when he tries his behind the back moves).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 27, 2017 -> 09:01 AM) Apparently Niko wants to be traded, but the Bulls have already talked to at least one team about Portis. I presume Portis will be the one who goes (probably easier to trade). At least one will be moved, imo. Niko will likely be harder to move at this point. I still think his contract is one that could actually turn into a value. His defense is criminally underrated (despite the fact that his offensive basketball IQ is 0). A year in Hoiberg's actual system should pad his stats and enable us to move him at better value, imo.

QUOTE (Quin @ Oct 27, 2017 -> 09:02 AM) I'm really liking what I see from Nwaba. Reminds me of rookie/sophomore Jimmy - high energy, good defensive tools, gets to the hoop. If the Bulls could turn him into a Ronnie Brewer Bench Mob Role, that'd be phenomenal. Nwaba is a fantastic athlete. Fantastic. He's still rough around the edges, but he has the strength and athleticism to develop into a very good defender and his aggressive style can get him points in the paint. He's exactly the type of guy you want to be giving minutes to in this rebuild and I think the Bulls have something in here. My intelligent Laker fans were bummed when the Lakers waived him (albeit, they have a glut of young guys they are trying to play in the same spot). His move was a shrewd one and I see him playing a role on some playoff Bulls teams in the future.

So I've been relatively quiet, but this team (if healthy), given all the other junk in the league, will not be bad enough to tank to a top 3 pick. This will be my J4L comment...but Lauri's early flashes are just super super impressive. Still a way too early assessment but I loved how when his 3 ball wasn't falling he went straight to the hoop with some layups, etc. Showed he has more to his game. Already showed more smarts than Niko. It's too bad cause Niko has the raw skills, but lacks major basketball IQ (I did think this new system (i.e., running Hoiberg's system) would be beneficial for him though). Fun seeing the ball movement but I still think Jerian Grant stinks and in general, our PG play is atrocious. That said, with my usual half glass full approach, I like Levine, maybe Dunn can develop a shot with time (albeit, he doesn't seem to have the handles / vision either...which makes me question if he can make it...of course that is based on what I saw last year in Minny so need to still see more of him this year before finalizing that statement). For the persprective of the tank, Levine will have rust, etc, and is still out a while longer and Lauri will hit a wall at some point, but the rest of the league has some really bad teams too. Lauri has a chance to be f***ing elite...there I said it...someone quote me for this nonsense a few years from now when he's looking like Bargnani 2.0 or something.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 26, 2017 -> 01:51 PM) Darin Erstad. I still have the PM I sent Kalapse after he was signed, basically saying "this is going to be a f***ing disaster." He put up a positive WAR in 80 games (not a massive positive) and had a $750K salary. How is that a disaster? The disaster was probably more of the fact that we thought a $750K FA signing would fill the void Ozzie asked Erstad to fill.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 26, 2017 -> 11:53 AM) I could see the Marlins happily giving out a long term deal, but do the Marlins fit the money part of this? Even with new ownership? I don't see why the Marlins would be that upset with Don Mattingly and doesn't Jeter also have a relationship with Don? I see no reason why Girardi would go there.

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 26, 2017 -> 07:54 AM) It's not even like I find Girardi to be this incredible manager, I just don't understand how much more production they want from the position. In this case, its probably that they just want a change in voice, etc. Joe would be very high on my list if we went a different way, but I also very much enjoy our current mgr and think he's a good fit for our young team as well. That said, Joe G did a really nice job on the youth development this past year in New York.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Oct 26, 2017 -> 10:29 AM) I think he sits out the year Nationals are a good job...albeit they go through managers like crazy.

Wow...I wonder who will hire Girardi. He's a really good manager, imo.

800 yards better than almost anyone else we have. Not bad. I presume he's taken a lesser role because ultimately he isn't as good as their other top guys (plus the fact that last year he was kind of "thrusted" into that role due to the Chargers WR injuries.

Friedell is usually pretty negative on the Bulls so I'm surprised he didn't blast Gar / Pax. It seemed like a lot more of it had to do with the varying personalities and was almost more of a "Butler" crush job than anything else. There were a couple jabs at front office, but not near as much as just injuries, and players being diva's. You could argue the overall culture comes back on Gar/Pax, but Friedell didn't point the blame necessarily that way.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 23, 2017 -> 09:07 AM) Cohen dropped a perfect back shoulder pass on the first drive and also dropped a bubble screen pass. His numbers should have been better, and the playcalling is doing him zero favors. He also isn’t throwing to guys that are only wide open, he is hitting guys in stride within windows https://twitter.com/nflfilmstudy/status/922283325288599552 https://twitter.com/_marcusd2_/status/922162218896183297 I agree he's had a few nice throws and I commented in the last post about that longer pass where Cohen should have bailed him out (tough play, but a play that could and should be made more often then not, imo).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 23, 2017 -> 09:30 AM) What you've got to hope is a Jared Goff like situation here. Goff was completely overmatched in the 7 games he started in 2016, he was legitimately terrible. Like, Trubisky's current passer rating is 19 points ahead of Goff in 2016 terrible. Goff was inexperienced and coming out of a small school so he had never played against that kind of talent. This year, including a few trades and an upgraded roster around him, he's currently 6th in the NFL in Passing Yards, 6th in yards/attempt, 14th in quarterback rating. He's not the best QB in the league, but he's playing like a legit starter on a 5-2, top of the division team. That's where you hope Trubisky can get within a year. I agree with you. Goff looked a lot worse. And I think I caveated a few times, it is hard to truly evaluate him based upon the playcalling. Yes, he's thrown into some windows but his drop back to sack percentage is pretty freaking high (and I don't think our oline is that bad). It very well might be that our receivers are just that bad and he has nothing else he can do. This week will be interesting because I see no scenario where we are going to be able to not throw the ball. New Orleans is going to score points and we will have to throw the football.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 23, 2017 -> 08:41 AM) Hampton and OB were ready to call Trubisky a bust, wondering why he hasn't "improved". He doesn't have receivers who can get open, and the line hasn't exactly given him all day to throw, and he needs some experience. Like you wrote, we are seeing why the Bears are being patient and didn't want to throw him to the wolves based on a couple of exhiibtion performances, which, at least one of them wouldn't have been so highly thought of except for some bad defense. I'm literally going back to the fact that you really don't want to put guys in "too" soon because they might not be ready to learn and get better quick enough. We'll see...nice that they have gotten those wins but as we get into the second half of the season, if he keeps playing like he did the past couple weeks, people are going to get pretty negative pretty fast. Look at the Browns...rushed Kizer and now he's been benched.

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 23, 2017 -> 07:38 AM) They should not have relied on Meredith but I think it's underrated how big of a loss that was. They filled out the rest with a bunch of slot guys and hoped White could take a step. So when Cam/White went down, you had a guy that was supposed to be a really good slot player be your #1. But, they could have more of a pass game if they wanted. Their passing offense to the Rbs under glennon wasn't terrible. But their refusal to threaten to throw during 1st and 2nd down has forced the WRs to run longer, vertical routes which they aren't that good at instead of some slants and mid-field work to get a rhythm going. I don't even know how you evaluate this offense. Glennon played bad, but literally, look at Trubisky. Only thing he has done is not turn it over as much and that probably has more to do with the fact that we barely let him drop back (and I feel half of the time Trubisky gets sacked because he makes "no decision"). It literally seems that the only way he's throwing the ball is if a guy is wide open.

So I'm not saying any of this means Trubisky will suck, but I keep seeing people say he looks good, blah blah blah. He's looked really really bad. He's a rookie, but you can see why the Bears were trying to be patient. The Bears certainly haven't "let him loose" and our receivers stink, etc, but he's been extremely indecisive with the football and taken a lot of "bad sacks". His receivers haven't helped him with some drops (I would have liked to see Cohen pick him up on that throw on the 1st drive of the game), but I don't even know what to think about our offense (other than the fact that despite tons of guys in the box, Howard is a beast). It looks historically inept. Again, not making any hottake on Trubisky but I certainly haven't seen a QB who has shown any ability to read defenses too well (as he has seemed extremely "tentative" out there). Inexperience is definitely showing. I hope we see some serious progress during the second half of the season. Defense was studly.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 19, 2017 -> 09:22 AM) The “build equity” quote was terrible. Anyone should listen to that and try and explain to me why I should give this team one minute of my attention I heard it as....try to put some cushion in my job security (i.e., buy job security).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 19, 2017 -> 09:12 AM) Here's the problem. If this is something that has been building for years, there is plenty of blame to go around. First off the Coach needs to be the person who steps in here and either fixes this or figures out a way for them to co-exist. If that can't be accomplished, then the Coach needs to go to upper management and tell them that one of these guys needs to go. If the Coach isn't able to handle the situation, it is up to upper management to either decide that the Coach isn't able to do his job and find someone who can, or to look at Player A or B as the problem and move them out of the organization before something awful happens. Especially when you factor in that Niko was just a free agent that the Bulls didn't have to bring back, this situation could have been easily "solved" by not resigning the guy. If Portis was the problem, find somewhere else for him to go. It isn't lazy to point that out. None of us were there or saw how things escalate so I think it is lazy for everyone to just assume and point finger at Gar/Pax (in the case of this) and deflect the blame from the individuals directly involved. That said, below is a quote from Cowley referring to Doug Collins being upset.

Now that comment from Paxson...just awful.

QUOTE (Tony @ Oct 18, 2017 -> 05:17 PM) 1. The Bulls had it happen with MJ, and it gave Kerr a black eye...not two facial fractures. Also, right or wrong, when you a franchise running on all cylinders, you can get away with those types of things. 2. The Kreutz/Fred Miller thing happened at a BBQ, with booze involved. Two totally different things. You can make all the excuses you want to protect the environment GarPax has created over there, but when you have John Paxson, the executive, putting his hands around the throat of the coach, and consistently running people out of town....there is a HUGE problem, and it starts at the top. There is a difference between blaming Gar and Pax for basketball decisions, etc., and throwing the blame on this incident on them. It's the easy/lazy thing for fans to do.

QUOTE (Tony @ Oct 18, 2017 -> 03:09 PM) It's a theme of dysfunction. Are Gar/Pax directly responsible for the punch being thrown? No. Does this happen in a franchise that is run properly? Absolutely not. They deserve everything they get. The glory Bulls had it happen. The Bears with Olin Kreutz (who were a solid team at the time), had it happen. People act like this doesn't happen on good teams, but it does. It doesn't get reported nor would this have got reported, other than the fact Niko got hurt. Arguments regularly happen in practice (and fights happen too). Have you guys seen Hard Knocks in football? Players are not all going to be friends and when you are consistently practicing you are going to get heated with various players and may even have overall battles with them. Escalations into fights can happen pretty quick. Kobe got into it at times with various players on the Lakers and Derrick Fisher regularly had to get in the middle of those dynamics. Sports are intense and to think otherwise is ignorant. No justification for Portis to throw the punch (and it sounds like Niko had other issues to blame), but it can happen and I think its just lazy to throw / deflect the blame on Gar/Pax cause its cliche to rip on them. I'm not going to point fingers at others, I'm going to point the finger at the two adults who allowed this to escalate and make the direct decisions that they did. The coaching staff and front office's job is to discipline and set the message that it won't stand. If Niko and Portis constantly argued with each other / didn't get along, what should Gar/Pax do or Fred, suspend them for arguing or intensly battling eachother? Come on...trash talking and competition happen regularly in those dynamics. You have elite athletes battling each other and trying to show they are best. Ego's are going to come out.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 18, 2017 -> 09:32 AM) If everyone was aware that this has been brewing for two years and nobody went to these guys and told them to be professional and to knock that s*** off, it is also on the coaching staff and front office for doing nothing And yesterday, where the hell was the coaching staff when this went off? Come on Sports are intense, stuff happens. People love to blame Gar and Pax for everything. You know what...sometimes blame doesn't belong there. This is on Niko and Portis and to deflect that blame onto others is not right.