Chisoxfn

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jan 26, 2017 -> 09:42 AM) You guys are advocating John Paxson getting a 7th coach? 7? That's absurd. Hoiberg probably can't coach but if you watch this dumpster fire and he's the first thing you blame then we are watching different televisions. I'm just a realistic, I don't think Paxson is getting the axe. Bulls are one of the winningest franchises in basketball since he took the helm of a really really bad team. I can't see JR pushing him aside...can't see it. I could see him moving on from Gar / Hoiberg.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Jan 26, 2017 -> 09:37 AM) Avery Johnson got a job with the Nets after he was fired in Dallas and he had no success there. And Karl has probably torpedoed any chance he has of coaching in the NBA again with his book and picking fights with players. I forgot about that...also forgot that he is coaching in college now.

By the way, given how bad Del Negro & Hoiberg's hires have been...two guys who really had minimal NBA coaching experience, I presume the franchise will look to a more established name or at least a longer term assistant to hire. I would have to think "established" would be high on the list, I just don't know who that would be. We know JR & Doug Collins are tight, but they have both alluded to that never happening. Who would be out there? Avery Johnson never got a second shot and I presume he's been away far too long to be considered again (I always found it out that after that NBA finals choke he never was able to get another job). George Karl would be an interesting name. Very very good coach who has excelled everywhere but Sacramento (which is a wasteland for all things). That said, his run in Sacramento didn't end well. Not a lot of experienced guys sitting on the sidelines right now (who you could hire in-season). Who are the top assistant's out there?

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Jan 26, 2017 -> 08:22 AM) To me, the fear is that, unless the Republicans in Congress stand up to this behavior early, there's a risk of normalizing Trump's behavior. If he's signing an Executive Order to publish all crimes committed by immigrants, or chasing voter fraud based on a second hand, racist, anecdote from a German friend of his, and that's the baseline of his behavior, anything that falls below that level of crazy seems reasonable by comparison. The Democrats can't do anything (other than use the filibuster) to stop Trump's agenda. Some Republicans in the Senate are going to have show the world that moderate Republicans still exist. This is terrifying...unless of course his list is inclusive of all immigrants, including people who immigrated hundreds of years ago...thus basically including everyone. I mean...is my daughter an immigrant...my wife (first generation born here). Disgusting. Disgusting. Disgusting. Even if you just came across...I still find it disgusting. So depressing that this clown is president.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 26, 2017 -> 08:34 AM) This one is even better. Hoiberg tells Jimmy to call a time out after a hit free throw. Butler tells Hoiberg "f*** no!" There is a clip at the tweet. Stephen Noh ‏@hungarianjordan 57m57 minutes ago Hoiberg told Butler to call timeout and Butler looked at him like he was crazy. Butler freelanced and scored on the next play. Yep...that was the play I was referencing earlier. Butler was on a roll too...was getting into the lane at will and he just kept it up and got himself a nice bucket vs. the timeout. Like I said, no one on this roster respects Hoiberg and I think a lot of it is because of Fred. Wade is so well respected and he is going on a tirade (and it isn't like Wade hasn't been on bad teams before. Heck, I look at last years Heat team and wonder how this Bulls team is so much worse then the Heat team of last year, which relied on an old Wade and had no one near as good as Butler on the roster (Dragic is a good player though and they clearly had actual contributions from role players and rotational players vs. the Bulls who have gotten zilch). Even look at the Spurs...who rank amongst the top teams in the league defensively, despite having Pau Gasol and Tony Parker, two really porous defensive players. When you look at their roster (from a defensive perspective), there is no reason they should be that much better then the Bulls defensively, other then just the difference in coaching and players all working to the same tune / believing in the system, etc. By the way, I'm not saying the Bulls should be as good as the Spurs because clearly the Spurs are fantastic offensively and the Bulls are not...but the Spurs rank fantastically defensively as well (part of that might be in part due to some hard to quantify benefits of their effective & efficient offense).

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jan 26, 2017 -> 08:30 AM) I honestly can't say the Bulls have ruined Niko, this guy was just never good. He had one good month his rookie year and everyone kind of wents nuts about him. Besides that, he's been bad the whole time. He has poor basketball IQ but good basketball skills. I think he would have evolved into a good rotational player under a real coach. I could be all wrong though because I legitimately think Fred is one of the worse coaches in NBA history. And I don't tend to think of myself as a poster who makes a lot of "extreme" statements like that. Whether a good coach could help his IQ and help him make strides, I don't know, but I haven't seen Fred do much anything every to develop guys. He has a career PER of 15.8, which is certainly rotational worthy.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Jan 26, 2017 -> 08:19 AM) I have no problem with Butler criticizing the team but Wade needs to be way more consistent with his own effort to do that. He is as guilty as anyone of lazy play on defense. I agree, Wade is a lazy defender, but in general, the two of them (plus Gibson & Lopez), you basically have four players who have consistently played at a level worthy of being a rotational guy in the NBA. Other players have had minor moments, but in general, everyone else's aggregate performance has been hot garbage. My view is we need to move Taj and/or Lopez in an attempt to get some 1st round picks in a deep draft (or something). Then you just let Portis and Felicio play to see if you have anything in them. Niko you got to move too, unfortunately, the Bulls have ruined him, so I don't know what we could get (maybe we could deal him to Kings and guarantee we get their pick this year). I do think he'll go somewhere where he is properly coached and go back to being an effective player (see Spurs). Rondo you will get nothing for....absolutely nothing and Butler I presume won't get dealt and they will give it another guy to build around him, but I might be wrong. Butler is a conundrum because he is so freaking good, but we have such utter crap surrounding him. I also don't know how he would deal with a total rebuild like that, but clearly you'd need to sign someone in free agency. With Wade, I wonder if we could actually move him to a team (his contract obviously makes it tough) and he'd have to be open for it. But do you kind of "tank" the rest of the year (getting picks for Wade / Taj / Lopez and hopefully Niko (but maybe some young players too...plus I'm sure some expiring vets or something to make contracts work) and maybe end up where you have quite a few picks in this year (and next years draft) plus cap space. In the meantime, let Grant, Valentine, Zipser, Portis, McDermott, Feliciou get a ton of minutes to get better clarity on what you have in those guys.

Wade ripping into the team, with Butler backing him up...based upon the quotes I saw, a lot of it was consistent with Stacey King who was putting the players on blast, but obviously deeper. I think a lot of it starts with the tone (or lack thereof) set by the head coach but clearly Butler & Wade are trying to drive change the only way they know how at this point. They know they have a coach who can't do it and a flawed roster, so I'm guessing this was the straw the broke the camels back where they try to make that point. Gar and Pax screwed up so badly when they kicked Thibs to the curb and didn't execute a real head coaching search. There were plenty of other mistakes made, but I legitimately believe that Fred Hoiberg is one of the worst NBA coaches I have ever seen. It might have been okay if he came in with a young team who he was trying to groom over time (even then I highly doubt it because I've seen nothing out of him that shows me he has what it takes to help make young players better). But a veteran team...from the start by lying about Noah's benching to everything else. No accountability for forever...then he finally started to a bit, but by that point, it was too late. No one and I mean no one in that lockeroom respects him and that is a major major problem.

I'm starting to seriously wonder if Fred even makes it to the all star break.

Just a reminder...keep the name calling out of this. Lets stick to the topic at hand....that could go on for another 6 months, haha.

I wonder if Wade ends up being traded this year, to either the Clippers or the Cavs, where he can play with one of his guys. Not sure how salaries would work and clearly Bulls would have to get assets back as Wade should have value to a contender. Hoiberg / Gar have to be on the way out. I presume Paxson gets to hire another set (as I can't see JR getting rid of him, unless he wants to step down). There was a play late last night where Hoiberg wanted to call a TO and Butler just looked at him, shook his head, and said "F*CK NO"...Butler then went down the court and hit a quick bucket. The players have zero respect for Hoiberg and it is evident no one thinks he is a good coach. I don't think Taj should be put on blast, but I think almost everyone else deserves it. Taj did have a stupid three, but the defensive rotations were god awful. Lopez was out of position all of the time and I don't even know if it was Lopez or if it was more that no one knows how to play any team defense cause the coaches can't stick the message and hold the players accountable. Its a mess. I watch a lot of their games and they go on these stretches, like no Bulls team I have seen in a while, where they literally play "ole" defense. Its awful. Just awful and NO ONE is ever held accountable. Hoiberg neutered himself last year and nothing has changed. I realize Butler shouldn't have done what he did, but Wade has been around a long time and I'm sure he knows a bad coach when he sees on and a bad staff and I think at this point, he realizes, they will never get over the hump the way they are coached.

What a f***ing waste of Wade / Butlers effort. Pathetic. Hoiberg is f***ing awful. The players are stupid. Front office blows.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 25, 2017 -> 02:23 PM) Assume there is no deal to cavs where they take on salary. Cavs can't even get Rondo, so presume they wouldn't be able to get Rose. I suppose there is some way of doing it, but I doubt it is one in which the deal makes sense for the Cavs.

Does voter turn out by state vary significantly when the state is a "battle ground" state. So for example, is voter turn out in Ohio much greater then say voter turn out in California (where maybe you have chunks of the population who don't vote because they already know that who they'd vote for will win, etc). Just curious. Probably not a major difference, but I would think to some extent it plays into account.

Sad...Musberger is a legend.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jan 25, 2017 -> 06:29 AM) http://www.espn.com/blog/keith-law/insider/post?id=6248 No White Sox in Law's 41-60. I'm expecting just Moncada, Kopech, and Giolito. He has Fernando Tatis Jr at #47. Yes, that Fernando Tatis Jr. Hate to say I told you so, but man I hated that trade from day 1.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 24, 2017 -> 11:07 AM) I am just going to get in here for long enough to say that not only are multiple people violating the terms of the filibuster, but there are also personal attacks which are a violation of the sites rules. Suspensions can and will be given out if this keeps up. I know a lot of people aren't happy right now, but that is not an excuse to break the rules that we all know exist here. Echo these sentiments!!!

Tragic stories. RIP and prayers to their family, friends, and loved ones.

QUOTE (3GamesToLove @ Jan 23, 2017 -> 12:54 PM) I like Pedro a lot but this is a really bold statement. For peak, sure. But otherwise Clemens, Maddux and Johnson are all ahead of him. I think Pedro is the best I ever saw. I loved Maddux for what he did and for whatever reason I just never think of Clemens as highly as others (even though his stats are absurd). Johnson was fun to watch, but Pedro was far more dominant at his peak, imo. I'd put Pedro / Kershaw as 1/2 on my list of pitchers I've watched.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 23, 2017 -> 12:28 PM) Free health clinics, where they're even available, and emergency rooms are very poor ways to treat any sort of chronic illness. I don't know the particulars of Balta's situation, but that was one of the problems that the ACA was attempting to fix. I was more curious about where Balta was going with the story. I have said on numerous occasions, that I think every citizen should have good health coverage. Period. We live in the best country on this planet and with that, we should be able to consistently provide citizens with the best medical coverage to ensure everyone how the choice to see doctors, manage their conditions, etc. I also think that if you don't do those things, you increase risk for terrible epidemics (because the rich aren't immune to disease, superbugs, etc) and on top of that, by ignoring certain issues, you end up having people admitted to ERs where the expenses end up being far greater then if you just treated people. I do think we need to do things about the ridiculous cost of healthcare and pharma stuff. That said, it isn't an easy answer. I think the ACA did many good things, but in general, I still think we are a far ways from being where we should. I am blessed that for the time being, my wife & I make nice livings, etc. and can afford the deductibles we have (our out of pocket family max is like 15K so if something happened to all of us, it would set us back a pretty penny) but even just giving birth cost of $5K (out of pocket) and I wouldn't call that anything overly unusual. I fundamentally have no idea how healthcare and child costs can be so freaking expensive and as I mention, luckily I have the income levels that I do, but I have a hard time comprehending how someone who makes the average living in this country, can afford this stuff, while saving for retirement, etc. At the very least, I don't understand why we cap things like daycare costs from a tax perspective, etc.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 21, 2017 -> 09:49 AM) So, last night theRapist president signed executive orders with a couple parts. First it directs the government to find any excuse to avoid charging the fee associated with the individual mandate as possible. Basically, that on its own should, if followed by the IRS and associated agencies, make it easier for healthy people to avoid buying insurance without paying the penalty tax on the individual market. This of course has the potential to, on its own, raise prices for everyone else on the individual market because the group that must stay insured due to actually being sick is the most expensive group and the group that would leave and then only buy insurance if they get sick is the most profitable group. If that part of the EO is followed, there will be a grad student like me 7 years ago, somewhere in this country, who will wind up dead because of it within 2-3 years. The third part grants much more latitude to states to apply for work waiver requirements and things like that in order to qualify for the medicaid expansion. If this actually sets up an excuse for large states like Texas to expand medicaid coverage when they weren't going to do so on principle with that icky president, should medicaid coverage still exist, this would be a generally good thing. I'm interested in the middle part...why would a grad student like you end up dead because of this clause? Trying to better understand, becuase even when the system was broken, wasn't there the ability to go to free health clinics or in an emergency just go to an emergency room. Not saying it was a good answer, can then such person is saddled with debt, but I thought people could still get treatment at certain types of hospitals regardless. Remember, I am pro healthcare for all, just trying to understand.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 23, 2017 -> 09:58 AM) I will be shocked if Rondo can find a home at his cost. Since Boston: - Flunked out of Dallas - Flunked out of Sac - Flunked out of Chicago Oh yeah gimme gimme! Unless you get a bulls pick and have space to just suck it up and cut him, will be hard to find a team. I completely agree with you. That said, if he can play solid off the bench, maybe a team like Cleveland would like at him (not sure how they could make it work financially). Or someone who was in dire need of a backup PG due to injuries. I wouldn't expect anything back, other then, you are freeing up minutes to get a better read on Grant / Valentine.

Rumor that the Bulls are actively shopping Niko (good...albeit midly surprised) and Rondo (clearly no surprise). I presume we will also be moving Taj at some point (and I'd like to think we could get at least a 1st round pick for him, if not a first round and a future pick). I think every single contender would value having Taj around. The only real question is whether the Bulls intend to resign him. Curious to see what we could get for Niko...either way, we need to move him now, because he'll go elsewhere at the end of the year, so some value is better then nothing. In hindsight, we should have maxed him out in the past. Niko has a good skill set, but either he's too stupid to develop or our coaching staff just isn't good enough to get the most out of him (quite possible) and it is probably a combination of the two. I wouldn't be surprised if we moved Doug either, although I figure we'll wait out another year with him. Need to start making moves to be in a better spot a year from now (whether that plan is moving Butler or to sign a FA moving Rondo & Niko flat out makes sense). Problem with Rondo is, I'm afraid at what we will give up. On the bright side, maybe we found something in Zipser. I've liked what I've seen recently. Would be nice if we can turn that pick into a solid role player (if not more). Still very premature though. If I'm the Bulls, I'd be doing what I can to try and ensure we can get the Kings 1st round pick (so that might be where you move Niko to)..something we should have done last year when we refused to send Pau.

Finally watched the Revenant....or however you spell it. Really enjoyed it.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Jan 21, 2017 -> 10:22 AM) Braves signed Kurt Suzuki, 1 year $1.5 mill. Where will Wieters sign, Nats? Angels? I think the Angels would be a good destination for him. I still think Wieters is going to have some good seasons in him.