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QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 2, 2017 -> 09:13 AM) There is the obvious that it is much easier to draft a star in the top 5 then it is at #20. If you look back over the past three years, no player drafted is anywhere close to Jimmy's stratesphere today. So if we tanked in that period, where exactly would we be? Joel Embiid is the closest thing and he's done it for a few months and has an injury riddled past. Players take time, but Towns / Wiggins / Embiid (going back to the last three years worth of drafts) are probably the three best players taken the past three years (thus far). I expect Ben Simmons to be in that conversation soon. Devin Booker (13th overall) is probably the next best player (as well as Porzingis) and obviously the three names mentioned above were high picks, but when you look at 14/15/16, you'll see a lot of really really awful players drafted very early on. So no, I don't really think just burning it all down is that great of a plan. I think having good draft picks helps, but there is so much luck...you need to be the team sitting @ 1 when LBJ is there or Anthony Davis. I think everyone should take a look at the list of draft picks the last few years and just realize that getting top picks is no guarantee of anything. If we are lucky we end up with one superstar and even then, like I said, I don't find it that likely. By the way, I didn't even mention the 2013 draft where you are talking about almost every pick in the top 10 being an absolute nobody in the league at this point (with the exception of Oladipo, who is a solid starter, and the 10th overall selection CJ McCollum who is really good and of course the greek freek drafted 15th overall). I think it is more likely we can sign someone in free agency, make the right trade, etc (not to mention Jimmy takes another step forward), then the alternative. You all keep throwing out 30, yes it is getting older, but I figure Jimmy has at least 4-6 years left of prime basketball (and he works hard), so why blow something up when we literally are in the first year of ever having this "prime" Jimmy around. I don't quite know if people realize how f***ing good he has been this year and also if you look at our bench plays, etc, if people realize how bad they have been. I at least give this one, if not two more years of trying to build around Jimmy. We also forget that Wade loves Jimmy, Kyrie love Jimmy....lots of star players like Jimmy and he's going to recruit like a mofo because he wants to win like nobodies business (it is so evident in how hard he has worked to make his game better). We have a bunch of weak bench players, with no mental fortitude led by a weak handed head coach. Gar is a joke too by the way and Pax is the one overseeing it all so he clearly deserves fall in this too. Oh and the Bulls can figure out how to get a max player under their cap while keeping Wade. PS: Mike, most of these comments aren't direct at you.

This Pat Macafee retirement story was kind of interesting (given he was a pretty good punter or at least I thought he was). http://sports.yahoo.com/news/pat-mcafee-re...-055517794.html

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 2, 2017 -> 08:49 AM) What is your path to a championship with Butler on the roster? Find other players to build around him. You start with 1 superstar so easier to find a 2nd. When you have none, it is hard to even get to one, let alone two or three. I've given plenty of examples of teams with one star who waited out and then finally got the right piece. It could be via free agency, it could be via trade. I'm not dealing Butler today unless we get a massive haul. I also really haven't yet seen a team succeed through a "tank" strategy, but I've seen a lot of teams suck for a really long time because they can never get the good players in the draft.

So I have a question for those pro-tankers...or maybe it is more a random thought. But why has the East sucked compared to the West (basically since Jordan retired)? I would think with all of the draft picks the East would be collecting over that run, you'd have seen dominate teams in the East pop up and in general a shift in power, but that hasn't ever even come close to happening? Now I'm not saying all of those teams in the "East" were tanking and the "West" teams weren't, just saying, that if the logic is to get good you need to get bad, then how has the same conference been so much worse for basically 20 years?

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jan 18, 2017 -> 02:44 PM) Be there from the 23-27th. Flights to Arizona are expensive. Lot of us are going to be there during that time frame. Rabbit, Shipps, you, and I.

Great start to the road trip. That was a total beat down of the Thunder (who are really struggling since Kanter went down).

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 1, 2017 -> 07:01 AM) Malik Hooker has to have labrum and hernia surgeries. Maybe he will fall a bit in the draft. I still can't see him falling to the second round. If we don't take QB, I'm all over one of the top safeties (although would prefer trading down).

I guess I'll be the one to say it, I don't disagree with us temporarily stopping and reassessing our vetting process. What I disagree with is how we went about it and how unsmooth and undiplomatic the entire process was. That said, the statement made by Rudy Guilani regarding his order, was terrifying.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 31, 2017 -> 01:11 PM) One thing I'm trying to ponder is whether or not the next generation of "Superteam assembly" has hurt this. I definitely felt like I enjoyed the Bulls teams that finished 4th-5th in the conference back in the mid-2000s WAY more than I'm enjoying these teams right now. Yes, there were better teams, but you could count on watching good basketball when you put those games on. Now, if you're not watching Cleveland versus Golden State or Golden State vs San Antonio, it seems like you're watching a bunch of middling basketball. Maybe that changes if you have a team that's top 5 in its conference too, but ever since the Heat came together it seems to me like being 4th in the conference just gets a much bigger MEH from me. I think it has more to do with those Bulls teams were exciting because you were coming from an era of terrible Bulls basketball, so it was major improvement and the first wave of excitement. I don't think it is related to the "superteams". I actually love watching Butler play, but I tend to enjoy aspects of iso ball because I like watching great players do ridiculous things. I also can enjoy and appreciate players shooting three's from all over the court, but I'll be honest, I find it more enjoyable watching Lebron make some ridiculous move in the paint or guys hitting these absurd fadeaways. I loved the Jordan era of basketball and still do. Kobe was fantastic to watch too. This Bulls team is coming off runs where we were title contenders (and the Bulls were clearly title contenders for a period...not favorites, but easily contenders) so now that we have taken a step back, it is less entertaining. The Bulls frustrate me because they have whiffed horrifically in recent years in the draft and haven't been able to get development out of key guys (plus the overall inconsistency). When they are playing well (and they have had a lot of spurts of this), I actually find them pretty fun to watch...crashing the boards, solid d, good movement. But when they aren't, the defensive rotations can be awful and offensively they can really stagnate to where it is brutal. When this happens, you see big leads vanish or you just see them get whooped (both things that happen too often and to me are signs of poor coaching / lack of execution). Niko is always dogging it...guys consistently make the same mistakes and up until recently, it certainly appeared that we lacked accountability and that has been pretty evident when you read between the lines of various players comments (even Hoiberg seems to admit he gave players way too much rope).

In January, despite a "flu riddled 0-6 game" and the "start the game on the bench game", Jimmy put up a PER > 30. Obviously a small sample size, but if you are a believer of PER, that is ridiculously good. Everyone always says "Jimmy has peaked" and has said so for a couple years now and he keeps getting better. If you trade him to Boston for picks that could end up #3 and #5 for all we know in two consecutive drafts and you get guys who bust or are even mediocre, you will look back going, oh my how did we screw up. Boston is going nowhere this year and in the off-season, when you know what those picks are, is the time to move him if you want to (and you need to be getting those picks plus Jaylen Brown and Crowder or Beverly (not to keep but to move elsewhere). Even then I think that deal is a win for Boston. Look at the freaking Harden trade (obviously Harden has blown up since then). In fact, I don't look at the Bulls much different as the Rockets under Harden. A year ago...Rockets .500, this year they are one of the best teams in the league (still no hope at winning a title), but they are a lot closer to a championship then Philly or Lakers, imo. Harden is much better then Butler too (so don't get me wrong). Ridiculous that the Thunder had all three players and what they could have been had they not overreacted / overplayed their hand with Harden.

Personally, I love Barkley...so damn entertaining. I also like LBJ.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 31, 2017 -> 11:11 AM) Kirk Cousins should start house shopping in the Bay Area, I could see a trade going down very soon. Coaches love to have QBs they are familiar with. I'm not going to lie, I'd like Kirk Cousins. He's not great, but he's pretty good. Of course I'm a QB starved Bears fan.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jan 31, 2017 -> 09:49 AM) Eh, they still had a decent team when Rose went down. Noah was coming into his own, Taj was Taj, Korver did his job, the bench mob was still there. Outside of trading most of the starting lineup, I don't think you can blame lack of tanking on Thibs. Plus, it was the East You also assumed that Rose was going to come back. Bad assumption, I know.

Elgin...In case you hadn't seen it, below is a link to a new study that seems to be showing some promising leads as it relates to autism. World is lucky I'm not a scientist as I would have never put two and two together. Hopefully this truly is a breakthrough and from here they can get closer on treating autism (would also be nice to know what the cause is of the increasing rates of autism). http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/h...0130-story.html

By the way, the Heat were a middling team (with a superstar) when they landed LBJ & Bosh and went on to play in a bunch of championship games (and win some rings). Prior to that, the Heat were a middling team with a young Dwade superstar, when they landed Shaq and won a title. I also gave the example of Kobe and the Lakers prior to getting Pau and how they went from a middling team back to a title contender like that. The Celtics were a middling to poor team (with a star in Paul Pierce) before getting an aging Allen / Garnett where they went on to win a title. Not many examples of teams who got to where they were by tanking / winning the lottery (and getting to the title). In fact, the Warriors are the only example of that (since the Cavs only got back after they "signed" LBJ). I suppose I should also count the Spurs, albeit, they were a great team, whose top player got hurt and they thus bombed and ended up winning the lotto and getting Duncan.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jan 31, 2017 -> 09:18 AM) I'm with you on this one and this is probably the biggest disconnect overall between Jason and me in this thread. I have a hard time enjoying my team if I know they have 0 shot to win the championship. That includes the playoffs in the NBA. In other sports you can luck your way into a championship and in the NBA you can't, it changes how I enjoy things. Obviously nobody is right or wrong here but that's personally how my entertainment value is shaped. In that case, you might as well just know you won't enjoy any basketball because if you were a team in the Jordan era, you had no chance at beating peak Bulls and similarly, in the east, you pretty much need Lebron to get to a championship and in the west, right now, it is going through Golden State. Very hard for any team on paper to be better then Golden State. So in all reality, basically unless you are Golden State or Cleveland, you would not be happy cause no other team has a plausible chance right now. That said, you never know when people get injured, etc.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jan 31, 2017 -> 09:12 AM) In the other sports, I agree with you. In the NBA, it's much different. The White Sox and Bears in a much better position to win a championship than the Bulls are because of the nature of their sports. If i'm holding them to my "make the best decisions to eventually win a championship" viewpoint, then I can't settle for being a consistent playoff team. In the NFL and MLB there are many factors and teams can make shrewd decisions and compete with rest of the league almost instantly. In the NBA, there are like 3-4 title contenders. The worst place to be is where the Bulls are. Everyone made fun of the 76ers but any smart Bulls fan would trade places with them in a second right now. The problem is...you look at the Cavs...they got Lebron...they didn't do anything else all that smart...they just got lucky enough to get Lebron. Warriors did a lot more and I'll give them credit cause they didn't have some generational talent fall into their laps at the #1 pick...they drafted well (near the top of the draft, but well). My point is, in the NBA, a star driven league, only a few teams are going to win...it is a dynasty league like no other sport (still). So few teams have won titles over the last 20 years in that sport and it is because of how superstar driven it is. It is hard to find 1 superstar, let alone 2 or three. The Lakers have had quite a few top picks and right now they don't have on player who looks like he could develop into a guy even remotely close to what Jimmy Butler is. The Sixers have made a ton of lottery picks and only Embiid looks like he has a shot at being in the echelon of Butler (and Embiid has serious injury issues). In fact, Okafor, the #2 pick (and a guy everyone was talking about the whole college season) is sitting on the freaking bench barely playing (while they hope to trade him...Lakers #1 overall pick, Russell is also getting ripped to shreds by LA media / fans). You got to draft well, but you don't necessarily need to be at the top. Look at all the championships Pat Riley won in Miami...yes they drafted Wade (and they didn't tank to get him) but almost everything else was done largely via free agency (and I agree that dynamic has changed, but I think it is will more morph into trades). I just do not support tanking. I am okay with rebuilding if that is what we see and the front office legitimately looks and says, we can't come up with any plausible scenario to build around Butler....that said, they haven't even freaking tried. They weren't sure what they were going to do this past off-season and this is the first year where we have seen Jimmy as the #1 option on our team (no more Rose) and he's emerged into a top 10 player. Shouldn't they at least "try" for a year or two while we have him under a bargain contract before dealing him (unless we get a blown away offer?).

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jan 31, 2017 -> 08:32 AM) This is the point I've been trying to make. Guys that we could target years out will not be hitting free agency anymore. When a guy like DeMarcus Cousins would rather take $207 million to stay in Sacramento, I think that's a solid indicator of things to come. Instead, I think we will see superstars force their way out of places via trade (and in enough time so that the acquiring team can give them the big extensions). That way they get to their destination and get the mega contract.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jan 31, 2017 -> 08:27 AM) Jenks, you are the exact fan I was talking about man. You really are content being the 6th seed in the East, huh? That's your prerogative but as a sports fan, I want my team to do everything they can to win championships. This plan is not that. I'm not speaking for Jenks, but I view sports as entertainment...so while championships are nice and obviously the ultimate goal, what I want is a team that is entertaining and can contend. I like being in the post-season and having a chance and at least being a piece away. Now I'm not saying this team is overly entertaining, cause they aren't, nor am I saying they are a piece away, cause they aren't (unless that piece would be King James or some other super elite player). But in general, I'd call what the Bulls did for the last ten years, largely successful and I can think back on many entertaining moments watching the Bulls recent runs (last year / this year...not so much, but even then I remember how bad it was post Jordan and even after all that bottoming out, the only time we were close to winning a title is when we got lucky with Rose coming). When I contrast that to the White Sox and Bears and I largely don't have many nice things to say or positive sports memories looking back over the last 5 years. In fact, last time I had any real entertainment was with the Bears during the Lovie era and in all honesty, the Sox was the Ozzie era (outside of last years hot start and year 1 of Ventura being a pleasant surprise).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 31, 2017 -> 07:47 AM) Even if we ignore the Bulls' history in landing FAs, this still doesn't deal with that huge change in the CBA from this year. Are you ok adding players in FA if anyone at Cousins's level and above never leaves their team again because they opened up the floodgates for those top players? I agree with you...you won't be able to sign big name FA's whose team has full bird rights. The key now will be a combination of trades / drafts, imo, with free agency more of supplement move. Of course we could all be wrong, but with the new CBA, not many guys who are eligible for the max deals are going to turn those deals down. That said, I believe all of the below players could net us a combination of picks (with at least one being a first rounder): Butler (obvioulsy) Wade (need salaries to match but I think a contender who had expiring's would be all over that move...wouldn't be a high pick). Taj (I think he'd be one of the best players on the market for a contender in need of a rim protector) Lopez (see above...would be a very nice piece for any contender and his contract is attractive too) Guys I'm not sure about: Niko (who knows...someone might think they could do something with him...albeit, he's a free agent...need him to get hot before now and the deadline) Doug (no idea...for a team that needs someone to spread the floor he might be an option...probably better to retain) Rondo (probably nothing...albeit if he keeps playing well off the bench, that could change).

QUOTE (joejoedairy @ Jan 31, 2017 -> 07:45 AM) Ryen Russillo said the same thing on his show Friday Ryen Russillo said it on a podcast...so anything else coming from this comes from one report from Ryan Russillo. Actions speak louder then words though and the reality is Butler never got benched / kicked to the curb. I'll be honest, I kind of assume this happens often when teams negotiate with other guys. When I think of the Bulls, I kind of think of the Lakers with Kobe (not comparing Butler to Kobe) and think about how close the Lakers were to moving Kobe and going full on rebuild. Instead, they hovered around and eventually got Pau and went on to win a couple more championships. Kobe is/was far more elite than Butler can ever dream (although I think Kobe's leadership style and Butlers are very similar...meaning they are tough love guys who expect everyone to work their tails off and do everything for win). In fact, I'd argue that Taj is the "good cop" to Butler's "bad cop" ala Fisher / Kobe. Lakers clearly had more talent, but that was a team that didn't give up when it could have and eventually got the pieces and won titles. Not saying Bulls are winning a title if we landed another superstar, but we'd be a hell of a lot closer and I'd rather be a piece away then 3 pieces away. Of course, I've also said, if we could get both nets picks plus Crowder & Smart (and maybe even one more 1st round pick), I'd do it. I'd want an absolute haul to move Jimmy Buckets.

What do people think of this whole "holocaust" controversy? I actually side with Trump on this. He didn't single out any group, but I didn't think there was anything horrible or malicious around his use of words. This is what I think is dangerous about how Trump's detractor's are taking things. If you complain about every little thing, including things, like this, which I generally believe to be small (of course I'd like to think I'm rationale and could be delusional instead) then you start to get people who maybe aren't as logical / rational who look at the media and say, if they are going to complain about every little thing, then it is the old "boy who cried" wolf and you basically are just hammering a person and people stop believing everything (which is the wrong answer).

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 30, 2017 -> 12:44 PM) http://www.blogabull.com/2015/5/18/8610703...-matt-lloyd-and Yep. It is also worth nothing that the Bulls, under Paxson long term tenure as the president / GM have been widely regarded as the best, if not the second best drafting team in the NBA. That is under various measures, including an analytical measure which kind of takes win shares per say assumed by where you pick a player, so when you get Rose and he goes MVP, it isn't really that much of a plus because, hey, that is expected. Jimmy Butler, Taj, Niko, etc really help in those scenarios (and when you envision Niko as being drafted where he was, I'd say he was a success...obviously not what we expected and the Bulls could have traded him early in his career for some serious talent or an early lotto pick, but didn't. When people blast Teague, it is kind of hard to ignore he sucked, but we aren't talking about blowing the 3rd overall pick or something like that. The recent consistency of misses is concerning though and by a lot of accounts, it is during the tenure of big misses where Pax had supposedly taken more of a back seat role at the directive of ownership to give Gar more responsibility (and obviously Lloyd left as well, which was a big loss).

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 30, 2017 -> 10:42 AM) You know you done f***ed up if the Koch Brothers are against a policy set forth by a Republican president. Cheney has had a pretty negative reaction as well. That said, all of these people are pro Bush, so it shouldn't be a major surprise given how anti Trump most everyone associated with Bush(es) has been.

I really really like Taj. Thought this was a really good read, a lot of it stating the obvious, but this road trip is going to be really interesting. Who knows, maybe it will actually help. Last nights game was more of the same, moments where we play sharp, good basketball, and moments where we stagnate and play lousy. Rondo was fantastic though and has been fantastic off of the bench (where he has had spacing). http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/colum...128-column.html