ZoomSlowik

I'm not really understanding the Pelicans right now. First they give up a ton to get Jrue Holiday, who's a decent but not stellar PG. Then they make a 4-44 offer sheet to Tyreke Evans, who can't shoot and can struggle when he's off the ball. Oh, and Eric Gordon is still on the roster and will be difficult to move. Their one saving grace is that their pick might end up in the top-5 next year when Gordon inevitably gets hurt, which means they get to keep it. Well, assuming Anthony Davis doesn't dominate and single-handedly send the pick to Philly.

So the Knicks got Andrea Bargnani. Just what they needed: another overpaid player that barely plays defense and loves to jack 3's...

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 1, 2013 -> 07:28 PM) Bulls sign Dunleavy. 2 years 6 mil. Just catching up. I can handle a Butler/Deng starting duo with Dunleavy as the shooter off the bench.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 1, 2013 -> 02:20 PM) Oh goodness. Monta. F*ck sentences. Without rock, worthless. Needs ball. Wants ball. Won't work. Is a bulk three point shooter. Bad percentage. Gets to rim. Only reason to look. Let Knicks have. No thx. Can't afford anyway. This. Knicks can't afford him either though. From that list, the Suns have the right combination of cap space and poor management.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jul 1, 2013 -> 12:04 PM) Bulls are apparently in pursuit of Mo Williams and Will Bynum. I am in disgust... This FO baffles me sometimes. We still have Hinrich and Teague to back up Rose, unless he's not ready to go to start the season. They are also not likely to retain Belinelli at this point. Our biggest needs are a shooting wing, and a backup center, not another PG who can't shoot. We can't go into the season with our two best shooters being rookies who aren't likely to get enough burn. I was also confused by this. I wouldn't have a problem with Mo as a backup PG, but I don't see the point with Kirk and Teague on the roster. It seems like a poor use of assets to me with questionable depth on the wings and inside.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 27, 2013 -> 10:34 PM) I'm going to toot my own horn on a place where I am also a horn. FOLLOW THE COVERAGE AT FLAPSHIP. I hear they have two experts that make Bill Simmons look like Dora the Explorer. It's used to it! Wooo!

Come on people, how are the Cavs setting up their roster for Lebron? By consistently not taking the best player on the board and guys that are mediocre shooters? That roster would be a complete clusterf*** without Kyrie.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 27, 2013 -> 09:59 PM) LOL. Only on ESPN would they act like Pierce and Garnett being dealt at this advanced age is a MAJOR BLOCKBUSTER. They're going to be the most expensive 4-seed ever.

New Orleans GIVING the pick makes a lot more sense. I'd much rather have a 2014 lottery pick, though I would think New Orleans' pick will be later than Philly's. Also, Burke almost has to be traded considering Kahn isn't there anymore. Edit- They just said Burke to Utah. That makes a lot of sense.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jun 27, 2013 -> 07:22 PM) Holy crap for Jrue and a first rounder! Yeah, just saw that. Holy f***, that's a gang-rape.

If I were running OKC, I would have been selling my soul to try to trade up from 12 to get Noel or McLemore.

Davis and Noel is going to be amazingly entertaining on the defensive end.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 27, 2013 -> 07:05 PM) Trying to keep next years first round pick? They could have easily taken Noel and given him the Derrick Rose treatment...

Whomever takes Noel gets a steal now. He's probably going to be pissed off since they took a white guy over him!

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jun 27, 2013 -> 06:49 PM) I like Bennett but not as a fit in Cleveland. There's just no way he can guard the 3 in the NBA. Not sure how you fit him and Thompson together. HATE him as a 3. Michael Beasley/Derrick Williams type career is a real possibility. He might have had a shot as a 4, though he'd still need to work on his D.

Not a fan of Bennett, especially since he's probably going to play the 3 in Cleveland. He needs to play the 4 to maximize his abilities.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 27, 2013 -> 04:22 PM) It's too bad Shane Larkin is only 5'11". I think he'd be a stud if he were 2-3 inches taller. I almost put him on there, but his size is a huge issue and the PG position is loaded. It's kind of the same thing with Burke, if he were slightly bigger or more athletic, I'd feel a lot better about him. It wouldn't totally surprise me if Burke turned out to be a very good player, but right now I'd expect something between D.J. Augustin and Jameer Nelson (who somehow made an All-Star team actually).

QUOTE (SexiAlexei @ Jun 27, 2013 -> 04:06 PM) This isn't directed at you, but I can't stand this core talk. I remember this same garbage from 2005 or whatever. Everyone wanted to keep Deng, Hinrich, and Gordon together. No one wanted to get ride of Deng for Garnett or Gasol because we had to keep the core together. The core was good enough to win, we just needed to "tweak" it. I feel like this exact situation is playing out again. Can the Bulls win a championship, yes. Are they going to be the favorites, no. They will need things to fall their way to win. I want to look at this Bulls team and believe they are the favorites, or at least have an even shot, to bring home a title. I would say there are three major differences... 1) The 2005 group didn't have Derrick Rose. That's a big difference assuming he's anywhere close to his old self. We HOPED that Gordon or Deng was going to reach that level, Derrick already has an MVP. 2) The 2005 group wasn't nearly as successful. They peaked at 49 wins and a second round loss in the playoffs. Even the banged-up Bulls without Rose and with Deng/Noah at less than 100%, they basically matched that. 3) To the best of my knowledge, no one of the caliber of Garnett or Gasol is on the block. Aldridge isn't that good, neither is Love. MAYBE Dwight if he's 100% healthy, but he isn't coming here. I think any sane fan would have said trade whatever to get KG or Gasol. I know I probably did for lesser players than that. As I said before, the last part is going to be true regardless of what they do. Even if they simply replaced Boozer with Aldridge somehow, they still wouldn't be "favorites" (though they'd be pretty damn good). If they can get him without giving up Rose, Noah or Butler, then god yes, do it. That's unlikely though, and giving up any of those 3 makes it a bit more of a lateral move (well, Aldridge is obviously better than Butler, but you need him as a cheap asset to round out your team).

So, history suggests that there will be at least three All-Stars to come out of this draft. Every draft between 1953 and 2009 (it's kind of early for the last three classes) has had at least three All-Stars. Yes, even 2000, though Michael Redd, Kenyon Martin and Jamal Magloire each only made one. So, who you got from this class? I'm probably going to look stupid down the road, but here are my thoughts... Nerlens Noel and Ben McLemore are the closest things to good bets that this draft has. IF Noel is healthy, his length and athleticism combined with the relatively low bar for centers makes him a decent bet to make it. McLemore has the athleticism and outside shooting to get there, the only real question is his ability to get his own shot. His chances would improve greatly if he winds up with an upper-tier PG. Of the rest of the "elite prospects", Anthony Bennett, Alex Len and Michael Carter-Williams all look the part. However, I don't think they'll reach that level due to some combination of deficient skills, lack of effort and/or trouble finding a niche in the NBA. I don't think Victor Oladipo has the offensive skillset to get there and Otto Porter and Trey Burke are a little lacking athletically to reach that ceiling. If I had to pick one of those three, it would be Oladipo with the assumption that he somehow reaches the mid to high teens in points. I'm going to go out on a limb and say Cody Zeller makes an All-Star team. There aren't a ton of big men that can score right now and that's something he has the potential to do. Obviously his strength and physicality are an issue, but there are fewer players that can really punish him than there used to be at the position. Of the non-lottery locks, I think Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has a shot. He's not quite as gifted athletically or from outside as McLemore, but he has a somewhat similar game. He has some upside if he improves his shot selection. Jamaal Franklin could also surprise some people if he improves his jumper. I don't know a ton about them, but Lucas Nogueira and Dennis Schroeder seem like the kind of guys the Spurs would draft-and-stash and are suddenly valuable pieces in three years.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 27, 2013 -> 12:01 PM) Nope, it doesn't matter. How many 60 win seasons did those Nash teams have? At least two. The year Amare was out they still won like 56 games. They just weren't good enough. Just like the current Bulls. And they have more strengths than everybody else. I don't care about OKC. I'm not a Thunder fan. So if Miami wins 60-something games it somehow supports your point that they're unbeatable, but when someone else does it "they're just not good enough." Got it. I've never said someone else besides the Heat was the favorite, but it won't be a cakewalk for them. Barring putting a hit out on Lebron, there's nothing the Bulls can do that will make them "the favorite".

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 27, 2013 -> 11:49 AM) Yeah, so were the LeBron Cavs. But you know what, it's my fault. I shouldn't have paid any attention to the LA rumor. LA would be great here. The Lakers and Celtics make s*** like that happen. So the Heat winning 66 matters but the Bulls winning 62 and 50 in a shortened season (62 win pace, forgot to mention the prorating thing for the lockout) doesn't? I mean yeah, in the end what you do in the playoffs is what matters, but don't use something to build up your case and then s*** all over it when someone else brings up regular season success. The Heat are good, but they have issues like everyone else. Would you feel better if I said OKC? They do have two stars after all...

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 27, 2013 -> 11:32 AM) Again, how are the Bulls getting better? You get Rose back, great. You had Rose in '11 and got smoked. So that's obviously not enough. Deng/Noah get injured all the time. Boozer is a liability. Butler is a nice piece. But that's it. He's a piece. Stop talking to me about the Heat and their weaknesses and tell me how the Bulls get to the next level. 1) They didn't "get smoked". The Heat won in 5, but every one of those games was relatively competitive. 2) Yes, the Bulls' have some injury issues. They're not immune to that, no team is. 3) They don't really need to "get to the next level". They were a 60-win team two years running. They were on the short list of contenders each of those years, though things didn't work out in the post-season (once due to catestrophic injury). They have 4 of the same starters and one of their key bench pieces from those teams, only now they have a young SG with some talent. 4) Butler doesn't have to be a star, he just has to be a threat. If he can average 12 PPG, that's a huge upgrade over the Bogans/Brewer type players. Danny Green isn't exactly a world-beater, but he just had a huge impact in the Finals. I'm not saying the Bulls WILL win, but they're one of the few teams that have the ability to go on a run. It's not like they're a 45-win team with zero shot.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 27, 2013 -> 11:14 AM) The '92 Knicks and '98 Pacers disagree with you. And those teams were s*** compared to some of the teams the Heat have beaten. Let's not pretend that the Heat have played juggernauts every series. The Heat didn't play a legitimately good team either of the last two years until the Finals. This year, Milwaukee was terrible, the Bulls were obliterated by injuries, and the Pacers have a highly suspect offense. The previous year, the Knicks were roadkill, the Pacers were similar to this year (better offense but weaker defense), and the Celtics were horrible offensively. The last time they had an actual threat in the East was 2010-11 with the Celtics/Bulls, which they followed up with a loss in the Finals. They might have a much harder road this year, with the possibility of facing Indiana, Chicago and the Thunder/Spurs in consecutive series. Also, you can't really keep writing off injuries when they haven't been totally healthy either of the last two years. If they can't coast for two rounds and then face a team they can beat at 80%, they could go down.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jun 27, 2013 -> 12:14 AM) Doesn't he have an opt out clause in his contract for next year? No. After 14/15 he can opt out.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jun 27, 2013 -> 12:04 AM) Time to put on the GM hat. Am I the only one here that would trade Noah for Aldridge? You lose a little bit on defense, LMA isn't terrible defensively and working with Thibs could make him even better, but the offensive upside is makes up for that in a big way IMO. Then trade Deng for a top 5 pick to take either McLemore, Porter, Oladipo, or Bennett. Rose-McLemore-Butler-Boozer-Aldridge has the potential to be dynamite offensively. Defensively Thibs would have his work cut out for him, but Thibs being Thibs I think he can get the team to play good enough D to be a VERY dangerous team. Or perhaps they can amnesty Boozer to beef up the defense with Taj getting the starting PF position. Would Kevin Love be possible next year in this scenario (Boozer amnestied)? Good lord could you imagine Rose-Mclemore-Butler-Love-Aldridge?? How would you stop that team?! Besides my usual "stop thinking the Bulls could sign max free agents" answer, Love isn't even a free agent next year.