Jake

Two fine plays by O-Dog. He has some redeeming to do.

QUOTE (Baron @ Jun 22, 2012 -> 08:49 PM) I want to add the other one to our ball club That'll be Viciedo, Jones, Quintana, and Pedro Hernandez please.

Both of these pitchers are excellent.

If Axelrod doesn't succeed right away, I'd rather see Simon Castro come up. Bruney was the right guy to call up. Has had sporadic MLB success before and unlike most Soxtalkers I'm okay with a guy who isn't going to set the world on fire in the long reliever role. It also doesn't f*** up another young pitcher's development by sticking him in the last spot in the bullpen, Brian is more than used to being a reliever and a sporadically used one at that. Fuku could have worked out and may catch on with someone else, but Jordan Danks is the better player right now and I'd much rather see what we have in Jordan if someone is to go down with an injury for a while as opposed to trotting Fuku out there at this point who may produce but no longer lacks the upside of a talented 25 year old like Danks. Wish the best to Humber who may be done as a White Sox, though I assume he'll return and probably take Bruney's spot.

Seems like we're getting more and more of the good Soxtalk posters over there We certainly want a user base that has some degree of independence from this one, but to attract those people we need to be talking about s*** over there. I'm enjoying it so far. I also love the Bulls board skin.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jun 22, 2012 -> 10:16 AM) Until proven otherwise there are 2 coaches in the NBA who I think actually add wins to their team, Doc Rivers and Popovich. Every other coach is either neutral or a negative. Call me a nuthugger, but I am not sure if the Chicago Bulls make it into the championship conversation without Tom Thibodeau. He was a negative in this year's playoffs, though. He handled the shake up from the injuries worse than the players.

QUOTE (WHarris1 @ Jun 22, 2012 -> 09:27 AM) I did not realize prior to this series that Scott Brooks was capable of such blatant stupidity as a coach. His insistence on using Kendrick Perkins despite the fact that I'm unsure if he contributed a single positive play in the entire Finals was mind blowing. Not too mention the stubbornness to stick with the double teams of LBJ despite the fact that he was dropping dimes for wide open 3s possession after possession. This. I think we put that whole team on a pedestal when in reality Kevin Durant is amazing and the rest are a notch or more below. Very classy of Brooks to talk to his troops in the last timeout, if anyone saw that replayed on ESPN. Said "they beat us fair and square" and wanted to make sure that every Thunder player took the loss gracefully, congratulating the Heat. With the way LeBron dominated these playoffs, I have to wonder if he needed "superstars" alongside him to win it. Wade in particular still had some great games, but these playoffs were all LeBron. Could he have won in Cleveland on a team that would have the money to invest in role players instead of superstars?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 22, 2012 -> 08:16 AM) There's starting to be a decent chance Castro will get a look this year if there's need for another starter, although they're talking up Leesman a lot so he might still be ahead of Simon. Either way, he's back up to AAA and is probably in the team's long term plans as I'm typing this. Yeah, I think Castro will be one of the next guys we see. Leesman...I don't know. I wonder how many lefties we're willing to have in the rotation? lol. Castro (supposedly) has a very high ceiling though so I hope he really produces in AAA.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 22, 2012 -> 09:06 AM) Greinke away from Miller Park as a Brewer: 8-8, 4.80 ERA Usually when the opposing player has stats that suggest he'll dominate us, he will. When the stats suggest he'll suck, he will dominate us. The Sox also go 0-162 every year.

QUOTE (WHarris1 @ Jun 22, 2012 -> 08:49 AM) I mean that's kind of how sports work, no? I think the fact that damn near the whole world loved MJ while LeBron is perhaps the most hated star today speaks volumes, about something at least.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 10:54 PM) Now we can start talking about how the Bulls will disappoint us all in the draft. If we don't get Anthony Davis I'm disappointed.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 10:51 PM) Had one last year against a weaker Heat team. I like seeing the games played instead of going off previous results. We weren't the same team either and I'd imagine there's a good reason we once again led the league in wins. Unfortunately everything that could have gone wrong, did. The world shall never know.

QUOTE (daggins @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 10:11 PM) Very little discussion on Molina. Secretly disappointed? Not so secretly? Hopefully Castro shakes out, he was awful in his last go at AAA. Hard to know what exactly is going on...I'm sure they wish he had been more productive this year but who knows what he's been working on or what the exact problem seems to be. He still needs more experience, at the least. I really like Castro and it seems like we've taken care of those control issues. Would still like to see him show the dominance that was always promised in those early scouting reports.

LeBron earned this one, but it sure irks me as a Bulls fan that we didn't even get a crack at Miami and we likely won't get a legitimate shot at them next year either.

QUOTE (Carter224 @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 10:43 PM) Thats what I dont get, who care about the player in college basketball.. Yes, I want them to get good ones, but I just want Illinois to win period. Doesnt matter if they only have a guy for one season. The lack of continuity just turns me off. That and the fact that anyone would rather go to some s*** hole like the University of Kentucky over the University of Illinois for such silly reasons (prestige, payments)

QUOTE (Carter224 @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 10:40 PM) Ive got news for ya, the Heat will be in the playoffs next year and those same people will be back rooting for them to lose. I'm not sure of that. I feel like the whole point was keeping LeBron out of the championship ring club. I don't think the super casual not really basketball fans are going to keep paying attention.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 10:36 PM) I watch the NBA because NCAA is over and so is football. Something has to fill that sports hole. I watch Illinois, but it's hard for me to get really into it. As soon as you get a good player, he leaves for the NBA. I hate watching and realizing that I'm not seeing the sport played at its highest level. College football is the same way with the added bonus that the system of determining the champion is completely stupid.

QUOTE (Carter224 @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 10:35 PM) Oh please, people watch the NBA for the stars. Its the only real sport thats completely star driven. They're watching for LEBRON and I'm uncertain whether that will last now that he's in the club of championship winners. I know so many people that are watching the finals just because they don't like LeBron, and these are the type of people that would have never thought much of anything about LeBron if it weren't for the whole decision fiasco. These people are not going to remain fans now. They'll shrug their shoulders and move on. I think that's too bad.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 10:34 PM) The point is people arent really giving great reasons for why they may consider Lebron a low life or be so opposed to him winning a title. If you want to hate someone, maybe you should consider Wade. The guy who toyed with the Bulls about maybe wanting to play here, just so he could pitch Lebron better on Miami. lol, you're acting like LeBron didn't visit Chicago too.

BTW, I think Miami winning tonight is terrible for the NBA. Like it or not, the hatred of LeBron James brought a new interest to the NBA and I don't think that Miami hatred/mystery of whether LeBron will ever win will persist now that LeBron gets his ring. There will still be SOME vitriol, but the casual fan won't be watching anymore just to see Miami lose now. I'm not sure if this phenomenon lasted long enough to build real fans that would watch regardless of the monolithic storyline.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 10:27 PM) You presume Rose wanted Lebron. What indication ever was there that Rose wanted to share the spotlight with Lebron? Im pretty sure Rose texted him maybe 1 time and his comments were something to the effect of "If he wants to come here thats cool". Wade and Bosh were begging him to come. I don't give a s*** what Derrick wanted and I think the fact that LeBron was so vulnerable to that sort of thing over just the logic of which team was going to be better upon arrival tells me all I need to know. I know one thing about Derrick and it's that he would never be opposed to a winning personnel move.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 10:18 PM) Why is Lebron at all a lowlife? Hate the Heat, but Lebron is not a lowlife and it wasnt about Lebron, it was about Wade and him guilt tripping Lebron. QUOTE (zenryan @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 10:20 PM) huh? You do realize we're just a couple of minutes from seeing Lebron hold the trophy. QUOTE (Carter224 @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 10:20 PM) wtf? lowlife? Nevermind all the money that went to charity from the decision, but the Heat were in the finals last year and are about to win it this year. Im pretty sure it was all about winning. Three stars is better than two, otherwise I think he would be in Chicago right now had the Miami thing not been able to happen. Do you think LeBron needed "the decision" to make money for charity? It is and was abundantly obvious that LeBron walked into a much better situation to win and win right away in Chicago. If winning was impossible in Miami he wouldn't have done it, but it was clear that he just wanted to be with his boys in Miami and get out of the shadow of Jordan and the hometown hero Rose. LeBron on the Bulls was by far going to be a more consistent winner than what you have in Miami. QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 10:20 PM) I wouldn't call him a lowlife, but he's an epic douche. If calling yourself The King wasn't enough, "The Decision" and the "go back to your every day problems" comments pretty much sealed it for me. epic douche will work. He is simply self-serving.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 10:14 PM) They're totally different teams and the style of play would be totally different, so it's hard to say. The Bulls play way better defense, but they also don't have nearly as much offensive talent. Last time we saw that matchup, the Heat won a bunch of 88-84 type games because no one on the Bulls could put the ball in the net. I lay a lot of blame for last year's ECF on Derrick. He of course is the only true scorer on our offense (though a healthy Rip certainly helps) but our offense stalled because we didn't run an offense when he was in the game. It was the "Derrick is going to dribble and try to create" offense. Some of this is a necessary evil, but with the athletes like LeBron available to defend him it just wasn't going to work out when it counted. This is why you would see us make runs against them with Derrick out both then and this season. While the gutless play of CJ and the frequent inability to pass from JL3 hurt, it was an offense that was much more willing to move the ball and one that didn't seem afraid to take a shot that may have belonged to Derrick. This is something I hoped to see adjust with more good coaching and may adjust with a more mature Derrick Rose.

The idea of LeBron coming to Chicago seemed really cool, but in the fiasco it became we found out what a lowlife he and his really are. If it was about winning, he would have come to Chicago. It wasn't, it was about LeBron. I'm glad that the whole world doesn't now hate my team and hate my city.

OKC = heads up ass This is ugly. This makes me wonder how we would have fared against the Heat. We played better than this OKC team plays...I think because we have better coaching.