nitetrain8601

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 29, 2016 -> 12:23 PM) Nick Friedell added, Again, Bulls front office believes this is a major reason why free agents will want to sign in Chicago. Marc Stein @ESPNSteinLine The NBA's three longest active playoff streaks: San Antonio at 18 seasons in a row, Atlanta at eight in a row and Chicago at seven in a row And do they not realize Atlanta can't attract anyone, including Dwight?

QUOTE (Brian @ Feb 28, 2016 -> 08:16 AM) I'd like to be in the picture, dammit! Photoshop bro.

QUOTE (Tony @ Feb 24, 2016 -> 09:15 PM) I can only speak for myself, but I would have never expected that sort of response from him, or anyone else for that matter. However, he asked advice on the age gap, and if it's too weird for a 25 year old to see an 18 year old. With more details, many of us brought up concerns and what could go wrong. What else was supposed to be said? I agree with you, but I sympathize with him as I've been in that situation before. I was 21 dating a 17 year old. It's a world of difference, even without the issues. Add them in there, and the odds aren't with you. Like iamshack stated though - people usually ask for advice, but really just want someone to justify the option they want to pick and not the one they need to pick.

I'd stay away from that girl to be honest. I had a lady I was interested at the time. She shared a similar story. Dad was abusive to mom. Mom actually cheated on husband eventually, and they got divorced. Dad was really tough on the lady. He also was a police officer. As much as she stated and as much as I wanted to believe she was mature, she really wasn't. I won't go into too much detail, but I'll just say this - it was a recipe for disaster. In the end, she admitted she wasn't mature enough for a relationship and her life wasn't as together as she thought it was. She suffered from many problems and took me along for the ride. Best of luck though. I like to see people win. Just know in this case, the chances aren't with you.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Feb 20, 2016 -> 10:51 AM) They can't lose anymore than 1 more game the rest of their trip, imo, to have a shot. And it's going to be tough. They've got the Clippers, who have been killin' it without Blake, tonight. Then they've got the Hawks, Heat, Magic and Thunder. Those teams aren't that great IMO. It's the schedule that will kill them if anything, not necessarily the teams. The Thunder got beat by the Pacers i believe last night. Heat are hobbled at this point. Magic are a tough young team. Hawks are going through the motions it seems.

QUOTE (ozzfest @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 10:32 PM) And you like the front office? Heck of a trade today huh? Had they made the Gasol deal, at least they would have made SAC better, therefore making it more likely they get Kings' first round pick. Honestly Ozz, I agree with you. I don't know if more people here simply are not concentrated on the Bulls and it's just a novelty like "Oh, the Bulls are good, let's check out a game. Ah, the Bulls are bad. Well who cares. BEARS!!" around here. Anyone who's paid attention knows GarPax needs to be fired. Even the local media has turned on them.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 10:26 PM) It's not like Groce was a good coach before. He needs to go. Simply delaying the inevitable. The Illinois Wayne hang out to coaches for far too long. I agree. You can't let him coach past this year.

QUOTE (gatnom @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 01:55 PM) They haven't in awhile and probably never will. This has been obvious since Thomas was fired in November with no actual plan in place. And, truth be told, the signs have been there for a long time if you really wanted to see them. At some point they will hire a coach who wins a few games, though. This.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 12:07 AM) He's a FA also. Broncos already said they're going to franchise him.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Feb 7, 2016 -> 11:12 PM) The gif of the night. Eli looks like a man who just lost a ton of cash on the game. And Carolina didn't respect Denver's D as much as they should've. They kept dropping Cam back after seeing him get killed over and over again. When a defense is that aggressive and is always in your backfield, then you need to run bunch formations, end arounds, play action and most importantly, option plays and misdirections. The Panthers did very little of that. When they did do it, they almost always hit the open gaps.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 7, 2016 -> 07:14 PM) Yet it is Jimmy Butler, Nikola Mirotic, and Dunleavy that are also out. MDJ has been a known injury prone player. Jimmy Butler isn't playing any less than he did last year. And I'm sure his usage is higher. Mirotic is such a non factor, I wouldn't care if he was playing.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 7, 2016 -> 02:54 PM) There is no point in watching the Bulls until you get some of their starters back in the line up. With all of the injuries, this team is devoid of talent at pretty much every spot on the floor. The thing is, this team has been an assembled squad of injury prone players. And we knew that before. Hell, I've gone on record as saying it for years when Derrick first got injured. Noah's been injury prone. Taj has been. Deng has been. Kirk definitely had been. They wanted to place the blame on Thibs for running guys into the ground, but the reality is, they assembled a team full of brittle players, didn't let Thibs hire his own health team when he became coach, and proceeded to watch guys get injured at key times and blamed it on him.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Feb 7, 2016 -> 01:45 PM) Tiley is out of the running per Shannon Ryan, we're going to be stuck with Tom Michael aren't we? If we do I seriously may take a prolonged break from all Illini athletics, it would be just about the worst we could do. It makes you long for the days of Ron Guenther. Illinois is a big university that has acted like a small D3 for a few years now.

QUOTE (ozzfest @ Feb 6, 2016 -> 02:56 PM) --I am astonished at the above claiming that we as a fan base shouldn't be questioning a front office group who has been running basketball operations for 14 seasons now and has failed spectacularly time and time again. What is even more puzzling is this asinine narrative fed directly from the puppeteering mouth of one Dan Bernstein and Co. asking fans over the radio, "Well what would you want them to do, or who would you want replacing them, or who can do a better job?" What the hell are we talking about here? I mean honestly. Its not rocket science. An ex player/broadcaster has been running this team for 14+ seasons, and hasn't won. Period. Zero championships. Yet, John Paxson is one of the longest tenured executives in the NBA. Who are the others you ask? Pat Riley with the Heat. RC Buford with the Spurs. Danny Ainge with the Celtics. Mitch Kupchak with the Lakers. Now there is a reason they are the longest tenured. Its because these four men each have won championships as executives. Besides physically assaulting a coach and hitting a few corner 3's in the 90's, what the hell has John Paxson brought to this organization? It is clear that many of the fans who defend this unbelievably incompetent, complacent front office group are not truly aware of the many bright minds that are significantly more qualified and deserving than these moronic buffoons known as GarPax. Here are 5 different names that will get the ball rolling. First-Larry Riley. Essentially the architect behind the 2015 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors. Has a litany of draft successes including Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes. That alone qualifies him as a viable candidate. In addition to drafting well, Riley has shown a willingness to be creative in the FA and trade market (yes, to the surprise of some Bulls fans, this is another responsibility of an NBA executive). In 2012, Riley shipped oft-injured guard Monte Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks for big man Andrew Bogut and forward Stephen Jackson. This was a bit unpopular among Warrior fans. However, we see now that this move jumpstarted the building phase of an elite group. As far as replacements are concerned, Riley falls at the top of my list. Second, Miami Heat General Manager/Cap Man/Pat Riley's #2 Andy Elisberg. All you need to know about Andy Elisberg is that he is directly responsible for the Heat acquiring LBJ and Bosh in 2010. A guy who specializes in the salary cap, in addition to working under Pat Riley for 10+ seasons now, Elisberg would be a fine, albeit less realistic choice to replace the incredibly incompetent GarPax. Third on the list is Jeff Weltman, who serves under Masai Ujiri as the Assistant GM for the Toronto Raptors. Plain and simple, Weltman is an extremely well respected scout. He is highly regarded among NBA circles. It also doesn't hurt to work under the tutelage of one of the brightest executives in the league. Fourth is Troy Weaver, who is the Assistant GM with the Thunder as Sam Presti's #2. Weaver is known to be a respected scout having heavily recruited Carmelo Anthony to Syracuse and having a direct role in the Thunder's selection of Russell Westbrook. Finally, Brian Puaga, Director of Scouting for the San Antonio Spurs. In addition to this role, Puaga serves as General Manager for the Spurs D-League affiliate team. Plain and simple, Puaga is considered a rising star in the NBA's gold standard organization having climbed up the R.C Buford tree since being hired in 2007. Now, keep in mind these are jump 5 names off the top of my head. There are countless others who could do twice the job Forman and Paxson have done in 14+ seasons. Remember, 5 playoff series wins since 1999. 4 out of 5 wins within the last 5 years under Tom Thibodeau. Paxson was given the job in 2003. He previously played, broadcasted and was an assistant coach for one season before entering the role. He served as General Manager from 2003 to 2009. In 2009, he physically assaulted Vinny Del Negro and instead of being fired immediately, he was instantly promoted to VP of Basketball Operations, a role he currently serves in today. If we as fans are seriously interested in change, and I mean real change, we better get serious about ridding this organization of BOTH Gar Forman and John Paxson and not one or the other.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 22, 2016 -> 01:13 PM) He's Jay Marriotti 2.0. And i'm pretty certain he wasn't very good with Sox info when he was covering them. Getting outsourced by nerdy internet message board posters... I understand he wasn't good with the Sox towards the end as he let personal vendettas affect his reporting. But this will be the last time I repeat this: He's been very accurate on his Bulls reporting.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 22, 2016 -> 12:50 PM) You're doubling down on terrible sources here... He seems like a racist and misogynistic person, but there's a reason why he has a job and its been because he actually reports things. He hasn't been wrong in any of the info he's reported on the Bulls that I can think of. Maybe you can.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 22, 2016 -> 08:14 AM) There is your first problem. To be fair, they had Cowley on and he's been spot in with his bulls reporting. Only guy who won't sugarcoat it. He mentioned Noah's knee being way more jacked up than the FO wanted you to believe when no one else would report it as an example. Either which way, he said Gar isn't on great standing and that he's trying to create relationships with other organizations. People in the organization feel he's a jackass too. There's been rumors about that before from players. Come to think of it, Paxsons demise really came at the behest of Gar's intro to power. Aldridge was a Paxson guy but Gar convinced Paxson to get Tyrus instead. Once Gar became GM, Pax really stopped making trades that improved the squad. Mostly its been dumping guys past their prime. Gar made the decision to let go of Ron Adams in a power play with Thibs. He's the one who chose Teague over Draymond which was Adams and Thibs choice. That led to Adams questioning Gar's draft analysis. He's also the one that block Thibs from hiring his choice for strength and conditioning coach who the Spurs hired once the Bulls passed. It would fit Paul Shirley's narrative for sure from years back. He's basically an asshole who has no regard for people and he gets promoted due to sweet talking his way up, not really earning his way on paper. Lastly, I'll leave you with this thought, Gar picked Snell, traded away assets for McDermott and picked Fred Hoiberg - all guys who have ties to New Mexico and Iowa State.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 09:59 PM) What the hell happened to Mirotic? Just awful I remember when people roasted Fran fraschella when he said his potential is good hero turkoglu at best. People were offended and said he certainly be better. Can't be the system though. Paxson hired the guy to make sure guys like mitotic and McDermott weren't held back.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 03:34 PM) How about this: GarPax have drafted an MVP, a ROY (and a runner up), a DPOY, a sixth man of the year (and a runner up), four All-Stars, multiple All-NBA defensive players, and signed an All-NBA 1st Team center. Other than the Spurs, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better drafting team with the only blunders being Teague over Draymond and Snell. They've cleared space and tried to sign big tier free agents multiple times. But the Heatles happened and Melo decided money was better than winning. The FO lucked into Rose. No one can dispute that. So take away his awards to be honest. As far as the other awards, you've named multiple ones for the same players. And again, none of those players were as good if not better before or after thibs.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 03:29 PM) OK at drafting? You can't seriously look at this team, and call them OK. They have drafted and developed MULTIPLE All-stars in the sport that is the single hardest sport to get an all-star in. Even past Rose, you are neglecting Deng, Noah, and Butler. The Bulls aren't horrible at trades, they just don't make many trades. They are scared. Those are two different things. The Bulls suck at getting Grade A free agents, but have done amazing things at plucking players who are either no names, or fallen out of favor for some reason, and turning them into useful parts. The front office definitely doesn't give a s*** about public appearance, and I do get the feeling that they think coaching is not important. Deng, Noah, and Butler were not all stars before thibs. Only Butler will be after Thibs. Thibs got everything he could out of this team - the job of the coach, but was fired. The Bulls have put a flawed roster out there, and didn't do everything they could to win. Yet they're still here. Again its been 13 years. If you don't want to fire them now, you never will.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 03:25 PM) Maybe, but that said I hate the argument that essentially says the bulls could never have done anything differently (what more could they have done for a FA, the other teams had better offers for a trade). While, fine, in 10 they lost out on the FAs fair and square when they set themselves up fine, but in 14 they tried to convince Melo to take half the money. That's not serious. Also, they are responsible for the talent/assets on roster. They have had a preference for older established vets on roster over younger, higher upside players (miami has whiteside, the bulls have kirk hinrich!). They traded 2 firsts for Doug McDermott. They missed out on Green for Teague. They are above average, and had tragic luck. The Warriors would not win a title if Steph Curry blows out his knee and Draymond green fights plantar fascitis. But comparable teams and situations (Spurs, Heat, Warriors, Rockets) have seen them draft, sign and trade much more effectively to get them over the hump. The Bulls sign a Boozer and Gasol. That said, nobody could have ever experienced the injuries bulls had and won a championship. Fair assessment. My issue is, if the FO got a pass for that, then the coaching staff should've as well. And instead of constantly fighting with their coaches, they should be helping them and enabling them. You think Jimmy is gonna run laps for Thibs if he knows the FO wants Tom gone no matter what? Hell no.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 02:30 PM) Even if that's the case, they're in the top 4-6 teams in the NBA. That makes them contenders. No theyre not Spurs Warriors Clippers OKC Cleveland Miami

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 02:29 PM) I don't even know how to analyze that list. But if I go back to Paxson's era I'd say it is Hawks and Bulls and than no one else is even close. Bears are probably 3rd (again, spanning Paxson's run...Cubs would probably rank last and Sox would rank 4th). Like I said, Paxson did a good job turning this team from garbage into a playoff team. Just like a coach or player need to be replaced because they can't take you further if you're not at the mountaintop then they need to be replaced. 07 is when Paxson stopped being good.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 02:05 PM) They could have traded Taj and Dunleavy if they really wanted to make room. Or they could have worked out a sign and trade. It still came down to Melo choosing that extra 30-40 million in guaranteed money. Damn GarPax for not convincing him otherwise! Look, if you follow the team annually you know that last year, regardless of Rose's ability to get back to MVP form, the players had had enough of Thibs. Not just the FO, but also the team. The team was relatively healthy against the Cavs and simply could not score points against a depleted Cavs roster. That's why Thibs was canned. It was time and every reasonable person could see that. The way they went about it was wrong, but in the end I could care less about that. Great, you're trading Noah. To who? Who's taking him and giving a good return? That's why you trade Noah and Deng and whoever else at their peak. Not when their used up and done. That was the point! And if no one is tradeabke in the squad, that's on the front office. But the front office has said this is a championship caliber roster. If they misidentified that, then that's on them as well. They fired a coach after the front offices dirty laundry was aired so they failed there as well. See where I'm going?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 01:29 PM) UGh, this is just infuriating. You're so unrealistic. Not signing FA's is completely out of their control given the NBA signing rules. Other teams can offer max contracts with more money. The Bulls can only offer max money. Period. Everyone and their mother agree that the Bulls roster was the best to join in both 2010 for Lebron and again in 2014 for Melo. So not only did the Bulls do a good enough job making room available to sign those guys to max deals, they ALSO did well enough to keep the roster full enough to be contenders. How do you not see that? Making trades. Wtf trade is out there. You're going to trade Noah, the defensive player of the year and all-nba center for Love, the oft-injured PF that hadn't sniffed the playoffs. And you're going to do that WHILE IGNORING THAT OTHER TEAMS HAD BETTER ASSETS AND MINNESOTA ENDED UP GETTING A GREAT DEAL FOR HIM IN THE END. Flip Saunders is not a stupid man. The Aldridge trade looks bad in hindsight, fine. GM's make mistakes. From the post-Rose era, however, there was no trade they could have made that didn't completely empty the coffers for a championship run. What you want is for the Bulls to be the Nets right now. Go for broke, leverage the future and get stuck being terrible for another 5 years straight. No thanks. I'd rather they continue to put out a competitive product that is sometimes fun to watch and that has a CHANCE at getting to the Finals. Without any superstar on their roster, that's the best you can ask for. Nice post. I stopped reading when you said the Bulls ensured they had enough cap space for Melo. They didn't and they wanted him to come in on a 2 year deal so when the cap rose, they could sign him to a max then which is illegal. Bulls couldn't even offer the non bird max. Blame that on retaining kirk Hiinrich when they did. I can't blame the FO for Rose getting hurt, but the FO blamed Thibs for not winning with Rose hurt as well. They let go of his top assistant who BTW had the best relationship with your superstar player and was voted assistant of the year last year in a power play with their coach. Look up Friedell and KC Johnson reports. Bulls fired this for basketball reasons and didn't think this "championship caliber roster" was meeting expectations under their old coach who kept making the playoffs every year with Nate Robinson and DJ Augustin leading the way. This surpassed expectations and was fired. You're best argument was that Paxson met or underachieved because of Rose - but they're still here. And first you want a star, and now you want to get the star under your terms. But he hadn't made the playoffs!! Anthony Davis didn't prior to last year and won't this year. Look the other way, he's not a superstar!!!!! In addition, I argued to trade Joakim at his peak. His usage was way too high and he had already broken down in the playoffs. A guy with no offensive game wasn't going to be able to keep that play up, especially being a proven injury prone player as well.