whitesoxfan101

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 10:08 AM) Amare's better than Boozer. Signing Boozer is a bit of fools gold. At least Amare can be a real difference maker, and he'd still be playing with a great PG in Chicago with Rose if he had that opportunity. Boozer would just give you some doubles - doubles, and be terrible defensively. Amare's only in his late 20's also, so it's not like giving someone such as Ray Allen a 3 or 4 year deal for instance. Amar'e's knees aren't going to last. I agree that Boozer is fools good and Amar'e would have been good with Rose, but he's still a major health risk that doesn't defend (he did a little last year, but he'll go back to not even pretending to care about it now that he got paid) and doesn't rebound as much as he should.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 10:08 AM) their best bet is to be a suck-fest this year and try and get a top 5 pick... ugly option, but in the NBA it's the way it has to go sometimes. Bingo. This is the next best option now that you couldn't figure out a way to acquire any of the big three.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 10:03 AM) I'm surprised that people on here actually thought Wade to the Bulls was a distinct possibility. Everything leading up to FA lead to the fact out of all of the superstars, Wade was the one most likely to re-sign with his own team. And now people on here are going to turn on him just like they did when he criticised the Bulls about the way they handled past players etc. Once Wade stays in Miami, if you're Bosh, of course you are going to go to Miami for numerous reasons over Chicago. Maybe Chicago should have done more to try and have signed Amare? No way they should have, not with his health. And even beyond his health, we'll see how he does without Nash. That might have been even dumber than overpaying for Boozer would be, but the Knicks were willing to do it to avoid coming up empty and make Carmelo even more interested in going there. That contract won't look good the last couple years of it though.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 02:29 AM) Hopefully. A lot of talk is pointing in that direction. If he's academically cleared, he's yours. And I'm told they don't anticipate that being a problem.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 09:56 AM) I still think that if you add Boozer and a shooter like Allen, the Bulls could easily contend next year (assuming Lebron goes anywhere but Miami). That's not beating Miami, Boston, or Cleveland if Lebron stays there, and that's just in the east. This is why me and soxfan keep saying not to sign Boozer, you'll just be a 4 seed with little wiggle room under the cap to improve. Keep in mind that Rose and Noah are going to get PAID soon too, which takes up a lot more cap space than those two do now.

You can defend the Bulls handling of this all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that they failed miserably, and now have to figure out a way to become relevant even though there really aren't many options out there to fix this mess.

QUOTE (scenario @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 09:53 AM) Well... one positive side consequence for us of clearing so much cap space is that it provides us flexibility for trades (taking on contracts other teams would like to move). Could work out to help pick off somebody fairly reasonably. So, we're not just stuck with whoever is left out there as free agents. The problem with this is the teams that want to move those contracts want to move them for a reason.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 09:51 AM) Bulls had no choice but to blow it up and hope for a marquee guy, there's nothing worse in the NBA than being mediocre and constantly getting a 5-8 seed, basically your players are just good enough to eat up the cap and you have no chance of getting a high draft pick. With Kirk and #17 the team would be mediocre for years unless Rose and Noah take a MAJOR step. Honestly, at this point I would rather them not force a sign and be a bad team and see what shakes out, no point in being behind Mia, Orlando, Cle (if LBJ stays) because they could never beat any of them in the playoffs. Not the best scenario, but a better one than being stuck in the middle. Well if you use a bunch of money to sign Boozer or Lee, you're stuck firmly in the NBA mediocre 5-8 seed range in the east position. I agree the Bulls had no choice but to blow it up and hope for a marquee guy, and you're also right that you can't compound your failures with the big 3 by forcing a bad signing.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 09:51 AM) Regardless of the fact that you don't know what the Bulls did or didn't do, who gives a s*** if the Bulls offered this and Toronto accepted? You're completely ignoring the fact that it was Bosh's decision and he never made it. Toronto had a deal lined up with the Cavs but Bosh said no. And had they had a deal lined up with Chicago and Bosh said no, we'd have heard about it and I'd be a lot more willing to listen to the "oh, the poor Bulls did everything they could here and just came up empty" sympathy angle.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 09:45 AM) Yep. ON the other hand...what the hell do you do with 30 mill in cap space. I kind of wish we had our best defensive guard back. I still think getting rid of Hinrich's deal is the one good thing that's happened here (although dumping him for literally nothing looks awfully dumb right now). QUOTE (sircaffey @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 09:49 AM) How can you possibly know this? KC Johnson, one of the few people that actually appears to know what he's saying, has said it all along. If it comes out that Noah was actually offered, I'll retract what I'm saying and cut the Bulls more slack on what happened with Bosh and thus Wade. But since it seems pretty clear he wasn't, I'm not thinking that'll happen.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 09:45 AM) 1) The WWW angle is unfair. Prior to this whole process, everyone and their mother figured that WWW was THE man pulling all the strings. Moreover, they clearly hedged their bet when they went after Bosh/Wade before speaking with Lebron in the first place. 2) I have yet to see a report that says the Bulls didn't go after Bosh hard. Everyone has said the opposite. ESPN Chicago's guy just said the Bulls sold him as best they could but that Bosh's number one choice was always Miami. They can't force the guy to sign. The whole s&t angle is meaningless. Toronto had ZERO to do with where Bosh ended up. They were blindsided by his decision just like everyone else. So who cares if they failed to offer up Noah. Toronto never had the chance to accept that deal and THEN convince Bosh to accept it. The Bulls front office did everything they could. I just don't see what they did wrong here. Screwed by circumstane, that's about all you can say. If the Bulls didn't offer up Noah, they didn't do everything they could. If you offer up Noah, Toronto agrees to it. And then you see just how much Bosh wants to play in Miami, as in will he take 30 million less to do it when he could go to a big market with a good roster. Had they done that and Bosh said no, i'd rather play with Wade in Miami, then they did everything they could. But they didn't, so we can't say that. And you're right WWW was supposedly the man pulling the strings. But LeBron has a lot of people around him, that's why he calls them "his team". To put all of your trust in one guy like that, no matter how powerful he supposedly is, is very naive.

I want no part of Boozer or Lee. You aren't winning a championship because of them, and we've already seen with Luol Deng how damaging overpaying for a guy like that can be.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 09:38 AM) This. To everyone who is blaming the Bulls...can you really? No one was giving into the Raptors initially, and the Bulls could still offer a better package minus Noah against the Heat. Wade said he was doing what was best for his kids, had Bosh come into a meeting with him to discuss it, etc. The front office bought it and so did we, because Wade is a shady piece of crap. As for trusting World Wide Wes...a month ago, would anyone have said that was a bad idea? If you're the Bulls, you offer Noah to the Raptors in a sign and trade from the beginning. You had to acquire him to not only avoid coming up empty, but also make Wade make a decision. That is entirely on the Bulls, end of story. If Wade and Bosh were so tied together, make them prove how tied together they were. And getting snuggy with WWW is nice, but every other person surrounded by LeBron is a friend who benefits from him staying in Cleveland (which is why it'd make sense if he stays there). You can't put all of your trust into one guy like that, or you risk looking like an idiot as the Bulls now do.

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 09:33 AM) Eh, having Magic, Kareem, and Worthy on the same teams didn't hurt any of them. The Celtics and Lakers piled up hall of famers on their rosters in the 70's and 80's and nobody will deny Larry Bird, Magic, or Kareem of being one of the top 10 players in history. If the Heat win 2 or 3 titles, Lebron-Wade-Bosh will clearly be the pecking order. LeBron can be Magic, Kareem, or Worthy in Miami. But he'll never be able to become Jordan or even Kobe Bryant. If he's happy with that, as well as being the 2nd most popular player on his own team, always having 1 less ring than Wade, and taking a big ego hit, go to Miami and win some rings.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 09:33 AM) So for someone like me that hasn't followed as closely as most of you guys, what exactly, if anything, did the Bulls do wrong? Well we don't know everything they did wrong for sure. But it sounds like the two biggest mistakes were buying into the relevance of William Wesley in LeBron's circle and not securing Chris Bosh first (even if it took giving up the almighty Joakim Noah) to take away Wade's options in Miami in terms of getting help. Acquring Bosh early on also would have made Chicago an even more attractive spot.

QUOTE (sircaffey @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 09:27 AM) They said something interesting on Sportscenter about Wade just being a recruting tool for the Heat and meeting with teams just to take that information back to the Heat. What a bulls*** f***ing move. f*** Wade. It's the fault of nobody but the Bulls if Wade hustled them. Shame on the Bulls for buying it.

LeBron can certainly sign with the Heat, but I hope he understand that means he officially will never be Michael Jordan, or even Kobe Bryant. Signing with Miami would do more damage to his brand even than showing how much of an egomaniac he is lately has. But at this point, it wouldn't surprise me. The only thing that could surprise me is if he signs with the Bulls. Assuming Lebron announces somebody other than Chicago tomorrow, Gar and Pax should both be fired. But this is Jerry Reinsdorf, so I'm not counting on it. I also wouldn't go out and overpay for mediocrity and use up a bunch of payroll on Carlos Boozer or David Lee. But they'll probably do that to try and save face, even though face can't be saved at this point. It's just like 10 years ago, the Bulls a free agent and general laughingstock. The only reason we're not one of the worst teams in the league right now is Derrick Rose was handed to us by the NBA in a probable fix. But we couldn't even make that worth something.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 7, 2010 -> 12:46 AM) so, goin to bed, but gotta say i'm lookin forward to some nice substance-free posts all day tomorrow while i slack off at work again. I especially want some nice hypotheticals from Bucher such as : "Lebron done deal to chicago" then "I meant if Chicago was his hometown and he was drafted by them already, and still had noah and rose it would be a done deal, if i was him." Haha, i'm getting absolutely no work done this week, and It's good to see I'm not alone.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 11:49 PM) If only we could beat American league teams... They always say get to .500 and re-evaluate things in general, and that's how I'm taking it with us against the AL. When we get back to tread water against the league, i'll take another look. Tonight was a GREAT win though. Losing Peavy obviously sucks, but to win a game where the bullpen had to go over 7 innings and in which we were facing our nemesis Weaver is really impressive. Be nice to get a series win tomorrow.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 11:25 PM) Cardinals just blew a 6 run lead in the 9th against the Rockies. I believe the Reds did the same thing earlier this year at Atlanta? Guess they're even now.

The more I think about it, the more it wouldn't shock if LeBron goes to the Knicks.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 06:29 PM) Henderson leaves USC, reportedly to join the Buckeyes. He's going to Miami.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 10:15 PM) I am glad to see the usual cliff jumping crowd was wrong. The important question now is how long does it take Peavy to get back? Hopefully soon. I'd imagine we won't know for a couple of days though.

I know i'm usually quite negative, but I don't think we need to absolutely go into s*** our pants panic mode right now. If Kenny thinks this team is good enough though even without Peavy, he has to move and he has to do it quickly. But I've thought that even before tonight.

We've got 4 quality guys in the pen right now, so bullpen help is the last thing we need really. We don't have a true long reliever, but we can live with that. The thing with tonight is I don't think LaRoche is going to cut it now in terms of a bat. We have to go big or not bother now IMO.