whitesoxfan101

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 12:13 PM) His career major league slash line is .232/.279/.311/.590 in 185 PA. That's not exactly strong production, it's pretty close to what Gordon Beckham is giving us this year. So what you're saying is we don't need another Gordon Beckham in our lineup?

Today's questions: Are we actually any closer to a resolution to this now than we've been in the last several days other than the fact the season is coming closer and they eventually have to decide? And does anybody actually know anymore about what is going to happen now than in the past? Or is everything we're reading still bull s*** and nobody actually knows what they're doing yet?

Hmm two unignorably obvious points that happen to favor the Sox. He clearly loves us.

What about the reply record though? This thread has passed both of those. QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 11:58 AM) I have to imagine the Bulls feel real (I MEAN REAL REAL REAL) good that Carlos Boozer is theirs if they want him and that they are legitimately still in the hunt for the Big 3. Otherwise, I think they would have gone out and signed Boozer already to at least have one solid FA acquisition. I still have the feeling LBJ to Cleveland, Wade/Bosh to Miami and then Boozer to Chi with Korver/Redick/Miller/Morrow. Great, we'll be Jazz east.

Just out of curiousity, does anybody know the numbers for the largest thread ever here in terms of posts, views, and pages? If this drags out into Friday and Saturday like some think, we could make a run at it.

Separate point btw, Antti Niemi filed for arbitration. http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_dadd...?urn=nhl,253786 Two things that baseball and hockey have in common for me: I like and follow them a lot, and I don't understand fully how their arbitration systems work. Can a wiser man help out and tell me what this means exactly? Also, Mike Modano sounds like he'd be interested in playing for the Hawks: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-07...rs-organization

QUOTE (Controlled Chaos @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 10:48 AM) I fully expect a repeat!! Well not really, but I don't think it's unrealastic to think they can contend. Plenty have teams have won with less. Kane, Towes, Sharp, Hossa, Keith, Seabs, Bolland, Hjammer, Campbell, Kopecky, Brouwer. I expect improvement from Kane and Towes...they're still growing. Hossa should score more goals this year as he was off his career norms. Sharp is like the Buehrle of hockey, he'll consistently get you 25-30 goals. Even Kopecky, who has only played his 3rd full season, can evolve to a 15-20 goal guy. Bolland is good for 15-20. Don't forget how much time he missed this year and how long it took him to get back in the swing when he did get back. He's also young and has played only in enough games to add up to 2 seasons...so he could see a bump in goals. I don't think they lost that much on the D end and they were one of the best last year. 5th in goals against and #1 in shots against. So yeah, I'm optimistic. I know there are definitely more talented teams out there, but I give the Hawks as much of a chance as anyone. I think it'd be a big surprise if the Hawks don't end up somewhere very close to the #4 seed. The key to them having a shot to win it all like that is finding their stride at the right time. For instance, the 2009 Penguins were the #4 in the east and won it all because they found their stride at the right time. With a team like the Hawks that will be playing a lot of kids, the hope is that the kids get better as the year goes on, and are peaking heading into the playoffs. That is certainly possible, but the downside is that when you get into the playoffs, those kids haven't experienced it yet. That didn't really come back to bite the Hawks until the Detroit series in 2009 though (although I think at that point, Detroit was just the better team more than anything). One last thing is that you bring up an interesting point about even the "veteran" players. Some of those guys are still really young, and with that in mind, it's certainly not out of the realm of realism to think guys like Kane, Toews, Hammer, Bolland, and Brouwer can get even a little better. None of the aformentioned guys are even 25 yet.

QUOTE (Controlled Chaos @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 11:20 AM) I didn't get that impression at all. Ditto, I thought it was a rare case where it actually sounded like Hawk going with the flow as it happened.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 11:19 AM) If you just get Bosh for Noah, you're in roughly the same spot, winning 40-something games and losing to Orlando or Cleveland. It makes no sense unless you're GUARANTEED to get Lebron or Wade as well, even then you're going to need to fill some holes to win since you'd have Phoenix Suns level defense inside. I agree with this the Bosh for Noah point. But what if I can't guarantee you Lebron or Wade, but can saying making the Bosh for Noah based deal gives you a very good chance at them? How good must the chance be before you say yes? Does it have to be a guarantee? What if it gives you a non guaranteed but very good chance? These are some of the potential questions that the Bulls might be dealing with.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 11:17 AM) You are just more reliant on having Rose develop into a superstar and hoping that we can find another guy via draft or eventually via FA who can score too. Rose may develop into a superstar, but that's not a sure thing. And the odds of finding the help he needs to win a championship are very low if you strikeout here. You're going to be picking mid 1st round every year, and legit free agency help that really boosts a team just isn't there all that often.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 11:11 AM) You really can't, otherwise you may never fix the issue. Their flexibility is going to be shot after this year if you sign those guys, and finding a legit big man with the MLE is a very difficult task. They're probably better off keeping Noah and just getting one of them than getting both and losing him in that scenario, it would give them a more well-rounded team and they'd still have two legit scorers. The question is, is it worth dealing Noah and risking only getting Bosh? Because if you don't include Noah, you don't get Bosh. And if you don't get Bosh, you risk getting none of the big three. And if you get none of the big three, you're basically irrelevant for at least a few years, if not longer.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 11:05 AM) You have to have both, otherwise you're not winning anything. It's a lot easier to find interior defense than superstar players.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 10:58 AM) The problem with trading Noah is your interior defense takes a major hit and you wouldn't have the money to replace him. Two max players plus either Deng or Hedo (which pretty much have to be involved) puts you right up against the cap. That means your interior defense is left to Bosh, Gibson and probably Asik. Can any of those guys guard NBA centers right now? Bosh has proven that he can't, Gibson is too small and Asik is unproven. It has nothing to do with Noah's value relative to Bosh, it has everything to do with getting these guys and still being able to field a championship caliber defense. It would be difficult to fufill their championship potential with no one to guard Dwight or the Bynum/Gasol duo. I'd rather deal with that problem than deal with not getting LeBron, Wade, or Bosh.

If it ever came out this all blew up because of Noah, I'd be right back to hating him again. Even though this one wouldn't be his fault.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 10:42 AM) Noah + Deng for Turkoglu and Bosh. Bosh gets that extra $30 million later on. His salary this year would be the normal max, or $30% of the cap ($17.1 million). Turkoglu made $9 million last year and I think that he should make a similar figure this year. So you save $2 million from Deng. Noah makes $2.5 million. So you take about $4.5 million off your remaining cap. That should be enough for Wade. Hmm interesting. If this is all true though, you'd think the Bulls have already made this offer though.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 10:32 AM) I really wish I could just take over Pax's brain for a moment. At this point, you need to take some initiative. Joakim Noah is a solid piece. He's funny, he wears bow-ties. He's no reason to pass on trading for Chris Bosh. You call up and you send Noah and Deng or picks or whatever makes contracts work and get back what you can get back to land Bosh. Ok, so Bosh is in tow. This now makes Miami way less attractive for Wade, and takes a potential big player off for Cleveland. Go out and get yourself a Brendan Haywood (free agent) to take over what you've lost in Noah. Now call up LeBron and Wade, hell, make it a conference call. "Whoever accepts our offer first, gets it." Make them compete for you with a roster that is hot to trot. Then you bring in a gunner after you have one of them and you laugh your way to 4 straight championships. That's if Steve took over Pax's brain today. The thought here isn't bad. Problem is, a Bosh S&T without Deng involved means the Bulls can't offer Wade or Lebron a max.

Honestly, I'm in the anybody who can help our offense camp.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 10:29 AM) I remember that as well. The Bulls WANTED to include him in the deal. That is correct, it's the media here who didn't want him included, which was crazy. The thing I always heard is the Bulls wanted to include Deng in the deal, but Kobe was worried that if he was included, the Bulls roster around him wouldn't be good enough.

I think the Bulls not trading Deng for Gasol was more because Uncle Jerry didn't think Gasol was worth going into the luxury tax for. And considering the Bulls didn't have Rose yet at the time and Gasol had the playoff resume he had with the Grizzlies, I can see why he thought that. You're right about the media not wanting to trade Deng for Kobe though, goofs (and if they didn't want to trade Deng for Gasol, they certainly wouldn't have wanted to trade him for Kobe). I wonder how close either of those trades ever were to happening.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 10:15 AM) Best thing that could happen to Bulls is Bosh going to Cleveland. It's only chance they have to get Wade. Deng's contract is being used as the scapegoat by a lot of Chicago media right now, as it's being blamed for not being able to land Wade and Bosh with max deals. Agreed on point 1. I think the Chicago media is a bit misguided with point 2 though.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 10:11 AM) LeBron will win. Bulls need to act now if they this is true. It's them vs. Miami. You would think so because he has the leverage. But Bosh really has no interest in playing for Cleveland. But as little ammo as Cleveland has for a S&T, Miami has even less in terms of a backup plan for Bosh with playing alongside Wade down there. I guess Chicago is an option too, but they also have very little S&T ammo. What a mess.

Yeah, but those road numbers are positively mediocre. You'd like a little better balance in the output.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 10:00 AM) bosh will not go to Cleveland, no chance at all, he wants to play in a big market. It is rumored that Toronto GM will not work with Bosh for a sign and trade in which he will get the 6 year max deal, unless raptors get something significant in return. Cleveland can only offer Hickson. There is a great chance Bosh can go to Houston, a city to close to his home. Houston can probably offer the raptors Jordan Hill, Ariza, and Jeffries. I can see Bosh go to Miami if Wade stays there. So it's down to Houston, Miami and the Bulls for Bosh. If the bulls fail to sign the remaining big 2 I think the following scenario would still make a competitive team out of them. sign boozer for a max deal of around 14 mil. sign mike miller for 7.5 mil/year sign Matt barnes for 4 mil/year sign Jason williams for 3 mil/year Hope that Theo ratliff will sign for 1.5 mil/year the remaining spots can be veteran minimum or rookie minimum for all we care noah/ratliff boozer/taj gibson deng/james johnson miller/matt barnes rose/j will this lineup may not push us past the East, but it's a significant upgrade over last year's team, and at least we have something to show for after all the moves we've made in the past two years. Well the one positive the Bulls have here is what have they really given up to get into this position? I mean, a lot of players have left town recently, but are any of them ones that the Bulls will long regret, or even regret at all? I'd say definitely not. So the Bulls are going to be improved even if they just get guys like you mentioned. The problem is, they won't be nearly good enough to win the title, and that's the goal here.

I'm more concerned about the grass vs. turf splits. In all seriousness though, you bring up a good point. I don't have any numbers in front of me, but it feels like especially lately our offense has just been immeasurably better at home. I guess that's to be expected though when it's The Cell and summer. One thing that has been especially noticeable in the last month or so is the difference in power for our team home vs. away. It's been crazy.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 09:58 AM) Remember also, Florida I believe doesn't have a state income tax. This also adds into total compensation and a differential between offers. It's not nearly the difference people think. I can't remember the exact number it makes in terms of difference, but it's pretty small.