Balta1701

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 4, 2013 -> 01:01 PM) I'd like someone to explain to me why we are going to need salary relief. I'd rather have an extra $7 million to throw at extensions for Quintana, Santiago, and Reed than not have it.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Jul 4, 2013 -> 11:41 AM) You're losing a lot of the advantage to adding Aldridge if Noah goes in the deal. Then you're still stuck with Boozer or hoping you can get enough from Mirotic/Gibson at the power forward spot. It's not exactly easy to find a D and rebounding center on a budget. I'd rather have Aldridge, but the gap isn't nearly big enough to make a huge difference. Then when you talk about adding Butler too, that's too much. We're not talking about prime KG with this deal. The other issue is I don't see why they'd want Deng since they already have Batum on the roster. It'd be one thing if the Bulls are sending a bunch of young guys and picks and just need Deng to match salaries, but that's not the case in most deals I've seen. Blazers also don't have a whole lot of overpaid/long term salary guys so the Deng expiring deal really isn't hugely valuable to them. They'd wind up clearing some space by moving Aldridge but they'd be taking on long term money in the form of Noah.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 4, 2013 -> 11:10 AM) Dunn just had a hell of a June....991 OPS and is on pace to hit 44 home runs and knock in 111. f***ing eating any money. He'll, I'd just keep him if I didn't get a nice piece or two for him. I'd still be happy to save 1/2 of his contract for next year.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 08:08 PM) Embarrassed? Hardly. We have the entire Latin American world pissed at us because we screwed with one of their leaders for absolutely no reason.

QUOTE (ROC Sox Fan @ Jul 4, 2013 -> 12:28 AM) Fun time at the game tonight. We had a wild wave going in the UD. Hopefully get to see a winner tomorrow. For once, I won't give anyone crap about doing "the wave" this year. Better than watching the game.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 06:18 PM) Odds are whoever claims a guy like Crain, really could use him. It is hard to find that good of a set up guy around baseball these days, not to mention the need to lock down innings 6-8. Well, teams on the outside of the race looking in could readily just claim him as a blocking maneuver too.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 06:12 PM) I thought he was the next head coach for the Hoosiers as it was his dream job. This definitely removes heat from Tom Crean. Stephens winning at Butler over the next year or two could have put some serious pressure on Crean.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 06:02 PM) Would have been cool to see Wilkins called up, but Morel makes more sense. Give him some time. Decent chance we'll see him at the end of this month, but he's just barely arrived in Charlotte. Plus that would require a 40 man spot and we don't want to blow one of those on Wilkins if we're trading for people on other teams' 40-man rosters.

Wow.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 05:28 PM) Thats something as a Bulls fan you got spoiled with when they had Jordan. He had a very good instinct for the right moment to turn it up and put the other team away. The bulls now just seem content grinding it out and keeping it close, when sometimes you want them to flip the switch go full out for a few minutes and end the game right then. In that 2011 run, I'm not sure the Bulls had the scorers to really flip the switch and put other teams away. The times when they'd do that IIRC were in games where someone like CJ Watson would hit several shots from outside. Outside of Korver they didn't have scoring punch to put teams away, and if Korver was in there their defense was hurting which could allow the other team to break up a scoring run.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 05:11 PM) I thought the Sox would have to offer him a ton in arbitration in order to get comp pick? $14 million or so qualifying offer I believe.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 05:03 PM) Cute! No I think he spends all day undermining his coach and star player. If his star player didn't want to be undermined he shouldn't have needed 2x as long in-between games as guys in the NFL need for the same injury.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 05:01 PM) And I said that a good coach would figure out how to make up for that so they can get a 45% shooter on the floor. The last thing I worry about with the Bulls is if they are going to be good on defense, so Id gladly take a great offensive guy and hope that Thibs and co can make it work defensively, than getting defensive guys and hoping that they magically can shoot well. I know the fact that he didn't shoot well that series was sort of the icing on the cake, but the Bulls offense was, IIRC, much more effective when Korver was on the floor in 2011, particularly against the Heat, but their defense was also quite a bit worse. With Wade on the opponent's roster there was just no way they could keep him out there consistently for long stretches without it becoming a serious liability.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 04:26 PM) Im of the opinion the Bulls dont need a "superstar" they just need better composition. This comes down to 2 players in my opinion. 1) A sharpshooter and 2) Another guy who can create with the ball once in a while. That would relieve a lot of pressure on Rose. It seems to me like this is the format they've been trying to follow the last year+.

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 04:20 PM) They don't need to pay the tax right now. They are.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 04:05 PM) I'm fairly certain Taj was expiring at the time. Taj Gibson was on a rookie deal. Had he not been extended, you're correct he'd have been expiring, but he wouldn't have had nearly the dollar amount that Martin had.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 03:58 PM) OMG! They would have had to give up an asset they overvalue to get better! What a crazy idea! Let's not do that, let's just stay the exact same and hope we draft really well OR hope that 4 seasons from now our projects pan out! You're the fan that GarPax loves because you buy the hope bulls***. "Just wait one more season guys. We couldn't do anything this year but oh boy do we have a plan for the future!" And you buy this magic bulls*** of "oh it should just be made to work and I can be mad if they don't!" Since you won't do it, here's the list of guys who had similar dollar value expiring contracts to Martin. Tell me which of them the Bulls should have acquired and how much the Bulls should have to give up to get that team to take on an extra year of salary with Deng. Didn't include guys with opt-out options since they'd screw the Thunder if they didn't opt out. Al Jefferson $15,000,000 - Utah Manu Ginobili $14,107,492 - San Antonio Josh Smith $13,200,000 - Atlanta Kevin Martin $12,439,675 - Jose Calderon $11,046,591 - Detroit Corey Maggette $10,924,138 - Golden State David West $10,000,000 - Indiana Detroit was clearly playing for cap space this year so taking Deng on would have ruined that. The remaining teams there had guys they wanted to sign or were likely to be competitive and wouldn't be helping the Bulls make that deal.

‏@whitesox 37s The #WhiteSox have placed RHP Jesse Crain (R shoulder strain, retroactive to 6/30) &1B Paul Konerko (lower back strain) on the 15-day DL,

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 03:48 PM) I read that there was a pro-American hacker called The jester who was screwing with Ecuador until the decided not to have Snowden. Didn't know there WERE pro-American hackers. Thought they were all self-important anarchist assholes to begin with. (Could be on someone's payroll).

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 03:47 PM) Exactly. Like I said, i'm sure the cap gurus could have figured out how to make the numbers work. And it's not like OKC got a ton in return. The got a decent Martin (role player) for one season, Lamb (a project) a #11 and a couple other worthless picks. They weren't looking to replace Harden NOW. They were looking to keep the team at the same level while working towards the future. They were looking for a large expiring contract to keep them under the luxury tax this season. They got that. The Bulls did not have that to offer, which means the Bulls would have to have traded away either Deng or Noah and gotten back an expiring contract of similar value, so right away we need a 3rd team involved. So that then depletes either the SF position or the C position as a consequence of getting Harden. But worse, teams don't like to give up expirings that easy these days; look how much value one had to OKC. The Bulls then would probably need to give up another asset to sweeten the deal to get that expiring contract, but doing that means they have less to offer OKC because they had to pay a premium to get the expiring contract. See how "oh i'm sure they could figure it out" is just nonsense? THat's the tough step.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 03:32 PM) Ha. Well, LeBron can. It was argued shortly after that post that Lebron had a ton of help defense when he was doing that and that the Heat would collapse on Rose every time he drove. I think that's fairly accurate; the Heat didn't respect anyone else's ability to score, drive, or hit from outside.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 03:05 PM) Harden would look pretty f'n good on the Bulls team, and i'm sure the cap gurus could have figured out the appropriate set of players to get it done. I don't have a good enough NBA memory to know what major guys have been put up as trade bait the last several years, but there have been plenty. It's not like major players don't get traded in this league. And even if those trades weren't publicly discussed, the fact is the Bulls COULD have been making calls to see what it would take to get certain guys with the assets they have. And all of the insiders have said the Bulls just don't do that. Wasn't Kobe at one point seriously considering a move and Chicago was a team on his list and the Bulls refused to give up Deng? If anyone believes the Lakers would genuinely have given up Kobe, I have a bridge to sell them...but yes, that one was the talk. And if that one could have happened and didn't then that was a mistake. Yes, Harden would look good on the Bulls, but as was just pointed out, the Bulls simply did not have an expiring contract to offer up for him while the Rockets did. The Thunder wouldn't have taken on Deng or Noah because that would have put them in Luxury tax territory this year.

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 02:52 PM) But it's irrelevant. We're talking about different talent evaluators. no it isn't. This is the norm for prospects. Penciling them all in and expecting them all to be a great success when they're not even in AA yet is ludicrous.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 02:56 PM) Otherwise we have passed up many potential deals to make THIS team better, banking on what COULD be in a couple of seasons. name a single one.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 02:41 PM) No the problem is he makes plans for 3 years in advance to sign a player to a max contract, continually misses, and continually has blinders on to anything else that may improve the team besides mid level contracts to vets to fill out the roster year in and year out. The lakers know everyone is available to them at any time because they are the lakers. It's a lesson the bulls should learn if they want to become talented enough to win the title and not merely well-coached. First of all...the role of the "He" in this discussion changed a couple years ago. I'm not sure if that even registered. Secondly...I'm still waiting for someone to tell me what deal he missed out on. Harden was the best response and even then the Bulls couldn't offer salary cap relief. Are y'all jealous that we didn't get Joe Johnson or something like that?