Balta1701

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 08:30 PM) cough Jordan Danks cough Why yes, he does strike out a lot just like that.

Wow, that was bad.

Gotta lay off the high ones or get on top of them DV.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 08:07 PM) You really dont see the correlation between the govt telling you what size drink you can buy and your rights being taken away? Serious Q: is it taking away people's rights to make some beverages cheaper and others more expensive using the laws/tax code? Because through all the corn subsidies, we're already subsidizing every soda sold in this country.

THEY'RE GONNA RUN OUTTA FIREWORKS!

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 07:37 PM) I really struggle with how to view Saladino. On one hand, he possesses some very interesting skills: great defense, great baserunner, and a tremendous eye at the plate (and displayed real good power the past two years from a middle infielder). On the other hand, he is really struggling to make contact in AA with a poor average and lots of Ks. I guess worst-case scenario he becomes a utility infielder for us, but I just love his OBP skills and defense. At SS, he probably can get away with his poor contact rate and become a decent everyday SS. That doesn't have to be worst-case scenario. Worst case scenario is he never makes it above AA and eventually becomes a minor league free agent.

I could tell that ball was gone from the sound. No looking up from computer necessary.

YOUK!!! PRODUCTION FROM 3B!!!!

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 06:40 PM) Do you like the Derrick Rose rule? I think its crappy. 1. Yes I like the Derrick Rose Rule. It hurts the Bulls a little bit, but they got 4 years of him being incredibly underpaid for his performance level. 2. I also like the rule where a player can be paid the most if he stays with the franchise that drafted him.

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 06:37 PM) It's just crazy to think that Lebron signed for a smaller contract than Derrick. I love my boy D.Rose but come on...the best player in the NBA is getting paid less. Its a little ridiculous. And Joe Johnson's contract blows Derrick's and Lebrons out of the water too. Lebron had to take less in order to leave Cleveland. Thems the rules. And that rule I like.

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 06:32 PM) no, it was that "Derrick Rose rule" thing in the CBA. For some reason, they agreed to put that into the new CBA. He'd still be a $17 million a year player starting this season even without that rule. That rule added probably about $8-10 million to his deal over the full course of it.

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 06:30 PM) mind-boggling. Who the hell agreed to that...? How are we supposed to put good players around him with a prohibitive contract like that? Your other option was allowing Derrick Rose to become a free agent. Take your pick. He's worth that on the open market.

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 06:29 PM) Rose's contract says 6.9million/6yr right now. Are you telling me it spikes to almost 3 times as much by next year? Yes.

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 06:25 PM) by how much, do you know? He's a 5 year, $95 million deal, which averages out to $19 million a year. If he starts next year at $18.5 million or so that's reasonable and would probably have him finishing the deal at $20 mil.

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 06:24 PM) How so? Mirotic on a rookie contract? Deng/Noah/Rose is 31 million right now. And Taj won't need to be extended for 2 more years Taj Gibson will be a restricted free agent next year, same as Asik now. Deng = $13.3 million, Noah = $11 million, Rose = about $18.5 million. Those 3 are $42 million next year give or take and each of them gets mroe expensive with time. Becomes $44-$45 million in the 2013 season depending on where Rose actually is. Add in $8 million for Gibson (compare to Asik' sdeal), and the money it costs to both bring Mirotic over and pay him anything, and you're at $55 million or so. Then throw in rookie contracts for Teague and Butler and you're at/over the cap.

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 06:15 PM) Yeah if we can trade rape a team like the Lakers do then of course we should do it. I just don't think there's any need to blow this team up like some people think we should. Keep the core of Rose/Lu/Noah, extend Taj. Anyone else I'm open to trading. Boozer will be amnestied soon and Mirotic will take his place. Use that cap room to hopefully find a star SG. Rose + Lu + Noah + Taj + Mirotic means the Bulls are over the cap.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 06:15 PM) Sure Balta. whatever you say You know what making moves just to make moves reminds me of? It's what Orlando's spent the last 5 years doing or what Cleveland was doing trying to make James happy. They had a roster that was a step below championship caliber, and if they stayed pat they had an outside shot at things. But that wasnt' enough to keep their star happy or really push themselves into a championship team. So what did they start doing? They started gambling...taking the assets they had and trying to turn them into something that could help. That's why Cleveland wound up with Shaq. That's why Orlando wound up trading for Turkoglu again. Thats' why Orlando wound up trading for Arenas. That's why Orlando traded for Vince Carter. They had to make a move somehow, but they didn't have assets to trade...so they did the big contract for big contract swap. That's right where the Bulls are now. They simply don't have the assets to make a major deal. They won't have a top 10 pick until 2015+, the would have difficulty coming up with an expiring deal (although they could hypothetically do so if they packaged Hamilton, Korver, and Watson), and if they tried to turn the expiring they have into something, it'd involve taking on something like Joe Johnson's awful contract.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 06:07 PM) If you arent looking, then nobody will be there to help you out. When will the Bulls actually pull off a deal? Please, let me know when it happens. When someone offers them the kind of silly deal that the other teams got?

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 06:03 PM) Spurs? There's more than one way to build a championship franchise. Some teams do it through free agency and trade, others do it from within. For every case of successful free agency and trade there's a case where it hurt a franchise too. Look at the Knicks. The Spurs of course...got pretty lucky in the first place when Robinson went down for a year and they wound up with the #1 pick out of it, thus teaming Duncan and Robinson in the same frontcourt. Later then...they stole a couple key guys in later rounds...Ginobili and Parker. The Bulls might have something with Mirotic, but that's at best 2 years away. And I'm pretty sure the Bulls gave away a ton of 2nd round picks trying to build this roster.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 05:55 PM) At some point the Bulls FO is going to have to stop being p*****s and waiting for something to happen. Danny Ainge made it happen. West always made it happen, and so has Kupchak. Riley made it happen. Popovich and Buford made it happen. Right in front of our eyes, Prokhorov is making it happen. The Bulls are a top notch franchise. The fans always come, Reinsdorf never has problems at the gate like he does with the Sox. Sometime he is going to have to say "Do this Paxson, I want a championship." And that time needs to come soon. You cannot wait for another MJ to will the franchise to multiple titles. These are great comparisons. In almost every one of those cases, someone helped a team out. The Lakers got Gasol for Scraps. The Heat put themselves together so that titles wouldn't be so hard. Prokhorov only gets a championship team if Orlando helps him out...he can't possibly do so otherwise. The only one that didn't...was the assembly of the Celtics...where both Minny and Seattle got pretty fair deals, with AL Jefferson and Jeff Green as the centerpieces along with a lot of cap space. The Bulls really can't offer either significant cap space, young cheap talent, or a top 10 draft pick in the next draft. I think that makes the case pretty well that the Bulls need some other team to help them out if they're going to be able to take another step.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 05:36 PM) Talking about the need to keep this team together is exactly what GarPax is doing, and it drives me nuts. The team is flawed even with Rose at 100 percent. Does that mean they couldnt take out the Heat? We will never know, it will never happen with this team. By the time we get back Rose, hopefully management has begun to assemble a championship roster around him that wont sit back and wait for Rose to do his thing and will rather work with him while he does his thing. My biggest problem continues to be...I can't see a mechanism where if the Bulls start tearing this thing down, they have any real path to get back up unless someone helps the team out. And frankly, most of the "save us" trades that people can complain the Bulls didn't pull off (Teams taking on Deng's entire contract and passing back the 7th pick or something like that) fall into the category of "Why is this team helping the Bulls out". Amnestying Boozer and trading Noah and Deng for a fair return doesn't make the Bulls that much better...because both of those guys are between quite well paid and over-paid. If you want to clear their contracts to play free agency...you have to take very little back. If you want to take back contributing players...then you're not going to clear the kind of salary you'd need to play free agency.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 03:25 PM) Police seek charges on former commerce secretary over hit & run incident. Prosecutor declines to charge him. Says he had a small amount of ambien in his system but said it couldn't be determined whether it was enough to cause the accident and said it was more likely his behavior was the result of suffering that seizure.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 05:33 PM) Most guys would. But most guys aren't Ray Allen. $3-5 million a year just doesn't mean a whole lot for a guy of his stature. Well, you had him all the way down to 20 MPG. If you were exaggerating, fine. I'm just saying that I think that if Ray feels like he can't be an effective starter anymore, he'll just go ahead and call it a career. If 25-28 mpg puts gas back in his tank, great. I picked 20 out of thin air.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 05:23 PM) I understand that. That's why I mentioned his ego/pride. Does a guy that's been 35+ minutes a game want to even come back if the best thing for him would be to drastically cut his minutes down? You're going to have to chop Kobe's foot off before he comes off the bench. Duncan and KG, even at advanced ages and their own health issues, have never and will never come off the bench. But, Duncan has seen his mpg drop from ~34 to ~28 over the last 3 seasons, and he's a year younger than Allen. Allen's minutes have been 34-36 his entire time in Boston.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 05:10 PM) The wildcard is his health. That's obvious. We won't really know until he gets back on the court if last year was the new norm or at 36 his body has finally broken down. Even if his body is breaking down, if you dropped him from 34 mpg last year down to 20 mpg...it might make him a ton more effective/energized.