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QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 6, 2012 -> 09:19 AM) Someone can tell me if I'm wrong though, but I'm 95% sure that the new CBA says it can't work that way...Howard can't sign an extension until this summer, he can't sign immediately upon being traded like Melo did, so the Bulls can't make an offer that is contingent upon Howard being extended next motnh. Orlando could say that Howard is willing to sign an extension and he could leave anyway (Carlos Boozer says hi to Cleveland again) Extension-and-trades are permitted, but the maximum length of any extended contract is three years and the annual increase is limited to 4.5%. If a player signs an extension that exceeds this amount, the team may not trade that player for six months. If a team acquires a player via trade, they may not sign the player to an extension for six months, and when they do sign him the extension may not exceed the contract term or dollar amount than what was permitted under the extension-and-trade clause.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 6, 2012 -> 12:01 AM) Rose hasn't been shooting well in general at all this year. Not just threes. Take off the three point shots, and he's shooting 51.4% from the field and 89% from the free throw line.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 09:51 AM) It is simple basketball fundamentals Balta. Rose doesn't have to "try to score" if an opposing big is gonna double him. Pass the ball out to the open man, or swing it around and reload from the post. Speed doesn't always mean running really fast on the court. Foot work, agility etc. are beneficial to the speed aspect of the game. Rose has the special ability early on here to shoot over bigger guys with his athleticism and overall speed. Once thats gone, he'll have to find other ways to be effective at the PG position other than passing. (which I'm sure his b-ball I.Q. will improve enough to realize that) Not to mention we have the best baseline player in the game in Ronnie Brewer. I think Rose can work a post up game like Kobe, take on the opposing point guards and exploit the defender with his athleticism. He can hit those mid range shots or fade aways all day given his athleticism and his above average mid range shooting. There will be times when teams will throw bigger guards at him or try to double him, but I believe he will be suffice if he throws a pass to a cutting Deng or Brewer, or hit a Noah sneaking in the paint for an easy dunk. I much rather see him exploit a match up in a post up than letting the defense off the hook by jacking up an inconsistent three point shot.

It seems Derrick's three point shot is as streaky as ever. If it comes, he can hit three or four in a row, but most of the time he's short or flat on those jumpers until he gets on a hot streak. Some poster proposed earlier that Rose should eliminate the three point shot like Lebron did this season. While I don't buy that he has to eliminate completely, because he is a better shooter than Lebron, I do think that he has no business of taking 4, 5, or 6 shots behind the arc every night. He is not a pure shooter, he will never shoot 40% or even 38% from long range. I think what could actually take him to the next level is working the post game. He is bigger, stronger, and more athletic than most point guards in this league, there is no reason he couldn't take smaller guards in the post and convert a high percentage if he so choose to. I think he just need to work on that part of his game. If he wants to be more efficient, which is his primary goal this season, then adding a post game would be tremendous. P.S. Lebron is indeed shooting 60% from the field, mostly due to eliminating the three point shot, and working more in the post after working out with Hakeem in the offseason. My Derrick wish list for next off season is to work with Hakeem as well, or even a guy like Andre Miller on post game, I truly think it will take his game to the next level.

Not sure if this is against forum policy, but since this is a job hunt thread, I will just throw it out there. I currently have a few positions to fill. It is a part time position in the Sales and Marketing field. All income from this position will be commission based, meaning no base compensation. Hours are very flexible in that you get to pick your own hours. If this is something that interests you and you are looking to make some extra income in 2012, feel free to give me a PM.

I remember there was a time when Brandon Jennings was good at basketball. I remember he was scoring the ball at will for the first 10 games or so in his rookie season, including a 55 point monster game against the Warriors, some folks were hyping a D-Rose vs B-Jennings rivalry in the central division for years to come. I looked at the box score tonight and realized how far he has fallen since then. He shot 37% and 32% from the field and behind the arc last season, and is shooting 23% from threes before going 4 for 19 from the field and 0 for 7 from distance tonight. He is just really bad at basketball, especially shooting. If he is not a good distributor and cannot shoot better than 40/30 in percentage, then he is a cancer to the offense given his usage rate. It's just sickening for the Bucks fan knowing that Stephen Jackson, a career 41% shooter, and the aforementioned Jennings will be taking half of their shots every night.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 31, 2011 -> 02:58 PM) Has he actually been active? The Wizards had a tech called on them the other day because they played a guy who wasn't on the active roster. It would be a travesty if John Brick Lucas is active and Scal isn't. Scal sells tickets, Lucas doesn't.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 31, 2011 -> 01:06 PM) The important thing for me on this is that it puts Deng on the bench for a few extra minutes a game. As much as I want that to happen, I don't think it's going to change much unless Ronnie Brewer starts playing at a consistent level offensively and knock down shots like he did last night. He is the only current wing outside of Deng who could provide the same type of intensity defensively. Deng still played 42 minutes last night, despite the Bulls holding a double digit lead midway through the 4th quarter, and I didn't see Thibs having any intentions of give Deng more rest, as he didn't take him out of the game when he took Rose out with a minute left. I think it will eventually come back to bite us, especially with this intense schedule. Thibs should look to rest Deng more when he takes him out in the second quarters, and take him out when the game is out of reach, like late in the fourth last night. I think Brewer, Korver, and even Jimmy Butler should get some burns in those situations with the way they are playing right now. Heck, I was looking for some Scal time when Thibs decided to take Rose out, I believe there was quite a few Bulls fans in attendance last night.

I am fine with whatever Rip is doing right now. He is an upgrade over Bogans nonetheless. If you leave him open mid range, he will knock down the shot. He has proven over his career that he can knock down those shots. His shot is just a bit off to start the season. He has also proven that he could hit 40% from 3 point line, albeit on low volume, if we ask him to take 3 or 4 a game, I am still confident that he could hit 35% of them at the end of the season. We do not need him to be a Kobe and knock down ultra difficult mid range shots, if he can get out on fast break and run and distribute, and knock down mid range shots off screens, I think he would do fine. That's something we didn't have last year. I should also point out that it was fun watching Rip and Korver on the court at the same time, offensively. Though they didn't run the plays like they should, it puts great pressure on the opposing wings having to chase two guys off single and double screens at the same time.

QUOTE (bighurt4life @ Dec 20, 2011 -> 07:31 PM) That would be great but thats a pretty generous evaluation for someone who's played a half season of rookie ball. I think we'd be lucky if he ever even makes it to the majors. I am saying that could be, not that it will be, his potential if he reaches the major. Isn't that part of evaluating prospects? Projecting what they would be at the majors?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 20, 2011 -> 07:05 PM) We have no choice but to compete with Rios and Dunn, and Peavy to a lesser extent. It is possible to compete in the AL Central "as is" but it certainly won't be easy without Floyd OR Danks and Thornton. We can live without Quentin's production if Viciedo produces, which is a 90% probability. There's also a 90% probability that Quentin will miss a significant portion of games, inevitably lowering his trade value. The other choice is an onerous that is very unlikely to occur, which is packaging one of those 3 contracts (perhaps along with Beckham) with the quality assets we have to trade in Danks/Floyd/Thornton/Quentin and perhaps Alexei Ramirez or Paul Konerko if the right pieces of a deal fall into place. Frasor/Crain could also be included as a sweetener, particularly Crain. The problem with trading an Alexei Ramirez is that he's not easily replaced by Escobar or Martinez. But it's obviously something that will have to be considered over the next 12-15 months. Your "interpolation" that with all the contracts like Peavy, AJ, Danks, Quentin (and probably Thornton) off the books that we will be putting that money back into the draft is unlikely, except for the potentially higher first and second round (supplemental, etc.) draft picks. As far as high school players with "upside," Trayce Thompson is a pretty good example. The problem is that for every 20 raw "diamonds in the rough," you're only going to hit on 2-3 of them. Of course, the more you have in your organization with that kind of talent and physical package, the better off you will be. It's a numbers game. Fairly easy to look back at all the depth in pitching we had between 1998-2002 (when we were the #1 farm system in baseball with Borchard, Garland and Rauch as the centerpieces).....that almost none of them had the MLB careers projected for them. Not quite. That's not my "interpolation". The Sox need to spend money on the draft immediately if they are committed to rebuild. We cannot wait till the bulky contracts coming off the book then spend on the draft. What I am trying point out is that with Peavy, Dunn and Rios contract in the book, we won't have the ammo to sign key players to rebuild. And we most likely won't rebuild through free agency, unless we get rid of one of those contracts, which would be a long shot. We cannot afford to wait for these contracts to come off the book then rebuild the team. With the trading chips we have now, especially after the new CBA, we won't get many, if any, top tier prospects in return. If we are really committed to rebuild, we need to spend money internationally and through the draft. Thanks to the new CBA, we have to. How much? We don't know. If we fill the roster with mostly guys in house, and not make any significant free agent signings, we can allocate an extra $4-6 mil on the draft. Which would be tremendous. That's the ideal goal, but like some mentioned, unlikely. You mentioned HS kids like Thompson are hit or miss. But isn't that true for ALL prospects? We didn't have much success with some of the "safer" picks we have had. There are teams like the Rays who continually have success in developing HS kids, like Moore, Jennings, Hellickson, etc. It's not entirely impossible. But that's besides the point. I am not advocating in drafting more HS players, but I think we need to increase spending on the draft and international signing in order to rebuild the big league team and our farm system.

That's a good point. But the new CBA is trying to guide the teams to allocate a certain amount of money on the draft. The bonus pool as of now ranges from $4.5 mil to $11.5 mil, it will change before the draft, depending on the number of picks a teams has. But teams can still spend less than or over the limit of the range, with a penalty. Teams can still go over slot in latter rounds to sign a player, mostly likely if they are still within the bonus pool. I don't think the Sox would spend $3 mil again in the next draft, I am wondering how much are they willing to spend on the draft to rebuild.

This off season, Kenny Williams has finally decided to go into the rebuilding mode. But you cannot rebuild without a strong farm system. Realistically, the Sox aren't going to compete as long as the contracts of Rio/Dunn/Peavy are still in the books, and we aren't likely to sign any impact free agents for the foreseeable future. The only way to rebuild this team is to trade away pieces like Danks, Floyd, CQ and hope for a haul of prospects in return. At the same time, we also need to replenish our really weak and thin farm system through the draft. And we are known to never spend on the draft. We spent less than $3 million on the draft this year, though given, we didn't have an actual first round pick, but it is still really shameful. The total MLB spending on the draft this year is over $230 million. So will JR and KW finally opt to shell out big bucks during the next draft and sign some HS kids with exciting potential? Will it be over or under $6 million?

If he continues to develop the way he did this year, and judging by a few videos of his swing and the scouting report, he has a pretty good chance of continuing to do so, he could get a cup of tea by the end of 2013, maybe not as a catcher, but as a 1B or DH. So if he reaches the major at 25/26, he would have a 7-8 year window to be productive. He by no means is a top prospect given his age, but what I am saying he has a better chance of becoming a productive player at the majors than most players on this list. Personally, I can see him being a .290 hitter, 20+ HRs, and has decent eye at the plate.

In the case of Kevan Smith. I still see him as a prospect because his baseball age is relatively young. People often confuse actual age vs baseball age and doesn't take into account how long the player has been playing the game for. Since Kevan Smith didn't start playing baseball full time until not too long ago, he still has the chance to learn and improve at age 24, which frankly, is the definition of a prospect. If a player who has been playing pro baseball since they are 17, and is still at Smith's level at 24, then they are non prospect. For the same very reason, I still consider Jared Mitchell a good prospect. Smith is projected as a very good contact hitter with above average power if he pans out, the only question is whether he can stick at the catcher position. You wouldn't rule out Sergio Santos' prospect as a pitcher after he just converted from SS to pitcher and can throw a 99 MPH fastball right? I think Kevan Smith is flying under the radar in this organization, which could be a good thing, and he could turn out to be a better player than most players on this list.

After watching the Clippers Lakers tonight, does anyone feel that Billups would be a better fit at SG for the Bulls than Hamilton if the Bulls had a shot at him? To start off, he is a very efficient player and scorer, no matter what his FG% suggests because he only takes smart shots. He is still an ace three point shooter, Rip is not. I believe he shot 39% from the arc since joining Detroit. Second, he can handle a lot better than Rip, and can create for himself. He can sometimes play the point and let Derrick play off guard and go off. Also, he is big and strong for a PG, at this stage of his career, he is better at checking 2s than 1s. If the Bulls' biggest roadblock is Miami, then Billups can check Wade better than Rip can. Lastly, Billups was the Final MVP and Mr. Big Shot, if it comes down to the last shot, we would have another option other than Derrick to go to. Overall, I just think Billups compliment Derrick very well in this starting lineup. If the Bulls only had a shot at Big Shot.

He's 6'7 and he from DR, Who knows if he's actually 17 or not

First Gordon Beckham, and now J-Hey and Freddie Freeman, if both fails next season, they have Walk to blame.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 3, 2011 -> 07:46 AM) If we have to get salary down to $90 million or below this may be the only option...but a rotation with Stewart and Axelrod as your 4-5 starters is highly unlikely to be competitive next year. Especially when you factor in the fact that Sale can't be expected to go past 150 innings even if he's stellar and Peavy might well hurt himself in Feb. for all we know. I personally do not have much faith in Stewart, but judging from Axelrod's minor league track record and his cup of tea this year, I think he could end up being a nice 4th starter for this team. But since we have Humber in the bullpen as insurance, if either of Axelrod or Stewart falters, I think Humber should be given a chance to prove himself once more. As far as pitching rotation depth is concerned, if we are trading Q, D1, Floyd, and Thorton, I would expect us to net a few close to major league ready starting pitching prospects back. Based on our attendance this year, I think you are right on with our cap situation this year. Getting to around $90 million means Danks and perhaps Floyd won't be back next year. What we have in house right now may be question marks, but in reality, I don't think the drop off is that big from this year.

Our biggest asset right now is our mid rotation to back rotation guys. I think that we can trade both Floyd and Danks and still boast a decent rotation. Starting Pitchers: Buehrle Peavy Sale Stewart Axelrod Bullpen: Santos Reed Crain Humber Santiago Ohman Free agent/prospect Trading Thorton will save us some money and get a decent 'spect in return. I think the AL has figured this guy out. We need to put Humber in the pen over Stewart and Axelrod because Humber can give you 5 decent innings on most days, but his effectiveness is gone by the 6th or 7th. Lineup De Aza Beckham Konerko Tank Dunn Rios AJ Alexei Morel Bench: Lillibridge Escobar Flowers 5th outfielder (D2 will probably be gone along with D1) This lineup looks really weak on paper, especially with Paulie aging, it probably won't get us anywhere. But if Beckham finally figures out under a new hitting coach, De Aza continues to play like he did this year, Dunn and Rios come back to norm, then we might just have a shot at competing. Trade Candidates: Quentin, Thorton, Dank, and Floyd. Hopefully these trades will haul back some decent corner infield prospects, and a couple of good pitching prospect to replenish our system. Now, if we could get Mitchell, Walker, Thompson and K Smith to pan out...

I am going to go KLaw on this one. When was the last time the Sox took a HS player in the first round? 2000? I think it will be a safe bet college arm, Brian Johnson.

Holy s***, Blake Jake Drake number 12 is a man amongst boys out there.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 29, 2011 -> 10:22 AM) the Sox as an organization push many prospects through. This isn't unusual. See also Jared Mitchell. Really? Are we comparing the Williams brothers to Mitchell now? Mitchell has legit first round talent, missed a year due to injury. They are pushing him to try to get the ROI of a high pick. Do you really think the Williams brothers merit a push solely due to their talent? Jr would be lucky to even be a 10-15 round pick back in the draft, and TW is a UFA.

I find it funny how you people are defending Tyler Williams right now. But I think there will be plenty of people b**** about him when he is under performing in Low A next season. The thing with the Williams brothers is they will be given more opportunity to move up and play everyday than other prospects, and they might even be significantly worse than the said prospects. Jr should still be in low A right now, if he still deserves to be in the system.

When your big league team lost yet another frustrating game, and your entire farm system had losing days, you can't really be optimistic about the future.