Bananarchy

QUOTE (ozzfest @ Feb 6, 2016 -> 02:56 PM) --I am astonished at the above claiming that we as a fan base shouldn't be questioning a front office group who has been running basketball operations for 14 seasons now and has failed spectacularly time and time again. What is even more puzzling is this asinine narrative fed directly from the puppeteering mouth of one Dan Bernstein and Co. asking fans over the radio, "Well what would you want them to do, or who would you want replacing them, or who can do a better job?" What the hell are we talking about here? I mean honestly. Its not rocket science. An ex player/broadcaster has been running this team for 14+ seasons, and hasn't won. Period. Zero championships. Yet, John Paxson is one of the longest tenured executives in the NBA. Who are the others you ask? Pat Riley with the Heat. RC Buford with the Spurs. Danny Ainge with the Celtics. Mitch Kupchak with the Lakers. Now there is a reason they are the longest tenured. Its because these four men each have won championships as executives. Besides physically assaulting a coach and hitting a few corner 3's in the 90's, what the hell has John Paxson brought to this organization? It is clear that many of the fans who defend this unbelievably incompetent, complacent front office group are not truly aware of the many bright minds that are significantly more qualified and deserving than these moronic buffoons known as GarPax. Here are 5 different names that will get the ball rolling. First-Larry Riley. Essentially the architect behind the 2015 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors. Has a litany of draft successes including Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes. That alone qualifies him as a viable candidate. In addition to drafting well, Riley has shown a willingness to be creative in the FA and trade market (yes, to the surprise of some Bulls fans, this is another responsibility of an NBA executive). In 2012, Riley shipped oft-injured guard Monte Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks for big man Andrew Bogut and forward Stephen Jackson. This was a bit unpopular among Warrior fans. However, we see now that this move jumpstarted the building phase of an elite group. As far as replacements are concerned, Riley falls at the top of my list. Second, Miami Heat General Manager/Cap Man/Pat Riley's #2 Andy Elisberg. All you need to know about Andy Elisberg is that he is directly responsible for the Heat acquiring LBJ and Bosh in 2010. A guy who specializes in the salary cap, in addition to working under Pat Riley for 10+ seasons now, Elisberg would be a fine, albeit less realistic choice to replace the incredibly incompetent GarPax. Third on the list is Jeff Weltman, who serves under Masai Ujiri as the Assistant GM for the Toronto Raptors. Plain and simple, Weltman is an extremely well respected scout. He is highly regarded among NBA circles. It also doesn't hurt to work under the tutelage of one of the brightest executives in the league. Fourth is Troy Weaver, who is the Assistant GM with the Thunder as Sam Presti's #2. Weaver is known to be a respected scout having heavily recruited Carmelo Anthony to Syracuse and having a direct role in the Thunder's selection of Russell Westbrook. Finally, Brian Puaga, Director of Scouting for the San Antonio Spurs. In addition to this role, Puaga serves as General Manager for the Spurs D-League affiliate team. Plain and simple, Puaga is considered a rising star in the NBA's gold standard organization having climbed up the R.C Buford tree since being hired in 2007. Now, keep in mind these are jump 5 names off the top of my head. There are countless others who could do twice the job Forman and Paxson have done in 14+ seasons. Remember, 5 playoff series wins since 1999. 4 out of 5 wins within the last 5 years under Tom Thibodeau. Paxson was given the job in 2003. He previously played, broadcasted and was an assistant coach for one season before entering the role. He served as General Manager from 2003 to 2009. In 2009, he physically assaulted Vinny Del Negro and instead of being fired immediately, he was instantly promoted to VP of Basketball Operations, a role he currently serves in today. If we as fans are seriously interested in change, and I mean real change, we better get serious about ridding this organization of BOTH Gar Forman and John Paxson and not one or the other. See, this is what you write where you put "bump". with paragraphs

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 07:31 PM) Oh, there sure was. There sure was, the last time being back in the mid-to-late 80s. That was when our current esteemed owner Jerry Reinsdorf, fresh off of the failure of his first get-rich scheme with the SportsVision debacle, turned his greedy attention to the taxpayers of Illinois. He and his co-owners engaged in a highly public and shameful exercise where they literally blackmailed the state into publicly funding the construction of a new stadium for them, one designed to generate revenues the likes of which they could have never seen at the old ballpark. The blackmail came in the form of threats to move our White Sox to Tampa if the state did not only agree to fund the ballpark construction, but also throw in a sweetheart lease deal on top of it to boot. And if not for some last minute, 11th hour efforts in June of 1988 by former Gov. Jim Thompson to convince some legislatures to cave into those goons, the blackmail would have prevailed and our White Sox would be playing in Tropicana Field today as we speak. Jerry Reinsdorf - what a guy. He's done a mighty fine job of getting a huge return on his investment in the Sox over these past 35 years. Too bad the White Sox faithful can't say the same thing. I like this guy.

Wait- US Cellular doesn't even serve Chicago? What the? But anyway, those mid 2000s renovations saved the place. It feels like home to me when I get the fortune of going there. QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 06:15 PM) Looking back in retrospect, the cool thing would have been to put a stadium in the south loop with the open air outfield and a skyline view. Maybe next time with retrospect in mind it will happen. I always had the impression that part of the sweetheart deal they got (which paid for the stadium) was a big part of the reason they stayed at 35th and Shields. I think it's just expensive as heck to build a stadium that close to downtown where space is at a premium. That is the dream, though. That, and make "new sox park" closer to PNC in terms of size and feel.

QUOTE (Tony @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 06:12 PM) Except a large portion of it had nothing to do with the Bears as an organization, but a deeper look at the personalities and relationships they had with each other. I have NO connections to the 85 team other than being born and raised in Chicago. I'm not even a big Bears fan. But a positive comment followed by a negative slight from you? Color me shocked. I'm just tired of celebrating a 30 year old team.

QUOTE (Tony @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 05:41 PM) No comments on the Bears 30for30 doc? I cried like a baby at the end. It was really good, I'm just kind of done with the 85 Bears. I'm proud of them and I love 34, but part of why these guys are so renowned is directly tied to how bad this organization has been in the Super Bowl era.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 04:06 PM) Yeah but he's falling off and blah blah His line just isn't as good. He's fine. Hossa has his moments, but Shaw on the first line is not a real scoring threat.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 12:15 PM) Dallas, if only for the attention. Most sources down here seem to think Stephen Jones doesn't want Manziel, especially considering he won't be eligible to play the whole season. They sound more interested in RGIII.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 12:17 PM) Eric Lear ‏@BHTVeric 55m55 minutes ago Per @EliasSports, Artemi Panarin is the 4th-fastest active player to reach 50 career points, trailing only Ovechkin, Malkin and Crosby. No small feat, but we all know why this is happening.

Gift non-call there. Will take it. Hawks win 5-4

This is one of those look good, look bad games. The offense looks good. Crawford is a little off and the penalties have been bad and costly.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 3, 2016 -> 07:15 PM) So the NHL admitted that he had just suffered a concussion but still gave him the automatic suspension. Given the current situation with head injuries, this appeal process could get interesting. I don't know offhand what the precedent is, but 20 games sounds pretty light.

That might be my favorite Blackhawks promotional video ever. The girl scout cookies one is up there, too.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 09:42 PM) He's baaaaack https://twitter.com/EdmontonOilers/status/6...1035422720?s=09 He's so good. I can't wait for Edmonton to still screw it all up.

The timing is totally messed up, but Teuvo looks great centering real linemates.

With Toews serving a one game suspension, Teuvo is in at first line center. Should be an adventure.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 05:03 PM) What worries me is I think his current gig might be better than our job. But if he's flying 24 hours to interview he's got to be interested(not sure if it is in person). The timing too makes sense. The Austrailian Open just wrapped up and now we finally have some news on this whole search. Rumor has it his wife wants back to the states.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 04:20 PM) This sounds logical, however. Gar does not seem to operate in silence, so I wouldn't be surprised if Cowley is on this. In defense of Cowley, whom I dislike, he is the only beat writer who publishes these stories for the bulls. Everything we hear usually comes from NY media. Agreed. It's basically New York Media, the Bulls own spin, or Cowley providing any insight. And as of late, Cowley has been quite strong, but that might be due to the realization of what is clearly visible onscreen.

If it's not Tiley, Tiley wasn't interested. There isn't a better choice.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jan 29, 2016 -> 12:15 PM) http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2612093...amming-national Fanboy stupidity transcends death.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 29, 2016 -> 12:02 PM) Hickory's favorite head coach signs a 6-year extension to stay in South Bend Good to see ND settling for mediocrity.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 11:41 PM) What's the opposite of rose colored glasses? Sanity

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 08:24 AM) I think he was concussed from the previous hit and was kind of in autopilot... It's certainly possible and you would hope that's true because it was unfathomably stupid to hit an official. If he can convince the NHL that was the case, he should still probably get 20 games (but if he was concussed, he should probably be out a lot of that, anyway)

It had better be 50 games. That is ridiculous.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 07:58 AM) What? I think what is shows is the Bulls roster is full of guys who keep getting hurt. The theory that they kept getting hurt because Thibs played them too much was garbage, and now it shows. Appendicitis is not "an injury". There's nothing a coach can do to prevent that. Also, tell us more about your fantasy land where minutes from previous seasons have no effect on current performance. We'll wait.

It's too bad GarPax blew up Niko's appendix.