K.C. Johnson

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@KCJHoop

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Bulls win tiebreaker drawing with Kings. Bulls slot 6th, Kings slot 7th heading into May 15 draft lottery. Both own 5.3% chance at No. 1 pick and 18.25% chance at moving into top 3.

 

Hooray!

K.C. Johnson

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Verified account

 

@KCJHoop

4s5 seconds ago

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Bulls win tiebreaker drawing with Kings. Bulls slot 6th, Kings slot 7th heading into May 15 draft lottery. Both own 5.3% chance at No. 1 pick and 18.25% chance at moving into top 3.

 

Hooray!

 

The big thing we have to hope for is that no one from 7-14 moves ahead of us.

Don't care what anybody says. I'm gonna let myself enjoy the MPJ to Bulls gossip at the moment.

 

He's definitely letting it be known on social media (and rumors of him telling friends at Mizzou he wants to be a Bull). Kinda hope he pulls a Lonzo Ball and just works out with us.

RIP Erin Popovich

I think Minny puts a scare with Houston and the series goes at least 6. Minny has got to be the best 8 seed in NBA history.  Really been enjoying this postseason thus far. Maybe because I literally stoped watching basketball the final month of the season (couldn't really take the Bulls post Niko trade).  Too many games where Dunn / Lavine / Mark weren't playing and they are the only reason to watch.  

Glad Davis finally got a win...albeit my big plan is for him to get tired of not winning and forcing a trade to Chicago. I am very curious to see if Indy can knock out Cleveland. I have a feeling we are going to see Lebrun just go nuts the rest of the series. Philly sure seems like they are headed to the post-season. Just watching the east makes me wonder what the Bulls chances would have been had they kept Butler and been entering this off-season with a shit-ton of cap space (they would have).  They'd have been one of just a few teams and probably could have pretty quickly retooled.  

I'm kind of surprised that the Bulls keep saying they are going to stay quiet. Pax clearly has said they don't intend to tank another year so why not try and sign LBJ (not that he'd come) or make a run at Boogie or George and put them around the new pick and the rest of the players.  

On 4/18/2018 at 5:46 PM, Kyyle23 said:

RIP Erin Popovich

Echo those sentiments. All the best to Pop and family.  

I just want to watch Giannis and AD play all day.

So I have a Bulls related question. Paxson and Gar have made it pretty clear that the Bulls are going to have a pretty quiet off-season.  No one is expecting any aggressive courting of free agents with the plan really be to add in some more draft picks and let the team naturally improve. No intent to "tank" but given the talent level of the team, you are still probably talking about a team that will get a top 15 pick in next years draft (my bet would be it is a top 10 pick).  Really the only major decision expected is related to Lavine and what happens. I presume it will be a long dragged out negotiation and ultimately I expect Bulls to sign him for 4 yrs 15M per year (+/- $3M/yr).    

With all this in mind is this the right path? Or is there an opportunity for the Bulls to make an aggressive play?  They could do so via free agency (Paul George / Lebron / Boogie) or they could do so via trade and make an aggressive play on Kwahi? If you were running the franchise what would you do?  Would you try to find your star piece via trade (i.e., Kwahi) and if so, what would it take for the Bulls to acquire him (meaning what assets would be left and would the franchise have money / cap space to add another piece via FA to go along with Kwahi). 

The reason I ask the above question is I have been shocked at how quiet the Bulls have been. Paxson has made it so public at how much he disliked tanking and that they have no intention of doing it for another season, which leads me to believe, they intend to get good and fast (vs. stay bad for a few years and accumulate high picks to increase the odds of maybe hitting a star on one of those high picks).   With that in mind, are the Bulls secretly planning some big assault to get good and fast but quietly play coy in the public eye to keep expectations low?  Or is it more that they don't like this free agent class enough and their intend is essentially get one more top 10-15 pick before loading up in free agency a year from now? The only problem with that strategy is there are likely to be a lot more teams under the cap at that point and recent history has shown bad teams have a hard time signing top free agents.  

They should absolutely inquire about the likes of Lebron and Kawhi, but I don't think either are realistic, nor would I leverage the future for a 1-2 year run. Boogie has a bum knee now, so who knows if he'll be back at the same level. George isn't a top level type of player, so does it make sense to invest a bunch into someone that only makes you marginally better? And this is all ignoring the fact that Chicago is not a place FA's want to come to.

Unfortunately I think the only viable road forward for the Bulls is another tank season and hope you get a great player this year in the draft.

5 minutes ago, Jenksismyb**** said:

They should absolutely inquire about the likes of Lebron and Kawhi, but I don't think either are realistic, nor would I leverage the future for a 1-2 year run. Boogie has a bum knee now, so who knows if he'll be back at the same level. George isn't a top level type of player, so does it make sense to invest a bunch into someone that only makes you marginally better? And this is all ignoring the fact that Chicago is not a place FA's want to come to.

Unfortunately I think the only viable road forward for the Bulls is another tank season and hope you get a great player this year in the draft.

Cousins to me would be a terrible investment as a max contract.  Sure his numbers are great, but he doesn't seem like a guy who will lead you to the promised land.  I'd rather strike out and build another year than make that commitment to him.

5 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

Cousins to me would be a terrible investment as a max contract.  Sure his numbers are great, but he doesn't seem like a guy who will lead you to the promised land.  I'd rather strike out and build another year than make that commitment to him.

I would have said "do it" before the injury. I would not now.

That ending last night was amazing.  Lebron is the best.

19 hours ago, Jenksismyb**** said:

They should absolutely inquire about the likes of Lebron and Kawhi, but I don't think either are realistic, nor would I leverage the future for a 1-2 year run. Boogie has a bum knee now, so who knows if he'll be back at the same level. George isn't a top level type of player, so does it make sense to invest a bunch into someone that only makes you marginally better? And this is all ignoring the fact that Chicago is not a place FA's want to come to.

Unfortunately I think the only viable road forward for the Bulls is another tank season and hope you get a great player this year in the draft.

I don't want Cousins either, but he ruptured his achilles. Arguably worse than a knee injury actually, especially for a big guy with a questionable work ethic. 

ah, my bad. I just knew it was bad and people were questioning if he'd ever get back to his level of play this year.

2 hours ago, RockRaines said:

That ending last night was amazing.  Lebron is the best.

He's incredible. Will be interesting to see where he goes this off-season.  

1 hour ago, Jenksismyb**** said:

ah, my bad. I just knew it was bad and people were questioning if he'd ever get back to his level of play this year.

If Cousins was healthy, I'd be all over him. With where he stands, I presume he is going to go with a shorter-term deal. That said, Boogie is just not a guy I'd bet against. For all the knocks on him, he works hard. 

Cousins isn’t a number 1 option but will be paid like a number 1 even after the injury. I would stay away from him. There is an abundance good big men in the top 6 in this draft and I would draft one rather than signing one.

I love Trae Young and thinks he has a chance to be special, but he’s a risky pick. JJJ might be the safest pick that may fall to us at 6 in that his game should translate well in the pros, and he darn well fits nicely next to Lauri. Imagine the floor spacing those 2 would create, and now all you need then is to sign one star player in free agency who will be the number 1 option to run the offense.

Interesting report from Cowley indicating Butler may want to finish his career in Chicago.  While I haven't posted it here, he would be on my list of guys to get when he became a free agent. I just assumed it would never happen given the friction, but Butler had a lot of nice things to say about Reinsdorf and as the youth continues to gel, someone like Jimmy Buckets would be a nice fit (albeit likely not working with Hoiberg).  Heck, half of the reason we traded him in the first place was because we didn't think he was worthy of a supermax in two years and now he isn't even eligible for a super max deal.  

https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/jimmy-butler-back-in-a-bulls-uniform-someday-not-as-far-fetched-as-it-sounds/

 

2 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

Interesting report from Cowley indicating Butler may want to finish his career in Chicago.  While I haven't posted it here, he would be on my list of guys to get when he became a free agent. I just assumed it would never happen given the friction, but Butler had a lot of nice things to say about Reinsdorf and as the youth continues to gel, someone like Jimmy Buckets would be a nice fit (albeit likely not working with Hoiberg).  Heck, half of the reason we traded him in the first place was because we didn't think he was worthy of a supermax in two years and now he isn't even eligible for a super max deal.  

https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/jimmy-butler-back-in-a-bulls-uniform-someday-not-as-far-fetched-as-it-sounds/

 

There was some nasty stuff said when he left, mostly by the people around him, but I can't imagine him coming back without some management changes.

Just now, southsider2k5 said:

There was some nasty stuff said when he left, mostly by the people around him, but I can't imagine him coming back without some management changes.

I really can't see Gar and him making it work. I could see Paxson making it work. I think Pax/Buckets are pretty similar. They just want to win and if that is the best path forward, they'll ignore the rest.  

This Utah OkC series has been phenomenal. 

Having not watched much of Mitchell until the postseason all I can say is damn what a rookie. And Westbrook is just fun to watch. 

Oh LeBron...

 

 

LeBron flopping as usual?! Color me shocked. I don't know how some people root for that guy.