1 hour ago, Dick Allen said:

And next year the Bulls will be competing with Magic and Lebron and LA winters vs. Chicago winters for free agents. Another solid GarPax plan.

Good news is that the free agents bulls should go for are 2 years away.

Load up on picks this year and then next year try and trade for Anthony Davis or Greek freak when they only have 1 year left. 

I've always been a lebron fan, but not sure how many players are going to be racing to join the 4th best team in the west. Paul George chose OK for a reason.

Fuck the NBA

NBA is pathetic at this point. 

How can anyone still be a fan of the NBA? 

Unless they play their home games at the United Center, I am against super teams. We will see when Boogie can return and how well he can play. Achilles seems to be a tough injury for a basketball player, and Boogie is so large, but how can’t he be an upgrade though, just what they need. If anything, it seems nobody wanted to pay him very much.

Edited July 3, 20187 yr by Dick Allen

It's hilarious. Glad the Bulls are not contenders so I can just sit and laugh.

1 hour ago, Dick Allen said:

And next year the Bulls will be competing with Magic and Lebron and LA winters vs. Chicago winters for free agents. Another solid GarPax plan.

That is just one player we are contending with though.  Lakers won't be able to fit two max guys next year (going to be really hard to do with Deng's contract on the books).  

24 minutes ago, Steve9347 said:

Fuck the NBA

Is this serious?  WOW.  

Yeah, I won’t be watching an NBA game this year.  These guys have the right to do what they want but I hope they realize how awful this is for the fans and that you will eventually make people not care about the league.  

This is beyond awful, this is troll level LOL.

When I saw the news I almost shit myself laughing.

10 minutes ago, whitesoxfan99 said:

Yeah, I won’t be watching an NBA game this year.  These guys have the right to do what they want but I hope they realize how awful this is for the fans and that you will eventually make people not care about the league.  

The past 4 or 5 years you are either a GS fan or LeBron fan.

Only good thing is there will be a different rep for the East in the finals but they have no chance

The Warriors would beat the 5 best players from the East. Hell they'd arguably sweep them.

One thing to remember is Boogie is going to be out until at least January and coming back from a serious injury. The other upside is Bulls aren't contending this year anyway and if Boogie kicks butt he'll be a free agent and he won't resign in Golden State so next year he'll be available to the highest bidder (to extent he is worth it).  So technically him signing a 1 year deal is good for the Bulls, imo.  

He can either prove he is healthy and worthy of a max deal and if so, Bulls can be one of the teams to offer him.  Had Boogie signed a big deal this year, it would have meant we had no shot at him next year so fact that he is back on radar for next year is good. Albeit would prefer a non Warriors team pick him up.

I like the Pelicans getting Randle at that price. Seems to be a very reasonable rate for someone like Julius.  

2 hours ago, whitesoxfan99 said:

Yeah, I won’t be watching an NBA game this year.  These guys have the right to do what they want but I hope they realize how awful this is for the fans and that you will eventually make people not care about the league.  

When baseball or hockey players take less money to join contenders, it's honorable.  When basketball players do, they ruin everything.  

I actually think this off-season has been pretty fantastic for the Bulls, if you take a step back and think about it. Thus far, neither Philly, Boston, or Toronto have done anything to improve (3 best teams in the East) all while LBJ went west. As far as I'm concerned, the path to the finals is carved with non-elite teams.  I recognize Boston is very deep and very good and extremely well coached but I don't think they are an unbeatable dynasty (not yet at least) and I tend to think Philly is overrated at this point (don't get me wrong, I'd love their pieces, but they could very easy never emerge...ala the Wizards with a young Wall, Beal, Porter (they never took that step forward everyone expected).  

I also think that helps the Bulls when it comes to pitching other teams FA (well until the NBA changes the playoffs to a seeding of 1-16) as at some point we are going to see some of these stars move east. If the Bulls are a quality team, the pitch of an easier path to finals and overall weaker conference should certainly help. Add in the fact that they'd be contending with really only one historical powerhouse franchise (Boston + of course you always have to contend with power of New York if they ever get a halfway decent nucleus of young players) and it should bode somewhat well.  On the west your only major competition (in free agency) will be the Lakers (and possibly Clippers) and while they are massive competition they'll only have room for one max deal and we might be headed into a couple year stretch where we see some elite names come out and "team up" and if we are one of the only options where the guys can team up...we might actually be alright.  

I'm putting a somewhat crazy prediction out there of Kyrie and Jimmy Buckets joining the Bulls with them swinging the fences for Anthony Davis as well (after Davis forces a trade and prior to Bulls paying him a supermax). 

Shit, GSW don't have the 90s Bulls as a goal, they're shooting for the Russell/Havlicek Celtics at this point. 

Edited July 3, 20187 yr by Jack Parkman

Random question but why do a handful of teams play in multiple "summer" leagues while most just play in the Vegas one? This allows for a team like the Lakers (or Warriors or Kings) to play in a few additional "summer" league games?  Seems like it would be beneficial to give guys "more" games vs. "less". I recognize summer league is not like overly important and health is key but I'd think a few extra games (and practices) with the coaching staff would be helpful from a pure player development / evaluation perspective (especially for those undrafted / dleague guys you are evaluating).  

LeBron started the superteams concept and Durant and company has taken it to another stratosphere. Just awful.

5 hours ago, SoxAce said:

LeBron started the superteams concept and Durant and company has taken it to another stratosphere. Just awful.

"Competition is tough so let's stop competing".

If you are Cousins, this is the perfect plan. This is basically a throw away year, no one is giving him the max deal until proven fully healthy. So why not take your time to recover, come back 2 months before playoffs and get that ring with Warriors and move on.

34 minutes ago, thxfrthmmrs said:

If you are Cousins, this is the perfect plan. This is basically a throw away year, no one is giving him the max deal until proven fully healthy. So why not take your time to recover, come back 2 months before playoffs and get that ring with Warriors and move on.

You're not wrong. 

This seems like it would have been a good opportunity for the Bulls to offer max, park Cousins for a year to get a pick, and come back with him leading the show next season. But that would take giving a damn which the Bulls clearly do not.

7 minutes ago, Steve9347 said:

You're not wrong. 

This seems like it would have been a good opportunity for the Bulls to offer max, park Cousins for a year to get a pick, and come back with him leading the show next season. But that would take giving a damn which the Bulls clearly do not.

Way too much of a gamble. He had a serious injury. There's a legit chance he doesn't reach 80% of what he was. A 2 year deal for like 7-8 million a year is worth the gamble, but not the max. 

Also, he's a clubhouse cancer so...not really the vet presence the Bulls need for their young core.

 

edit: 

https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2018/1/27/16940178/demarcus-cousins-achilles-injury-golden-state-warriors-this-is-the-worst

 

Quote

 

According to a 2013 medical study that identified 18 players who suffered major Achilles injuries over a 23-year span (1988-2011), seven players never returned to the league. Players who returned missed an average of 56 games and saw their PER decline in their first and second seasons back. A 2015 CBS Sports article found that among 14 players who returned from Achilles injuries since 1992, they averaged fewer minutes while both their field goal and three-point percentages dropped, on average. There are very few complete success stories.

That’s the uphill battle Cousins — and the Warriors — are facing. That’s why he was available for just $5.3 million next season.

 

 

Edited July 3, 20187 yr by Jenksismyhero

36 minutes ago, Jenksismyhero said:

Way too much of a gamble. He had a serious injury. There's a legit chance he doesn't reach 80% of what he was. A 2 year deal for like 7-8 million a year is worth the gamble, but not the max. 

Also, he's a clubhouse cancer so...not really the vet presence the Bulls need for their young core.

 

edit: 

https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2018/1/27/16940178/demarcus-cousins-achilles-injury-golden-state-warriors-this-is-the-worst

 

 

Even before the injury I didn't want to see the Bulls offer him a max deal just for that reason.  The dude is poison.  While some guys put up numbers, they do it at the expense of their teams.

17 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Even before the injury I didn't want to see the Bulls offer him a max deal just for that reason.  The dude is poison.  While some guys put up numbers, they do it at the expense of their teams.

And that reputation will be gone after this year when they all sing kum-ba-yah and sweep the finals again.

6 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

And that reputation will be gone after this year when they all sing kum-ba-yah and sweep the finals again.

You have a lot more faith that the dude can be a small minutes teammate than I do.