So, it now feels like every commentator or writer, regardless of team affinities, is trying to find the Bulls a shooting guard. 

It dawned on me, that if the Bulls obtain a shooting guard that complements our existing core of Noah, Boozer, Deng, and Rose, one that also exemplifies the team-first mentality, that the Bulls might develop into America’s favorite team out of the East. 

The free agent signing period and events in years past have left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.  Kobe picks up Gasol for near nothing.  Celtics assemble core’s of other teams in a single year.  The Heat assemble 3 from the same draft class, all leaders of their own teams.  Melodrama, DecisionGate, Arenas a contender despite a 48, (we didn’t start the fire, it was always burning, since the world was turning…)

If I were any other team that gets a championship less than once every 2 decades, I would be pretty discouraged from playing this “game”.  No hope in getting stars to come to you, no hope in drafting them and getting them to stay.

But here are the Bulls.  They jettisoned a management favorite for the chance at one of the big 3.  They didn’t get it.  They didn’t complain.  They just went about their business and found the next perfect fit.  They didn’t put all of their eggs in one basket and took a balanced approach with back-up plans.  They had no desire to “just get a big name to bring fans to the game”. 

And here we are.  A starting 5 that boasts 3 drafted players.  The 4th being acquired in free agency for a reasonable sum compared to his production.  We didn’t gut the team and build off of 3 All-stars like the Heat and the Celtics.  We didn’t fleece another team when we heard their star was disgruntled. 

The Bulls offer a blueprint to most teams in the league.  Suck for awhile and accumulate draft picks.  When one of them hits, build around them.  Improve every year, compliment the one player, whether through trade, draft or free agency.  Do this right, taking no major risks that break the bank other than a proven free agency acquisition to complete the roster, and you will be in the playoffs for a few years, with a chance at the title.  (heck, get a Michael and you might get 6)

But if teams just gear up like the Celtics and the Heat, it makes it near impossible to follow this or any other strategy.  Teams that suck and don’t regularly enter the playoffs will have zero chance of accumulating multiple All-Stars in a single swing and will see their efforts lost when they spend years rebuilding only to see the next team assemble their Big 3 in a single year and dominate for years to come.   How can you compete?

The Bulls need to win this year if not for the sole reason of acquiring our pieces traditionally, finding complimentary pieces to home-drafted players.  They are a TEAM with clearly defined roles, and a coach that is getting the absolute best out of everyone (even Bogans, unfortunately).  

We have the potential to be the best 5 person team in the history of the game.  All we need is that shooting guard...

We know what the Bulls have and we know what the Heat have.  Sure we have heard that they are unguardable, but you really can't start with that as a game plan.  There are not many defensive plays you can run off of the "lay down and die" set.  

So that being said, how would you do it?  What is your complete philosophy on approaching such a game.  

For me, I would recognize our strengths at the 1 and the 5.  I would play the 2, 3, and 4 straight up, man to man, with a fast, defensive lineup to start the game.  The goal:  take a few lumps but get them tired.  I think defensively, none of our positions are giving up too much and some of our positions are taking (one of which, the 5, is a "clean up" specialist).  Overall, I see the game close.  And then once you go to the bench, you count on depth, speed, and youth to further tire.  Only, I might take a more "bruising" approach with our bench players, so that a tired Chris Bosh is also getting roughed up.  Sure, you have Lebron and you have Wade who are workhorses that take punishment well, but are they really going to be that energetic enough to cover their man and the 1 and 5?  Speed, depth, athleticism, youth-take advantage. 

I know this might belong in a fanshot, but I thought it might generate some discussion.  But it was inspired by this story:  http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/david_aldridge/08/23/morning.tip.guest.casey/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt1 

Thoughts?

 

Just had to have a catchy title for having a little fun with this post.  What occurred to me was that New York is the only other team that has more money to work with than the Bulls. 

They would have even more to work with if they didn’t have Eddy Curry.  Which got me thinking, wow, did our trade of Eddy Curry inadvertently lead to Bosh/Amare/JJ/don’t care as long as we fill the 2 and 4 we will be great/Lebron team of the future?

So who wants to play a game as a nice diversion from all of the FA talk?

Assumptions for this exercise:  We walk away after this FA signing period with at least a Championship contending team.  (not concerned about your favorite FA here, assume you got what you wanted)

Game:  Find a trade or move that was supposed to be

a)      a “salary” dump

b)      a “oops, I got the talent wrong”

c)       a “covering my *ss because I f’ed up before”

d)      a “I tried to keep him, but I couldn’t”

e)      a “they are talented, but we can’t work together”

f)       basically anything that was perceived as a "save face" move

and let’s see if it actually contributed to this great situation we are in now (and how).  Who knows, maybe we find out a bad trade is a bad trade, or a bad trade is just a future good one (because someone is bound to make their own bad move). 

Mine is pretty simple:

October 4-2005-The Chicago Bulls convey to the New York Knicks the contract of Antonio Davis and the signed-and-traded contract of Eddy Curry. In exchange, New York conveys to Chicago the contracts of Tim Thomas and Michael Sweetney, the signed-and-traded contract of Jermaine Jackson, and New York’s regular second round draft choice in 2007 and 2009.

The draft picks are hard to follow, but it’s safe to say that they still have Curry and we didn’t receive that much of a cap hit (this year).  So relative to only this upcoming free agent period, and with the above assumption that we walk out with a Championship caliber team, this “save face" trade actually helped greatly (what if NY had another 10Mil).  We THOUGHT at the time it was to save face on the negotiations that went south and the medical thing, it turned out, that NY having that contract was much better than we thought…

Got one?

 

From the Suntimes:

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/derrickrose/1039906,CST-SPT-bull04.article 

"Most of the 17 players on the summer-league roster have virtually no chance of making the team in the fall, but Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah and Aaron Gray are three experienced players who can aid Rose's learning process.

Not surprisingly, the three were teamed with Rose during a scrimmage late in the session.

''I felt comfortable with the players,'' the 19-year-old Rose said. ''They're real nice men.''

This is going to take some time...

I am a new user to this site, but it is killing me why everyone thinks Ben Gordon and Luol Deng had an off-year.  I am trying to form my own opinion and every drop off I see in their production can be attributed to minutes (their PER 48 is almost identical to the year before)

Was everyone expecting more than last year (ie, continued development?)

Can anyone help shed light on the subject?