It's on many different news channels, but I only give you the link to truehoop since they offer their opinion (sort of) on his timing for getting free of all obligations towards the 76ers :

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-32-112/On-the-Loose--Larry-Brown.html?post=true

Some extract :

The Philadelphia 76ers announced today that Larry Brown has resigned as Executive Vice President. From the press release:

In January of 2007, Brown rejoined the Sixers organization as Executive Vice President, less than six years removed from coaching the franchise to the NBA Finals in 2001.

"It's rare you'll find a separation between an organization and an executive as amicable as the one the 76ers had with Larry Brown today," said Stefanski. "Larry was born to coach and this is something he and I talked about when I took the job here back in December, so it comes as no surprise to me. Working with Larry was always a pleasure and to watch him contribute with Maurice, his staff and the players was terrific."

Which means: fire up the rumor mill!

 

And further down the article :

In the meantime, there's Chicago. John Paxson and Larry Brown are both old school, and they both like defense. By process of elimination (or, almost elimination -- college, other teams, and New York are not really ruled out), my speculation leads to be believe Chicago could be the most likely bet.

No doubt, this will play out in some fashion over the off-season, and we will see what happens. Some day soon, there will be new information that will change everything, and I will change my mind entirely.

However, for today, if you have an office pool going, put me down for a very small wager on the Bulls.

I don't think Larry Brown is the coach for this (young) team, as has already repeatedly been said on this blog, but he sure is a hell of a coach and I think Pax in his absolute open-mindedness (supposedly) will grant him an interview and consider this option.

From the commercial appeal in Memphis (via Truehoop) :

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/apr/16/warrick-answered-call-to-shine/

"PORTLAND, Ore. -- When the Chicago Bulls placed a call to the Grizzlies, as the NBA's trade deadline loomed, offering a package with Andres Nocioni, Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas as the essential components for Pau Gasol and Hakim Warrick, the potential trade fell on deaf ears.

The Grizzlies flatly declined. Sure, they wanted more for Gasol at the time.

The organization also believed that it would be giving away Warrick without enough compensation.

Warrick a deal-breaker?

He's been called worse."

WOW, I guess Memphis was not that interested in Nocioni last summer (or his new contract really is a deal breaker), otherwise why would they pass on the chance to get two great front-court prospects to go with their young and promising backcourt (Gay, Conley, etc).

I'm kinda happy they refused (for the Bulls), although only if the Bulls start trusting and developping Tyrus.

From Truehoop :

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-32-65/Andrew-Bynum-2-0.html?post=true

Here it is :

"How did the injured center get so good, so fast, earlier this year?

His mentor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, tells NBA.com's John Hareas that Bynum could always play, but this year he gained confidence:

It really had to do with the fact that all of a sudden he had confidence in what he could do. He had the ability to do the things he was doing probably as much as a year earlier, but he didn't have confidence.

He didn't want to embarrass himself. That kind of set him back. He was kind of reticent to go out there and play the way he can play.

But all of a sudden he saw that things were working for him, he got a little bit more aggressive and kept getting better and better results.

If you hear David Thorpe tell it, this could be a common story.

He believes there are many players in the NBA who -- more than simply adding skills, or working harder -- really need loving support from their mentors, to gain the kind of confidence that unlocks their abilities."

NOW, that last part about David Thorpe : could he be talking about some young Bulls players that he likes and/or will help this summer ?

A-Drain !!!

From a SI.com article on which current players would become good NBA coaches :
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/paul_forrester/01/09/players.coaches/2.html

Adrian Griffin: "He's had to battle into the NBA the hard way," Wallace said. Undrafted, a veteran of the CBA and cut in Italy, the Bulls' Griffin has made a place for himself in the NBA with hard work, smarts and defense.

A veteran forward of four different teams, "Griffin has played in a variety of systems with numerous head coaches, so he's gotten to see many different approaches," Wallace said. "He's a guy you always wanted on your team, even if he didn't have a big role because you just felt good looking to the bench in games and practice and seeing him. That stability and low-key approach that he had will serve him well one day as a head coach."

HSCS : still want to fire Boylan :-) ?

[Big thanks to diabolo for today's preview. -Matt]

Tonight, the Bulls play at the "previously known as Boston Garden", to play a scary (so far) Celtics squad boasting the best record in the league after nearly two months of action.

The Celtics will be plenty motivated after losing their last game on the last possession against Detroit. They will not want to start their first losing streak of the season. Meanwhile, the Bulls are trying to find their rythm this year (about time really) and want to finally figure out again how to put a few wins in a row feels like.

Larry Brown (the Bulls next coach?) has a few interesting things to say about this particular game on NBA.com :

On the difference between defending the Bulls or Pistons (for Boston):

"The biggest thing for Boston to combat is that Chicago plays an uptempo style that is lacking a true post-up game. When you play Chicago, you have to keep them out of transition. If they get a lot of easy baskets, similar to Detroit, it makes their halfcourt that much better. So if you're Boston, you really have to defend the pick and roll because the Bulls do that multiple times in possessions. Then you have to keep people in front of you because Chicago's game is penetrate and kick. If you have to help, you usually leave open shots." On the Bulls being back on track or not : "Now they have started to play better and more consistently. Their rookie Aaron Gray has given them a big boost off the bench the last few games. Tyrus Thomas has played better and so has Joakim Noah. It seems like they're starting to play the way everyone expected them to, but again, if they don't make outside shots, it's usually pretty difficult for them to beat the better teams." On the question if teams relying on the perimeter like the Bulls can advance far in the playoffs (if they make it there): "I think they can if they have a good defense. I've always thought that it's overrated to say you need a post presence. When you look at Chicago with Ben Wallace, Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, and Joe Smith, you've got guys with length. If they can rebound effectively on the offensive glass then they'll be ok. They can get by like that." On the match-up with Boston tonight: "Deng and Paul Pierce are the keys in my mind. Both can score the ball, they both are underrated rebounders, they both have the ability to get to the free throw line and they will have to guard each other. I will be curious to see which one is able to guard the other one and which one has success offensively."
"With Wallace out, Andres Nocioni may have to guard Kevin Garnett. If that happens, he is giving up a lot of size. For anybody to guard Kevin it is a tough matchup, but it would be very, very difficult for Nocioni to stay out of foul trouble if he has to guard him. However, with that in mind, Kevin has to go out and guard Nocioni too, and Nocioni can shoot from deep, which is a factor." My opinion about that game? Sure, it would be great for the Bulls to beat the Celtics, and could provide a boost to their confidence, but I don't necessarily see this game as a key for the Bulls future success. They don't really have much to lose in this game. What I'd much rather like to see, for now, is the Bulls starting to win "somewhat" constantly and easily against lesser opponents, and then when come mid-season and then (hopefully) Playoffs time, you can start talking about matching up with those top teams as the next step.

As Joakim and Thabo would say : "ne mettez pas la charrue avant les boeufs", which in English could be translated as "(literaly) don't put the trailer before the buffalo or (another lame attempt at English) start building the foundation before putting the roof on top".

Then again, I'm not against winning tonight too.

Desperate to find another reason than "they suck", "they're not that good of a team anyway", or "they always start slow".

Could it be that Pax and the Bulls management got desperate by the last year outcome of trade works, not being able to add that final piece through a trade last February or this summer.

Maybe they really feel like they are missing one low post presence to really contend for the title, and now understand that they won't be able to do it through trades (losing too much in return), and they have decided to tank the season (with the help of their good coach and his magical lineups) in order to get the goods in next year's draft (how unlikey is that, unfortunately).

The conspiracy theory would go as far as having the players buying the idea during training camp and playing badly on purpose. That would be a convenient explanation for :

• Kirk doesn't know how to shoot anymore (or pass or keep the ball without a turnover for that matter)
  
• BG and Lu struggling
  
• The body won't jump anymore
  
• Thabo lost
  
• TT not playing more
  
• ... (you add, the list is too long)

I know it's stupid (I even talked about the need for a low post presence, arghhhhhhhh), and totally unlikely, but that season start is so frustrating compared to expectations.

Kosta Koufos anybody (by the way, how did he play so far in college)???
Michael Beasley (unother undersized PF on the Bulls)??

Well, it was a rout.

Great Britain beating Switzerland by 33 points (74 to 41).

This makes the second game next Saturday in Geneva more of an exhibition game, unfortunately.

One player can't be blamed for this, really, and it is Thabo. He looked unstoppable at times (driving almost at will in the lane for spectacular dunks or normal baskets in traffic), unfortunately for him, the rest of his team just totally froze on offense. I mean, Thabo picked up his fourth foul in the 3rd quarter, and they went on a 10 minute stretch with hardly making one single bucket. Not a single 3 point shot went in the whole game.

Apart from that, their defense was not so bad, as always, but Great Britain's defense was even better (and as I said Switzerland's offense soooooo bad).

Luol had a quiet game in the first quarter, then he stepped up a notch and finished with 30 effortless points. He's so fluid that you don't even feel like he's sweating it. He's just naturally good, which I guess is good for his future.

He actually had some defensive assignments on Thabo, and that's the part where I thought he had the most trouble. It often did not look like he could stop Thabo.

Thabo did not defend Deng much, and he picked most of his 4 fouls on block attempts.

Looking forward to Saturday's game anyway, it is a beauty to watch these two players (Luol and Thabo) in action. Both on Tuesday scored close to half their team points (slightly less for Deng, and slightly more for Thabo).

[From the Diaries. Thanks to Swiss correspondent Diabolo for this report. -Matt]

Well, I promised I would give you guys an update on what's happening this offseason for Thabo.

Turns out, both Switzerland and England won the final game of their respective groups last night (Thabo had 27 points for Switzerland against Romania, Luol had ... guess what ... 27 points for England on the same night), won their respective group final standings, and will face each other next week (first game in the UK on Tuesday, second in Switzerland on Saturday) for a spot on the highest level of country team basketball in Europe in the next two years (and the opportunity to play against the big guns France, Spain, Greece, Lithuania, etc).

Luol and Thabo are good friends on the Bulls roster, but I bet they didn't plan to see each other again this soon in September.

Will be fun to see the two go at each other, maybe Thabo will be assigned some of the defense duties on Luol. Probably not the opposite, but you never know.

I would say England are slightly the favourites, but I don't know much about their roster besides Luol. If I were from England, I probably would not know any other Swiss player besides Thabo (and I may not even know Thabo either).

Last night, Thabo had a complete game, although his jump shot is still behind the rest of his game. He nailed a couple of 3 point shots, but also missed many others against the Romanian zone defense (for most of the game Romania used a zone because Thabo could penetrate and score almost at will when guarded one on one in the individual defense scheme). Help defense did not prove helpful either (some crossover dribbles and great moves from Thabo to get rid of the both his defender and the help) so they went most of the game with the zone. Unfortunately for them, the Swiss also have reliable long distance shot makers that were happy to be fed by Thabo out of his triple teamed efforts.

At one point, Thabo could penetrate in the middle of the Romanian defense (getting rid of two of three guys), and was left with shooting over the center (which he couldn't). He then had a stroke of genius and shot below the arms of the center with a little scoop shot, not to score directly, but to hit the backboard and then go around the center, jump and slam the ball in the hoop on the rebound. In that action, he got rid of three defenders, got one assist and one dunk for himself without any other player touching the ball at any time. Let's hope Ziv can come up with the Youtube video once again, you have to see it to believe it (Well, it's also possible that he just missed his desperate below the arm of the center shot, and had the quick decision of following up and dunking it).

All in all, lots of fun, and I am looking forward to watching those games next week (can you imagine, 30 years of zero minutes of basketball on swiss TV and this summer 4 or 5 games televised LIVE on swiss TV, I am in heaven).  

Interview of Henry (TrueHoop) at Timberwolves.com, Excerpt :

...
MT: That's a good point. If aliens invaded earth, what NBA player would you send as the ambassador of the human race?
Truehoop: A year ago, I probably would have said Brandon Roy (I'm a Blazer fan). Etan Thomas is bucking for an ambassadorship, and I'm sure Shane Battier would love the job too. Derek Fisher, maybe ... But now? I'm going with Joakim Noah. He's famous for his wild look, but the man has a heart the size of Alaska, and his brain is just as big.

MT: I'd definitely send Battier, but I wouldn't send Noah unless I actually wanted to pick a fight.
Truehoop: Oh wow. That was not my experience at all. I spent 15 minutes one-on-one with him the day before the draft. Kind of blew my mind. Also, the really important thing to notice about him, and I credit this with making that Florida team so good: he was in charge of praising his teammates. Every time a TV camera was around it was "Al Horford" this and "Corey Brewer" that. Teams don't usually love each other like those guys did. They all deserve credit. But I think Noah was the ringleader of their selflessness.
...

You find the rest of the interview here :
http://www.nba.com/timberwolves/news/truehoop_070820.html

Well, according to him :

1) More 3 point attempts

"I'll be shooting threes next year,'' he says. "I didn't shoot so many because I was trying to get the strength back in my wrist because I had the surgery on it the summer before. And I felt we had so many guys on the team last year who could do that and I never felt I needed to."

2) Better ball-handling :

"For GB this summer I'm playing the 1, 2 and 3, so I'm really loving the fact that I'm handling the ball so much,"

3) Better ability to create own shot :

"Drawing fouls is going to be a big factor, and so is improving my three-point range and playing in the post. I'm great at moving without the ball, but I'm talking about the last five seconds when you get the ball in your hands or you get the ball in an iso"

4) Finally, the ultimate goal is to become that top 5 NBA player that the Bulls reportedly lack, the one to take over games :

Deng maintains he can become a top-five player, the type who leads his team to the championship.

"Some people, they don't believe so, but for me I have to believe that," he says. "I work hard to try to be the best. I'm not afraid to say it because that's what I play basketball for. To be that player is something that I want to be."

The complete link for the SI article :

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/ian_thomsen/08/10/deng/index.html

A self-proclaimed Bulls fan bashing Henry (Truehoop) for his prediction that Bulls will win East this year.

http://myespn.go.com/nba/truehoop

And Henry's answer :

Wow. I'm telling you, very seldom do fans lay in to bloggers for overrating their teams.

First thought: Is this guy from Indiana? He does, after all, appear to be saying that the Pacers will be better than the Bulls.

But then I decided he probably really was from Chicago. So, let me explain a little more why I think Chicago is likely to be the best team in the East:

The young Bulls were one of the best teams in the East last year, and but for some dreadful scoring droughts when everyone on their whole roster looked allergic to the ball, would have beat the Pistons. Those scoring droughts, to me, were the hallmark of a team that was too young and was in uncharted territory.

We were all just discovering that Luol Deng might be a top-shelf NBA player. Tyrus Thomas could barely get off the bench. Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon were without their normal poise, looking a little like deer in the headlights. I'm thinking that adding a year to both rosters, however, which brings all of the Chicago scorers meaningfully deeper into their primes, and moves key Pistons (Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess, Lindsey Hunter) a little further out of theirs. They play this same series next year, and I'll pick Chicago.

No one will win any conference without being able to play some good defense, and based on what we have seen the only teams you can count on to play D are the Bulls, the Pistons, and the Cavaliers. (The Heat have played good D when Udonis Haslem, Alonzo Mourning, and company are 100%, but it gets harder and harder as the roster ages.)

I'm a big believer in Luol Deng. When he starts maximizing his potential -- and he's the kind of hard worker who really could -- the team has a whole new dimension.

Thabo Sefolosha will be a regular contributor at some point, I assume.

The Bulls have attractive young pieces. As rosters continue to shuffle, the Bulls stand a better chance than most of getting much better. And if Kobe Bryant somehow ends up here alongside a bunch of athletic and dedicated defenders, look out.

The Bulls have their flaws -- lack of interior scoring is the big one -- but the Eastern Conference is comprised entirely of flawed teams.

According to draftexpress (and other sources) :

Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics in a package including Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, and Theo Ratliff.

www.draftexpress.com

Now the possible starting 5 next season for the Celtics is :

Rondo
Allen
Pierce
Garnett
Perkins

Not bad :-). But where is the bench now ?

Well, the French team did beat (as expected) Switzerland on Saturday by 18 points (only two at halftime).

Thabo carried the swiss team on his shoulders all game, impressed many (including the french newspaper L'Equipe), dunked on the head of the french center (not Frederic Weis), had a couple of 3 pointers from downtown, etc... finished with 21 points.

In the absence of Tony Parker (ankle) and Boris Diaw (back insurance not yet subscribed), he was the best player on the court by far. Well, Ronny Turiaf dominated the paint for France (but the swiss don't have many options to guard him down there).

At one point, the french coach asked for a time-out, and 3 quarters of their time-out they talked about how they could stop Thabo.

I taped the game. Will try to put up the Thabo dunk if I can manage to transfer it to the computer and youtube.

Found this at hoopsanalyst. Interesting, cause it was before draft or free agency period (back in May) :

"Finally, I'm not sure I would overpay too much for Andres Nocioni, the team's most significant free agent.  He's solid player but he'll be 28 and the younger cheaper Thabo Sefolosha and Tyrus Thomas need to play more.  If Nocioni can get a cheap deal great...but there is a good chance some team will give him a big deal."

Here is the link :

http://www.hoopsanalyst.com/0607pt7.htm

[From the Diaries. -Matt]

Should the Bulls start printing a name plate for the locker room to the delight of the many blog-a-bull Noah fans :-) !

From draftexpress, so take it lightly :

Chicago : We've been told by numerous team sources that if still on the board, Joakim Noah doesn't slip past this pick. It's likely between Yi Jianlian, Hawes and Noah, but they will almost certainly take Joakim because of the fact that he's ready to play and help them win right now.