SB Nation User Blog: OldSkoolSloan

Blogging with the Enemy

OldSkoolSloan — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:13:44 -0000

Blogging with the Enemy

I put up a fanpost at the Celtics' sister site to get some Boston fans' reactions to some thoughts I had about last night's game. Foremost, I want to get their opinion on how Davis and other role players will play away from home.
But it doesn't look like fans at that site are very active. Typical Boston front-runners...I'm sure they all fled after the game one loss.

Blogging with the enemy

OldSkoolSloan — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:50:25 -0000

Let's get this out of the way: I'm a Bulls fan coming over from our sister-site at Blogabull. I wanted to come over and get your reaction to a few things from last night's game.

First, this is a cathartic experience for me. I'm still sick to my stomach from last night. I never believed we'd come back from Boston with a 2-0 lead and 1-1 is pretty darn good. But that was a winnable game and Ray-Ray just killed us. I'm hoping a reasoned fanpost will calm me down. And that's not possible over at Blogabull, peeps is popping off over there!

Second, gotta let you know that, as much as Ray Allen, Glen Davis and poor rebounding killed us, Bulls fans over at Blogabull are LIVID about Vinny del Negro's coaching. Lindsey Hunter and Linton Johnson all saw tick for a few moments in that game. Seriously? Because Rose was in "foul trouble" (he finished with those 2 fouls by the way)? And his insistence on keeping Brad Miller in the game at the end while sitting the Human Block Party (Ty Thomas) may have allowed for a couple of those key offensive boards you guys got.

Third, what happens to Glen Davis and Kendrick Perkins at the United Center in Chicago? I've always believed that your best players get it done no matter where they play (see: Gordon, Ben) but it's the role players who get that extra bounce at home. Will Davis hit those mid range jumpers on an unfamiliar court? Will Perkins get those offensive boards? I'm honestly asking how these guys show up on the road cause, well, you watch them and I don't.

Finally, I'm worried about coming home, to a certain extent. The Bulls are playing balls-out and may clam up and feel the pressure of expectation in front of their home crowd. However, history suggests their jump shots may fall a little better (John Salmons has been under-performing the past couple games) and maybe we'll get some friendly calls from the refs. At the same time, I could see a hostile crowd waking up the sleeping giant that is Paul Pierce.

OK, I'm done. I feel better now. Wait. No I don't. I hate you Ray Allen!!

New Banner Over-Under

OldSkoolSloan — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:47:59 -0000

For months I've been logging on to Blog a Bull to be greeted with the "Derrick Rose Derrick Rose Derrick Rose" banner. It was a tongue in cheeck reference to the breathless optimism and heavy posting that accompanied landing Derrick Rose - everyone's safe bet to take on Micheal Jordan's heavy, yet dusty, mantle. The banner remained as summer turned to fall and the leaves changed. Summer league turned to two-a-days to preaseason to regular season and the banner remained.

Until today.

Today's new banner suggests that the honeymoon is over. Derrick Rose was, by himself, enough to carry the Blog a Bull community for several months there. But now, the hard reality is starting to set in and we remember what its like to watch a really terrible team night in and night out. The lineup changes, stalled offense, missed defensive assignments and Mopey Iowan.

So if the banner headlines suggest a sea change in the collective psyche of Bulls fans, I've got a couple optimistic banner predictions for the season.

January - "Get your Lindsey Hunter All-Star Votes in now!"

February - "Aaron Grey - Your New Dunk Contest Champion"

March - "The NBA, Where 12-Game Win Streaks Happen"

April - "Congrats to Vinny D! One of People's 50 Most Beautiful People"

May - "Documenting a Bulls Playoff Run"

Maybe I'm being a bit too optimistic. Add your thoughts on possible Blog a Bull banners?

Back in the Day: Remembering Rookie PG's of Past

OldSkoolSloan — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:57:06 -0000

Back in the Day: Remembering Rookie PG's of Past

Not to tempt the fates or anything, but I remember jumping up and down in my dorm room watching this Nets-Bulls game. There wasn't a lot to cheer about back then, but Jay Williams' trip-dub made me forget our horrible team for a bit.
That was eight games into his career. Here's a quick question: Do you think Rose notches a triple-double this year and if so, what month will he do it in?

To scrub or not to scrub?

OldSkoolSloan — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:55:26 -0000

So I'm sick to death of the basketball universe right now.

I don't even need to go into the Ben Gordon saga. It's dead in the water and feels like it has been for the past several weeks. Hell, even the Blogabull message boards have dried up in terms of wacky trade ideas. You can practically hear the tumbleweeds passing by.

The men's Olympic team also isn't getting me going too much. Part of the reason is because I'm living in Hanoi, Vietnam and they keep cutting off the broadcasts to report on some dam building project "for make proud glorious nation of Vietnam" or whatever. And this team looked like crap against China: I'm sorry, if you can't defend the three or make an open J, Spain or Russia will cut the U.S. apart.

But watching the international competition and seeing some of the U.S. born players scraping by with international teams got me thinking about some of our own, beloved but not forgotten scrubs. Particularly, Rusty LaRue.

Remember him? He got the most face time during the lockout-shortened season but was on the roster during our last championship year. I guess I remember him fondly cause he only got tick when the Bulls were blowing someone out (and thus, a nice Pavlovian reaction when I hear the name "Rusty LaRue").

Well I put his name into Google and he seems to be doing well for himself. He's running a basketball academy in his home state of North Carolina and he's the AD and basketball coach at a private school.

Scanning his bio, I realized that Rusty is quite a baller. Check out this line from his QB days at Wake Forest:

While at Wake he won an Independence Bowl in football, 2 ACC championships in basketball, as well as many individual honors. In his senior year of football, Rusty broke 8 NCAA records for passing. Some of his records are: Most completions in a game(55), most attempts in a game(72), and most yardage in a three game span(1524). He also has two of the top eight passing yardage games in ACC history. In basketball his teams went to the NCAA all four years, reaching the "Elite 8" his senior season. Rusty finished his career at Wake Forest as the all-time 3-point percentage leader and 2nd overall in 3-point goals(151) in school history.

72 attempts! Friggin ridiculous.

He played all around the world and received a couple 10-day contracts here and there in the L. Only playing two full seasons, once each for the Bulls and Jazz.

But Rusty's career got me thinking about something: Sure, when we chuck it up at the YMCA or on some playground court, we all like put ourselves in the Kobe/LeBron scenarios. But the life of an NBA scrub could be pretty good as well.

I mean, this guy graduates Wake Forest with a 3.5 GPA (so no dumb cookie), travels the globe playing ball, gets to play in the top league among some superstars (MJ, Pippen, James "Buddha" Edwards), retires with his knees and back intact, has enough money to ensure financial security and the skills to continue to earn a living while immersed in the game(s) he loves.

Really, thinking about it, being a "C" or "D" level player in the NBA isn't that bad a deal. I like the idea of being able to travel independently with my family during the off-season and once my career is over. Maybe do a few local commercial spots ("I bought my car from Bob Roooorhman!") and have some dude buy you a drink every now and then.

So, here's my question: if you could be a scrub player (we're talking appears in 20 games over the course of a season, let's say two years max with the team), factoring in weather, city, chance to win a championship, who you get to hang out with on the team, chance to make coaching connections, etc - what team you want to play with?

My answer: the Los Angeles Clippers. Nice climate, not a passionate fan base (so no booing when you don't make the playoffs this year), Baron Davis seems like a nice guy, L.A. is a weird town, but close to hiking opportunities and other amenities and there's a distant, distant chance that the Beard invites you to a party where Jessica Alba will be in attendance.

Thoughts?

Please boo this man.

OldSkoolSloan — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:44:05 -0000

Please boo this man.

I'm currently in Hanoi. If I were back home in Chicago, I would buy tickets to the Marlins-Cubs series (July 24-27) and boo the living Hell out of this man. Please make me proud Cubs fans, and heckle this loser that may have cost us a shot at home field advantage.

An ode to the intermediate strategy

OldSkoolSloan — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:22:49 -0000

Many fans here at Blogabull seem desperate to trade away some of our assets (Noce, Hinrich, Gordon, Thomas, etc.) to bring in complimentary pieces for Derrick Rose and the evolving New World Order at the United Center.

Some want to trade for a veteran: A proven winner. Someone to push the Bulls over the edge (edge of what is my question).

Others want build around Rose: Bring in a young, rising forward. Someone he can play with for a career. A beautiful tag-team to guarantee six more banners over eight short years.

I’m of the opinion that Pax should do what he can to resign Deng and Gordon and then turn the phone off for the summer. Go play golf. Take Vinny to a barber. Chill.

My reasoning: First, the objective is to buy low and sell high. Almost without exception (I include Gooden, Noah and maybe Thabo as exceptions), everyone on the Bulls roster is coming off a crappy season and their trade value is low. Simply allowing our guys to return to their average (not even improve) would raise their trade value. Second, as great as we all hope Derrick Rose will be, there is NO WAY in my mind that he could handle full point guard duties for the Bulls right off the bat. He’ll need to split significant minutes with Hinrich, Thabo and Gordon in the backcourt. I know Kirk is quickly becoming Chris Duhon 2009, but we need him to provide stability at the point (when I think of Gordon and Thabo, I think of many things, but stability is not one of them). And yes, I know Kirk’s turnover ratio sucked last season, but I’m assuming a general return to average here. Third, I just don’t know who we’d go after. If it’s trading for a frontcourt big (which seems to be most of the proposals), I can’t think of a serious player out there who’s been mentioned as on the block. Brand seems like he’s staying home (or close to home) and I like the Lamar Odom deals, but they seem the realm of fanboi fantasy.

I’m really looking toward the All-Star break. With half a season under our belt, we’ll have a better idea of what we’re working with on our roster. Is Thomas the second coming (not helping) of Sean Kemp or a bust worth trading? Can we get by without Kirk? Can Gordon and Rose live in the same backcourt without it looking like the Big Brim Bar in I’m Gonna Get You Sucka! In addition, other teams will have had a chance to assess their talent in comparison to their conference and may be looking to pick up late-season/playoff defensive help (again, my dream scenario to shop Noce and Hinrich). Plus, Gooden’s contract is a pretty sweet expiring deal at the end of next season and we may catch some down-on-their luck squad willing to cash in their chips and make a Grizzlies-like move (warning, wild speculation: could Dallas realize they don’t have the mojo and look to move Dirk and want to shave cap space?).

Sometimes winning in the NBA is about being at the right place at the right time (see Lakers, L.A. and Celtics, Boston) and I think the Bulls are in the right place (lots of nice young players that could be moved) but I think next season’s trading deadline is the right time. With the squad we have, I think we could make some noise in the East, continue to accumulate experience for our talented young guys and be in a championship position down the road. Being on the cusp of the Finals with Larry Hughes’ contract coming off the books for the 2010 season could be a great place to be.

Hinrich and Rose - bosom buddies?

OldSkoolSloan — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:58:51 -0000

For one year, maybe. Trading Hinrich while his value is lowest doesn't make sense and I think we can package him more effectively later.

Judging by the board, it seems we all agree that if we draft Rose, that’d mean we’d be looking to move Hinrich. However, I think we’d be better off standing pat for one year. Across the board, our roster has very little market value. I mean, almost all our guys, Hinrich included, had horrible years this year. I think playing one year under a new coach, in a coherent scheme, and alongside Rose would lead to improved play and trade value for Hinrich, and all the other Bulls. If nothing else, a return to the average would mean better trade value.

I know $11million is a lot to pay Hinrich for splitting point duties with Rose (he probably can’t handle a full load right away). But if we allow his trade value to rise the first half of 08/09, we’d have Gooden’s $7 million coming off the books the summer of 2009 as trade bait before the deadline. And if we go the whole 08/09 season, we’d have Hughes’ $13.6 coming off the books in 2010 to package with Hinrich. That huge expiring contract is a big commodity, I know, but it might mean we could go after a scoring forward.

I just don’t see the sense in trading Hinrich while his market value is artificially low (in my opinion). Of course, this means that we'd be looking at a qualifying offer for either Deng or Gordon with the risk that one might walk. There are probably other holes in my theory, but feel free to poke away. DraftExpress salary sheet for the Bulls.