Hello! I'm hoping to get some help here, maybe some idea's...

I'm a very casual Madden xbox360 player, pretty much always Franchise mode. I'd like to start a new franchise that includes our rookies from this draft, at least the first 4 picks worth. I can do without the lateround prospects for now.

I'd like to know if you guys know the best ways to do that?

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[Thanks to kidronmusic for today's game preview. I don't begrudge him (too much) for half-assing it, nobody really knows what's going on with Deng's injury status and it understandably overshadowing the Nets matchup. Gamethread at 7:08. -ed.]

Tonight the much injured, but thankfully deep Chicago Bulls take on the pretty crappy, but still Superman's favorite New Jersey Nets...

This is the two teams first matchup of the season, Coming into tonight the nets are just 5-12, with the Bulls a league best 15-3. We had the advantage last year taking 3 out of the 4 games, and 4 of the last 6 overall.

It's tough to know who to expect to see on the court tonight as twitter and BlogABull abound with speculation as to who is in, who is out, and who should be in or out....

Rose seems to be expecting to play, saying that the toe feels "decent", and he participated fully in practice. There is some speculation from concerned amateur doctors (aka: worried fans) that he be best off not playing, since we should be able to get past the Nets without him, but you know that Rose will want to be on the court to show once again that he is better at basketball than Deron Williams.

Taj is out, Lucas is doubtful. Noah is a gametime/probable. If Noah is out, we could see another early White Mamba appearance which would surely delight the home crowd.

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Hey All! This podcast discusses the latest news in Free Agency, where the big three might land, who the Bulls back up plan may be, and how everything will shake out.

KidronMusicPodcast!

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[From the FanPosts. Someone's so excited they couldn't wait for me, heh. Like I said before, I was even impressed with Vinny's press conference, so I have pretty low standards. I will of course be curious of any Gar Paxdorf dynamic. The conference will be streaming at CSNChicago.com -ed.]

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PODCAST LINK

Hey Everybody! I've been reading here for about 4 years, and posting for about two, I really trust this place as the most intelligent collection of Chicago Bulls fans.... (although, there's clearly plenty of idiots running around as well)

I recorded a podcast, it's something I've been curious about for a while and I decided to give it a try. It's me ranking the teams I think Lebron might sign with... and for many of you it will hopefully be informative and interesting, for those of you that are more aware and plugged in, it will mostly be my interpretations of a lot of things you already know.

I do have a pretty good source within the organization, who has been a close friend of Jerry Reinsdorf for about 25 years, and I include a little bit of info that they gave me on Monday night. Nothing earth shattering, but it's basically Jerry's plan / belief of how free agency will go.

Click the link below if your interested, you can listen or download from my website!

Lebronimania Podcast by Kidron Music!!!

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From tonight's game against the Raptors...

57.6 Seconds left in the third, with Hedu at the line for the Raptors, the camera catches Noah on the sideline, coaching Vinny on coaching... the dialouge is hard to pick up, but goes something like this...

Noah: (about to enter the game) Okay, what do you want out there? Where do you want us?

Vinny: (dismissivly mumbles inaudible cliche)

Noah: (as if talking to a small child) Okaaayyy, What else?

Camera cuts back to Hedu lobbing a brick towards the back rim. Noah enters the game, still talking to Vinny, Noah turns away from Vinny, to face the camera, and the first word you can read off of his lips is "Fuck..." it sounds vagely like the sentance is "He doesn't fucking listen" Noah procedes to alert his teamates to the new defensive matchups...

I would love it if somebody had a clearer audio and was better able to pick up what was actually said, but the expressions were priceless. Anybody with DVR, it's worth going back to.

This season is turning around for me... not because the Bulls have turned into a great team (though it is nice when they are competitive), but because I'm coming to terms with the throw away year. If they make the playoffs... great, hopefully it will be close to as entertaining as last year... if they don't, cool, I love draft day when we are in the lottery.

In short, I'm learning to care less about the individual games and learning to enjoy watching Rose and Noah develop in an otherwise useless year.

But obviously, the reason it is a throw away year is because we have put most of  our eggs in the 2010 Free agency basket! And it is quite the basket too! More max level free agent available then ever before. And only a handful of teams with the cap room to sign them.

I want to compile a top twenty wish list, and I would like to have some idea of what these players might command in free agency. I have a pretty good idea of how I feel about each player in the top ten, but I'm not that sure about their expected salaries. Also, after the top ten, I'm really curious to see which order you guys think we should be targeting players.I definitely won't be disappointed if we walk away with one max level player at the 2 or 4, then an solid 2 or 4, and/or some cheap three point specialist (like a Roger Mason or JJ Redick).

Or two max FA's! Of course, either of those plans would require us Trading some combo of Deng, Hinrich and Salmons. If we trade Deng, then all the small forwards would increase in value on my list.

In what order would you guys rank the following players? And what do you think they will command salary wise?

1. Lebron (max)

2. Bosh (max)

3. Wade (max)

4. Joe Johnson (14 Mil)

5. Amare Stoudemire (14 Mil)

6. Carlos Boozer (12 Mil)

7. Rudy Gay (11 Mil) 

8. Ray Allen (9 Mil, Declining)

9. Luis Scola (10 Mil)

10. David Lee (10 mil)

11. Manu Ginobli

12. Udonis Haslem

13. Mike Miller

14. Al Harrington

15. Marcus Camby

16. Memo Okur

17. Travis Outlaw

18. Randy Foye

19. Kyle Korver

20. Shaquille Oneal

Who did I forget? Who are you particularly curious about? Which one of you guys are salary experts and have a better idea of what the free agents will command?

Can we start talking more about WR's in the draft now?
I rank them like this:

1.Michael Crabtree
2.Jeremy Maclin
3.Darrius Heyward-Bey
4.Kenny Britt
5.Hakeem Nicks
6.Brian Robiskie
7.Percy Harvin
8.Juaquin Iglesias
9.Mohamed Massaquoi
10.Derrick Williams
11.Louis Murphy
12.Demetrius Byrd

I think there will be about six receivers off the board when we pick at 49. Hopefully we can take Robiske at #49, he is the son of the Atlanta Falcons WR's coach. He is very fundamentally sound and has a pretty good perspective on NFL life.

However, I think there is a decent chance that Hakeem Nicks slides to the 2nd round, and if that happens, I think we should trade up to grab him. I would be thrilled with that scenario, while he isn't the best receiver in the class he might be the one who can contribute immediately. Great routes and hands.

The only WR that I don't want is Percy Harvin, I think he is either a bust or a poor man's Devin Hester. We obviously don't need another bust, and we already have a Devin Hester. I'm pretty hopeful that if the Minnesota VikQueens are going to take a WR that they waste there first round pick on Percy Harvin... (Troy Williamson part 2)

Mel Kiper has us using the #49 on Massaquoi as the 8th WR taken in the draft.

Side note: I would love to sign Torry Holt, draft the best WR available, and tell Devin Hester to remember how to return kicks. I think Hester will never be as valuable at WR as he was as the best return man in history. I don't think this scenario will happen, but I wish it would. That said, if Devin is going to be our #1 WR, then let's have Garret Wolfe return kicks and focus only on that. I think we have seen that Devin can't do both.

Hello Clipper fans,

I posted here a bit when you guys needed a point guard this offseason, and I had my eye on a hopeful trade for Maggette... I was impressed by the detailed analysis I recieved about Maggette, and it made me less hopeful that he wore our jersey.

I return now because there has been a lot of speculation on our board about trading for Kaman or Camby. You have seem to have a lot of bigs... We obviously need a center, and we're hoping that you want a few of our expendable pieces... which are basically Kirk Hinrich, Andres Nocioni, and Larry Hughes, and to some extent, Drew Gooden, although, I think the idea is to add to our frontcourt without also subtracting from it too much. Some Bulls fans are ready to throw in one of the following as well, Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, and Thabo Sefolosha.

So, I wanted to check the pulse of the edjucated and internet savvy Clipper fan. How do you guys feel?

Perhaps, a package of Nocioni, Thabo, and a draft pick for Kaman? Too me, that doesn't seem like enough talant for Kaman, but those are the peices that seem to fit your need for wings, and the salaries work.

Would you rather have Kirk? or has Baron Davis solved all your point issues?

Would you rather send us Camby? Cause that would be great too.

Despite arguing not to resign Ben Gordon to a big money deal with YFBB for most of the last two days, I don't feel good about the latest news.

Ben is now saying that he is done playing for the Chicago Bulls... that he prefers a sign and trade to a different team, which he considers likely... and that he does consider playing overseas to be a feasible alternative.

He seems quite certain that he won't play for the qualifying offer.Which would seem to insinuate that he has a sign and trade close to being worked out, since I don't see him sitting out for a year, and the team overseas that was said to be courting him just spent good money on Jannero Pargo.

Chicago Tribune Article

Espn Article

Daily Herald

I am curious to see what kind of sign & trades Ben, his agent, and or Paxon can work out. But I'm not particularly thrilled about a sign and trade either. As I have said in several posts on this blog, I think Ben is a good player, and a very good fit for our offense. I think he is worth almost every penny of 10mil per year. But I don't think he is worth the 13 mil a year that he is reportedly asking for. But if we sign and trade him, and another team gives him that insane deal, then we are still taking back that salary, just with other players attached to it. And presumably, players that don't fit our offense as well. 

So here's hoping it is for expiring deals. Then I'm not thrilled to lose the outside shooting, but I'll be happy to start gaining some cap flexibility in the next few years.

Also, this probably ensures that Kirk will stay around for the year, which I guess I'm fine with, but I would assume that we would take back a front court player in any sign and trade, so hopefully, that ensures that Nocioni will be sent out for a shorter term deal.

Also (Part Two), Is this a good time for me and Alec to bring up JJ Redick?

As has been stated here a few times in the last few days... it's no longer fun to talk the pro's and con's of signing or not signing Gordon... the camps here have been divided pretty evenly, and the best I can tell, several good points have been made either way. Now it's just seems like a lot of repeating previous lists of pro's or con's, and mocking each other.

So let's not do that here.

I'm more curous to hear what people think we should do if it becomes clear that Gordon will not be around much longer.

For the purpose of this post, let's say Gordon signs to play in Europe for the next two or three years, what should the Bulls do to prepare for next year and beyond?

I would say trade for a cheap 3 point specialist, play him in a rotation with Thabo  and a little Larry Hughes at the 2 guard.

Or should we just give Thabo and Hughes the minutes, and hope that Thabo uses the time to develop his jump shot more and hope that Hughes is rejuvinated in a new system.

Do you have a different player that you would target?

Wow, I was already of the opinion that the Bulls should be working to clear cap space for 2010, because, as has been widely reported, Lebron, Wade, Bosh, and Amare are all set to be free agents that year...

I don't think anybody outside of NY or Cleveland has a shot at Lebron, and I see Wade staying in Miami, but I figured, maybe Bosh or Amare would love to come and play with Derrick Rose.

But then I stumbled accross this article from hoopsworld... and it really opened my eyes... there is a ton of value on the market, and there is no reason that we shouldn't be aggressive getting ourselves in a position to have a huge summer that year. It really feels like the kind of market where we couldn't go wrong. We could miss on the 3 or 4 best players, and still land a superstar.

We're probably stuck with Hughes anyway, so hey, at least he is an expiring deal that year. And really, as much fun as it is to pick on Hughes and hate him in our posts (I have done it as much as anyone) It also isn't crazy to think that he will be better next season than he was last. He came halfway through the season last year to a team with selfish play, HORRIBLE coaching, and no communication.

This year, he has the benifit of a full offseason, better coaching (No way VDN is as bad as Boylan) and hopefully, a more unselfish team. Larry Hughes plays best as a slasher, and he cuts fairly well without the ball. The trouble is, he got lazy and started hoisting ill-advised jump shots a few years ago, and nobody has been able to talk him out of it. Maybe Rose finding him slashing to the hole, and VDN explaining his value as a slasher will help. It can't hurt.

Then, I would say trade for Camby, right now. The Nuggets are said to be willing to get rid of Camby. They are also said to be after Kirk. We are the most shallow at center right now. And Camby has another contract coming off the books for 2010. Give them Kirk for Camby. I like Camby in a even time split with Noah. Shot blocking and help defense will always have a place with me.

Maybe then... Nocioni for Al Harrington? Harrington wants out, and John Paxon likes him, or at least he did a few years ago (We were supposed to trade the draft pick that became Deng for Harrington) and I think, he could fit here. He is a bit of a defensive liability, but he can play both forward spots, and is a shooter and a scorer. He is a good fit for an uptempo pick and roll offense, which is what we're supposed to run next year. We would be losing a little defense in this trade, but gaining a more consistant shooter and scorer. Plus, he can post up a bit when playing against 3's. Also, much more importantly, it's another contract coming off the books before 2010.

Between Hughes, Camby, and Harrington, we would have $31,332,113.00 Coming off the books. We would have to resign Tyrus that year, but still, That might be enough to sign two max players if we structure the deals right. Or one max player and two stars. 

We would be choosing a few from this list... in no particular order... Amare Stoudamire, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Mike Redd, Tyson Chandler, Joe Johnson, Ray Allen, Manu Ginobili, Tracey McGrady, Shaquille O'Neal,  Brad Miller, Stephen Jackson, Jermaine O'Neal, Mike Miller, Rip Hamilton... and on and on, click the Hoopsworld link, it's fantastic.

There has been a lot of talk about trades with the Miami Heat that might net us the 2nd overall pick in the draft. But most experts agree that we would have to give up the #1, to get the #2 plus a few players.

Does anybody think it's possible to get the #3 pick from the Timberwolves without giving up Rose (#1)?

It seems the Woves have needs everywhere except Power Forward. They aren't particularly thrilled with either Sebastian Teltfair, Corey Brewer, or Randy Foye.

The trade machine hasn't been updated since last year, so it's hard to figure out how to make the numbers work, but I think we have some attractive pieces (Hinrich, Tyrus, Gooden, Re-Signed Gordon, Nocioni...

WIth the 3rd pick, we would get either OJ Mayo (who I think would be great with Rose) or Beasley (who I think would be great with Rose)

I know they would love to get rid of Antoine Walker... he is a Chicago guy, maybe he would be so thrilled to be back home that he would stop jacking so many bad shots, cause right now, he is Nocioni without the passion... and that's not a compliment...

What do you think? There are alot of teams said to be looking to trade in the top ten, should we target one of them?