I know this is a Bulls blog and this has nothing to do with the Bulls.  But all those folks who were on Ricky Rubio's d!@k need to take a serious look at Jennings.  The kid is the real deal.  I don't know why anybody thought he wouldn't be.  His game is tailor made for the NBA so of course he wouldn't look great in Europe.  He had a big-time stretch in the third quarter where he went bananas!!!  And guess who the Bulls play on Tuesday night?  You guessed it.  The Milwaukee Bucks.  Skiles is giving him plenty of rope too.  Makes me kinda wish Skiles was coaching Rose.  Skiles would push him more than Del Negro appears to be, but it's a moot point so whatever.

Seems we may be entering the age of the PGs though.  Paul and Williams are firmly established as #1 and #2.  Rondo, Rose and Devin Harris are the next tier.  Now you got a guy like Brandon Jennings who looks poised to be a big time performer and bring some long awaited excitement to Milwaukee.  Next year John Wall will have people out of their seats wherever he plays.  I'm really excited about the PG play we're going to see in the NBA over the next 10-15 yrs.

I'm reading everywhere about how this may tarnish Rose.  What will become of Derrick Rose?  How will this affect the mindset of Derrick Rose?  Etc, etc....

Now I've been familiar with the high stakes world of high school basketball and the AAU circuit for too long to be worried about Derrick Rose in this situation. To put it bluntly, this is what happens when 18 yr old American superstar basketball players are told they have to spend a year in college instead of being able to go pro right out of high school.  Hockey players can go pro right out of high school and it's no big deal.  Baseball players can get drafted and go pro straight out of high school.  Golfers and tennis players can go pro at a very young age and nobody bats an eye.  But a rule is put in place to prevent basketball players from doing so...thereby allowing colleges to exploit the athlete to the tune of millions of dollars.

There are those who will say the basketball players are getting a free education.  I disagree wholeheartedly.  People go to school to learn a skill that will pay them after graduation (in most cases).  If you want to be a doctor you go to medical school for years.  If you want to be a lawyer you go to law school for years.  But if you want to be a professional basketball player, college for you was in the alleys with a piece of wood as a backboard and a bike wheel with the spokes knocked out as a rim.  College for you was being on the AAU circuit.  College for you was doing everything you needed to do to put yourself in position to be a high draft pick out of high school.  And if you fail, it seems its the GM's fault (I mean look how badly people beat MJ up over drafting Kwame Brown when the truth is whoever had the #1 pick was going to take him).  And this is where I get to Derrick Rose and his ilk.

It has been obvious since Derrick Rose was a junior at Simeon that he was going to whatever college afforded him the best chance at auditioning for the NBA since he had to go to college anyway.  Had this stupid rule not been in place, then no grade need have been changed, no SAT need have been passed and no "scandal" would be taking place.

The hypocricy is unbelievable.  People want these boys to go to collge and let the schools and coaches make untold sums of money.  Meanwhile, forcing a guy like Derrick Rose, or Greg Oden, or John Wall to go to college keeps little Johnny who works hard and deserves a chance to go to college from ever getting that chance.

I was once of the mind that these guys should all go to college for a little while.  I still think that it can't hurt for them to attend college for a year or two.  But when you force them to, these are the types of things that will happen.  Derrick Rose never had any intention of obtaining a degree from Memphis and using that degree to secure a job.  He did however obtain an honorary degree in "awesomeness at PG" because he picked up a bachelors in that by the time he won his second state title at Simeon and that honorary degree is going to pay him $100M + in his lifetime.  Far more than any B.S or B.A in anything would do for him.  You could work 40 years and make $125,000/yr and you still will not have made as much as Derrick Rose made in his ONE professional season....and Derrick Rose didn't need college for that.  In all honesty, college used him...and several other players like him to line their coffers.

So who cares about the high school grade thing?  I sure as hell don't because I know that this has been going on with high profile basketball players and it will continue as long as they are forced to go to college before becoming pros.

UPDATE4: McGraw again, saying this whole story is "a colossal false alarm". I get that if it's just Vescey. But McGraw's 'competitor' on the beat, Brian Hanley of the Sun-Times, has some serious explaining to do. That's what made this an 'alarm', not Vescey's "I don't know it to be fact yet" story.

UPDATE3: tipped from 670AM: David Aldridge is citing health concerns in Pax's resignation. It reads to be more 'stress' than a serious ailment. -ed

UPDATE2: Mike McGraw's sources say it's "the farthest thing from the truth", and dispute the Sun-Times confirmation. Reinsdorf has also issued an official denial, with a shot at Vescey of course. -ed

UPDATE: The Sun Times confirms this story. -ed

[From the Fanposts. It's Vescey, but you never know. I always believe the 'Pax quits' reports before the 'Pax is fired' ones -ed.]

Peter Vescey:

Do I know this to be fact? No. But two people in the know maintain John Paxson will resign as Bulls GM soon after Thursday's trade deadline expires. Assistant GM Gar Foreman is expected to take over for the remainder of the season.

Chicago is contemplating numerous trades - Amare Stoudemire, Jermaine O'Neal, Zach Randolph, Chris Kamen - in an effort to acquire an inside threat offensively and defensively, and, at the same time, deport Larry Hughes.

One of the above sources said he wouldn't be surprised if Doug Collins were approached again at the season regarding the coaching job (currently held by Vinny Del Negro) and as GM, or both. Collins and managing partner Jerry Reinsdorf couldn't agree on money last May.

After having taken in a lot of the fawning over Kobe's 61 point game against the Knicks - and rightfully so because the man did score 61 points after all - some friends and I were discussing how impressive Kobe's big scoring nights have been in comparison to MJ's.

The very first question that unconsciously came out of my mouth was, "Why doesn't Kobe score 60 against the Celtics, Spurs or Cavs"?  We took a look and Kobe's highest scoring games came against Toronto, Portland (when they were not a good defensive team at all), Dallas, Memphis, Charlotte, the current NY Knicks, the Rockets about 2 seasons ago and the Washington Wizards. In that group, only the Houston Rockets were a decent defensive team.  And of all the 50 point games he's had I would argue that the only other above average defensive unit was Utah.  Here is the list for Kobe:

http://www.kobebryantshoes.com/50point_games.htm

Sure Kobe is uber-talented and can score with the best of them.  Whether people like Kobe or not, the fact that he is a quintessential offensive talent cannot be disputed.  But when comparing his top scoring exploits to those of Jordan's you can't help but immediately notice that 5 of Jordan's top 6 scoring games came against good to great defensive teams.  The late 80s and early 90s Cavs, Shaq's Orlando Magic, the Bad Boy Pistons who were without a doubt the most physical defensive unit we've ever seen on a basketball court (against whom MJ scored 59 and 61 respectively), Bird's Championship Celtic teams, the overly physical bump and thump 76ers when Barkley and Mahorn were kickin' everybody around, the New York Knicks when they were at their best, the Portland Trailblazers when they were championship contenders, etc....  Factor in that MJ scored 40 or more 38 times in the playoffs (Unbelievably, Kobe has only 6 thus far) and MJ scored 50 or more 8 times in the playoffs (obviously none for Kobe at this point).  Here is the list for MJ:

 http://www.nba.com/jordan/50games.html

Keep in mind that this list represents only what he did in his 13 seasons as a Chicago Bull (the same number of seasons that Kobe has played to this point).  Looking at those playoff numbers in this context has only reinforced the belief I've long held about MJ being a far superior scorer than Kobe in the biggest of moments.  I've had several arguments with guys in the past about this very topic.  I told them that I don't really care about what happens in game 37 or 54 of the regular season and when Kobe goes for 81 in the playoffs to let me know then (and as we can all see plain as day, Kobe's postseason numbers PALE in comparison to MJ's and that's ultimately why for my money MJ is better).  But for all you guys too young to remember, you simply had to see MJ to believe it.  Kobe's the best thing going now (and he's a damn good thing), but to see what MJ did on a nightly basis was simply mind blowing.

We concluded that Kobe's big games are impressive.  Hell you could lock some guys in a gym by themselves with 2 balls and they couldn't score 50 pts in 48 minutes and an overtime period. And if 50 was so easy to get then everybody would do it, so big props to Kobe.  But ultimately we were not as impressed with Kobe's big nights as we are with MJ's due to the significance (Jordan had big scoring nights and it was usually at the most dramatic of moments) and tougher opposition most nights.

So again, when Kobe hangs 60 on the Celtics or Spurs in a crucial game you let me know.  He may very well do it and do it soon.  But it sure hasn't happened yet. Where do you guys stand on this?