I remember the year AFTER the warriors beat the mavericks. Everyone in the bay was hyped. for good reason. But the basic climate was that THIS year they would go deep into the playoffs and ascend to one of the west elite. 

i laughed in the face of my brother and cousins. oh silly you. dont you know who your rooting for? its the Warriors! for god sake!. you are talking about an organization that has never won anything in its entire existence of anything. 

I am going to tell you why if you root for the warriors you a worthless as a human being. in fact, you are not a human being and everything about you is a joke. 

Here is why: what is the one constant through all the horrible times of warrior history? countless stars have gone through, countless coaches, countless gm's. how many times have saviors come around? the latest were chris mullin and baron davis. You see unlike the clippers and the bucks GS has actually managed to draft really good players. the problem is that it can't HOLD on to them, or really, is unwilling to hold on to them. ask your self that question seriously, who is in charge of contract extensions and has been the one constant through all the misery??? 

the ownership! 

Choosing pj carlisimo who now coaches kevin durant into oblivion over latrell sprewell who goes on to lead his team to the finals was a smooth decision, letting go of c-webb was heartwarming, signing adonyle foyle instead of gilbert arenas was really really smart, and now finally watching the player that brought them back from like 50 straight non-playoff appearances and got the "die-hard" fans to suddenly start being die-hard again/all-of-a-sudden go to the clippers cause you did not want to give him 2 extra years that he wanted was tremendous. 

when you get talent and dont resign them, when you change coaches and gm's a billion times over and the problem is the Ownership. 

This is when you bail as fan. you see a die-hard fan, a die-hard fan who is a human-being, stays through the tuff times, the tuff times being when a team doesn't have talent, or even a bad coach, or even worse a bad gm. but when the OWNERSHIP is bad, you bail. you start rooting for the Sacremento kings, who are gonna come back cause they got good OWNERSHIP but just young talent, you start rooting for the blazers even if they are the jailblazers, cause THEY got a good gm and good ownership. You see real franchises are able be elite contenders every ten years or so (like the blazers) and the great franchises the ones that everyone should be a fan of are elite every five years or so. You know like the one in l.a..... all the rest of the franchises lead by the warriors, clippers, memphis, the bucks, new jersey, okc (pretty soon), the cavs will never attract free-agents, will never get enough draft picks to stay, and if they ever do the draft picks will just get injured or something really bad will happen... well cause they are just that kind of team. 

All those teams should be scrapped and their players given to real teams so that every team will be more talented. kind of like the 80's. 

If you are still a warriors fan everything about you is a joke. you live in a fantasy world. you live in a world where you still get to be a kid and believe in santa. You all have dreary jobs with loser fat girlfriends and THIS is the only thing that keeps you sane. you ask your friend... "shes pretty, right?" 

Im telling you. wash your hands of the franchise and come back when they sell the team richard riordon and he moves the team to the city. 

Recently, I remembered a bullet on TrueHoop about a bull related trade idea I had read along time ago. I searched and searched until i found it.  im gonna post it then react to it after... here it is...  

TrueHoop reader Chris, a Bulls fan, writes: "I'm a huge Bulls fan and am playing GM. As I see it, we have a few major issues still remaining on this team. First, we need to trade Hinrich and Nocioni, not because I don't love them, but because we're not in a position to have their salaries on our payroll and have them come off the bench. Secondly, while many die-hard Bulls fans still believe Tyrus Thomas is the second coming of Shawn Kemp (in a good way, I hope), we need a proven scoring-oriented big who can also rebound. And finally, we have 10 men in our eight-man rotation. The Lakers are natural suitors for us. Anyone who watched the Finals sees they they need a lot of toughness and defense to surround Kobe with. So I propose this to you: Why don't the Lakers swap Lamar Odom (and a salary filler, like Coby Karl) to the Bulls for Hinrich, Nocioni, and maybe a throw-in or protected draft pick? Although we saw how soft Odom can be at times, he's a 6-10 scorer who has proven he can get his 10 rebounds a game. Playing along guys like Thomas and Noah will take a lot of the pressure off him to be a great defender, and allow him to freelance. On the other hand, I think Hinrich, who does the little things so well and plays defense could look like an all-star next to Kobe. Additionally, how great would Nocioni be off that bench? He'd immediately be the second toughest player on the Lakers. He can play stifling defense, put up 25 in any game, and has shown how clutch he is on the world's largest stages."

Ok im not saying lamar odom is the answer. that isn't the reason i am posting this.

Tyrus Thomas is the reason i am posting this.  

Now, i am what i would call a tyrus thomas fanatic and I am going to explain to you why we are devoted to charting his development and set back, why in the hell he is so damn important for us.  

We have taken three positions with tyrus thomas, three ways of interpreting, framing, and justifying his play.  

You all are well aquatinted with the  "he just needs playing time" to get into gear. This has been the main reaction to him during his first years in the league under scott Skiles.  It has crept back up when Vinny keeps aron gray in for long stretches, im sure you have noticed this.  

The origins of the second and third frames of Tyrus Thomas emerged over what transpired in the summer.  First, the coach was fired and new one was picked by a GM who wanted to give TT playing time, presumably that meant the coach was goign to give TT playing time.  Second, apparently TT went to David Thorpe's amazing summer camp where they teach you how to be a "professional" basketball player.  They give you stamina, show you how to rebound, how to change ends, how to shoot jumpers appropriately, how to play d... all the fundamentals that would make one a constant contributor on a team.  This is the camp that made udonis haslem a serviceable player and got kevin martin major bucks.  Thrope was talking about tyrus and his new steady work ethic and talent.  Third, we heard that he was taking 500 jump shots a day and was now a dead eye shooter, which showed in the preseason. 

So what did that lead us to say?  Tyrus Thomas is gonna have a break out year in 2008/09 cause he worked hard in summer and is gonna get the playing time.

Now you all know what has happened this year and im not gonna re-has how bad he has been. What have been the two dominate justifications for tyrus thomas's existence this year?

First, that we should lower our expectations and be happy when he contributes about 7 points and 7 rebounds and gets his one steal and one block per game.  We should be happy when he isn't over-aggressive trying to score and if he can just not make too many mistakes during his 25 min stints he can be a serviceable player.  Lowering the expectations of him has allowed us to go on in peace and not commit suicide.  

Second, Tyrus Thomas is a bust.  

An example exchange in the comments of this blog after the bulls loss to the lakers in which Tyrus had one of those "solid" but not stellar games.

Unrealcity wrote:

 "TT looked good tonight.  He drove the lane, blocked shots and made some athletic plays (and some dumb turnovers). But overall, he played great because he stayed within himself. Hopefully he can watch the tape and emulate these type performances and stop jacking up so many jumpers"

then

RogersPark Kirss responded:

Tyrus played "great"??? Why are Bulls fans content with him playing 31 minutes and only getting 9 points (mostly against the Lakers 2nd/third team) and 5 f*cking rebounds! Remember, Tyrus was a number 2 pick and should be coming into his own in his third year. Thomas will go down as one of the all time Bulls draft pick BUSTS.

then 

Your friendly BullsBlogger replied with.. "yeah, I'd say he played 'fine.'  but relative to his season so far, it was great. He’s certainly had better games before.  Oh, sorry, you want to start BUST talk. With capitals!

The frame of tyrus at this point, since hes gotten his minutes oscillates between being happy with tyrus being a "solid" player and being extremely disappointed he is not all-star caliber.  I cant tell you how much of a tyrus thomas hopefull i am.  I want him to be way better then he so bad that it actually hurts me.  I see the missed wide open jump shots.  I see the million times he gets around his man on a good quick move and blows the layup.  I see the way he floats on the perimter and doesn't really look to get set up by the guards in the paint.  I see how he converts on offense when the game is out of hand and nothing matters.   I see blocked shots, i see the steals, i see all that and it makes me think that his problem is just mental.  Those types of mistakes do not have to do with his inablity to physically make stuff happen.  It isn't the defense and that he can't get it done.  It is a mental block.  You all know what it means to not have alot of confidence on the court.  You have the ability you just need to get over that mental hump and all those missed layups and wide open jump shots will go in.  I keep telling myself that any day now Tyrus is going to blow up.  

I remember a daily dish episode of ESPN in which they were interviewing Hollinger or one of those guys and he was asked who would be the loser between chicago and Miami over their draft selections.  The reply was that Rose was gonna be great and so was Beasley, but unless chicago could solve its front court problems, no matter how good Rose was, they would end up regretting their pick.  Solve for him meant either develop one of their young front court guys (i.e. TT) or trade a back court player for a solid big.  

So what do say to all this.  Do we continue to oscillate between being satisfied with thinking he is a bust or thinking he can be a solid contributer?  Or are we resigned to what "your friendly BullBlogger" will probably say, given that it is his position on just about every controversy: we just have to wait and see.  

Ill i have to say is this: this version of this team, its ownership, its gm, its coach and everyone on the squad except DR is contigent upon Tyrus Thomas being an all-star. Hear me out.  If in fact Tyrus is a "bust" or even if he is just solid then the whole thing is defunct.  I think i remember the friendly bullblogger saying this once: if Tyrus is a bust then paxson has to be fired.  And isn't it true? Think about it.  The gm is the one that traded an all-star caliber player for him so he is the one that has created the standard for TT.  That means the gm placed those expectations on him. The gm raised him to that level.  The gm did what he was supposed to: make a judgment call on the future play of two unproven players.  If in fact he chose wrong then that means he failed at his job.  This version of this team, its gm, its ownership, all the players associated with them (except DR) with a front court dependent on the development of tyrus thomas, must be blown up if if tyrus thomas in fact doesn't pan out.  

So i agree that its to early to tell about tyrus, his problems strike me as more mental then physical, hes only 22 and we can afford to wait and see. But if he in fact doesn't become an all-star caliber player, then we must be resigned to the fact that this team and all its decision makers must move forward with change.  

I hope to god tyrus pans out.  

saturday night.  I have some concerns.

Ok, first off let me state that i missed the first quarter.  cta problems, you know the dish. But so that means i missed Derrick Rose's 7 point madness.  But let me say this:

In the first half, Vinny Del Negro's choice of play was Kirk with ball at top of key getting a pick from noah.  This play worked twice and then it just kept getting botched up cause noah isn't a threat and kirk isn't that good of a passer in traffic.

In the second half, Vinny D ran this play.  He had rose bring the ball up to the top of the key, out past the three point line.  Drew gooden stood at the post position and tried to screen out kirk's man, as kirk was under the rim.  Kirk would run circles around this screen, out past it, then back towards the hoop.  Rose couldn't make the pass, not even once, when kirk  was open moving towards the hoop with his defender behind him.  The play then called for rose to dribble towards the wing where he attempted to throw a post-entry pass to gooden who was trying to get position on boozer.  Because gooden is goofy and has no post skills what so ever, not to mention he was guarded by a beast, he would eventually receive the post up pass, out far far FAR away from the paint.  He would then proceed try to go one-o-one with boozer and then would, obviously, fail.  He succeeded only once when he got into the lane using his quickness missing the layup then rebounding the ball and putting it in.  

Ok.  Vinny Del Negro ran these plays into the ground.  Good lord, in the 2nd and 3rd quarters it killed us.  Rose was great in the open court, but you could tell vinney was trying to do his thing: running these ridiculious two plays, yelling from the sideline like an over zealous coach and having his way.  First off, gooden is not that good in the post. He has good instincts, but doesn't know how to use his body in relation to his defenders body (i.e. shifting his weight to counter-act the defenders position).  I understand that vinney probably wants to establish a post game for bulls,  which everyone says they need.  I understand that he is intrigued by the prospect of using Gooden to his full potential.  But seriously? What coach hasn't tried doing that.  I bet he watched gooden play in college and thinks he can be that good at the pro level.  You have to play to your personell. You dont have a post player who can demand doubles, then stop goign to it. 

i know you are going to say he is "tinkering" or playing around with the lineup.  Its a joke.  I started a "fire vinny" chant at the end of the game where he went to the gooden play in the last 30 seconds when they were down by 5.  It resulted in an open look at a three but mostly because a jazz defender slipped.  I think the fire vinny chant is funny cause it is still pre-season and he has only coached like 5 games. hahaha. 

With a line-up of kirk, deng, noah, and tyrus thomas with rose handling the ball, which was actually what was in for large stretches.  Any person who knows anything about basketball would say to run.  This lineup is our future.  Rose is really great in open court at this point.  RUN RUN RUN RUN. tyrus and noah can rebound and they are like deer running the break.  All the other players are just fill-ins for future better players that we can trade for or sign to contracts that are made by getting rid of these guys. Hughes, Gordon, and Gooden are not going anywhere.  Unfortunately for us, those players make too much money given how much they will contribute.  Im sure they will be useful once their current contracts run out and they can sign on a championship level team for what they are actually worth.  They aren't working hard to improve.  Forget em and get over it.   Those five -- kirk, deng, noah, tyrus, and rose -- are the ones with potential and the ones with the best set of skills.  Start that five and run. 

and fire vinny.  Especially if it is still the pre-season cause that would be super funny. 

mando

Perhaps getting to the finals over the next 10 years wont be so "automatic" and it will be more like 50/50 chance every year.

be afraid.  

The point is that any team with dominate scoring and defending centers who seem to be extremely motivated and have a deep love of the game should scare any fan.  I dunno? and please dont tell me that he is just tyson chandler and oden is already bill russell.  That would be a lame not-thought out response.  

sincerely,

the pragmatist.