After an excellent game against Boston, the Bulls played some of their most pathetic ball of the year versus Golden State and the Clippers. Then the Bulls put together a pair of solid outings against Phoenix and Houston. They are becoming one of the most unpredictable teams in the league. I guess that beats being clearly one of the worst.
Bulls pull off a trade, but nothing to raise anyone's pulse: Aaron Gray for Devin Brown. You hate to see them trade big for small when they so clearly need front court help, but Gray isn't going to crack into the rotation. He's been a disappointment after a promising start during his rookie year. Bulls are desperate for some 3-point shooting and are hoping Brown can improve that a bit. He's not going to make much of an impact though.
Once again we have a multitude of Amare Stoudemire trade rumors just before the deadline. If you remember from last year, the Suns neglected to pull the trigger on a bunch of Amare trade offers, and then had Amare get injured a day after the trade deadline. So now, we have basically the same rumors as last year. On the Bulls side, that would be Tyrus and Deng for Amare.
Now, you'd think that I would be jumping up and down for a chance to trade away my two least favorite Bulls, but I'm actually only lukewarm to this deal. Both Tyrus and Deng have played better than last year, and Amare is a bit worse. Plus, Amare is still injury prone and a bad defender. That isn't to say I still wouldn't pull the trigger because I just couldn't resist getting rid of Tyrus and Deng, but I don't think Amare is that great a prize. The Suns really made a huge mistake by not trading him last year. I've said it before and will likely say it again: I loved Paxson and Kerr as players and think they are both intelligent guys, but they are both terrible in the front office.
Here's a trade rumor I like a lot more -- Al Jefferson of the Wolves for either Deng or Tyrus plus change. Jefferson has more of an offensive post presence and that is something that has been lacking in the Bulls game for quite some time.
Hinrich is most definitely on the block to get rid of his contract, but I hope the Bulls don't give him away. He's been playing rather well lately. Boston is a team that would love to snatch him away without giving up much. I don't mind including him in a good deal though. I still vote yes to swapping him for Caron Butler.
Right now the Bulls are two games under .500, yet still in the 8th spot in the East, with a reasonable chance of rising all the way up to the 5th seed. And yet they have no chance of winning the championship. So, are they content with a first or second round playoff exit (at best!) or do they start getting themselves in position to be better for next year?
Monday, January 25, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
T-Mac Rumors
First off, don't let the last two wins over Minnesota and Detroit fool you. The Bulls still stink. Those teams just stink more.
Trading deadline is about a month off, so that means the rumors will fly fast and furious for the next few weeks. First up is T-Mac who is disgruntled in Houston and is actually in Chicago working out with Tim Grover. And BTW, why don't the Bulls just hire Tim Grover to run their practices? Probably can't afford him.
The Bulls are interested in T-Mac, probably more for his huge expiring contract than for his time on the floor. They've already said that they won't give up Noah for that and I agree with them. Noah has perhaps played the most consistently well of any of the Bulls this year. A bit more than a year ago I predicted that he would be leaps and bounds ahead of Tyrus and he's proven me correct. So, no Noah for McGrady.
Now how about Salmons, Miller, Jones and change for T-Mac? Now that is a tough call. There's no question that T-Mac is extremely talented. The two big knocks against him is that he is injury prone and he has a bad (lazy/indifferent) attitude. You might also add in that he is vastly overpaid, but if you are looking for an expiring contract then that may actually be a positive.
Salmons has taken a huge step backwards this year. Miller is getting older, and no one will miss Jones or anyone else they toss in. So, here's what it comes down to. Is Salmons going to recover and start playing as well as he did during the latter part of last year? And would T-Mac come into Chicago with an improved attitude and a reasonably healthy body?
It's a close call. I think that if the Bulls want to go the T-Mac/expiring contract route, then they must also find a way to dump Deng, Tyrus, and probably Hinrich (contract) as well. If they can do that then I have no problem blowing up this team and building around Rose, Noah and whatever big free agents they can sign.
However, if they can't do that, then adding another lazy, indifferent player to this team is not a good idea. Could you imagine T-Mac, Deng, Tyrus and Rose on the court at the same time? Teams would average 125 points a game against them as they all sulked down the court when it was time to pretend to play defense.
Trading deadline is about a month off, so that means the rumors will fly fast and furious for the next few weeks. First up is T-Mac who is disgruntled in Houston and is actually in Chicago working out with Tim Grover. And BTW, why don't the Bulls just hire Tim Grover to run their practices? Probably can't afford him.
The Bulls are interested in T-Mac, probably more for his huge expiring contract than for his time on the floor. They've already said that they won't give up Noah for that and I agree with them. Noah has perhaps played the most consistently well of any of the Bulls this year. A bit more than a year ago I predicted that he would be leaps and bounds ahead of Tyrus and he's proven me correct. So, no Noah for McGrady.
Now how about Salmons, Miller, Jones and change for T-Mac? Now that is a tough call. There's no question that T-Mac is extremely talented. The two big knocks against him is that he is injury prone and he has a bad (lazy/indifferent) attitude. You might also add in that he is vastly overpaid, but if you are looking for an expiring contract then that may actually be a positive.
Salmons has taken a huge step backwards this year. Miller is getting older, and no one will miss Jones or anyone else they toss in. So, here's what it comes down to. Is Salmons going to recover and start playing as well as he did during the latter part of last year? And would T-Mac come into Chicago with an improved attitude and a reasonably healthy body?
It's a close call. I think that if the Bulls want to go the T-Mac/expiring contract route, then they must also find a way to dump Deng, Tyrus, and probably Hinrich (contract) as well. If they can do that then I have no problem blowing up this team and building around Rose, Noah and whatever big free agents they can sign.
However, if they can't do that, then adding another lazy, indifferent player to this team is not a good idea. Could you imagine T-Mac, Deng, Tyrus and Rose on the court at the same time? Teams would average 125 points a game against them as they all sulked down the court when it was time to pretend to play defense.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Hinrich for Butler?
Latest rumor buzz has Bulls swapping Hinrich for Caron Butler. Before I weigh in on whether this is good or bad for the Bulls, let's look at why this is possible. Strangely, Butler is on the block because of the misbehavior of his teammates, namely "Agent Zero" Arenas and Javaris Crittenton, who allegedly pulled guns on each other during a gambling dispute in the Wizards locker room. Did these guys not get the memo that they are no longer the Washington Bullets? Or do the Wizards issue handguns out as standard equipment? I'm tempted to make a third joke about their "run and gun" offense, but am stopping myself from going too far.
What this highly publicized incident does is put even more pressure on the woeful Wizards to blow up their team and start anew. And when that happens, the most valuable assets always get swapped first. In this case, with Arenas proving to be far more trouble than his contract is worth, the Wizards really have only two valuable assets: Butler and Antawn Jamison. And Butler seems to be the more disenfranchised of the two.
I like Butler, but still have mixed feelings about the two. Hinrich has been playing extremely well of late. He is a big factor as to why the Bulls have won their last three games. He's the Bulls best defender and backs up both the 1 and 2 spots. Butler is a better offensive player and fills the 2 or 3 spots. I have to vote for the trade because Rose has been playing a lot better recently and we need someone to take minutes away from Salmons and Deng, who are not playing well. It would not be easy to see Hinrich go though, and I suspect the Wizards will want even more than him for Butler.
Of course the Bulls need Jamison even more, to add a scorer to the frontcourt, but it would take more than Hinrich to get him. I would happily give up both Deng and Thomas for Jamison, but I don't think the Bulls would do that, even if they could make the salaries work out.
Bulls can't delude themselves into thinking that this mini winning streak has set them on the right path. They need to make a trade. Of course I always want to see Thomas and Deng on the block, but I'd take anything that improves this bad team.
Update 1/06: Stern gives Arenas an indefinite suspension because of his gun play in the locker room. Understandable, but what I can't figure out is how Crittenton avoided a similar fate. Not that it matters a lot to the Wiz because he is injured and isn't any good when he isn't injured anyway. But how does he not get the same suspension as Agent Zero? Maybe Stern doesn't even know about him? Finally, best of Letterman's top ten Washington Wizards explanations for the gun incident: #3 "Wanted gun close by in case team tried to trade me to the Nets."
What this highly publicized incident does is put even more pressure on the woeful Wizards to blow up their team and start anew. And when that happens, the most valuable assets always get swapped first. In this case, with Arenas proving to be far more trouble than his contract is worth, the Wizards really have only two valuable assets: Butler and Antawn Jamison. And Butler seems to be the more disenfranchised of the two.
I like Butler, but still have mixed feelings about the two. Hinrich has been playing extremely well of late. He is a big factor as to why the Bulls have won their last three games. He's the Bulls best defender and backs up both the 1 and 2 spots. Butler is a better offensive player and fills the 2 or 3 spots. I have to vote for the trade because Rose has been playing a lot better recently and we need someone to take minutes away from Salmons and Deng, who are not playing well. It would not be easy to see Hinrich go though, and I suspect the Wizards will want even more than him for Butler.
Of course the Bulls need Jamison even more, to add a scorer to the frontcourt, but it would take more than Hinrich to get him. I would happily give up both Deng and Thomas for Jamison, but I don't think the Bulls would do that, even if they could make the salaries work out.
Bulls can't delude themselves into thinking that this mini winning streak has set them on the right path. They need to make a trade. Of course I always want to see Thomas and Deng on the block, but I'd take anything that improves this bad team.
Update 1/06: Stern gives Arenas an indefinite suspension because of his gun play in the locker room. Understandable, but what I can't figure out is how Crittenton avoided a similar fate. Not that it matters a lot to the Wiz because he is injured and isn't any good when he isn't injured anyway. But how does he not get the same suspension as Agent Zero? Maybe Stern doesn't even know about him? Finally, best of Letterman's top ten Washington Wizards explanations for the gun incident: #3 "Wanted gun close by in case team tried to trade me to the Nets."
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