So it was done this week, Ray Allen and Rashard lewis signed with the Miami Heat. And I hate to say it but with those 2 signings they just got BETTER. But what really kills me is the thought that the 2013 Heat are shaping up to beat the Bulls' 72-10 record season. What do you think?
Meanwhile in Chicago we are trying to figure out how to pay Omer Asik way more than he's worth... So much optimism 7 months ago and now this.
No way 72-10 gets beat!
Quote from: Clonan on July 11, 2012, 01:28:44 PM
So it was done this week, Ray Allen and Rashard lewis signed with the Miami Heat. And I hate to say it but with those 2 signings they just got BETTER. But what really kills me is the thought that the 2013 Heat are shaping up to beat the Bulls' 72-10 record season. What do you think?
What I think is you are giving Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis way too much credit.
Ok maybe rashard lewis is stretch but Ray Allen is just what they needed, someone who can hit a big shot. The guy can still hit 3's at will and its not like they'll need him to give 20 minutes a night. Ray Allen starting or off the bench for the Heat does not hurt them one bit. And its not like the East is looking too mighty yet.
I completely agree he makes them a better team. But not a 70 win team. They aren't that good. They were underdogs in the Finals. They were on the brink against an old Celtics team. Allen just makes them a little bit deeper, a little bit better. They still have the same holes, no big man, lack of rebounding. Allen does nothing to plug those.
Whats more interesting to me is why Allen left Boston. That unit was always billed to be the ultimate "team unity" bunch. Yet he took half the money in Miami that Boston offered. That'll be an awkward reunion when he goes back to Boston.
I agree the East is looking shaky right now. I'm willing to hand Miami the East crown. I still think OKC is the best team on paper.
Dan? what have you heard on D Rose? PTI tonight talked about him sitting out the entire season? :o please tell me they are wrong!
On the Steve Dahl Show they were talking February. But they don't have an NBA guru on the show so I'm sure they were just repeating what they'd heard some where else.
February would be alot better than 2014
I don't think Rose will be back in February. maybe March or April. Possibly out the whole season if the Bulls are completely out of it by march or April....The time table for D-rose's at time of surgery was a possible return in March 2013, 9 months post-op. They keep saying he is 2 weeks, 3 weeks ahead of schedule , which would put him at a February return but I don't see why they would rush him back. Because he is young and has the best trainers, it makes sense that he is ahead of that schedule but again, I don't know why they would rush him back for this season (other than to sell tickets).
Realistically, the Bulls obviously are not title contenders without D-Rose, so if they are in the sh!tter come March or April, perhaps they will sit out D-Rose.
haha Who knows though maybe the Bulls can squeak out a 7 or 8 seed.
Still excited to see some Bulls Basketball again! Maybe this be the year the mighty Boozer plays up to his salary. that would be a first.
Very excited for the NBA season to start tonight.
The Bulls are definitely a wildcard this season. Its hard to get a good feel for what we should expect. The bench has been completely overhauled. Obviously no DRose. Taj should see a few more minutes so I'd expect his production to increase. Noah has been working on his hook shot quite a bit over the offseason. I'm hoping he'll be more of a threat to score this year. Can Rip Hamilton stay healthy?
If these things happen I can see the Bulls as a 50+ win team, maybe even battle for the 2nd seed in the East. The one constant is the defense, and that comes from Thibodeau. Defense will keep the Bulls competitive. I have high hopes. As for Derrick, I'm hoping for the best but expecting the worst. He may get back on the floor late this season, but its hard to imagine him getting back to his normal MVP level of play until next season.
Rotations weren't what I expected last night. Happy to see Noah logging 40 minutes and producing big. Confused about Taj only playing 19 min. He may have been a little distracted with the contract negotiations that went into the night. Happy to see them get Taj locked up long-term though! Hoping for a monster year from him.
Good to be 1-0.
glad to see Hinrich back in a Bulls uniform. I have always liked that kid. I was shocked to see Noah take on such a huge roll on opening night. 6-12 fg's and 11-12 ft's for 23 and 10 rebounds. hopefully Taj's minutes will go up cause Noah will not produce like this very often. It is really time for Boozer to step up and show us why we should keep his ass!!
really need to keep up during the off season though. never knew we got rid of Korver, Asik, Brewer. If RIP can't stay healthy, I don't like the bench filling in for him now. too many unknowns??
I gotta agree with Dan. If Rose can get healthy before the end of the season it would still be unrealistic to think that he will be at the top of his game until next season. It will be interesting to see if they can put together a competitive season without him.
Tough loss last night to OKC. Both of our losses came in crunch time when we just couldn't generate any offense. We just don't have that secondary dynamic scorer behind Rose. Oh well, we can cry about it all day but thats not going to change.
I love the way the starting 5 is playing. They've really stepped up. I do not like the new bench so far. Taj got that money and suddenly he forgot how to play basketball. We need his energy off the bench badly. Bellinelli has been nothing close to what Kyle Korver gave us. And there is no Ronnie Brewer. Nate Robinson is basically last year's CJ Watson/JL III. Which he's done a fine job with, but you can't rely on him in to win you games in cruch time.
Still, a 3-2 start is fine. Goal should be a 50 win season.
Gibson is killing me in fantasy. 4 points last night?? >:( I do got Noah and Rip putting up good numbers though. 1 injury to any starter, and I honestly believe this team wont finish over .500. hope I am wrong? but still it is Bulls Basketball, have to watch.
On a side note, how about the Lakers?? 1-4 with aquiring D. Howard?? unreal! love it, but hard to believe. Brown was just fired today, so evidently the Big Bosses can't believe the start as well! ;D
If anyone is ever looking for tix, my buddy has 2 or 4 season tix, 300 level straight up behind the hoop. Bulls finish on the ticket side.
I hope the Bulls management makes a strong effort get Kevin Love in a Chicago Bulls uniform. It sounds like he yearns to play f or a team like ours.
2015 opt out clause... its a long ways away and Minnesota could make him happy by then but the Bulls should be all over this.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--kevin-love-remains-unsure-about-timberwolves--future-200009299.html
I would circle the summer of 2014 on your calendar if your looking for major additions to the Bulls roster. I think there could be a lot of upheaval around the NBA that summer, similar to 2010.
LeBron/Bosh/Wade all have player options that summer. LeBron will most likely opt out and look to sign an extension. With the increased luxury tax penalties that resulted from the lockout last year, I would not expect all to be back with Miami in the fall of 2014. Its just not financially feasible.
Carmelo Anthony has a player option that summer. Expect him to also opt out and look to sign a max extension.
Love's contract expires in 2015, making him a trade piece in 2014. Same for LaMarcus Aldridge. Stephen Curry is a free agent that summer.
Deng's contract expires in 2014, making him a free agent. Boozer's contract expires in 2015, making it feasible for the Bulls to amnesty his contract and eat the last year of his deal.
My point is there will be several elite NBA talents shifting teams around that time, and the Bulls will finally have the ability to make significant payroll additions. I think what we've got is what we've got for this season and the next, but after that all bets are off.
A lot of Derrick Rose return talk this week. From what he said yesterday after the Bulls loss to Boston, doesn't seem like he is coming back anytime soon and hasn't put off waiting until next season to return. Although the Bulls could really use him in the 2nd half of the season (duh), I like that he is being patient with his recovery. Whenever he does return, hopefully it's with the same tenacity as Adrian Peterson.
And I am also happy with the Bulls 1st half of the season. The past 2 weeks were pretty weak but with all things considered, I think they played well. Hopefully the injury bug goes away after the break!
With the Bulls/Heat matchup tonight, hearing alot of comparisons between this Heat team and the 72 win Bulls from '95-96.
First of all, no comparisons can be made until you've actually won the championship. Secondly, this Miami win streak is awesome without a doubt. But being awesome for 30 games is not as difficult as being awesome for 82 games, you know what I mean? So, go get 72 wins and then we can talk. That team was also 15-3 in the playoffs (the '91 Bulls were 15-2!).
And for the record, the Bulls came back in '96-97 and clicked off 69 wins. They reduced minutes for the starters at the end of that season and lost 3 of their final 4 games, or they certainly could have reached 70 for a second consecutive season.
The Bulls from 1995-1998 is the greatest team of all-time. Miami has a long way to go before they should be seriously compared.
27 is amazing, but Dan is 100% correct.
I would agree as well that there is no comparison between the this Heat team and the 96-98' Bulls team. They are very different teams. It is pretty darn impressive what Lebron and Wade have been able to do with the cast they have though.
Great team win for the Bulls last night without Noah. They beat the streak and clinched thier 5th straight playoff spot in the process, not too shabby.
Proud of the Bulls effort last night. We would lose that game 8 out of 10, but last night was one of the 2 where we actually hit the shots we needed to hit. I'll remember that game for a long time. The formula for having a chance against Miami should be clear to the rest of the league. Rough them up and you can get them out of their comfort zone. If we see an OKC vs Miami Finals matchup like I think we will, it'll be interesting to see if the Thunder follow the Bulls gameplan.
LeBron may not like the physical play, but he's 6' 8" 280 lbs and the best basketball player on the planet. When he comes barrelling down the lane at 50 mph, you can either foul him hard, let him do a highlight dunk, or give him an easy and-1.
Bosh is an incredible offensive talent, but his philosophy on physical play was clear last season when he got pissed at Asik for diving for a loose ball and coming close to his legs. No diving for loose balls around Chris Bosh! Kirk made him look bad when he took that ball away in the 4Q. That was a huge play.
Wade seems to get more easily frustrated as the years wear on. Just count the number of times he misses a lay-up and then refuses to go back on defense while he lays on the ground and yells at the refs. And every bad play is always followed by hobbling around like someone just took a crowbar to your knee. He's the most unlikable player in the NBA.
Bulls played a lot better basketball than I thought they would this year, considering the dismantling of the Bench Mob and no Derrick Rose. Deng posted some serious minutes for the second straight season. Gibson fought through some MCL issues. Noah is battling Plantar. Hamilton... is Hamilton. And we saw some bright things from Jimmy Butler. I thought they would get a 7th or 8th seed, and they exceeded that expectation. Thibs is a damn good coach.
The Bulls/Nets playoff series should be a good one. Hopefully Noah is healthy. Go Bulls!
I rarely watch NBA basketball but I'm really hoping for a miracle NBA Finals run for the Bulls. I'd love to see Rose's miracle return for that series.
I'm normally as optimistic as anybody when it comes to the Bulls, but its hard to feel that way heading into this series. If we were healthy (other than Derrick), then I think we'd have plenty to handle the Nets. However, the fact is we have a severely limited Noah and a limited Taj Gibson. Losing your 2 best defense/rebounding big men is a tall task for any team to overcome.
What frustrates me is that Noah was struggling with this fascitis 2 months ago. Fascitis takes about 4 weeks to completely heal if you stay completely off the foot. Had Noah been able to make the tough decision and sit out for a few weeks, he's be ready to go right now. Instead he'd miss a few games, feel a little better, then reaggrivate the injury. He repeated that cycle 3 times and here we are with a 50% Noah instead of the All-Star Noah from December.
Oh well. If the Bulls are to pull this series out, Deng is going to have to elevate his offensive game to another level. We need a combined 40 ppg from Deng and Boozer to have a chance. Otherwise, I'll be looking forward to watching a healthy team play next November!
Deng out for Game 1. I understand we are extreme long shots even if Deng and Hinrich were in there at 100%, but having Deng out is extremely disappointing. The fact that he was just released from the hospital after undergoing a procedure to stop his spinal fluid from leaking makes me think he might not play at all this series. Seems like some serious stuff he is going through. Just couldn't have come at a worse time as I'd love to see a 100% Luol Deng out there trying to make LeBron's life difficult. Tough break for him and for Bulls fans. Hope he can make it back by Game 3 in Chicago on Friday.
Wade's knee injury may be more of a factor than was initially reported. He didn't look right last night. Hopefully the Bulls can keep their foot on the gas pedal. Terrific defensive execution last night as a whole. They kept LeBron out of his comfort zone most of the game. The key against the Heat offense is always to limit transition buckets. That is when they're really in their element.
WOW. The Bulls looked like a team missing 3 starters playing against the defending champs and the MVP at home last night. This loss is forgettable for me only because the heat were supposed to do that. The refs were pretty whistle happy from the jump, a lot of emotion got out of control. I agreed with Noah and Gibson sentiments to the refs, something like "F you MF'r" right in the ref's face... but the missed foul and blatant goaltending by that douche birdman were just icing on the frustration cake.
Anyone else sick of the announcers talking about Derrick Rose?? Drop it already. Game 3 at home should be a little better but, hey, the bulls are still starting the bench so expectations are low. I just hope to watch some good well coached basketball for the next week or so before I turn off the NBA until October.
For a season that should have been a complete loss, it had some pretty memorable moments. Jo's 20-20-10 game. Stopping the Heat's 27 game win streak. The Nate Robinson Game. Winning Game 7 in Brooklyn and Game 1 in Miami without Deng or Hinrich. The emergence of Jimmy Butler.
I'm happy with what the Bulls gave me this season. Certainly looking forward to next October when we see Rose back on the court. Right now the Bulls are committed to Rose, Deng, Noah, Boozer, Taj, Butler, and Teague on the payroll for next season. Most likely we'll be trying to fill in the remaining spots by spending as little as possible. With the way the luxury tax works now, once they go over the tax threshhold (which they are already sitting at), every dollar they spend gets doubled or tripled by the luxury tax. So, $4M might not seem like much to try and bring back Belinelli, but if it actually costs you $12M? Tough call. So, don't expect anything significant to happen in the offseason.
I'm looking forward to this team making another run. We had the NBA's best record 2 years running with this team. Now we've added a hugely improved Jimmy Butler. With the way D Wade looks, I think the Heat are 1 injury away from being awfully vulnerable. The Bulls may be in position to strike next season.
The big question mark moving forward will be Luol Deng. His contract expires after next year. Will he be willing to take less money to stay with the Bulls? If the answer is no, will the Bulls look to trade his expiring contract? I hope that doesn't happen. They will be looking to stay flexible for the summer of 2014, when some bigtime players may be on the open market and we'll be in a nice position if we amnesty the final year of Boozer's contract. Until then, what we've got is what we've got and I'm okay with that.
Agonizing defeat for the Spurs. Game 6, up 5 with 28 sec left. Can't lose that one.
Game 7. Tony Parker, you're best player and Team MVP....3-12?? Where you at Tony Parker? It's like he wasn't even there! Danny Green who set a Finals record for thee-pointers earlier in the series....1-12? 1 for f'in 12?!
Spurs played a very good defensive strategy. They turned LeBron into a jump shooter for most of the series. Credit to LeBron, he made those jumpers over and over. 5-10 from 3pt in Game 7. What will keep the Spurs awake at night is Battier going 6-8 from 3pt in Game 7. If Green makes a couple more shots and Battier makes a couple less, the outcome is reversed.
All that said, Duncan still had 2 point blank chances to tie the game with 40 sec left. A lot to stew about for the Spurs who are unlikely to ever make it back here with this core.
How about Bosh? 0-5 with 0 points in Game 7? Miami may have to ship him out of town, not only to save a truck load of money in the luxury tax, but also to free up some space to bring in a younger star and convince LeBron to sign an extension. Playing with a beat-up, rapidly aging D Wade and Chris Bosh is unlikely to bring LeBron many more titles. They may have 1 or 2 more years left, but that would likely be it. LeBron can opt out of his contract after next season. He has hinted at leaving. Possibly back to Cleveland who has a young superstar in the making in Kyrie Irving, along with cap space to add another star player along side James should he make that move.
2nd highest rated NBA game in ABC history! It was a good one but yea, Tony Parker and Green laid an egg and thats unfortunate. I really wanted to see some Miami fans cry.
Looking forward to seeing who the Bulls pick up in the off season and seing D Rose's comback (finally!). Was a good NBA season this year.