Would JR ever consider selling the Bulls?

Do you think the Bulls will ever trade one of the former big 4 who are now turning into the cap hold big 4: Nocioni, Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng?

What trades do you see happening this year, if any?

If not this year, do you think a trade will be set before next year begins?

What does the team think of Noah and Tyrus? Do they still have the high hopes some of the fans do, or are they getting tired of the slow development (esp of Tyrus)?

Are Noah or Tyrus on the block?

Is Vinny on the way out?

Is Pax on the way out?

I can’t partake in the chat, so if anyone wants to ask some of these it would be awesome (of course then post the link here :).

From what you’ve seen so far and based on past experiences, do you think Derrick Rose has not only the physical skills, but mental skills/determination to be the leader of an elite NBA team?

or does he have a plan for replacing Paxson. Or does he even care about this team anymore.

3:08pm
What do you think is bugging Nocioni this season? I know they’re losing, but he’s seemed abnormally upset over it. I’ve found it strange.
Cameron, Chicago

I think you’re exactly right. I’ve noticed a much higher level of frustration from him this season which is why I think he’s most likely to be traded. In part because he has a lot of value in the league and you can get something for him and also his increasing frustration level. He’s had a lot of success in basketball, a gold medal with Argentina, and a playoff run with the Bulls. It’s tough for a veteran like him who plays with a high level of energy, almost a frenzy, to play with so many young players who make mistakes on the court, particularly Noah & Thomas who are getting more time now.

Just goes to show (sort of), these guys know nothing more than we do when they aren’t using sources or evaluating basketball.

isn’t very live. You have to refresh to see the new posts, which come at the top and are confusing at first to read. I’ve seen better live blogs at KSK, but only now there’s no dick jokes.

3:16PM
Do you think Ben Gordon is young and worthy enough for the Bulls to keep around as a starter/backup at both guard positions?
Jim, Chicago

At one time I would have liked to have done that and I’ve recommended it before because I’ve always felt it would be difficult to replace his scoring, but I think relations between Ben and the team especially in light of the latest little incident with the team fine for being late, have detiorated. I’m not sure Ben would embrace the kind of 6th man role with the Bulls that he might now somewhere else. He’s turned down big contracts twice and the Bulls rejected one once apparently. So there’s a growing history here that would make me nervous about bringing him back. I like Ben as a player and if he embraced the 6th man role he’d be one of the best of all time but he doesn’t seem to want to do that.

3:25pm
What is Paxson going to do this trade deadline, we’ve seen this before with little willingness to take action. Thoughts?
several emailers

Obviously the first priority is to trade Hughes. That’s no secret. It’s going to be difficult and I wouldn’t worry about that much. If they don’t trade him they can send him home after the deadline and he’ll have value next season because of the expiring contract. The Bulls will look to make a deal, the most likely players to be available will be Noc and Hinrich, not because they’re not valuable but because the ar valuable. Teams are intersted in them and routinely ask the Bulls about them. If you want to make a deal to get something you have to give up something. However, if a deal doesn’t involve Hughes I’m now thinking that there’s less than a 50% the Bulls would do something now. I don’t think it’s vital to, at this point. The key is this summer with the draft and potential free agency with expiring deals of Gooden and Gordon. That’s when I would expect to see more moves as much as everyone would like to make the playoffs, just getting in for a first round exit it not crucial to the development of this team.

Doesn’t Gordon have a no-trade clause because of his 1-yr franchise tag?

I hope so. I still cannot quite understand why Vinny keeps Gordon in the starting lineup along side another small guard in Rose. I think it hurts the team and I think you need more defence to start the games. Vinny seems to believe he needs Gordon out there for scoring. If that’s the issue I might consider starting Noc at 4 with Thabo or Hinrich at 2. I do think this current starting lineup needs to be shaken up a bit.

There is absolutely no outside-the-box thinking in that head (except for maybe trades, where conventional wisdom might not even exist).

I never read Sam Smith so this is all based off of this, basically.

I really don’t know. That’s why I play shadow-GM. I did it for Jerry Krause for a number of years and he didn’t listen. Look where he ended up? Just kidding! One reason I came up with that scenario is because I continue to grow weary about persuing a 2010 free agent. We’ve seen it collapse twice. In 2000 and the trades for Curry & Chandler. As you can tell from some of the questions today fans aren’t excited about the way things are going this season. It’s a long way until 2010. If you get there with a stripped roster and don’t get anything it’s a long long way back up again. The key with Derrick Rose is to get another player that is a chance All-Star which is why I suggested Monta Ellis. There are issues with his team and contract. Most around the league feel the Warriors will move him at some point. He’s not perfect with Rose becuase he’s a small-ish shooting guard but is a dynamic player and a chance to be a star. What the Bulls need is a player with a “chance” to be a star. The chances of getting one now (Stoudamire, Nowitski, Bosh) is pretty slim. To get a player like that you have to give up a star and the Bulls don’t have one to give up. I think there’s Ellis and some other good pieces that make sense like Kaman, who also seems to be wearing out his welcome with the Clippers. The Bulls have pieces that teams like and can plug in right away, Noc & Hinrich. The competition in 2010 will be fierce and maybe not wortht the risk.

Tell me how he can knock Gordon for being a “smallish shooting guard” like 3 comments earlier then suggest that Monta freakin Ellis is a better alternative? Dude had one solid year playing Nellie-ball and he’s better than an established scorer?

I get that you wanna know about the rookie and all but c’mon Sam – you pass up on my questions about what the assistants actually have done this year, whether or not the Bulls need a big man coach, and why you think BG really is a 6th man on this team to answer THAT?

I wouldn’t say that. I think the difference with some of the Bulls players is they have drafted players who are relatively close to their ceilings because they were more mature players. That lead to the drafting of Tyrus because the Bulls were urged to draft somebody who was athletic and had a chance to grow. I don’t blame the coaching staff for Tyrus’ lack of development (though he has gotten better). They coaches instruct him to do the right things and he doesn’t always do them. Is that the fault of the coach, talent evaluator, player? I don’t fault the coaches because I’ve seen great players improve without being taught. Magic, Isiah, Jordan came back each year with something new to their game. Some of these players have blown off the summer and not done a lot of work with the team. Players develop most in the summer because during the season you have to focus so much on the games.

So Tyrus’ workouts at IMG all last summer go unnoticed and it’s his fault that what the coaches (and he’s already admitted that Harris/Bickerstaff don’t do much) has fallen on deaf ears? Sam’s losing me as a fan as we speak.

A legitimate quesiton. I don’t think the contracts for Hinrich and Noce are really out of line with today’s standards. Both are declining contracts which make them tradeable and in part why teams are interested. In two years Noce will be making under $7MM and Hinrich will be making $8MM which are manageable numbers for rotation players. The contract for Deng is questionable to some extent. I think what happened was the team got caught up in the fear of losing both Gordon and Deng without any compensation. You can’t allow yourself to be in position to lose core players like that. Beacuse they grew frustrated at Gordon’s demands and getting to an agreement, it’s not so much that they were bidding against someone else for Deng they were bidding against their future. Perhaps they overpaid Deng for fear of losing him. Still if they want to go into free agency in 2010 Deng’s contract will not keep them from being in position for going after two major free agents and you do have to have guys on your roster and Deng should at least be a solid rotation player so I don’t think it’s a huge problem going forward.

—Nocioni is most likely to be traded.
—Hughes must be the first to be traded; that’s obvious.
—Hughes will have more value next year, even if he doesn’t play the rest of the season.
—Hinrich has a lot of value.
—No one will be traded this year.
—Hinrich will be traded in the summer because they’ll lose Gordon to free agency.

That’s just on “trading”.