Bulls need to keep an eye on the prize. No, playoffs is not the prize.

blogs, I’ve come to realize ours is the most pessimistic and uninspiring. There always has to be a cheap shot inserted against Del Negro. Who, by the way, rarely makes the same mistake twice. This current streak is seen as a fluke instead as a solid team effort where everyone knows their roles. The end result is seen as an entertaining first round and then dissapointment. I think the Bulls are playing their best basketball which is based on good solid defense and will be one of the great surprises of the playoffs. It’s the second half of the season that shows what you’re made of, and the Bulls are showing they are winners.

For all we know Garpax are ready to pull the trigger and just waiting for the right time or package to come along. I agree with the basic idea of everything you wrote, that they should not forget what is really important going forward, but I think, as you even said at one point I believe, they shocked us all with last years trade when we weren’t expecting it, so I’ll reserve judgement til after the deadline.

the last thing we need are Chicago Cubs comparissons. Wood and Prior?? Who cares?

I took it exactly the opposite way.

To me, it sounds as if he’s just reassuring us that the plan they had in place at the beginning of the year is in fact actually working.

We have heard numerous times that the Bulls are one of the most active teams on the phones wanting to make moves.

He just confirmed it.

I believe they know in their hearts that as long as Rose, Noah and even Deng continue to play at their current level, they’ll be in the playoffs regardless they make a move or not, but they know they want to be as flexable as possible this summer so this article actually is kinda a good read.

He’s echoing what us fans think.

And in regards to his quote about them playing better now, makes them look better regarding trades, I got no problem with that. I think every GM thinks the same way.

He’s not letting the world in on some major secret.

wont make a move untill the last day of trading! they want to get as many wins as possible out of this group before they start trading kurt and Fish and maybe TT or Brad…

Particularly in regards to the common complaint that they constantly repeat that things are going to get better. I know this recycled line about how bright the future is pisses fans off, because we’ve seen time and time again that things haven’t gotten better. However, what are they supposed to say? Are they supposed to admit the futility of the team and concede that this is a treading-water season and doesn’t really matter at all. Because that’s a great message to send to season-ticket holders.

I think this works both ways.

Of all the guys mentioned in conversation about the Bulls’ upcoming offseason (Bosh, Wade, Joe Johnson, Amare, Boozer), they’re all on winning teams. With the exception of Bosh and Wade they also have all-stars on their current rosters.

As much as I hate to say it, I have an easier time believing that Reinsdork will empty out his pockets to add a star to a playoff team than believing that a good player is going to leave in free agency for a team worse than the one they’re already on. I’m sure all of the guys mentioned will also get offers from winning teams, so it seems to me that being on a losing team (especially in the Eastern Conference) would kill our chances.

I agree 100%

I think it’s pretty impossible to say what the Bulls are thinking at this point because there’s likely so much posturing before the trade deadline. I think what the Bulls want to do is really dependent on a whole lot of contingencies.

I think ideally the Bulls would like to trade for Bosh while keeping enough cap space open to make a run at Wade or Bosh.

A backup option would be something like that Amare for Tyrus + Kirk deal mentioned here. But they like Bosh a lot better than they like Amare, so they aren’t going to pull the trigger on that without knowing they can’t get Bosh.

And of course, neither the Suns nor the Raptors are gonna pull the trigger until they’re sure they want to trade and the Bulls have the best offer on the table. Which explains why everyone is sitting on their hands until closer to the deadline.

From that point, if the Bulls really want to get a guy like that and still have cap space, they need to have a second deal in place to offload someone for expirings. They probably need that sort of deal in any case, since the reality is that if Salmons doesn’t opt out, they’ll be totally hosed and have no space at all.

I’d put the odds of everything falling into place the way they want/need to be pretty small. But I’d also put the odds of moving past the deadline with no trade at all as pretty small too. Of course, I can build the narrative we’ll here (Need Kirk and Salmons for the playoffs, can always unload one early in free agency if Salmons chooses to opt in). It’s not even totally implausible. Just far from a sure thing.

because they know something big could happen and those minor trades can be revisited later I have no problem with that. I like that this win streak is effecting the value of the players. I assume their value is going up and that can’t be bad right? So I’m kinda in a holding pattern right now.

However if the bulls strikeout on both fronts on Feb 18th I will be pretty disappointed knowing they passed on trading Hinrich.

Also if the Hinrich trade was to take on salary back then I don’t blame them for balking.. so like i said I’m taking the wait and see approach before i judge them.

It’s believed they have some kinda bigger deal in the works but are waiting closer to the deadline. If i understand it correctly. that may be bogus. We’ll see. Cheers!

thread on the subject:

The more and more I think about it, the more convinced I am that the Bulls literally have no long-term plan.
They just have the following goals: 1. don’t pay luxury tax and 2. make the playoffs and gather that revenue. That’s it. Those are their goals and in that order.

Last year, if they had a plan for the future, they wouldn’t have made the deal for Salmons because they would have realized that they could resign Gordon with Gooden’s expiring money and still have been pretty well positioned. Instead they sacrificed a better player for the long term by dealing bad players for upgrades that amounted to year and a half long rentals, but ultimately cost the Bulls Ben Gordon.

This year they are foregoing opportunities to make a real run at 2010 by being short-sighted and looking only to meet their yearly goal of making the playoffs, getting in on that revenue, and then staying under the luxury tax. If they don’t make a deal by the deadline to move either Salmons or Hinrich, I will be convinced that they truly have no long term plan for the future, because they will be relying entirely on the hope that Salmons opts out, which is not a plan at all.

is an instant classic and the Bulls win. That way all your posts are cheery, happy..with smiley faces and the whole 9 yards

thus the trauma

Thoughts on this trade ?

This dumps all bad Bulls salary, optimizes for 2010 and positions the Bulls to not collapse and make a reasonable push this year. For the rest of the season, our depth chart looks like:
Rose/Lowry/Pargo/Hunter
Allen/Brown/McGrady
McGrady/James Johnson
Gibson/Noah
Noah/Miller

In the off season, Bulls then look to fill SG/SF/PF positions with tons of cash (Joe Johnson/Gay/Bosh, FTW!!).

Your 2011 Bulls:
Rose/Lowry/Filler
Joe Johnson/Allen
Gay/Gibson/Filler
Bosh/Gibson/Filler
Noah/Asik/Miller