Blog a Bull

Denver Nuggets

BarryLird — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:02:04 -0000

Based on the disastrous playoff experience of the Nuggets and the horrid regular season play of the Bulls, it seems fairly obvious that both teams will look to make major off season moves. The Denver Post - "Nuggets have to Change" reported that the Nuggets will likely possibly look to move Carmelo because it seems a) they can no longer maintain the contracts of Marcus Camby, Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, and Kenyon Martin considering the group has proven to be unable to compete in the playoffs (personally I say fire George Karl, but that's just me) and b) are sick of Carmelo's off the court issues.

What are the thoughts about trying to strike a deal with the Nuggets? One of the major criticisms of the Bulls has been that they lack an all star who can make the big plays come crunch time and get the friendly referee calls. It seems like Carmelo might fight that role.

I'm not too knowledgeable about the financial situation over in Denver so I don't know who would be involved in the trade really. Melo is set to make $14.4 million next year, then $15.8, $17.1 over the next two years respectively with a 4th year player option of $18.5 million. I know it's a serious contract, but he is a serious superstar.

Maybe Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich for Carmelo and Linas Kleiza (I don't know if the money works because they'd have to sign and trade Luol, plus Denver might be looking to unload cash).

Just looking for some thoughts about the idea of pursuing a trade with Denver.

Time to Get Rid of Pax?

bulls*hit — Tue, 13 May 2008 02:43:41 -0000

It's not that I hate him or still hold a grudge for the past mistakes he's done, but I was just wondering what you guys think on John Paxson. What are your opinions on him, his decisions, how he leads this team's future? Sure, he's made a few wavery choices in the past that have backfired (i.e. Tyson Chandler, JR Smith, Crawford, Aldridge, etc.) but he has gotten us Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden (not to mention Viktor)!! And although he has passed up many opportunities whether the cause be luxury tax or just being cheap only offering $16 mil compared to NYs $24mil (oh wait, that was Reinsdorf), he has proven to get us in the playoffs several consecutive years. So just comment on how mean I am to him or how much you agree with me, but make sure it's Pax-related. Personally, I vote to see how things turn out next year and if its as disappointing as Mutombo's attempt to play 20 years younger, I will sign up for this. [1st post -- yes, i'm proud.]

Poll

When should we get rid of him?

why its all kirks fault... v. -3-3=12

234L — Sun, 11 May 2008 02:04:05 -0000

sitting here watching ben wallace in the celtics v. cavs game and also reflecting on a recent thread about Chandler I think management messed up by not letting them play together. The Bulls traded Chandler to free up space both on the floor and in the checkbook. That summer they also signed Captain Kirk Hinrich to a fat longterm deal (4 year $10.2 million). Ben Wallace and the success in detroit came with Rasheed Wallace playing next to him. when on the Bulls Wallace was it down low, except for Joe Smith... and it was too much for him to handle. he was injured and stunk. He didnt deliver when we played Detroit in the playoffs. But BW is playing well for the Cavs and i think him at pf and Z at C is pretty fearsome. Makes me think what BW at pf and Tyson at 5 coulda been. I think both would have enabled each other to reach the peak of their games, but alone both were set up to fail. In many ways this move was also made due to a misplaced overconfidence in the overall guard play. I don't think too many GMs would disagree that Chandler is more valuable now than Hinrich, dunno what theyd say about wallace v. hinrich, yet we we got rid of both big guys kinda sorta because of kirk, no chandler meant wallace was doomed. If not for Kirk's contract the bulls may have been able to afford the luxury of 2 amazing bigs. yea offense would be a problem, but kirk's offense isnt the answer or existent or worthy of a starting roster spot on most teams.

not sure if this is chronologically accurate but if the above were true and we had not resigned kirk but invested in both tyson and BW then Ty2 would not have been drafted, but Brandon Roy instead. This would have given some needed offense to a poor scoring frontcourt. Ah what could have been...

D'Antoni a Knick (via SI.com)

Sports2 — Sat, 10 May 2008 18:15:43 -0000

[ed. note: From the fanposts. This is reported byJack McCallum, who's pretty plugged in to D'Antoni and friends. So it's about as official as it gets. I'll likely have some rationalizing to offer sometime this weekend, but overall I'm pretty disappointed. -Matt]

SI.com reports :

Walsh entered the picture last Monday when he interviewed D'Antoni at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. That talk was sandwiched between D'Antoni's two interviews with Chicago Bulls general manager John Paxson, who spoke with the 2004-05 Coach of the Year on Sunday night and again on Monday morning in Phoenix. On Friday afternoon, at his home in Scottsdale, D'Antoni also talked to Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who has a home about 200 yards away from D'Antoni's. But in the end, Chicago couldn't match the New York offer. Walsh also interviewed Avery Johnson, early favorite Mark Jackson and Rick Carlisle, who has landed the Dallas Mavericks' opening.

Did the Bulls make an offer to Avery Johnson?

NBA Observer — Sat, 10 May 2008 15:34:34 -0000

Bill Ingram of Hoopsworld writes that they did make an offer.

The Chicago Bulls would love to have him, but their financial package has already earned a "no thanks" from Avery Johnson.

Maybe I missed the reporting on this, but this is first I have read that the Bulls made any contract offer to any potential head coach.

Anyone else see a report of a contract offer or financial terms of any kind to Avery or his agent?

Jose Calderon

sap — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:36:01 -0000

Calderon Wants To Start
Jose Calderon | Raptors
All year long, Toronto Raptors point guard Jose Calderon insisted whether he started 
or not did not matter. With T.J. Ford in and out of Toronto's lineup at point guard, and 
struggling in a reserve role, it was the media-friendly line to take.

With the season over, however, and restricted free agency pending, Calderon has 
changed his tone.

"I want to be a starter and [on] a team that aspires for everything," Calderon said 
on his Web site (www.josemanuelcalderon.com). -- The National Post

Bryan Colangelo said he has yet to have any serious contract discussions with 
Calderon's agents and he hasn't reached out to Ford to see if the issue can be 
resolved.

"I've always said I found it a positive that T.J. felt he was a starter in the NBA," 
Colangelo said yesterday. "Jose has obviously displayed he's capable of having 
that attitude as well as being willing to make sacrifices." -- Toronto Star

Calderon does not want to return to Toronto unless he is guranteed to start, so maybe the Bulls could try to get him. I think Calderon would be a great pickup and would help out the team even if we don't get D'Antoni and would fit great in D'Antoni's system if we do get him.

2008 NBA Playoffs Open Thread

tyger1147 — Sat, 10 May 2008 01:13:25 -0000

I got reamed a new one by the evil and dictatorial ~~friendly~~BullsBlogger last night for having the audacity to even mention something about a playoff game and/or player. "SHUT UP YOU IDIOT!!!" he said. I cried, thought of committing suicide, returned, and attempted to make a snarky comment that would send everyone laughing. I failed miserably.

All that said, I sit here about to watch the Lakers and Jazz (I'm really starting to hate the Lakers) play and thought we might want a dedicated thread for the next month and a half.

Yay!

Poll

Who's going to win the "CHIP"?

Noc says the Bulls are the worst team he had ever played for

bull83 — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:56:53 -0000

I don’t now if he was only talking about the team that ended the last, but Nocioni wasn’t happy the way the team performed this year. And he said in a interview to a newspaper in Argentina that the Bulls were the worst team that he had ever played for...

Despite the guarantees that he’s happy on the Bulls, he wouldn’t mind to be trade and go for… the San Antonio Spurs. I don’t mind trade him plus Gordon for Manu Ginobli. If we could do that, we would get a better player then these two. A player who can decide games…

What are your thoughts about that?????????

p.s. The interview is in Spanish, but I think you could translate that

Next item on the Agenda: Personnel Overhaul?

alec — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:10:48 -0000

With reports widely circulating (Charles Barkely on espn1000 this morning—and if that isn’t wide…) that the D’Antoni hiring is imminent, is it too early to turn to roster speculation?

For the past few months I’ve been strongly of a mind that the Bulls two greatest needs were, in order, front court scoring, and a legit, break-you-down point guard.

I think I might have to re-order my priorities. As I understand it, D’Antoni’s offense begins with the man with the ball applying huge pressure to the defense. This is just about the opposite of what the Bulls did under Skiles, where they passed the ball around and around the perimeter, waiting for a good shot to appear.

What does this mean for the Bulls draft? Do we move up for…Gallinari? Do we focus on Augustin?

Or do we go into the trade market, and try to turn Kirk Hinrich plus anyone but Ben Gordon into TJ Ford?

The roster as currently constituted seeems to have plenty enough athletic, young legs to run up and down the court. Mid-range and outside shooting seem to be covered. But it does look like we’ll have to import a player who can take the ball into the lane and force the defense to react.

Official(and only) NBA DRAFT thread. - take2

your friendly BullsBlogger — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:07:39 -0000

I'm just going to keep re-freshing this diary every so often, as the only place for draft talk.

Key Draft dates, thanks to Sactown Royalty:

April 27 is the deadline for underclassmen to declare for the draft. Remember, as long as they do not hire representation they can change their mind and go back to school.

May 20 is ping pong ball day, the day that the 14 lottery teams have their draft slots determined.

June 16 is the deadline for underclassmen that have not retained representation to pull out of the draft and go back to school.

June 26 is the draft.

T Mac Trade

JohnnyKilroy — Sat, 03 May 2008 14:59:45 -0000

Tracy McGrady and the Rockets have been knocked out of the first round again! McGrady must surely realize by now that it will be easier to win in the east. I don't know T Macs' contract situation and i realize that this is all wishfull thinking: BUT if T Mac demands a trade (fingers crossed) i thing Paxson should make the trade. Bringing him to a good defensive team such as ours with coach Avery Johnson at the helm would make us a pretty tough team to beat! Your thoughts?

Carlisle will not be Bulls coach

chgobr — Sat, 03 May 2008 12:05:38 -0000

Peter Vescey is reporting that Rick Carlisle has agreed to be the Dallas Maverick's coach.

Sources told The Post last night that the former Pacer and Piston coach, who interviewed with Walsh for the Knick coaching job Wednesday, has agreed to terms with the Mavericks to replace Avery Johnson.

I have no idea who our coach may be but it doesn't look like one of the retreads. I have a feeling this search is going well into June.

Kobe wins MVP

Khalid El-Amin — Sat, 03 May 2008 05:01:25 -0000

LOS ANGELES (AP)—Kobe Bryant has won the NBA’s MVP award for the first time, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site Friday night, citing anonymous sources familiar with the outcome of voting by media members.

The newspaper reported that commissioner David Stern will be in Los Angeles next week to present the trophy to Bryant.

In semi related news... MarketMaker, can I have YOUR house now?

http://www.blogabull.com/comments/2008/4/11/142120/986/97#97

Sam Smith's Mailbag Moves Into New Home

NBA Observer — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:23:28 -0000

His new mailbag home is the Sporting News.

Sam's Mailbag

Sam Smith, who will be contributing frequently to SportingNews.com, will answer fans' e-mails in some of his columns. Let Sam know what's on your mind by emailing asksamsmith@sportingnews.com.

It appears Mike D'Antoni is leaving Phoenix.
Did anyone, by the way, tell him what the weather is like in Toronto, Chicago and New York, speculated to be among D'Antoni's preferred destinations. Perhaps he isn't as smart as I thought.

But don't say goodbye to the Phoenix Suns so quickly.

They're not nearly as far behind the San Antonio Spurs as their 4-1 first round defeat suggests with still another meltdown against their Western Conference nemesis.

Mike D'Antoni and Avery Johnson available?

majoyenrac — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:25:06 -0000

[ed. note: this is 'reportedly' going to be a big day in terms of possible coaching changes. Both D'Antoni and Johnson saw their teams bow out of the playoffs last night, and could both be fired today. Majoyenrac already started a fanpost thread on this, those thoughts are below.]

LET'S GET D'ANTONI

SI.COM is reporting that D'Antoni is leaving the Suns (I haven't had a chance to read that article--I will by half day today) but I heard news on ESPN also indicating that D'Antoni is gone from the Suns.

Here's the yet to be read article .

I know the Raptors job is soon to be open (speculation, but likely true) and that D'Antoni is a Collangelo guy, so they might be the favorites....but I would think for D'Antoni's sake that having a HUGE MARKET CHICAGO (one that lead the league in attendance at least as late as early April--I don't know if by the end fo the yr we still lead but we were probably no lower than #2 which is a surprise given the awful disappointment that was this year.

For a team (Bulls) who have been overly defense oriented, let's get a guy who's a brilliant offensive architect....one who can get the most out of Deng and Gordon and Hinrich....hell even Noc.

He'd also be a good guy to teach offensively challenged bigs like Noah and Tyrus to be effective.....

But the best thing about D'Antoni is that his reputation amongst the players as one of the best coaches to play for. Suddenly big market Chicago has a big market coach whom other free agents might flock to for a pay cut like we've seen with many other teams.

I think for Pax right now it's D'Antoni or bust, if he indeed is available and doesn't go to the Raptors....what do you think?

A coaching name not yet (to my knowledge) suggested...

fundamentallysound — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 01:52:13 -0000

The way I see it, the key to our future success is developing our young big men (specifically, TT and Noah). This brings me to a former enemy, Patrick Ewing. Ewing has recently been reported to be "hurt" that Donnie Walsh has not contacted him for an interview for the Knicks' head coaching job. From Florida Today via ESPN Rumors page:

"I'd love to be interviewed for any job available. It's disappointing to not be interviewed by the Knicks, but it is what it is," Ewing said. "It is my goal to be a head coach, and my day will come. And when it does, I'll make sure I'm ready."

Ewing has been a big man coach for Washington for (2003-04), Houston (2004-2006), and the Magic (2007-now). So he's worked with Yao and Dwight. He's got real coaching experience, unlike Pax interviewee Mark Jackson, who has only been an analyst. He's one of the best big men to ever play the game and I think he could really help our young guys. I don't see what bringing him in for an interview could hurt. I'll present this with the caveat that I'm a Thibodeau supporter and hope he gets the job, but Ewing would be an interesting other option. I hope that if we can't land Thibodeau, Pax can take advantage of the Knicks' Mark Jackson myopia and lure Ewing to Chi-town to develop Tyrus and Joakim. I think it would be an inspired hire, but it would be a roll of the dice.

We Need a True PG

sap — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 17:22:11 -0000

If you look at the playoff teams this year, you will see that a large majority of them have good point guards, and that the better teams in the west and the east have a true pg on their team. Examples: Detroit: Billups, Toronto: Ford and Calderon, NO: Chris Paul, Dallas: Kidd, Utah: Williams, and Phoenix: Nash. These players in my opinion are all really good and get their teammates involved. The only elite point guard who is not in the playoffs is Baron Davis who didn't get in because the west is so dominate and barely missed the playoffs. I don't think we should look for a big man for a few reasons. First of all I think Tyrus and Joakim will pan out into good nba players, especially Tyrus. If they have a good coach and a point guard that can make the game easier for them ala Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire.

Unless we have a horseshoe up our asses and are able to draft Derrick Rose, I think we should look into trying to get Jose Calderon. I know Toronto has this combining the point guards thing going on, but I wonder if Calderon would want to lead his own team, especially if the Raptors lose in the first round. Calderon is a free agent, and I think if we got him it would help out the Bulls a lot. If the Bulls do get Calderon, then you ask yourself, "What are we going to do with Kirk Hinrich?" I say we trade him along with some other players, maybe even a draft pick, for an allstar/superstar shooting guard.

The best player i think the Bulls could get a would be a perfect fit would be Tracy McGrady. I know that McGrady is injury prone, but i just watch him play and he is able to takeover a game unlike anyone on the Bulls. He is a headsup player and is able to make good passes to open players when double teamed.

Despite his "backspasms" he is a great player and if he plays 65- 75 games

he will be a great help to the Bulls. McGrady could say that he is done with the Rockets because they can't get pass the first round and Yao always gets injured for them. And if you don't think McGrady is good and/or clutch just watch this video(especially the ending when it is the playoff series against San Antonio)"http://youtube.com/watch?v=A9qHL7lvrlY&feature=related. I think the trade should be Hinrich, either Goodon or Gordon, and our Draft Pick for Tracy McGrady. Our lineup would look like this:

PG: Jose Calderon backup: Chris Duhon

SG: Tracy McGrady backup: Thabo Sefolosha

SF: Luol Deng backup: Andres Nocioni

PF: Tyrus Thomas backup: Cedric Simmons/Andres Nocioni

C: Joakim Noah backup: Aaron Gray

I think this would be a very good team, the only problem is that we still have Larry Hughes giant contract and no reason to have him on the team, if we could trade him for some smaller contracts it would be great.

Has anyone else noticed the soda whatever thing that says vote for the MVP and Derrick Rose is in the advertisment even though he isnt in the NBA yet.

They call me Melo ... Red?

kig — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:37:35 -0000

I just read the Sports Guy's latest article and he makes an interesting point re: Carmelo Anthony probably being available this summer. We all know Melo's well publicized social misbehavings... but I wouldn't mind seeing him in red and white next year.

Maybe whoever our new savior coach is can reel him in off the court and teach him some defense (or at least mask his disintrest in defense, which a good coach would do). He's only 25yrs and his 'prime' years are ahead of him. Or how about another BaB favorite topic - have Pip come in as a lead assistant and take Melo under his wing. If Pip can inspire him to become a better all around player he'd wreack havoc in the East.

I'm thinking Denver would bite at Deng (sign and trade), Hinrich and the first round pick (I think Deng's BYC would make this possible, maybe?).

A good secondary move would be to see if Indy is really desperate to get rid of J O'Neal. If they are maybe we can send them the Ben Wallace special: Hughes and Gooden. Then the trick would be to convince O'Neal that his knees really are shot and a role as the back up big man/tutor for Tyrus and Noah would be worth contending for a shot at the East championship.

Find a way to snag Lowry out of Memphis (a personal favorite of mine - kid can run, play strong d, break down his man and finish in traffic) and you've got something like this:

Lowry/veteran pick up/rookie

Sefolosha/veteran pick up (Michael Finley?)/rookie

Melo/Nocioni

Thomas/O'neal/Nocioni

Noah/O'neal/Gray

Geez - I'm due for a major dose of Sam Smith trade speculation...

Here we go, Larry Brown may be next in line

Diabolo — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:03:35 -0000

It's on many different news channels, but I only give you the link to truehoop since they offer their opinion (sort of) on his timing for getting free of all obligations towards the 76ers :

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-32-112/On-the-Loose--Larry-Brown.html?post=true

Some extract :

The Philadelphia 76ers announced today that Larry Brown has resigned as Executive Vice President. From the press release:

In January of 2007, Brown rejoined the Sixers organization as Executive Vice President, less than six years removed from coaching the franchise to the NBA Finals in 2001.

"It's rare you'll find a separation between an organization and an executive as amicable as the one the 76ers had with Larry Brown today," said Stefanski. "Larry was born to coach and this is something he and I talked about when I took the job here back in December, so it comes as no surprise to me. Working with Larry was always a pleasure and to watch him contribute with Maurice, his staff and the players was terrific."

Which means: fire up the rumor mill!

And further down the article :

In the meantime, there's Chicago. John Paxson and Larry Brown are both old school, and they both like defense. By process of elimination (or, almost elimination -- college, other teams, and New York are not really ruled out), my speculation leads to be believe Chicago could be the most likely bet.

No doubt, this will play out in some fashion over the off-season, and we will see what happens. Some day soon, there will be new information that will change everything, and I will change my mind entirely.

However, for today, if you have an office pool going, put me down for a very small wager on the Bulls.

I don't think Larry Brown is the coach for this (young) team, as has already repeatedly been said on this blog, but he sure is a hell of a coach and I think Pax in his absolute open-mindedness (supposedly) will grant him an interview and consider this option.

DraftExpress (existing, veteran) Bulls scouting report

your friendly BullsBlogger — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:07:40 -0000

Looks like it's only non-rookies-and-sophomores, so they've done Deng, Duh, Gooden, Gordon, Hinrich, Hughes, and Nocioni.

I haven't had a chance to really dig in on every specific observation, but I took a look at Nocioni's defense and I find it off (i.e. they think it's good)...and it even calls Gordon 'a pretty good defender when he wants to be'.

Overall, there's a little bit too much cliche in the 'overview' sections, but when it gets to specifics there's some interesting bits. And I'm not sure if something like "[Nocioni] gets about fifty percent of his offensive opportunities in spot up situations with another thirty percent coming from fast breaks, post ups, and isolations." is actually documented or a guess.