Stumbled across a nice piece about rookie orientation in the NY Times, focusing on Noah's questions for Bill Russell.  I would have liked some more details, but it was great to see Noah being engaged and seeking to learn from the best in order to become the best, etc.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/sports/basketball/19araton.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin& amp;ref=sports&adxnnlx=1190228104-AWxKxBQCDziF442DF+LqqA

While trolling the internets for any whiff of Bulls news, I came across this article at Cavalier Attitude:  http://mvn.com/nba-cavaliers/2007/09/12/lets-not-insult-scottie-pippen/

I found it to be a real nice homage to one of the NBA's all-time great players, and there is a pretty sweet YouTube reel at the end.  During the last two championship seasons in particular, I remember having lively debates about whether Pippen was actually better than Jordan as an all-around player.  THAT'S how good he was.  Respeck.

I don't want to make a political statement or anything, but I did come across the story about the Bulls' participation in Luol Deng's efforts to raise money for nets to protect people (mostly children) from insect bites that spread malaria.

In case anyone here wanted to make a donation, here is the link:  http://www.nothingbutnets.net/chicagobulls

This is a nice little story about the Bulls' latest Top-10 draft pick.  And on a side note, I am seriously contemplating an alter-ego on blog-a-bull named "Joakim's Man-dress" as an obscure homage to "Othella's Moustache" -- is he still around these parts?

http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/ny-spnoah195338203aug19,0,814129.story?page=1

Poll

And now a poll (in homage to Joejoe, who I do hope returns): if you had the opportunity to buy a Joakim Noah autographed super stylish man-dress, and you decided to purchase it, how often would you wear it?

31%

I would never but that thing you dipsh*t

11 votes

5%

Every day

2 votes

17%

I would sleep in it

6 votes

8%

Only to away games

3 votes

14%

To my ex's wedding

5 votes

22%

Casual Friday

8 votes

35 votes | Poll has closed

ESPN is introducing a new feature today:  Hollinger's NBA Power Rankings.  Its a pretty cool idea -- our man John came up with a formula that weighs various stats he contends are a better indicator of the true strength of a team than its win-loss record.  The rankings are updated automatically every day as the games are played.

The Bulls, believe it or not, are ranked NUMBER 5.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerranking

[From the Diaries. Nobody was truly worried here, right? This looks like a very fair deal from the Bulls end. -Matt]

Hey -- just saw this in the Trib:

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/cs-061031bullshinrich,1,1971030.stor y?coll=cs-bulls-headlines

With the deadline for the negotiating window expiring at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Hinrich decided to sign the five-year deal rather than become a restricted free agent next off-season.

League sources said the deal is worth $47.5 million and starts in the 2007-08 season at roughly $7.8 million. The deal will pay Hinrich approximately $11.42 million during its final season in 2011-2012."

Nice -- one less thing to worry about.

There is an article in the Daily Herald today discussing players the Bulls should NOT trade for.  Most of them have already been tossed around on this site at one time or another, but since it seems to be a slow Bulls day today, I thought I'd throw the question to the blog-a-bull community:  Which players top your list of the players the Bulls should not try to acquire?

A blurb in the Daily Herald, mainly commenting on that British Deng story about the fictitious $79 million extension, states:

"The only problem is that's quite a bit more than the Bulls will be willing to pay when they're allowed to talk extension with Deng, which won't be until July.

That's when they'll get down to business with Kirk Hinrich, as well."

Is this another instance of a reporter not having a clue about what he's writing, or have the Bulls decided not to sign Hinrich to an extension before the season begins?

I am a very busy man.  Very busy, I tell you.  I come to Blog-a-Bull at this time of year so that I can read any nugget about the Bulls that appears anywhere, even crazy, ill-informed articles from across the pond (see Luol Deng diary below).

But today, nothing, zip, nada.  Now, I think to myself, c'mon, there's gotta be something out there to read at this time of the year.  So I look around.  Well, first I found there's a two-part Bulls.com article on Paxson's biggest moves to create a contender, and then I found an article picking Hinrich as the young player most likely to follow Wade in the quest for a title.

Now, really, neither of these things is brand new.  One of you people should already have this diary up.  Slackers.