Haha, the way I choose to remember it is that it miiight have made a difference had T-Mac and Yao been healthy for that game.
The Bulls picked up C.J. Watson in a sign and trade with Golden State.
In case you haven’t read it, here’s Adrian Wojnarowski’s scathing article about LeBron (with Team USA and with Cleveland) and his free agency process. Low on named sources, but high in intrigue!
I know absolutely nothing about this cat. Hmm.
I know Orlando has been trying to get him for a while, as good as you can ask for a backup PG.
When have T-Mac and Yao ever been healthy at the same time? All I remember over the years is one of them being injured at all times. I think the amount of games where they were both healthy is too miniscule to see how they’d play together.
Poor T-Mac. He had great skills like his cousin Vince Carter but was derailed by injuries. Imagine that Raptor’s team with both of them in their prime, it could have been great. Now T-Mac has to beg to get on contenders by probably settling for a veteran’s minimum. And to make it worse, he still hasn’t gotten past the first round because he was injured when the Rockets made their trip to the WCF! I think he would make a good backup as long as he realizes his max salary days are over. He should accept a minimum contract to come and back up Kobe on the Lakers 
I read this a few days ago. Woj is a good NBA insider who seems to have good reliability on his sources and stories, I have no reason to question his version of events. Ultimately, it reinforces how douchey everyone outside Miami thinks Lebron is. The things that came to pass just doesn’t make sense unless there was some major machinations behind the scenes.
Sadly, this is true. But it also means that a Rockets team of role-players went 7 games with the Lakers, even if they lost game 7 by 20 (LA home cooking! ;)) So with some more added pieces they might make some noise next season.
Sadly, also true. But since he was on the roster at the time, technically he did make it past the 1st round 
You know, the Bulls are actually looking for a Swingman and a scorer. I actually wouldn’t be furious if they gave T-Mac a looksee. He might fit in nicely alongside Rose rotating with Korver when he’s cold and taking turns bringing the ball up if Rose needs to sit. If the Bulls go small he could even play the 3 in place of Deng and provide Deng insurance for the inevitable injury. Between Deng and T-Mac maybe we can get 70 games out of the position.
I mean the Bulls biggest weakness is that they can occasionally be lost for a player who can create his own shot when Rose is struggling or sitting and I think T-Mac can still do that coming off the bench.
No! He’s ours! :mad: He has to sign for the rest of the MLE that we didn’t give to Steve Blake!
But seriously, doesn’t having Rose, Boozer, and Korver means you won’t be lacking in scoring options? The Bulls made out well considering they didn’t get the big prizes in the FA race. You have a great little guy in Rose and a good big guy in Boozer, and plus a pretty accurate outside shooter. With a better coach this year, I think they can get to the 2nd round of the East playoffs and do some damage.
They certainly are looking pretty good. I’m happy with that group but they have some holes. Rose is still working on his outside shot and gets a bunch of offense by going inside. That’s great, but zone defenses and great shot blockers can cause trouble. When he’s cold shooting they don’t really have anyone else that can take the ball and find a good shot. Korver was off the charts last season and hopefully he’ll repeat that but he’s mostly a catch and shoot guy. He’s not exactly a guy who can break down a defender or get a shot with a guy in his jersey. If he’s dribbling the ball we are in trouble. Boozer is an inside out player who’d benefit from having shooters around him. Korver fits perfect there and Rose is okay, but other than Korver we don’t have anyone who can get hot and light it up from the outside. That’s just not where Rose is right now. He’s not a bad shooter, but he’s behind Deron Williams in that regard.
T-Mac could be a Swiss Army Knife for the Bulls. Playing the point occasionally when Rose is out. Playing the wing when Korver is out. Breaking down slow moving SFs when Deng is hurt and being a vagina. Even playing a vicious SG spot and just dominating the Derek Fisher’s and Mario Chalmers of the world. T-Mac seems like a guy who could really explode if he got into a situation playing alongside a dominant PG for a change. He’d probably not break down as fast getting a break from bring the ball up and having to create offense and he wouldn’t need to log 30+ minutes.
It looks like as far as the East is concerned, the Bulls made out 2nd best next to Miami. I wouldn’t be surprised if they can get a 4 seed. I still like Boston more during the playoffs, but they have shown that they have to conserve their players during the season in order to win, and with Perkins out for the first few months, they aren’t going to be getting homecourt in the first round.
That epic series between these two teams a few years ago is still fresh in my mind, I wouldn’t mind a repeat of that. One thing I never got was how people criticized Del Negro for not helping Rose develop on shooting and defense during his tenur. Isn’t that the player’s job? If Rose didn’t get better, shouldn’t we put the blame on him and not on Del Negro?
I’m looking at Yahoo’s free agent tracker and it seems like there’s a lot of good players out there that I havent’ heard yet making any moves. It’s strange
Rafer Alson only made $475000 last year and he’s still unsigned. Seems like a very good pickup for a team that needs a backup PG. He did take Orlando all the way to the Finals a few years ago when he replaced Jameer Nelson. I don’t know why teams seem to not want to pick him up on the cheap
Who the hell is Bobby Simmons and why did he get paid $11 million dollars last year??
I think the Lakers really need to hurry and resign DJ Mbenga, Josh Powell, and Shannon Brown. Lots of guys out there are being signed these ridiculous contracts and it would annoy me if we lost them due to price. I think, however, they can be replaced with a couple guys who look like they’re still available in Kurt Thomas and Louis Amundson. It doesn’t look like they’ll cost too much
That’s never been a criticism that I’ve heard. Everyone is pretty happy with the progress Rose has made, he’s still got a couple areas to improve, but considering he’s just 21 years old everyone is pretty much ecstatic with his progress. And on that topic Noah and Taj Gibson also developed nicely under Vinny. Developing young players hasn’t really been a criticism of him.
His issues were with game management, substitutions and general motivation of players. The Bulls too often went stagnant and the offense would bog down into nothingness. He never seemed to be dictating matchups and most of the time he wasn’t responding to them either. When option A was stalled he rarely had an option B and it generally fell to Rose to create something. This isn’t uncommon around the league, but Vinny would stick with option A all game long and eventually Rose couldn’t keep up. The biggest issues were with simple player effort. The young guys all were generally playing hard but the older guys tended to slough off and when a playoff team goes into a midseason tailspin the way the Bulls dig you can’t help but look at the coach. Conflicts with management certain compounded the issues.
So what you’re saying is, the Clippers will still suck next year? :mad:
Well, naturally.
Then again a retarded penguin would be an upgrade for the Clips, so I’m not sure you should be too down on Vinny. The Clips are young and Vinny had the Bulls young guys going in the right direction. The issues are in the playoffs and crunch time with Vinny. The Clips should be just fine with him then.
Looks like Matt Barnes is considering signing with the Lakers. I don’t remember too much about him, but isn’t he known mainly as a good defender? If so, the Lakers are assembling quite the defensive team with Artest already, and Blake being capable of defending opposing guards, and now Barnes (if he signs) who is a swingman guard-forward who can probably give problems to shooters on the other team. They’re no Garnett on Boston 3 years ago, but it helps us definitely as we’ve already got enough scorers.
NBA.com is reporting that Josh Powell is close to a deal with the Hawks.
I like Powell and think he’s a good deal for what we’re paying him, but he probably wasn’t going to get much minutes, especially if Bynum ever gets healthy. He’s basically the 4th big after Pau, Bynum, and Odom, and those guys can play 30-40 mins a night. If this goes through, then I really think that Barnes deal is a steal and a great move.
Well, I’ll be damned.
I didn’t see that one coming at all. But it does make sense.
I guess that means the Bulls are not getting out of the first round! 
But seriously, I wonder how much he’s going to get. Word is that Shaq’s asking price is $8 million and a guaranteed starting spot. Obviously, that puts a lot of teams off as I see him as, at mose, a MLE $6 million-ish type of guy. If McGrady joins the Bulls for a lot less than what he’s used to, maybe this will spur Shaq on to drop his asking price and take what he can get. After all, he’s apparently the richest NBA player to date, having made the most in this career (something like $290 million).