Random thoughts from last night's Bulls/Thunder game

Last night we all went to the Bulls/Thunder game (accompanied by Joe C.) and were pretty excited to see two of the best young guns in basketball, D-Rose and the Durantula, battle it out. The Bulls were seeking their 5th straight victory...so it seemed they were due for an awful performance...and it turns out they definitely were. Just some quick notes/observations/rants/quotes from the game:

- Although at $11 its pricey, the pulled pork sandwich with sweet potato fries are damn tasty

- I'll never get over how quiet the UC is during Bulls games. Did they even consult sound engineers when designing it? Even though I was still wearing short pants, I remember how crazy loud the Chicago Stadium was and I miss that. The loudest moment of the evening was when the crowd went ballistic cheering for cartoon bagels and coffees in a jumbotron race (Biggie Bagel FTW). Not the best atmosphere. Though I've heard its a different story at Hawks games. They should consider pulling an Indianapolis Colts move and pump in crowd noise to throw off the opponent...I mean they already rest their best players for too long during the game like the Colts do, why not take another page from their book?

- Noah had 6 rebounds in the first 3 minutes of the game...I know he had some minor foul trouble, but probably not a good idea to sit him for long stretches (especially when you're losing your lead) if he can control the boards that well against a team without a dominant rebounder. Brad Miller isn't exactly getting that done for you.

- "I'm pretty sure Derrick Rose and John Salmons have never met each other off the court....they have the worst chemistry of any backcourt in NBA history"

- yelled toward VDN after one of his stellar tactical decisions when the game was spiraling away from the Bulls in the 3rd quarter, "We're down 16 points and you're answer is James Johnson?! Are you serious?"

- The crowd almost reached jumbotron-race decibels toward the end of the game to berate VDN. Almost. He's on borrowed time with this team...has to be.

- "I was really hoping to watch Nenad Krstic and Thabo Sefolosha run the two man game. That's why I dropped $100 on this ticket. Thanks."

- at one point both teams had what we determined to be their most boring possible lineups in the game for about 10 straight minutes. We decided that each coach couldn't believe the other was sticking to those lineups for so long and it became an agonizing game of chicken to see who would play their starters again first. Again, $100 ticket. Thanks.

- Kevin Durant's jumper is the smoothest I've seen. Gorgeous. Before I knew it he had 17 pts....he makes it look to easy.

- Rose could not buy a call driving the lane last night. He was getting hammered out there. A guy in our section was screaming at VDN to stick up for him with the refs, get in their face, etc. to get some respect for Rose. I have to agree with him. Need to protect the franchise.

- Rose played pretty well last night...but his lack of defensive polish was evident again. Westbrook ran rough-shod over the Bulls last night. 2J describes him as the dumbest PG in the NBA, so that's probably not good when he almost pops off for a triple-double and outscores Durant.

- The Thunder have a weird habit of not isolating Durant when holding the ball for a final shot. He's the best player on the court almost every night but they aren't getting him the ball in those situations. Odd.

- After sitting for much of the 3rd quarter (when the Thunder put the game away) Rose instantly sparked the offense and mounted a mini-comeback that ultimately fell far short. But why wait until your down around 14 with 8 mins left to unleash YOUR BEST PLAYER. Why let the lead get that big? What good is having a rested Rose play at the end of a blowout? He can't spark the offense from the bench. Put him in the game, if you're still down huge late, then sit him down.

Hate the Bulls sometimes....last night was definitely one of those times. My only hope is there was a players only meeting where they realized VDN will never get fired if they keep winning. Then they accidentally went up 21-10 in the first quarter and made the conscious decision to completely tank the game.

Click-a-Bull (Vinny, Rose, NBA, Grades)

Winning allows Del Negro to joke

Vinny Del Negro couldn't help but take a jab at all the reports regarding his future on Sunday afternoon. When a reporter asked how his players were responding to all the rumors surrounding his future, the second year head coach stopped him mid-sentence.

"There has been?" he said sarcastically. "I didn't know that."

Obviously, it's a lot easier to joke about things when your team has won four games in a row. But, as both Del Negro and his players admitted, it's never easy hearing all of those reports during a season.

VOTE IN THE POLL ------->


What the NBA has learned this decade

When I think of how the nation changed this decade, I consider the cars in my town, and I think back to the day several years ago when I saw a Hummer with a personalized license plate that claimed "8 MPG" -- as if the owner were proud of eradicating the earth's natural resources one block at a time. I thought of that guy when gas prices hit $4 a gallon, and wondered whether he still felt that way, or whether he begged for mercy and swapped his Hummer for a Prius. Even if he didn't, enough others felt that way to drop Hummer sales by 85 percent this year.

The NBA, just like the rest of America, is capable of learning, even if it sometimes requires a good deal of error amid the trials. This was the decade we discovered that gas-devouring SUVs aren't so cool when you're paying $4 a gallon at the pump, we learned not to throw all of our investment dollars in a company just because it had dot-com in the name, we found out that green-lighting mortgages for homeowners already deep in debt isn't such a bright idea, and the NBA realized it's not wise to become infatuated with players just because they have foreign names or to lavish huge contracts on centers who can't get you a double-double.

Fiscal responsibility became the league's focal point by the end of the '00s, whether it was saving salary-cap space for the 2010 free-agent market or trying to save a franchise from bankruptcy. One team executive estimated that up to 70 percent of trades are now made for financial reasons.

Grading the First 30: Bulls

Few teams have been more confusing than the Chicago Bulls so far this season, especially after how great they played in last year's postseason, but losing Ben Gordon has proven to be a much bigger deal than anyone expected (even if everyone still agrees that Chicago simply couldn't have paid him $11 million a season) and now the team is fighting and clawing its way back to .500. How did this happen? A lot went into it, but things aren't all bad here, even if the first third of the season was pretty dismal.

Best Offensive Weapon: Derrick Rose – An injured ankle sort of limited Rose early in the season and probably shook up his confidence a little bit, but once he got fully healed he really started tearing things up on the offensive end of the floor. He hasn't quite lived up to the expectations fans had for him this season, but he's getting there. As the leader of the team in scoring with 18ppg he is up from last year's average despite the slow start, but his assists and shooting percentages are down a little from his Rookie of the Year campaign. He's steadily finding the groove, though, and there's little question that by the end of the season he'll be back on top of his game and having critics oohing and ahhing again.

Bulls riding Rose's wave

Derrick Rose has the types of skills that bring video games to life.

He has the ability to leave opponents' heads spinning with the type of quick cuts he makes. He has proven that over and over during the Bulls recent four-game winning streak. The second-year point guard is averaging 25 points a game over his past seven games and is playing like the player everyone in Chicago grew to love last season when he earned the Rookie of the Year Award.

"That turbo button is a little bit different in the last six, seven games than it was early in the season," Bulls center Joakim Noah said of Rose. "He's been playing at a really, really high level so that definitely gives a boost to our team when D Rose is playing like that."

It's no coincidence that the Bulls have found their stride at the same time Rose has found his.

Post-Game: Could the Bulls be GOOD?

Luol Deng is always my emotional barometer for the Bulls, meaning that when he's happy and talkative, it's probably with good cause. I've always felt like nobody in that locker room takes the game more seriously than Deng, to see him in such a good mood and talking so positively about the team speaks volumes.

Derrick Rose led the Bulls tonight towards their season-high fourth straight win, scoring 30 points and chipping in 7 assists and 6 rebounds. Taking 23 shots is a lot for him, but his offense was on point tonight--so much so that he got the line ten times. That's exactly the sort of game Rose is capable of every night, and it was enough to fuel Chicago towards a big home win tonight.

What was interesting in this evening's game was the substitution patterns Vinny Del Negro used, opting to play Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah only minimal minutes despite really hot play of late in favor of Taj Gibson and Brad Miller, both of whom played their Magic opponents very tough tonight. Miller especially got into Dwight Howard's head, causing the big guy to have an off night which certainly didn't help Orlando's cause much.

I'll tell you this: the Chicago Bulls
are starting to look suspiciously like the team everyone thought they could be coming into the season. They still have some work to do closing out games, but they do look good. Maybe Vinny can breathe easy for a while longer...

I tweeted something similar to that during the Bulls W over the Magic: @bullbearsock: These Bulls appear to be good at basketball and fun to watch. 2010 is different/odd, but I am loving it


The Vinny Distraction

It's hard to explain what's going on in Chicago right now. For about two weeks now there have been a number of reports coming out of the Windy City indicating that Vinny Del Negro, the team's head coach, could be fired any day. The GM of the team passed on giving a definitive show of support to his coach, and there were even rumors that preliminary background checks were being done on potential replacements.

But somehow, Del Negro has survived, but that doesn't mean he's out of the woods, even taking his team's four-game winning streak into considering. One gets the impression that he's one more embarrassing loss from getting shown the door, which in most cases would be a huge distraction for an NBA team.

Not this one, apparently.

"We're not worrying about it all," said Bulls Player of the Month, Derrick Rose, who averaged over 20ppg in December. "That's in the front office, and they have to make that decision. We're just trying to play basketball right now."

Click-a-Bull (Kirk/Caron, Rose, Gar/VDN, James Johnson)

I already posted my quick reactions to the Kirk Hinrich/Caron Butler trade rumor. Here is a little more detail on the finances / cap implications ...

Caron Butler to Miami or Chicago?

Even before the whole gun thing with Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton, the Washington Wizards had been a disappointing team this season. Finally healthy, many expected them to compete with a big three that should be among the league's best. Instead, they're 10-21, one of the worst records in their conference, and the discord in the locker room just seems to grow and grow.

Before the incident, Wizards brass was reportedly looking at some sort of major trade, likely in the next two weeks according to former Washington Times' beat writer Mike Jones. Originally believed to be shopping Arenas and his monster contract, the recent happenings make it more likely that a different Wizard is moved, and the chatter right now is that could be Caron Butler.

VOTE IN THE POLL ---->

According to Jones, a source close to the situation is suggesting that Butler could be packaged up with the seldom-used Mike James and sent to the Miami HEAT or Chicago Bulls. From Chicago they'd likely be looking for Kirk Hinrich and the expiring contract of Jerome James. There was no mention of who might be offered up from the HEAT.

The offer for the Bulls would be a huge upgrade in talent that wouldn't compromise the team's desire to pursue a marquee free agent this summer. Mike James and Jerome James are both expiring deals in the $6 million range, and both Hinrich and Butler make in between $9.5 and $10 million this season. Financially it would even help the Bulls because Butler has one less year on his deal than Hinrich does—something that could prove to be very helpful when it comes time to extend Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose.

Rose scores 30 to lead Bulls over Magic 101-93

Derrick Rose(notes) made a statement and issued a warning.

If there are any doubts about his ankle, forget it. And if anyone wants to count out the Chicago Bulls, forget that, too.

“If we continue to play this way, good things are going to happen for us,” Rose said.

Like this.

Rose scored 30 points and the Bulls beat the Orlando Magic 101-93 on Saturday night for their season-high fourth straight win.

For all the speculation about coach Vinny Del Negro’s job status, the Bulls are playing their best ball of the season—and so is Rose, who finished two points shy of a career high he set against Atlanta last month.

Slowed by an ankle injury early on, he started the new year on the right foot after averaging just over 20 points in December.

“I was just trying to attack,” he said. “I’ve told you that I’d do anything to help my team win, and that’s what I was doing out there tonight.”

Gar sent the correct message

There was an interesting contrast in the last couple of days between two struggling Central Division rivals.

Indiana president Larry Bird gave third-year coach Jim O'Brien a resounding show of support, saying if any players have a problem with the coach, the players are more likely to be leaving.

Bulls general manager Gar Forman was asked Tuesday if second-year coach Vinny Del Negro has full support of the organization and replied “Our organization is behind what we’re doing. We’re still optimistic with where we’re going. I don’t think anyone is happy with where we are today and our goal is to get better each and every day."

I've got to declare Forman the winner in that exchange. If you're paying money to watch a 12-17 team (or 9-21 in the case of the Pacers), do you really want to hear that a coach has full support of management? No, things need to improve.

Play better and there will be no reason to make a change -- that's the only message worth sending right now.

Happy New Year

If Derrick Rose and the Bulls keep playing the way they have over the past week, there's no doubt that the new year will be much better than anyone could have hoped for at the end of the old one.

The reigning rookie of the year started off 2010 in style on Saturday night, scoring 30 points and leading his teammates to a 101-93 victory over the Magic.

"It's great," Bulls head coach Vinny Del Negro said after his team's fourth consecutive win. "Our guys are playing with confidence. We're sharing the minutes a little bit. We've got more bodies to go to. All of that's a plus. [We've] got to continually attack and play more sound. We turned the ball over a little bit in some key times, but I was very happy we kept attacking. We got to the [free-throw] line 27 times and we shot it well at the line. A lot of positives overall. To beat Orlando, one of the top teams in the league, is a good confidence [boost] for our team."

A huge boost is more like it. This win was the Bulls' biggest of the season to date and it proved to the young team that when they play well as a group they have the ability to compete with the upper echelon teams. After weeks of frustration, misery and speculation about their coach's future, the Bulls locker room has suddenly turned into a more confident and much happier place.

Johnson starting to gain Del Negro's confidence

The Bulls have two rookies on their roster, forwards Taj Gibson and James Johnson, and they have followed different paths through the first third of their first season.

Gibson, 24, out of USC, worked his way into the starting lineup quickly when Tyrus Thomas got injured. He has started 18 games, averaging 8.3 points and 6.1 rebounds.

Johnson has played in 22 games but averages a little more than 10 minutes a game. Now, though, coach Vinny Del Negro's confidence in Johnson appears to be growing.

"He makes some mistakes, but his preparation is better, and he can do a lot of things off the dribble," Del Negro said of Johnson. "I try to give him a little feel for the game. He's a good kid with good intentions. He's just got growing pains."

Del Negro said it is inappropriate to compare Johnson to Gibson.

Quick Reaction to Bulls Trade Rumor

Just got back from the north woods, so I am out of the loop on NBA / Bulls rumors ... but I just found this rumor:

I'm hearing [Caron] Butler and [Mike] James could be headed to either Miami or Chicago. Some of the pieces Washington could be trying to get back from Chicago, the source said, could be Kirk Hinrich and Jerome James. Before, the Wizards hadn't wanted to take on more money, but it appears that as they grow more desperate to turn things around, their main motivation is bringing in new life to kick-start a rebound.

My first thought was "what are the cap ramifications?" ... but it seems like we would be swapping Kirk's contract (about $8.5m per year for 3 years) for Caron's (about $10m per year for 2 years). So that shouldn't have a major effect on cap space this summer.

Next I thought the Wizards must be expecting a suspension for Agent Zero if they are looking for a point guard. (Also, I read that they might be "hoping" he is charged with a felony so they can get out of his awful contract - "the NBA, it's faaantastic").

Third (and most important), if the Bulls make this deal it would seem that they are going to go hard after Bosh this summer. I dount they would bring in another wing (adding to Luol, Salmons, JJ) and then try to lure someone like Wade or Joe Johnson here this summer. It would seem somewhat redundant to trade for an athletic wing player.

Definitely not complaining about going after Bosh ... I would LOVE to see Bosh and Rose running the pick-and-roll, with Deng and Caron spotting up and Noah crashing the boards.


Note: I will be tweeting during the Bulls/Magic game tonight ... @BullBearSock

Click-a-Bull (Vinny, Kirk, Vinny,Tyrus, Salmons, Noah)

Just in case you missed it yesterday ...
Decision to Fire Del Negro "Already Been Made"

I cannot believe it took this long ...

Sources: Del Negro firing closer

The decision to fire head coach Vinny Del Negro has already been made, according to sources with knowledge of the Chicago Bulls' thinking. The fact that the Bulls' front office has not been able to settle on a replacement is the main thing keeping the embattled Del Negro employed, the sources said.

There were discussions recently within the organization about having John Paxson, Chicago's executive vice president of basketball operations, take over the team, but Paxson ultimately decided against it. Then, according to sources, Chicago contacted former Bulls coach Doug Collins, a candidate for the job two years ago when Del Negro was hired, but Collins was not interested in coaching the club.

Phone messages left for Paxson and Bulls general manager Gar Forman were not returned.

WHO SHOULD REPLACE VINNY DEL NEGRO?
VOTE IN THE POLL ---->


Bulls thrive with Hinrich setting tempo

Tyrus Thomas' return from a broken arm will get most of the attention, but the addition of Kirk Hinrich to the starting lineup for Saturday's 96-85 win over New Orleans was another important factor.

The most noticeable statistic was the Bulls posting a season-high of 28 assists - 4 better than their previous best, set against Golden State on Dec. 11.

Hinrich finished with 14 points, 7 assists and even knocked down 3 of 5 attempts from 3-point range. Derrick Rose contributed 9 assists and also scored 14 points.

"Kirk made sure everybody was on the same page, in the right coverages," center Joakim Noah said. "It was good to have him out there. It was like having two point guards."

Del Negro's right in this sit-uation

For nearly two months, Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro was remarkably patient with his underperforming veterans, but he finally got tough Tuesday night -- yanking John Salmons and Brad Miller from the starting lineup at the beginning of the second half of the Bulls' 88-81 loss to the New York Knicks.

It's about time.

Now, I'm not saying that all of the Bulls' woes are because of Salmons and Miller. All I'm saying is that everybody on a team -- including veterans with a proven track record -- must be held accountable for their actions.

''I just thought Taj [Gibson] came in with some good energy, like he always does, and Kirk [Hinrich] always comes in with some thrust, and I felt like we needed to kind of jump-start it a little. We did that in the third quarter.''

Whether it was the lineup changes or something else, the Bulls were much better in the second half against the Knicks and nearly rallied from a 22-point deficit.

Tyrus is Back, but For How Long?

After missing several weeks with a broken arm, Chicago Bulls forward Tyrus Thomas returned to the lineup Saturday night and played a spectacular game. Not only did he lead the team with 21 points, but he also chipped in 9 rebounds and 2 blocks, while shooting 59% from the floor. His athleticism has been sorely missed on a Bulls team that has struggled mightily in the seven weeks since Thomas first left the team, raising questions about how this season might have gone differently so far had Thomas not only been in the lineup the last couple months but playing this well.

That's all idle consideration, though. The fact of the matter is that he hasn't been playing, and Thomas's contract situation makes him one of the most interesting side stories for the Bulls from here on out.

We all know that Chicago will have a reasonable amount of cap space to work with this summer, but in order to spend that money on a marquee free agent the team would have to renounce its claim on Thomas, who's up for an extension this summer. In other words, they can't have a Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh or Joe Johnson and also keep Tyrus Thomas. It's going to have to be one or the other.

Will Bulls try to remove all doubt from next year's cap space?

Watching the Bulls dish out a season-high 28 assists with Kirk Hinrich starting at the two-guard for the first time this season, I couldn’t help but wonder if the Bulls will try to go all-in on free-agency by trading John Salmons.

Salmons hasn’t played as well as the Bulls hoped and scored just 3 points off the bench in Saturday’s win over New Orleans. That’s not even the biggest issue, though. Salmons has an option to terminate the final year of his contract, worth $6.7 million, next summer.

There’s a good chance he will, since a decent number of teams will have cap room and even if he signs for a smaller yearly salary, he might be able to guarantee himself a greater guaranteed income over the next few years.

If Salmons doesn’t opt out, it would put a huge dent in the Bulls’ cap space. Without Salmons’ contract, the Bulls have around $33.1 million in commitments, which should give them more than $20 million to spend on free agents.

With that in mind, would they try to remove the doubt and deal Salmons for an expiring contract? That all depends on how much another team would value Salmons. The 6-7 swingman has been a good defender this year, even while his shot isn’t falling.

Just in case you missed my last post (and cannot scroll down on your own), here it is: Why the Bulls Must Trade Luol Deng: To Keep Joakim Noah and win a Championship

This post is meant to be a continuation of a previous post: 2010 NBA Free Agency = Fantasy Auction Draft (& a Bulls' FAIL!). The basic premise was that the Bulls (and most teams) will miss out on the big prizes next summer (Wade, Bosh, LeBaby) and end up overpaying a "second-tier" player (Joe Johnson, Amare, Rudy Gay).

Having one of the latter three would not necessarily be a bad thing (as I put second-tir in quotes to emphasize that all 3 of those guys are really great players, and not second-tier at all), all three would make the Bulls a much better team next season ... BUT would wind up hurting the Bulls in the long-term. This post will (hopefully) explain why, and (see title of post) why that will eventually force the Bulls to trade Luol Deng to keep Joakim Noah. So with that as background, here we go!


First, we have to look at the general composition of an NBA team in terms of salary structure. The salary cap and player contracts make all of this very complex but for my purposes, I will dumb it down. Basically, each team can afford to have two maximum contracts and one other very-near-max contract (or some similar combination), then fill in the remainder with smaller contracts (read: role players). To illustrate my point, let's use the NBA Champs from last year - the LA Lakers:

Salaries (from basketball-reference.com)
CSV ▪ PRE ▪ About
Rk Player Salary

1 Kobe Bryant $21,262,500
2 Pau Gasol $15,106,000
3 Lamar Odom $14,148,596
4 Derek Fisher $4,700,000
5 Sasha Vujacic $4,524,887
6 Luke Walton $4,420,000
7 Adam Morrison $4,159,200
8 Trevor Ariza $3,100,000
9 Andrew Bynum $2,769,300
10 Jordan Farmar $1,080,000

Decision to Fire Del Negro "Already Been Made"

I cannot believe it took this long ...

Sources: Del Negro firing closer

The decision to fire head coach Vinny Del Negro has already been made, according to sources with knowledge of the Chicago Bulls' thinking. The fact that the Bulls' front office has not been able to settle on a replacement is the main thing keeping the embattled Del Negro employed, the sources said.

There were discussions recently within the organization about having John Paxson, Chicago's executive vice president of basketball operations, take over the team, but Paxson ultimately decided against it. Then, according to sources, Chicago contacted former Bulls coach Doug Collins, a candidate for the job two years ago when Del Negro was hired, but Collins was not interested in coaching the club.

Phone messages left for Paxson and Bulls general manager Gar Forman were not returned.

Chicago, which will have approximately $15 million in cap space next summer, would like to have a permanent coach in place well before the long-awaited free-agent bonanza of 2010 begins.

The Bulls would prefer not to promote an assistant coach, either Bernie Bickerstaff or Pete Myers, to interim status, but if they can't settle on a permanent replacement for Del Negro, they may have to go that route.

A strong run by the Bulls, who beat New Orleans Saturday night after the return of Tyrus Thomas from a broken arm, could delay Del Negro's eventual firing, but there is practically no chance he would coach the team beyond this season.

Del Negro's first season in Chicago was largely viewed as disappointing until the Bulls stunned the Boston Celtics by taking them to seven games in the first round of last season's playoffs. Coming off that impressive performance, this season's 11-17 record is a colossal disappointment.

There is no shortage of reputable coaches available. Byron Scott, who was fired by New Orleans earlier this season, would seem to be a logical candidate. Avery Johnson, who sources say is on the short list of coaching candidates for New Orleans and New Jersey next season, along with Jeff Van Gundy, Sam Mitchell and Lawrence Frank, have all had successful coaching careers. Scott, Johnson and Mitchell have all been named NBA Coach of the Year.

Why the Bulls Must Trade Luol Deng: To Keep Joakim Noah and win a Championship

This post is meant to be a continuation of a previous post: 2010 NBA Free Agency = Fantasy Auction Draft (& a Bulls' FAIL!). The basic premise was that the Bulls (and most teams) will miss out on the big prizes next summer (Wade, Bosh, LeBaby) and end up overpaying a "second-tier" player (Joe Johnson, Amare, Rudy Gay).

Having one of the latter three would not necessarily be a bad thing (as I put second-tir in quotes to emphasize that all 3 of those guys are really great players, and not second-tier at all), all three would make the Bulls a much better team next season ... BUT would wind up hurting the Bulls in the long-term. This post will (hopefully) explain why, and (see title of post) why that will eventually force the Bulls to trade Luol Deng to keep Joakim Noah. So with that as background, here we go!


First, we have to look at the general composition of an NBA team in terms of salary structure. The salary cap and player contracts make all of this very complex but for my purposes, I will dumb it down. Basically, each team can afford to have two maximum contracts and one other very-near-max contract (or some similar combination), then fill in the remainder with smaller contracts (read: role players). To illustrate my point, let's use the NBA Champs from last year - the LA Lakers:

Salaries (from basketball-reference.com)
CSV ▪ PRE ▪ About
Rk Player Salary

1 Kobe Bryant $21,262,500
2 Pau Gasol $15,106,000
3 Lamar Odom $14,148,596
4 Derek Fisher $4,700,000
5 Sasha Vujacic $4,524,887
6 Luke Walton $4,420,000
7 Adam Morrison $4,159,200
8 Trevor Ariza $3,100,000
9 Andrew Bynum $2,769,300
10 Jordan Farmar $1,080,000

They followed the basic idea: three really big contracts and a bunch of role players. There are obvious exceptions to this "rule" - such as the runner-up from last year, the Orlando Magic:

Salaries (from basketball-reference.com)
CSV ▪ PRE ▪ About
Rk Player Salary

1 Rashard Lewis $16,447,871
2 Dwight Howard $13,758,000
3 Jameer Nelson $7,700,000
4 Hedo Turkoglu $6,864,200
5 Tony Battie $5,746,000
6 Mickael Pietrus $5,300,000
7 Rafer Alston $4,900,000
8 Tyronn Lue $2,250,000
9 J.J. Redick $2,139,720
10 Anthony Johnson $1,910,000

The Magic basically had 2 big contracts, then two smaller deals that were the equivalent of the third big contract in my "rule". So you get the idea.

--------------------------------

Stay with me, there is a point to all of this. Let's look at the Chicago Bulls! The Bulls finally have a marquee player, our first alpha dog (could-be-the-best-player-on-a-title-contender level player) since MJ. Other than carrying my hopes and dreams as a basketball fan, D-Rose will also be carrying a very fat wallet ... from signing an NBA maximum contract when he is eligible. And I know it's early, but I can confidently say that the Bulls would be dumb to let him walk without offering him max money at any point in the next 12 years. So we can be pretty certain that Rose will get a max deal in 2013-14 (and will make over $9million the last year of his rookie deal). So thinking long-term, that ties up 1/3 of the Bulls max/near-max contracts.

Next, let's look at Luol Deng (and his $71 million contract). During the last year of Rose's current contract (2012-13) and the first year of Rose's assumed next contract (2013-14) Deng is set to make $13.3 and $14.3 million respectively. There is only a 2 year overlap under Deng's current contract - so we can trade him before then, re-sign him to a new deal, or let him walk. (Note1: I doubt that someone coming off a 6year/$71m contract will want to sign for a contract worth half that amount.) (Note2: I am 100% certain that good/great NBA teams do not let talent walk away for nothing, and I am opposed to that outcome, as I've said before.) So basically, we re-sign Luol to a similar deal, or trade him before that time comes (more on this later).

Finally, we have to look at Joakim Noah (see, I am slowly going to make sense of this eventually). Let me get this out of the way, I hated Joakim Noah when he was at Florida. I even hated him the night he was drafted by the Bulls. And you can see why ...



But as a kool-aid drinking Bulls lover, I convinced myself to give JoaNoah a chance. Over the past couple years, I have grown to love him both on and off the floor. Grown to Love because of things like this:




Even before this season started, I said this of Noah: "The Bulls actually have a good, young center. He might not be the best at any one facet of the game, but he gives the Bulls what they need. Energy, hustle, defense, passion ... he's our intangibles guy, and he's a great one. Henry Abbott (ESPN TrueHoop) recently stated: "Joakim Noah will never be beat in the race to congratulate a teammate." What a compliment." (From my Season Preview) And that was before he started grabbing more boards than anyone in the league not named Dwight Howard.


So maybe I am getting ahead of myself, but doesn't all of this point to JoaNoah being one of the Bulls max/near-max contracts after his rookie deal? I ranked him as the 9th best center before this season started, and again, he is currently second in the league in rebounding! At the time, I thought I was being a bit of a homer and ranking him too high, but now - I think he would be close to the top 5!

Plus, we have to consider that he is only 24 years old. He is a young, talented center that can grow and mature next to our young, talented point guard. (Look how the Zombie-Sonics have put a bunch of young talent around KD - and how much they love playing together.) He is the new Dennis Rodman, I hated/despised/loathed him on the Pistons, but when he came to the Bulls I embraced him. Other fans HATE Joakim Noah, just ask Bill Simmons:

There's hate and there's sports hate. Real hate is not OK. Sports hate is OK. We are fans. We are allowed to "love" certain athletes and "hate" others. It doesn't mean we actually love them or hate them. So under that umbrella, I present you with the following statement: I hate Joakim Noah. I hate looking at him. I hate his hair. I hate how he dunks. I hate the way he high-fives. I hate every reaction he has. I hate his game. I hate the way announcers pronounce his name. I hate the story that I've heard a million times about his tennis-playing father.

But as Bulls fans, we love and embrace him, just ask Kmart: "This is where I am now. I love Joakim Noah. I think with a serious off-season of hitting the weight room (instead of drinking henessy, smoking pot and eating cheetos with his "doggs") he could become a great player. Two months ago, when trade rumors were swirling for Amare, I would have traded Noah long before Tyrus. Now... there's no way."

And Kmart said that before Noah had his defining moment/game as a Bull (perhaps the greatest moment for any Bull since #23 was raised to the rafters of the UC). Game 6 against Boston in the playoffs last season - read my postgame reaction. (Note: it's barely coherent - my head was spinning, I was drenched in sweat and half-drunk, but it was one of the best games I've ever seen ... and JoaNoah had the defining play of that game (and the series.))

So now that we've covered why every Bulls fan should love Joakim Noah, we can get to why it matters. Joakim Noah is a great, young center ... as I've said before, he's not the best scorer and his game needs work. But he's young, talented, aggressive and can hold his own with any center in the league (Bulls fans have NEVER been able to say that before!). Maybe it's too soon right now, but Joakim Noah can be the third best player on a championship team. That's what separates him from Luol Deng ... I am confident that the Bulls could win a title building around Rose, playerX and Noah. I don't have that same confidence if Deng is the third player on that list.

So we are faced with one of two problems:

(1) Assuming we sign (read: overpay) for someone like Joe Johnson, Amare or Rudy Gay next summer, we are stuck with Rose, Deng and Player-X from that group. Those would be the Bulls 3 big contracts, which leaves us without the ability to sign Joakim to the big contract that he will be expecting (and will deserve).

(2) If we do not sign one of those players, we will have money to lock up Noah, leaving us with a core of Rose, Noah and Deng. This is great if we intend to remain a 42-48 win team that never seriously contends for a title, but not-so-great if we want to win a title.

Luol Deng is/will be the Bulls third big contract, but is not the third best on championship team. A somewhat-but-not-super athletic small forward who can rain 18-footers, but cannot create for himself or make 3s is just not going to put you over the top. (I love Luol, and had pretty high expectations this year: "If Luol does return to his form of 3 years ago, when he was widely considered a lock to be a future all-star, where does that get the Bulls? If D-Rose, TT and JoaNoah continue to develop and Luol is a stud, can the Bulls win 50 games? 51? 52? I don't see why not.") But let's be honest ... he's just never going to be the third best on a title team. To steal from Kmart in a recent email: "Also you're not winning a title if Luol Deng is your third best player. Not now. Not ever. His ceiling is pretty much Tashaun Prince, and he was the 4th or 5th best player on one of the least talented teams to win an NBA championship in the last 2 decades".

So there you have it. The Bulls will not contend for a title if we keep Deng, Rose and Noah as our "Big 3." In signing Deng to that big (terrible) contract and going after a big free agent after this season, the Bulls might be squeezing out their second best player, and the best/only chance we have at a championship. That is why the Bulls need to figure out a way to trade Deng, aloowing us to truly contend for a title with a core of Rose, playerX and Joakim Noah.