bulls notes and updates Options

[DutheDoduhon21]

been reading these from usatoday.com, have updates on almost everything bulls, so if you like them ill keep posting them.

Notes
Posted 6/23/2007 12:03 AM ET E-mail | Save | Print |



GETTING INSIDE
The Bulls were spending the last days before the June 28 NBA Draft trying to decide which players will still be on the board when they select ninth.

The team's obvious need is another big man, preferably one who can score. Washington center Spencer Hawes has impressed the Bulls with his wide variety of polished post moves, but they wonder if the 19-year-old will be ready to contribute right away. Minnesota at No. 7 appears to be the one team in front of the Bulls that might take Hawes.

The Bulls would gladly snap up Florida's Joakim Noah if he is available. Noah was not a big scorer in college, but he's more athletic than Hawes and helped lead the Gators to two national titles.

It's unlikely both Noah and Hawes will be there at nine. If one of them is still on the board, that player figures to be the Bulls' pick.

If both Noah and Hawes are gone, the Bulls might turn to Chinese 7-footer Yi Jianlian. He's an impressive athlete for his size but is more of a small forward than a post player and hasn't spent much time playing against quality competition. He's a risky prospect, but he might be worth taking a chance.

Other options for the Bulls would be trading down to get Colorado State center Jason Smith, trading the pick altogether for a veteran big man or simply taking the best player available. The Bulls were impressed with guards Acie Law and Javaris Crittenton and also like Vanderbilt forward Derrick Byars.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT: Sweeping the defending champion Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs. The Bulls won a playoff series for the first time since 1998 and in the process, Luol Deng and Ben Gordon played like future stars.

TURNING POINT: An overtime loss to Cleveland on March 31 at the United Center. The Bulls led by four points with a minute left in the extra session, then allowed LeBron James to finish the game with a 5-0 run. Had the Bulls won that game, they would have been the No. 2 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference, faced Washington in the first round and New Jersey in the second round.

NOTES, QUOTES

—One story that may not go away anytime soon is Kobe Bryant's demand to be traded by the Los Angeles Lakers. There have been media reports that the Bulls are one of his preferred destinations and rumors of cell phone video footage of Bryant standing outside a shopping mall telling some strangers to get their Bulls jerseys ready.

So far, nothing appears to be happening from the Bulls side. Management is skeptical that the Lakers will even trade Bryant and general manager John Paxson wouldn't gut the team by sending two or three key assets in a deal for Bryant. Don't expect to see Bryant in a Bulls jersey next season. But if he continues to make noise about being traded, anything is possible.

—Besides the No. 9 pick of the first round, the Bulls will select No. 49 and 51 overall at the June 28 NBA Draft. The Bulls acquired the right to swap first-round picks with New York in the 2005 Eddy Curry trade. Their second-round picks came from Golden State and Denver, respectively.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "Dang, I hated Michael Jordan. As a kid, the Bulls made me cry a few times. I'm not that worried about it anymore. But as a kid, when Mike came back to the Garden after his comeback — I think he was still wearing No. 45 — he gave us 55 points. I was sick to my stomach." — Florida center Joakim Noah, reliving some painful memories of growing up a New York Knicks fan.

ROSTER REPORT

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Luol Deng developed into the Bulls' best all-around player in his third season. He averaged 18.8 points and 7.1 rebounds, while shooting 51.7 percent from the field. The best thing about Deng, 22, is he improved during the course of the season, showing an ability to attack the basket and score in the post.

MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYER: Michael Sweetney was a valuable reserve in the 2005-06 season, with more than 20 games of double-figure scoring. Sweetney didn't drop any weight during the summer and was practically useless this season.

FREE AGENT FOCUS: F Andres Nocioni, C Michael Sweetney, G Andre Barrett and C Martynas Andriuskevicius are restricted free agents. F P.J. Brown and F Malik Allen are unrestricted. The Bulls may explore some trade options with Nocioni, but they won't allow him to walk away. Brown will be invited back if he doesn't opt to retire. The Bulls are done with Sweetney. Allen, Barrett and Andriuskevicius probably won't return, but it's not out of the question.

PLAYER NOTES:

—G Thabo Sefolosha is expected to spend some time late in the summer playing for the Switzerland national team, but first he plans to spend time with the Bulls' summer league entries. The Bulls are planning to participate in two summer leagues this year, at Orlando and Salt Lake City.

—F Luol Deng has a goal of lending credibility to England's national basketball squad, which usually never qualifies for major competitions. Deng might play for England this summer in European Cup qualifying, and the ultimate goal is fielding a competitive team at the 2012 London Olympics.

—F Tyrus Thomas was spotted in the audience at two Chicago Sky games this month. Besides showing support for women's basketball, it's also a sign that Thomas plans to stay in town for workouts at the Berto Center.

Tyrus and Lu at sky game
interesting notes
-P.J. Brown is currently assessing his options with family and has yet to decide whether to retire or play another season, according to agent Mark Bartelstein. oviously
-According to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times, Chris Duhon is known around Chicago as much for partying as he is for playing basketball, and chances are he will be traded this summer im sure hes not the only one partying
-Chicago GM John Paxson said the team will start talking to both Ben Gordon and Luol Deng about contract extensions in August. coming up soon

[SoxFan1]

Seems like the Bulls are higher on Hawes and Noah than Jianlian. Also good to hear Thabo will be competing in the summer leagues again. I'm hoping Tyrus joins him.

[WHarris1]

Seems like the Bulls are higher on Hawes and Noah than Jianlian.

Unfortunately.

[soxfan101]

Hawes seems like a lock to Minnesota now so wouldnt even worry about him and Noah's stock has seemingly risen these past few days that he might be gone before us too. Personally I want Yi the most because I think he has the highest ceiling. But, ill be fine with all 3 of them...

[eddog2]

Hawes seems like a lock to Minnesota now so wouldnt even worry about him and Noah's stock has seemingly risen these past few days that he might be gone before us too. Personally I want Yi the most because I think he has the highest ceiling. But, ill be fine with all 3 of them...

I hope you are right. I really want Yi b/c like you I think he has a high ceiling. However, if Hawes is the real deal, which I don't think he is, it would be real nice to have a someone that can play center and lock down that position for the next 10 years. With Yi, we are going to have that possible superstar. But he'll be a PF (especially w/ a little extra weight). That leaves Tyrus or Deng out of our future plans unless either or both are okay with sharing minutes. If Tyrus is okay with splitting time at both positions it will work out fine. However, in a couple of years I think he's going to want to be a starter.

If Hawes is the real deal, he could backup Wallace or we could have a Hawes/Wallace lineup. Then once Wallace's contract is up or he retires Hawes would be our starting C. We'd still have Tyrus who could play the 4 and Deng at 3. That would work nicely.

Either way, I think I still like option 1 with Yi. I want a superstar on the Bulls and in my opinion he has a better chance of becoming that than Hawes does. If we are solid at the PG-PF spot and have Tyrus and Sefolosha off the bench I think we could easily fill the center position with a mid-level type player and we'd be a team capable of winning titles.

[soxfan101]

There arent that many real C's in the league anymore, im sure against a lot of teams we could get away with Yi and Tyrus in the front-court. Tyrus would play it moreso on the offensive side and Yi on the defensive side. Plus both of them are really raw players so there is a chance one of them dont turn out the way we foresee they will or even both of them might not develop to be a good/great NBA starter.

[chimpy2121]

I might kill someone if we take Noah...

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

I just don't see Noah going to the Bulls. He isn't the type of player we need because he has no real offensive game to speak of. The last draft we went for length and athletiscm and I think he will go the same route here. That can only mean if Yi or Jeff Green is there, to me, they seem like the most logical to draft; either or.

But I wouldn't be one bit suprised if we went guard. Someone like Javaris Crittenton to solidify our big backcourt problems, we'd now have Thabo and him who are both 6'5 +. However, almost everyone would probably agree that Pax will go a big guy, especially if this Kobe trade doesn't happen. If I had to say who we will select, I'd say Yi Jianlian. I don't know anything about the kid so its tough for me to elaborate on him. The only thing I know is that he is 7'0 with some athletiscm.

[ZoomSlowik]

I just don't see Noah going to the Bulls. He isn't the type of player we need because he has no real offensive game to speak of. The last draft we went for length and athletiscm and I think he will go the same route here. That can only mean if Yi or Jeff Green is there, to me, they seem like the most logical to draft; either or.

But I wouldn't be one bit suprised if we went guard. Someone like Javaris Crittenton to solidify our big backcourt problems, we'd now have Thabo and him who are both 6'5 +. However, almost everyone would probably agree that Pax will go a big guy, especially if this Kobe trade doesn't happen. If I had to say who we will select, I'd say Yi Jianlian. I don't know anything about the kid so its tough for me to elaborate on him. The only thing I know is that he is 7'0 with some athletiscm.

That makes no sense, we're going to take length and athleticism but pass on Noah? That's exactly what his strengths are.

There's NO WAY we're taking Green, the last thing we need is another small forward, especially one that profiles to be a solid but not stellar player.

The only way I see us taking a guard is if we've already worked out something else for a big man and we need to fill a newly vacated hole. Even then I could still see us going big since we probably need more than one more body in the post. Plus there aren't really any great fits at #9 if we were going to do that, there aren't really any can't-miss guards. In that situation Young would make the most sense, though he has some effort issues and it might be a bit of a reach. The only other real options would be Law, who's still a little short and profiles more as a combo guard off the bench, and Crittendon, who's quite raw and will need some work, especially since he's a shoot-first type guy.

I'd be very surprised if we didn't take the best of who's there of Yi, Noah, and Hawes, assuming that we keep the pick of course.

[ChicagoBullsMadi...]

please trade the pick! we have to trade for kobe either a three- or four way trade, or trade ben gordon, andres nocioni, 1st round pick, future first round pick, and sefalosha (=

[ChicagoBullsMadi...]

please trade the pick! we have to trade for kobe either a three- or four way trade, or trade ben gordon, andres nocioni, 1st round pick, future first round pick, and sefalosha (=

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

That makes no sense, we're going to take length and athleticism but pass on Noah? That's exactly what his strengths are.

There's NO WAY we're taking Green, the last thing we need is another small forward, especially one that profiles to be a solid but not stellar player.

The only way I see us taking a guard is if we've already worked out something else for a big man and we need to fill a newly vacated hole. Even then I could still see us going big since we probably need more than one more body in the post. Plus there aren't really any great fits at #9 if we were going to do that, there aren't really any can't-miss guards. In that situation Young would make the most sense, though he has some effort issues and it might be a bit of a reach. The only other real options would be Law, who's still a little short and profiles more as a combo guard off the bench, and Crittendon, who's quite raw and will need some work, especially since he's a shoot-first type guy.

I'd be very surprised if we didn't take the best of who's there of Yi, Noah, and Hawes, assuming that we keep the pick of course.

Because Joakim Noah is a defensive player. We already chose Tyrus Thomas last year, we don't want to add a similar type player who virtually has little to no offensive game. I agree Noah is long and athletic but because of his lack of offense I believe we will pass him up, even if he is available.

[DutheDoduhon21]

noah isnt what we are looking for, we need an offensive player, i would rather trade the pick than have to watch noah.

[Iguana]

Noah grew up a Knicks fan. Another reason not to draft him.

[ZoomSlowik]

Because Joakim Noah is a defensive player. We already chose Tyrus Thomas last year, we don't want to add a similar type player who virtually has little to no offensive game. I agree Noah is long and athletic but because of his lack of offense I believe we will pass him up, even if he is available.

THAT part made sense...

I don't know, I could see us taking him. He fits the mold of the kind of guys we've taken recently: players from major, successful programs that had a lot of tournament success, even if their ceiling is a bit more limited than some other guys out there. Hinrich, Deng, Gordon, Duhon, and Thomas are several examples. And you know we like to get guys that will play hard, especially on the defensive end. That seems to suggest that they'd lean towards Noah, especially given our need up front. He may not be a post scorer, but we need pretty much anyone that can be competent up front.

I'd expect us to try very hard to trade this pick for a veteran big man with some other reasonably expendable pieces.

Barring that, I'd definitely rather have Yi, nothing I've read suggests that he's not by far the most talented of our potential options at #9. Plus he supposedly just weighed in at 248, which eases some of the weight concerns. It sounds like people are still worried about toughness and whether he can bang in the NBA, basically that he'll be the next Darko or Tskitishvilli. I'd take a chance though, we can hide a lot of that with him playing next to Wallace and/or Thomas most of the time.

After that, I don't have that strong a preference between Noah and Hawes. The former is definitely more athletic while the latter is definitely the better scorer. Either would help us out quite a bit, though the odds of either being a future elite player seem fairly slim.