What I don't understand is how we traded him to the clippers because he didn't want to sign an extension with da bulls. He was looking forward to leaving. Now he wants to come back? I don't know how credible this source is.

We still can pick up Beasley though. I don't think Miami is a playoff caliber team next year. but the east sucks so who knows.

Bulls draft Derrick Rose

Trade with Miami for the #2 pick along with 2-3 future 1st rounders.

We select beasley


History: 1994 NBA draft w/ Golden State and Orlando.


Thoughts?

For Kwame Brown and his expiring contract and Valdimiar RAzhaisoicw (you get the idea). Vlad can help us at SF while Deng is hurt and Kwame brown will be gone at the end of the season. Plus we don't have Ben WAllace and his huge contract.

Lakers will need wallace while Bynum is out and we don't need wallace with Noah out playing him. His free throw percentage is better, FG percentage and rebounds. Noah is playing like a beast lately and I like it. Reminds me of Ryan Theriot of da cubs.

I am really enjoy watching Da Bulls play with Boylan as the head coach. In my opinion, the reason why Ben Wallace is playing better is because

A. He didn't like Skilies
B. Boylan is playing Wallace more

Noce plays a vital role on our team and did a tremendous job replacing Deng last night.

Last thing I wanted to point out is Tyrus Thomas. Last night, to me proved why Tyrus Thomas will be a better pro than Lemarcus Aldridge. Yes it may not be apparent now, but those back to back blocks were insane. Also if he caught that alley opp from Duhon (Which was was high) then the whole Earth would of shaked! I believe Tyrus Thomas is an excellent basketball player, and he needs patience to become a better player. Yes it made me mad to see him steal a ball then throw a bad pass to the other team. But in the long-run, this kid can easily be a All-Star within 3-4 years.


P.S. I hate Duhon in our starting lineup. That 0-7 shooting last night killed us! Put in Thabo for the starting position and have the SG get tired early from his tough defense.

We need a rotation of Wallace, Noah, Noc, Gordon and Hinrich in!!!

I truly think this incident is not going to hurt the NBA as much for what happened. The referee has not even been charged with anything.....yet. But you can point fingers and maybe make jokes about it. But I think this incident can and will be handled professional by David Stern. The Ben Wallace/Ron Artest fight was way way worst than this. David Stern finds ways to make the NBA more enjoyable and I think we will be able to come out on top.


What do you guys honestly think is a worse position?

David Stern with the referee incident
Bud Selig with Steriod Bonds
Roger Goodell with Michael Vick electrocuting dogs.

Goodell is in the toughest position and I think Stern is in 2nd. But Stern can fix this, whereas Goodell can ban Vick for one year and PETA will still be complaining.

P.S. I want that SOB Vick out of the league, the thought of taking a dog, watering him down and electrocuting him makes me sick to my stomach.

I don't think Thabo will be a 20 point per game guy, but he is very young and raw. His defensive is what seperates him from the rest. I mean he was a rookie last year and was giving Dwayne Wade fits!

He will be like a Ron Harper/Randy Brown type of guy

I don't see any updates on him in the summer league. Did they shut him down because of a injury? If this is true, then he needs to man up!

nobody knew who Spencer Hawes was until the draft started. No articles about him in ESPN or anything. To me Noah has
A. Better defense
B. Way more experience
C. More potential

This to me is way more important for a rookie than maybe a "raw" type of player. If you look at all the draft grades, we have at least a B (draftexpress A+) because we took the best player. If Noah came out last year, we would of taken him over Tyrus Thomas for sure. He has pretty much the same season as his Sophmore year but he is outshined by Al Horford and Corey Brewer. Who cares? that is not the type of player he is. I'm happy with the pick and lock forward for Tyrus, Joakim and Ben fighting for rebounds. We are going to be a big physical team.


BTW I think Tyrus is going to be amazing one day. It is not often I drop everything I'm doing just to see this guy play.

So Brandon Wright is slipping down the charts, if he is available and so it Noah/Hawes, would you take him?

Well AI and Shaq didn't go for much and the Lakers may have no choice with Kobe going out in public saying he wants a trade.

Plus that 24 second video of him ripping on a teammate doesn't build cohesion in the locker room.

They may get impatient and get rid of him for something not that much.

Ben Gordon
Noce
TYrus Thomas
This years first rounder (They love Yi)
P.J. Brown/Michael Sweetney

Your thoughts?

Kirk Hinirich and Luol are untouchable. Paxson knows this.

This team needs a proven vet that is a low-post scorer. We do not need to "wait" 8 years for this guy to "develop"

We need to play for the championship. Honest to god, if we beat the nets on the last game of the season, we will be in the finals. But I don't know about beating the spurs

2007/08 Chicago Bulls Payroll: $46.7 million
2007/08 Estimated NBA Salary Cap: $55 million
Roughly: $8.3 million under cap




Luol Deng
AP Photo: Jeff Roberson
The Good: The Baby Bulls aren't babies anymore and they are reaping the benefits in a big way. First on the list is Ben Gordon. If there is a star on the Bulls, Gordon is it. He raised his scoring average four and a half points to 21.4 and shot an excellent 41% from the three point line to go along with respectable 45% shooting. Ben really took his game to a new level this season and will bring Chicago high value for his $4.8 million salary next year, the final year of his rookie contract.

Another player with a breakout season was forward Luol Deng. His 18.8 points per game were second on the team and his 51% shooting and 7.1 rebounding average showed what a valuable player he is. Deng has had some really explosive games this year and is very close to being a star himself. The $3.3 million he'll be paid next season is peanuts compared to what he'll get a year from now. Chicago needs to enjoy Gordon and Deng's contracts while they last.

The Bulls thought about moving P.J. Brown and his expiring contract in a mid-season trade. When nothing worked out, they were forced to keep him and let his contract run out to the tune of an $8 million dollar savings. That's not too shabby considering the pricy extensions that are coming up.

The Bad: The big splash in free-agency last summer was when Chicago gave boatloads of cash to lure Ben Wallace away from the Pistons, a division rival. Four years and $60 million dollars is an awful lot to give to a 34-year-old guy that is more of a specialist than an all-around player. Not surprisingly, his numbers were down a little compared to recent years. Don't get me wrong, Wallace was the type of player that the Bulls needed, they simply paid too much for him. It also didn't seem to hurt the Pistons since they retained the #1 seed in the playoffs anyway. Big Ben's contract could make it difficult for this team to retain its entire core of young players.

The Future: Things can't get much better for the Bulls right now. They are one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, their starting five is young and has great chemistry, and they have a fiery coach in Scott Skiles who knows how to keep them in line. Not only do the Bulls play defense (opposing teams shoot 43.5%, second lowest in the league), but they can score as well (38.8% three point shooting, second highest in the league). And even though Wallace's contract is a concern, he did help Chicago lead the league in team rebounding. They even have the Knick's lottery pick in the upcoming draft. So what's not to love?

The only problem with having so many good young players is that they all get huge raises at roughly the same time. Kirk Hinrich's new deal starts next year at a pricy $11 million. Even though he did shoot very well and scored 16.6 points a game while leading the team with 6.3 assists, that kind of money will be just a tad high for his services. However, Hinrich's contract is a rarity in the NBA because it actually decreases over time. It starts at $11 million but gradually goes down each year until he makes $8 million in the fifth and final year of the contract. (Ben Wallace's deal also declines, from $16 million last year down to $14 million in year four).

I don't know why teams and players don't do this more often since it helps both parties. For the player, they get paid more in advance and still have the security of a long-term deal. For a team like the Bulls, they can get more of the contract money out of the way when they can afford it and save more later on when they might need the extra cash. Trades are also made easier because there are no balloon payments in the final years, which can be a logistical nightmare for a player looking to leave or a team wanting to make a change.

Chicago will need to do more payment structuring magic if they want to keep this team intact. Valuable, hard-nosed, do-anything Andres Nocioni is up this summer. How much can they give him knowing that both Deng and Gordon will need new contracts the following season? They also have up and coming defensive stalwart Thabo Sefolosha waiting in the wings. The Bulls will likely have to run well over their salary cap in order to keep it all together, but for this group, its probably worth it.

Free Throw: The rest of the league had better hope Chicago doesn't jump into the top two picks by way of a friendly bounce of a ping-pong ball. Even so, knowing that they will probably add a quality big man prospect to their front line is scary. Imagine their roster with someone like Joakim Noah or Roy Hibbert as role players. Yikes.

I thought it would be funny to have Isiah Thomas show up to the draft lottery on May 22nd. We get the #1 pick in the draft, and have John Paxson call Isiah on his cell phone saying, "Congrats on winning the lottery, I will take that now!"

Its very possible. I mean if Noah was out last year we would of selected him. So now we might get him this year.

We just need a low post scorer. I am kinda intrgued by Tiago Splitter or Yi Janlian. But Noah will be good. I heard he has no jumpshot whatsoever.

Lets do it guys!

Does anybody know when is game 1 against the pistions?

Im really happy to see our rookies come in and play at such a high level. I mean I love seeing tyrus play, he provides that spark we needed. Selfolosha is nasty. Screw you wade, you can put Selfolosha on your top 5