He's on the market, and is a true PG.

Just a though, injury history concerns me, but he's good.

I like the idea better if we pay a little more to acquire Calderon

What kind of asking price are we talking about for each guy?

Also, I'd be keeping my eye on Baron Davis and his contract situation if I were a GM who wasn't spending 26 hours a day interviewing head coach candidates.

I would definitely keep an eye on the Toronto PG situation, they both have solid talent and I can't see them keeping both of them. I have no clue what the asking price is on either of them, I'd think they'd be interested in getting another interior player since Bosh and Nesterovic are their only real interior players, or maybe a scoring wing player. Obviously it's a mute point if we take Rose though (and that sounds like where we're going).

not too sure, I would have to imagine that Calderons stock is higher than Ford' though.

I think it would be a big mistake to do this draft without weighing the trade options you come up with beforehand. Whichever guy they draft the Bulls will have to make a move, either they're stuck with 2 PG's and 3 SG's if they draft Rose or they're stuck with 3 PF's, 2 SF's, and 2 C's if they draft Beasley.

If you can clear out some minutes and some salary while simultaneously filling a hole with a solid deal, then you have to certainly take that into account when you do the draft.

I personally think Kirk Hinrich is a better point guard than TJ Ford..

That's because you don't know a thing about basketball.

Ford, when healthy, is a much better POINT GUARD than Hinrich.

I'd agree with that, I think we've both said it before. I don't think the gap between the two prospects is so massive that trade value for the suddenly extraneous guys shouldn't be considered. However, everything we've heard from the Bulls seems to suggest they'll take Rose.

I'll third that... In this draft, you absolutely have to take into consideration what types of trade you could get. If you can add a PF through a trade, you take Rose. If you can add a solid, vet PG through a trade, you take Beasley.

Hahaha your quite the jokester aren't ya? Don't get all pissy because I disagree.

Well I happen to believe that Kirk is better for this team even as a point guard than TJ Ford. Hinrich's worse year compares very similar to Ford's season this year. When Kirk is on top of his game he makes more of an impact on both sides of the ball. TJ had one good year in Toronto where he nearly averaged 8 assists per game, other than that he's been an average basketball player and the stats will show you.

I'd rather have Calderon, who actually replaced Ford in the starting lineup this season, but the chances of that are pretty slim.

I'm not kidding...

Calderon only got a shot to start because Ford had a debilitating injury to his neck. He obviously had a great season and won the starting spot, but TJ Ford, as a point guard, is much better than Hinrich could ever hope to be.

Well we agree to disagree. I'm still trying to figure out how my opinion equates to not knowing anything about basketball. What exactly are you basing this off of? They both came out the same year and so far Kirk has averaged about 3 more ppg and nearly identical assist numbers; I don't know how you can classify that as being "Better" but I'll let the genius figure it out.

I'm basing it off your blind love of Tyrus Thomas and the fact that you think Kirk runs the point better than TJ Ford. That's all.

And why is Tyrus Thomas being factored into this discussion anyways? I get it, you guys use him as a scapegoat whenever I make any sort of comment because you don't know what else to say. Haven't I already made myself clear on where I stand on Tyrus Thomas? Obviously not... When Tyrus came out I had huge hopes for him and my expectations were unrealistically high, but that was also 2 years ago, stop bringing up things that happened years ago.. I'm pretty sure that this year I have been much different in my approach towards talking about Tyrus. At this point in his career he's a good shot blocker average at best defender, but a terrible offensive player. I don't know about you but that doesn't sound like I have as much love as you think I have for him. Do I think Tyrus can be a good basketball player? Yes. Do I think Tyrus will ever be an MVP or a long time all star? NO. So put all of this crap to rest, I'm tired of dealing with it and this is the last time I'm going to talk about it.

A large reason Kirk has semi-comparable raw assist totals is minutes played. Kirk has been more durable and has been thrown out there for heavy minutes more regularly. Assist/40 minute comparisons from the last 4 years (Ford has only played 4):

Kirk- 7.1, 7.0, 7.0, 7.6
Ford- 9.7, 7.4, 10.6, 10.4

That illustrates pretty well that Ford is better at creating shots for others. In previous years Kirk has had an edge as a shooter and defender, but the way he played this year that has pretty much disappeared (he's still a better 3-point shooter, but Ford has become a solid mid-range guy). Just for fun, the PER's from the last 4 years too (again, keep in mind that this counts Ford's rookie year but not Kirk's):

Kirk- 15.30, 15.56, 17.09, 13.13
Ford- 12.04, 13.16, 18.30, 20.37

Ford's shooting percentage has progressively gone up while also decreasing his turnovers and increasing his assist ratio. Kirk had been pretty solid, but his points/40 fell off quite a bit while everything else stayed roughly the same.

If he's healthy, which is pretty sporadic, Ford is a pretty solid point guard. He's quite a bit quicker than Kirk and has been very good at distributing the ball. If he checks out physically, he'd be a pretty solid addition.

That's the list time you're going to talk about Tyrus?

Thank God.

Chicago Bulls Franchise

I'm not going to get on here and say you know nothing about basketball (b/c that's not true) but I will agree with Steve that you do not know what you are talking about on this one. There are only 3 aspects of Kirk's game that are better than TJ Ford. The first is his defense (b/c he's bigger) the second is his ability to stay healthy amd the 3rd is his 3 points shooting (which hasn't been that impressive either).

Other than that, Kirk can't hold TJ's jock strap as a PG when TJ is healthy. TJ played 23.5 mpg this saeason and out assisted the 31.7 mpg that Kirk put up (6.1 vs 6.0). Ford also shot 46.9% from the field and averaged 12.1 ppg. Like Kirk, TJ is a little streaky at times but he is a beter scorer than Kirk even if he hasn't put up higher scoring averages. Ford is more efficient and is unselfish so he usually limits his attempts on off shooting nights. Kirk constantly puts up 10+ shots even on bad shooting nights. Ford when off typically doesn't shoot the ball 10+ times thus keeping his FG% higher. There were only 2 games all year where Ford took more than 10 shots and hit less than 33% of his shots and both times he was 5-17 (29.4%) from the field.

While Kirk had 8 such games (5 of which were in our 1st 9 games) and attributed to our usual horrible start to the season. Kirk threw up 2-12 once 3-12 twice and 4-14. He also had an 0-6 game which I didn't capture.

Ford also shot over 50% in 24 games while playing only 51 vs Kirk who shot over 50% only 23 times in 75 games.

Anyway, it's been well documented on this site how much I don't like Kirk. But the truth is not that I hate Kirk it's that I hated how everyone overhyped him. I see Kirk for what he is. A decent SG who plays PG. He's a good defender and a decent 3 points shooter. He's inconsistent, was drafted as high as he was b/c we needed a PG, was paid too much to stay our PG b/c we didn't have a better option and has stayed our PG b/c we haven't found a better replacement. That's all going to change on draft night. I wish Kirk the best whether he's on our team in a reserve role or as the SG but the fact is that we need a better playmaker on the floor. Kirk never was great at that and I don't think he ever will be. But you never know. Throw him on the Suns and let's see what happens.

By the way, I think most of us including Steve were jumping for joy over Tyrus being picked (Steve almost wet his pants). So don't let him take his frustration of Tyrus not panning out on you. I'm with you on my belief that he will be a much better NBA player. I haven't lost faith in him. I think he will be an all-star one day. Whether or not it is with the Bulls is another story. Now if someone wants to jump all over me for that comment so be it. I won't get tired of defending my opinion. My opinions are just that. My opinion.

The "when he is healthy" caveat isn't being stressed enough. Do you really want Gordon/Selfosha/Brown? as your primary ball handlers when (not if) TJ goes down.

Not to mention that your setting yourself up for an awkward conversation with your kids while your waiting for play to resume as they are carrying Ford of the court in a stretcher. The dude has serious neck/spine issues. Should he really be diving head first into guys who are 240lb and 6'9"+?

If you can get good value for Kirk get it. He has lost his defensive touch and his head isn't on straight (not to say he can't get it back).... but don't replace him with someone with Ford's injury history.

Yes, Ford is a better pure PG than Hinrich. But, would I rather have Ford on the Bulls than Hinrich? I'm not sure. He's way too injury prone to count on for an entire season. Missing 55 games in his 1st 4 seasons is not a good sign. And like TeaLeaf said, do you really want to count on Gordon and Thabo to be your primary ballhandlers? I don't think so. Plus, Hinrich is a better defender.

Oh, and we always complain about the backcourt being small. Well, if you add Ford to it, that makes it even worse. Can you imagine how fed up people would be with a Ford/Gordon backcourt? They would not be able to defend well at all. The only way I would like adding Ford is if we traded for a SG (i.e. Wade) who is tall and can handle the ball well. That way, even if Ford were to get hurt, we'd still have a legitimate guard to bring the ball up the court.

why not draft beasley and trade to draft d.j. augustin? he has alot of upside and the best PG in the draft besides rose, ford is good but injury prone.

With all of these...it depends on the cost. Would you swap TT straight up for a draft pick that brought you Augustin (Soxfan1 is not allowed to reply to this question)? That's not the kind of move that would interest me, but the problem is...a lot of the guys we'd like to move are either guys like TT/Noah who we shouldn't trade just for peanuts IMO, or guys like Hinrich and Noc, who we'd honestly like to move...but who have contracts such that we can't swap them straight up for a draft pick.

Augustin probably isn't a guy that'll come in and produce at a starting level right away, he's more of a developmental backup right now (though he can obviously be better than that). He's undersized and has good but not great athleticism, which will make it a bit harder to make an impact. He can't use strength to get by defenders and he doesn't quite have the blazing quickness that other similar small PG's have to beat people off the dribble with consistency, he'll need to master a mid-range J to be effective in the half court offense. Obviously he has very nice PG abilities and a pretty good jumper, but there's definitely an adjustment period at the position, even the truly elite prospects often don't dominate from day 1. He'd be a good piece to have on the roster, but I wouldn't exactly count on him as a key contributor early on.

Well, to be fair, IMO if you draft either Beasley or Rose (instead of say, dealing for Wade somehow) then whatever choice you make you ought to commit yourself to about a 3 year + developmental plan. Whichever guy you pick is going to be a 19 year old college sophomore playing in the NBA next year, having jumped within 2 years from high school to the NBA, up against guys much faster and more fully developed physically than them. If we keep the pick, I'm all about guys who are 2-3 year developmental projects, because expecting either Rose or Beasley to be anything more than that is foolish. Even Lebron took a full season before he became a top of the league guy and it was 4 years in before he was at a level where he could carry his team to the finals.

If we make a trade after drafting Rose/Beasley, it can't be for another rookie. This team is young enough. We don't have time to let multiple guys develop... While I like Augustin and he would have been a very good pick at #9, I just don't watch 2 more high-profile rookies on this team.

Like it or not, we better make plans to develop multiple guys. Because otherwise, there's no reason to hold on to the pick. You're not going to have Rose or Beasley carry you to even the conference finals at age 19, or frankly probably age 20 or 21 either. Even if you add a guy like Brand, you're not winning a title next year or likely the year after. But conversely, you can't not play them if you draft them, because they're a #1 pick. If you want to win next year, I think you have to try to talk the Heat in to trading you Wade for the pick. Otherwise, give it 2 years, try to move Hinrich/Noch/Gordon to clear up some cap room after 2010, and look to win 75 games in 2010-2011.

Either way this team is at best a few years from being considered a title contender with our youth so if there is a talented young player out there to get, I say go for it.

These guys aren't Lebron but Lebron did average over 20ppg and he was a year younger than what Rose or Beasley will be stepping in at. Melo also had a very impactful year. Anyway, I'm tired of all this talk about us not being capable of winning a title or going to the Conference Finals if we use our pick.

Maybe I'm the only one who remembers or even expects big things out of this team but we were projected to go to the Conference Finals this past season. And that was before we lucked out and go the #1 pick. We have a new coach, a fresh start, and the top pick in the draft. If we make the right trade, there is no reason we can't make it to the Conference Finals. We might not be able to beat the Celtics (but I think we'd match up well against them). Even without a single trade we should be better than we were projected the year before b/c Tyrus, Noah, Thabo & Deng will be a year older and hopefully better. Hinrich will probably be the same if we keep him (which I'm praying we don't if we draft Rose), Rose will be a better PG than Kirk in his first year in the NBA and if nothing else he'll bring the driving/athletic presence that this team sorely lacked.

If we draft Rose and trade for Brand or Okafor without having to give up many prospects (Kirk, Nocioni and maybe a futre pick) that makes us a complete team and it makes Gordon a better player was well b/c he becomes more of a threat from the outside. I'm looking forward to the draft and praying that Paxson makes some good trades b/c this team can win now and can become a a dominate franshise again.

I've heard this argument before, but I just don't agree you can't win now and win later with a guy like Brand and drafting Rose. I think you can do both. First of all, since when in 29 old? Past prime? Barely. But old? No. Brand most definitely still has about 5-6 more years of being 18-8 capable. He hasn't scored under 20 ppg in the last 4 seasons (not counting this one in which he played 8 games), so there's really no reason to think he'll all of a sudden stop that production.

So, let's say Rose takes 3 years to fully develop. Brand will only be 32 for a majority of that season. That gives us (at worst) 2 more years before Brand will likely see a downfall in production. However, Rose will be much better by then, so that will offset Brand's lesser production. Rose will be 22, Deng will be 26, and Noah will be 26. I'm just gonna point out those 3 b/c they are about the closest guarantees for being on the team in 3 years.

Now, I'm not saying Brand is my 1st option. But, I do believe he would be a welcome addition to this team. If we draft Rose, we need to find a way to get rid of Hinrich or Gordon (likely Hinrich), so snagging someone like Brand for him would be great.

Also, Brand becomes a free agent in 2009. If we re-sign him to, even, say ~$12 million/yr for 5 years, that makes him a free agent when he's 35. Also, it leaves us plenty of cap room (if we find a way to trade Nocioni and Gordon as well as Hinrich) to go after one of the big time free agents in 2010. If you add Brand now, and then sign a LeBron or Wade, then that puts us in a prime spot to win a championship. A lot better spot than if we trade, for example, Hinrich for a draft pick and then take someone who in no way in proven like Brand is.