Early in the day, I wrote about a trade rumor being discussed on 670 the Score that involved the Bulls receiving Kirk Hinrich. Here are the exact quotes from the Boers and Bernstein show regarding the rumor:
Try this on for size, as something that is percolating. And as of now, this is all I can tell you. I’m not going to tell you this is a done deal, or that it’s even close, but as far as something that is out there as a possibility. Hinrich, Tyrus Thomas, and at least one pick to the Toronto Raptors for Chris Bosh.
As I said earlier, this trade is too good to be true. This trade doesn’t really have much benefit for the Raptors. They come away from the trade with the worse talent and the worse contract situation.
I think the Raptors would be willing to trade Chris Bosh before the offseason, but it’s not going to be in a trade like this, which worsens their cap situation by taking on a bad contract and someone up for an extension. They’re better off just letting Bosh walk in free agency. I think the Raptors will look into trading Chris Bosh at the deadline, because they stink, and Bosh will have the option to go join Dwyane Wade in Miami for the max this summer, which puts the Raptors odds of retaining him low.
If the Raptors do trade Bosh, it will be some combination of expiring contracts, young talent, and draft picks. The trade that would make sense for the Bulls and Raptors to do would be Brad Miller, Joakim Noah, and the Bulls first round draft pick. That is the type of trade that is going to land Chris Bosh at the trade deadline, not the one mentioned above.
Now the positive that this rumor has going for it, is that the trade works under the collective bargaining agreement. However, the positives of this rumor end there, as someone would have to be a fool to believe there is any validity to this rumor.
The Raptors would be trading for a scrub in Kirk Hinrich, who is shooting 36.7% from the field this year, the opportunity to give Tyrus Thomas a raise or let him walk, and a non-lottery draft pick, as the Bulls would surely make the playoffs with Bosh on the roster.
This would be the biggest steal in NBA trade history. At least in the Pau Gasol trade, the Lakers were forced to give up expiring contracts and a good young prospect in Marc Gasol, who was still on his rookie contract. In this trade, the Bulls get to dump a bad contract in Hinrich and another player who is up for a contract extension in Thomas. Talk about a deal!
Most things that sound too good to be true, are too good to be true. I think this is one of those things.
The Chicago Bulls have been blownout in two consecutive games. First Friday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers, 101-87, and then last night against the Toronto Raptors
Cleveland Cavaliers 101 vs. Chicago Bulls 87
In this first game, the Bulls held tough with the Cavs in the first half, trailing by only 1 point at the end of the first half.
The Bulls were able to hang tough with the Cavs because of a strong first half from Taj Gibson, who finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
In the second half, it was all Cavs as they went on to the easy victory. The victory was so easy for the Cavs, it caused Lebron James to begin dancing in the middle of the game.
This caused a verbal altercation between Joakim Noah and Lebron James, in which Noah shouted to James, according to Ric Bucher, “This is so ****ing old, you’re a b**ch.”
It is good to see this type of fire in Joakim Noah, and to stand up for his team.
Lebron James had a good game as usual, finishing with 23 points and 11 assists. James made it difficult for Deng to find open shots, limiting him to 11 points on 4-9 shooting.
Daniel Gibson finished with 15 points on 7-9 shooting.
There were bad games all around for the Bulls. John Salmons finished with 12 points on 5-12 shooting, Derrick Rose had 13 points on 5-16 shooting, and Joakim Noah had 7 points on 2-7 shooting and 10 rebounds.
For the Cavs, Shaquille O’neal had 8 points on 4-5 shooting, Mo Williams had 15 points and 7 assists, and Anderson Varejao had 10 points.
With the loss, the Bulls fell to 7-10 on the season.
Toronto Raptors 110 at Chicago Bulls 78
Vinny Del Negro rested his starters in the fourth quarter against the Cavs, but that proved to be useless as they were getting outplayed badly from the get go by the Toronto Raptors.
Joakim Noah played well, scoring 9 points on 3-3 shooting and grabbing 7 rebounds in 18 minutes. He was ejected in the third quarter after receiving his second technical foul.
I think this will be a hard season for Noah, as the Bulls are going to get embarrassed in a lot of their losses as a result of a lack of ability to score the ball, and I think Noah is going to take it hard.
John Salmons was solid too, scoring 13 points on 6-12 shooting, but the rest of the team played poorly. Derrick Rose had 9 points on 3-9 shooting, and Luol Deng had 9 points on 4-9 shooting.
Chris Bosh was dominant for the Raptors, posting 25 points and 12 rebounds.
Four other Raptors scored in double figures. Demar Derozan finished with 11 points, Marco Bellinelli with 15 points, Antoine Wright with 10 points, and Rasho Nesterovic with 12 points.
The most embarrassing moment of the game came for the Bulls at the third quarter, when Jarrett Jack decided to pick up the ball and tie his shoe. None of the Bulls made any attempt to steal the ball from Jack.
With this embarrassing loss, the Bulls fall to 7-11 on the season.
Closing Comments
This season looks like it is going to take a dip towards the ugly. The Bulls are a team that does nothing well on the basketball court. They can’t score, and after a strong defensive start, their defense can no longer stop anyone. Following the loss to the Raptors, the Bulls were ranked 27th in Offense and 19th in Defense, down from 15th in Offense and 18th in Defense last season. In losing Ben Gordon, the Bulls made themselves one of the worst offensive teams in the league while also making no improvements on the defensive end. That is a recipe for disaster, and that is the exact word that can be used to describe the Bulls season thus far.
The 2009-2010 NBA season is quickly approaching. Therefore, here are five bold, specific, quick hit predictions for the 2009-2010 NBA season.
The San Antonio Spurs defeat the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Finals behind a 17 rebound performance by Dejuan Blair. Tim Duncan wins the Finals MVP, while Manu Ginobili hobbles his wa through the Finals, retiring at their conclusion.
Brook Lopez makes his first Allstar game appearance and emerges as the top player from the 2008 Draft Class.
All four of the conference semi-final matchups (Cleveland vs. Detroit, Boston vs. Orlando, LA Lakers vs. Portland, and San Antonio vs. Dallas) will be epic playoff series.
Ben Gordon takes over the starting shooting guard spot from Richard Hamilton in November. At that point, Joe Dumars simultaneously trades Richard Hamilton for a center (it will be either Chris Kaman or Andrew Bogut). The Pistons combine one of the top producing back courts in the NBA with good interior defense to claim the fourth seed in the East. Ben Gordon has a better season than Derrick Rose and makes his first Allstar game. Gordon goes on to knock the Miami Heat out of the playoffs in Game 6 on a buzzer beating leaner along the baseline. The Pistons give the Cavs a hard fought series in the second round before being eliminated in six games.
Michael Beasley puts it all together as the Heat win around 46 games. Miami becomes the clear cut top free agent destination. Dwyane Wade re-signs with the Heat on the first day of free agency. The Heat also sign Lebron James or Chris Bosh on the first day of free agency.
According to Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald, the Bulls aren’t willing to pay Amare Stoudemire around the $20 million a year that Amare would likely be seeking in an extension.
By adding to their pile of assets and expiring contracts, the Bulls are hoping to be in position to get Toronto’s Chris Bosh at the trade deadline or next summer. There may be other targets, such as Carlos Boozer or Amare Stoudemire.
That raises another question: If the Suns have discussed moving Stoudemire to Golden State or Houston, why aren’t the Bulls getting involved? They probably would if Stoudemire agreed to a contract extension worth $14-15 million per season. The Bulls don’t want to make the trade and then pony up $20 million per when Stoudemire becomes a free agent next year. They’d feel better paying Bosh that kind of money.
This is disturbing news, as Amare Stoudemire is the type of player that could really improve the Bulls and propel them to contender status. This is a player, who last year, in what critics are calling an AWFUL year, scored 21.4 points on 61.7 TS%. This is better than anyone one the Bulls.
The financial part is a little confusing as well. What does it matter if we are paying Amare Stoudemire $15 million or $20 million a year? If we make a trade for Amare, we aren’t going to have cap flexibility. We will have made a commitment to trying to win a championship with Rose, Amare, Deng, and hopefully Gordon too. The difference between $15 million and $20 million would have no bearing on the Bulls as far as building their team, but rather, just saving ownership some money.
It’s time for the ownership group to step up, and pay for a winner. That means making a trade for Amare if available, giving him a lucrative extension, and re-signing Ben Gordon.
Ben Gordon appeared on ESPN 1000 to discuss his future with Waddle and Silvy. Here is a recap of what was said in that interview.
He just started training again.
He is not hearing any whispers of where he will end up. He’s not sure if the Bulls are interested.
He didn’t have an exit interview with anyone in the Bulls’ front office. Things were different this year.
Ultimately everything goes through Jerry Reinsdorf, regardless of who is in the front office. Those guys just represent Jerry’s wishes.
Doesn’t have a relationship with Jerry Reinsdorf. Sometimes talks to him about contract things.
Last summer was drawn out and came to a stalemate. On Ben’s end, he tried to work out some other options involving other teams, but that did not go over. At the end, he went to the Bulls and said he would take the offer, and they told him it was no longer on the table. That was last summer’s negotiations in a nutshell. They had an offer, then when he decided to take it, they told him it was no longer there.
People do business different ways. In this business you can’t be surprised with what happens. Just took this as a learning experience, and did what he had to do this season, and now he’s going to let the chips fall where they may.
Has had a great time in Chicago. It’s a great city and he loves the fans. He had a wonderful time playing here and had a lot of fun.
As far as his decision, he wants to win. The primary objective is to win an NBA championship. Obviously the money has a lot to do with it, but also it will have to do with who has the best team in place, to at least give himself a chance to win a championship. He is going to try to get market value. He wants what he’s worth. A lot of different things could sway his decision. Winning is his highest priority , and also the financial side for his security and family. He will weigh those two things and go from there, making the best decision for himself.
He would hope to see some players and draft picks turned into a Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire. Two seasons ago, he felt they were just one piece away. He is counting on the organization to step up and maybe spend extra money so they can get some players to help.
Either Bosh or Stoudemire would be a major upgrade in the front court, no disrspect to any of they guys they have now.
He is not interested in playing in Europe. He will play in the NBA next season.
He will participate in a Bulls-Sox Academy event. He is participating to support the kids.
For the younger group, he tries to stress the fundamentals to them. With the older group, he can get a little more in depth as far as different moves and adding stuff to their games.
According to an internet recap of Ric Bucher appearing on the Bill Watters show on 640AM radio in Toronto, it looks like Chris Bosh is planning on leaving Toronto this summer. Here is the internet recap of that radio appearance.
NBA sources have told Ric Bucher that:
- The Toronto Raptors have either made or will make Chris Bosh a presumptuous contract offer this summer. It is basically a take it or leave it contract proposal. If Chris Bosh rejects the Raptors long-term contract extension offer (99% chance of occurring) this summer, he will definitely get traded this summer.
- The Raptors are not convinced that Chris Bosh wants to be in Toronto for the long-term.
- It seems as though, Chris Bosh is envious and jealous of the playoff success that has been achieved by some of his fellow Team USA teammates such as Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James.
- Unnamed NBA GM’s think that Chris Bosh isn’t a franchise player since players such as LeBron james and Dwyane Wade wouldn’t allow their respective teams to lose as many games that the Raptors did during the 2008-09 NBA season, even if they were not playing 100% healthy.
If this is true, the Bulls have to come out with an aggressive offer and try to complete a draft day trade. The skeletal of the trade would probably be Jerome James, Tyrus Thomas, and both of the Bulls’ first round draft picks. The question is what else will be needed to make the trade happen? Will we have to give up John Salmons, Luol Deng, or even Joakim Noah?
Obviously, not giving up Joakim Noah would be the most ideal situation, but that might not be a possible situation. We might have to give up our entire starting front court for Bosh, and that would be the correct decision.
