Ben Gordon Finalist For Kennedy Award
Sam Smith is reporting on Bulls.com that Ben Gordon will be one of the finalists for the NBA’s Kennedy Award.
Bulls guard Ben Gordon is one of five finalists for the NBA’s 2009 J. Walter Kennedy... Read More ...
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.
